Were You Aware?

[Strummer521]

The Daily Show book: America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy in Action is full of these somewhat real somewhat fake little factoids and just for the heck of it, kind of like the quote of the day thread I guess I'll post one of them every day. Or at least every day I am around. they are a bit hit or miss but some are very funny.


Were You Aware?

The fact that the Magna Carta was written in 1215 is, by law, the only thing you are required to know about it.

[Caitlyn]

Is that the book with the "naked Judges" in it?

[Strummer521]

yeah :sick:

[Caitlyn]

yeah :sick:


I haven't checked the book out yet but I heard it is hilarious... and that educators are afraid it will turn up at school... "naked judges" and all... :D

[SamsoniteDelilah]

egads... all this time, I've been breaking the law!
This looks like fun, Strummer. The Daily Show is hilarious!

[Strummer521]

Were You Aware?

Plato did not originally want to call the Athenian form of citizen-government "Democracy" but rather, "Plato and Friends."

[sipher]

America is such a funny book. I didn't read it but a friend gave me the audio version of it. I think my favorite parts are the Discussion Questions and the Classroom Activities. Think you can put some of those up, Strummer?

[Strummer521]

I probably will (or more accurately, might) put some of those up but maybe not until I finish with all the Were You Aware? segments.

[Strummer521]

Were You Aware?


The Roman Republic lasted 558 years, or approximately 557 years longer than any elected Italian government since.

[Strummer521]

Were You Aware?

The continent of America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, meaning there was a 50-50 chance we'd all be living in the United States of Vespucci.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

:D

[Strummer521]

I'm feeling generous today so at the request of sipher (who is no longer around, but oh well) I will post a set of the discussion questions and Classroom Activities.

Discussion Questions

1. If you lived in a monarchy would you rather be the king or a slave? Why?

2. What is the central ideological difference between democracy and cannibalism?

3. You're a fifth century Greek city-state growing increasingly concerned over repeated Persian incursions into the central Peloponnesian peninsula. How many hoplites can you dispatch to Thermopylae without jeopardizing the tririemes comanded by Themistocles for the naval engagement at Artemisium? Show your work.

4. Does the expression "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" apply to all cities or just in Rome?

5. The notion that each individual has worth in society found political expression in the invention of democracy. What's bullsh*t about this?

6. Is direct democracy practical today? In a nation as big as ours, is it really possible to simultaneously gather the opinions of 300,000,000 people? (Log onto www.americathebook.com to vote in our poll).

Classroom Activities

1. Have your students draw a topographical map of Greece. For each elevation they get wrong, punch one in the arm.

2. Give your students a taste of Athenian life before democracy by implementing a "Draconian" measure, like forcing them to wear togas to class every day for a month. Then celebrate deomcracy by being named the principal defendant in a class-action lawsuit against the school.

3. Have the class perform a real-time period-accurate reenactment otf the Protestant Reformation. That should buy you plenty of time to step outside for a smoke.