Assignment Description

The student will write a 4-page, typed, double-spaced analysis of “power and privilege.”  Select a topic on race in the United States (e.g., incarceration, housing, drug laws, employment opportunities, healthcare, etc.).  Find two media sources from significantly differing perspectives that have covered this topic.  The two media sources must come from the following list:

Chronicles (paleoconservative)

National Review (conservative)

The Wall Street Journal editorial pages (conservative)

The Weekly Standard (neoconservative)

The New York Times editorial pages (liberal)

The Nation (liberal)

Jacobin (radical)

Staple the two media sources to your analysis.  The analysis must include 3 distinct labelled sections:

• What do the two sources have in common?  For example, do they agree/disagree on the facts?  How do the two sources differ?  For example, if they agree on the facts, do they differ on the interpretation of the facts? (1 page)

• Analyze the two articles through the lens of the “Dynamics of Racism” considered by DiAngelo in “Why Can’t We All Just be Individuals?”  Use some (not all) of the “Dynamics of Racism” in the analysis.  Identify the stated and (more importantly) unstated presupposition of each article; that is, does the argument presuppose the individual or the group (as a unit of analysis and as a lens of understanding)? (2 pages)

• What is the take-away for you?  Demonstrate that you are able to reflect critically on philosophical questions in the context of your own life. (1 page)

LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE GRADED.

There are several ways to search and access the New York Times.

To discover content, you can search within the NYT through ProQuest's historical NYT database (records go through 2015), or use Google by using one of these strategies:

• your keyword site:www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/editorials 
  
  
  • See example: voting site:nytimes.com


• Browse the opinion pages of their website: www.nytimes.com/section/opinion

This above link brings you to a guide that provides instructions on how to set up your access to the New York Times digital edition using your NetID.

Access the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) by signing up using your Fairfield NetID. See the guide below for instructions. You can also discover content in the WSJ by employing a Google Search.

• your keyword site:www.wsj.com [make sure that your article comes from the Opinion section]
  
  
  • See example: voting site:www.wsj.com

This guide provides instructions on how to set up your access to the WSJ digital edition through your Fairfield affiliation.

Use Google to discover articles. If you can't get access online, you can try one of the links at the bottom of this box (which don't always have the most recent access) or place a request through interlibrary loan: https://fairfield.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html.

Search Google following this format:

• The Nation: keyword site:www.thenation.com — example: guns site:www.thenation.com
  
  
  • Be careful not to confuse The Nation founded in New York in 1865 for other newspapers called the Nation from around the world

• The Weekly Standard: keyword: site:www.weeklystandard.com — example: guns site:www.weeklystandard.com
  
  
  • Can also browse the editorial pages: www.weeklystandard.com/tag/editorials

Use Google to discover articles. If you can't get access online to a particular article, request it through interlibrary loan: https://fairfield.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html.

Search Google following this format: 

• Chronicles: keyword site:www.chroniclesmagazine.org — example: immigration site:www.chroniclesmagazine.org

• Jacobin: keyword: site:www.jacobinmag.com — example: immigration site:www.jacobinmag.com

• National Review: site:www.nationalreview.com — example: immigration site:www.nationalreview.com

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