Porno riots.

    They say we are always being watched. Some argue it is governments that sneak into our houses and into our lives using technological devices. Others suggest it is big, private organizations in need of our data. The fact is that our privacy is no longer ours and it is at the mercy of those who may use it against us.

    But all the information that billions of privacies in the world can provide is of little or no use without a proper classification. We are then being filed into categories according to our likes, practices and routines. One of these classifications may include the use we make of pornography. Do you watch porn? If so, how often?, What kind of porn?, and so on. Then if the answer to the first question is Yes, and the answer to the second question is quite often we may be labelled harmless. Why? Because porn is harmless by definition. Porn is about the show and not about understanding the complexities of the human encounter.

    Derived from this, some analysts have come out with the term Porn Riot to describe a trend in 21st century society where the show is used to prevent critical thinking from developing in the spectator’s mind. The journalist Miquel Ramos writes about it . He tells us how his dad angrily turns off the TV after days of being exposed to images of violence coming from anywhere without understanding a thing of what was going on.

    The complexity of the reality is reduced to a show where violence takes the leading role. Turn on your TV and check my thesis. I recomend you TV5 as the top example but the other channels follow. By reducing the conflict to images of violence, to scenes of the goodies against the baddies, we are creating confusion and thus, reducing the possibility of understanding. If we do not understand it, then it is almost impossible that we can reach an agreement, not to mention a solution.

VOCABULARY

1. Write one of the words in bold next to each definition:

happen ___________

to enter a place quietly and in secret. __________

not be able to protect yourself from something or someone ___________

2. How can you translate this sentence?

“the show is used to prevent critical thinking from developing in the spectator’s mind.”

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

3. What does harmless mean to you as used in the text?. Why do you think governments and multinationals like harmless people?

1. People who are not violent.

2. People who are not very interested in politics.

3. Those who do not participate in riots or demonstrations.

4. Choose the sentences that best summarise the text. Then discuss your choice.

1. We live in a society where having control over people means to keep them poorly informed.

2. Many people like porn and that is bad because when the authorities kinow it they classify you as a pervert.

3. Porn, in the sense used in the text, means keeping the appearance and hiding the important information.

4. Governments are corrupt so they want to control the information that we get.

5. Miquel’s dad didn’t understand what was going on in Catalonia because nobody explained it to him.

6. People get stressed and angry because they are exposed to violence.

EXTRA

1. Find an image online to illustrate the text. Show them to the class and justify your choice.

2. Do you get the same information everywhere?, on TV, twitter, facebook, Instagram, etc?

3. Give examples of videos you have recently seen online which show how information can be manipulated by the media.

A question of metaphors. Choosing between the military and the collaborative.

    It is X time in the morning, or afternoon, or evening, and everytime I switch on the TV there is one or two men in full military atire behind a stand giving information about the Covid-19 crisis. I understand that the point is social control. Nothing new under the sun. In a situation of unprecedented crisis there is a lack of language or metaphors that we can use, so fear and control come handy. Let’s draw on our previous experience, centuries of warfare, of peoples fighting each other, a world of frontiers that had to be defended against physical enemies coming from all sides. History books are rife with battles, massacres, attackers and defenders, victories and defeats. That is the language that we have been taught and the language that makes the world understandable.

    On the other side, people do not trust politicians anymore, that’s what polls say. The causes for this may be too long to discuss now but we can just jot down those of political corruption and the interests of an economic elite of generating distrust and a sense of chaos so as to play more freely in an unmonitored ground. Governments, then,  choose a soldier and not a scientist when they want to create security and the sense that everything is under control, even when they talk about a pandemic caused by a virus that will have consequences not only on our health but also on our economy. The military connects easily with our previous experience and with innate fear; all they need to keep us locked down and obedient. It is easy to understand in a situation of stress when quick solutions have to be generated, but at the same time it shows a lack of imagination.  When we feel more relaxed and gain perpective, we will have to sit down and reassess our oldfashioned metaphors.

    In a crisis with the characteristics of the present one people might be at a loss. I see it around me, friends and relatives in whatsap groups sharing fake news against the government generated by who knows what groups and interests. Their minds trapped in the loop of misinformation and fear, they try to get hold of something solid: family, property, race, nation, everything that asserts our humanity as something built apart from nature and against it. When all we want is to survive from a menace coming from the outside, the military metaphor comes handy because it is inspired by our past responses to dangerous situations. But we have just discovered that viruses, do not play by the same rules, and where we see frontiers they see fertile ground to grow.

    The same that see the military metaphor as oldfashioned, may suggest the necessity for implementing new ones. A new world is confronting the old one and Covid-19 seems to draw a line and show the way. It is probably too soon to be conclusive about anything but by the facts it seems more clear now that we should take directions towards a more collaborative stance. All the money invested in arms will not save us from this crisis. Instead, our efforts should be directed towards education and research to generates creativity and new ideas to be developed in a new world order in which collaboration both with other humans and with nature should be the basis. 

Andreu Torregrosa   

1. Make a list with the words in bold and their translation.
2. Make a summary of the text. How many ideas can you identify? Do you have a personal opinion? What do you think?

Stop destruction of Nature.

Text 1
 Read the text and write a sentence to summarise each paragraph.
1. _______________________________________________

   More deadly and destructive deseases will follow the coronavirus pandemic if we do not stop the destruction of the natural world. We are the only species responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic model that gives priority to economic growth is the responsible. A recent survey led by professors Settele, Díaz and Bronzino concluded that human society is in danger from the accelerating deterioration of the Earth’s natural life systems.

2. _________________________________________________________

   Human activities bring more people into contact and conflict with wild animals, from which 70% of human deseases originate. Urbanisation and the explosive growth of global air travel enables a virus in Asian bats to bring chaos around the world. Yet Covid-19 may be only the beginning.
 3. _____________________________________________________________

   More public money will be needed now to help private economies and it will also go to prop up intensive agricultural , airlines, and fossil-fuel-dependent energy sectors. By doing this we will accelarate the process of destruction because we are investing on the causes of destruction.

4. _______________________________________________________________

   The health of people is connected to the health of wildlife and the health of the environment. Nature is sending a message with the covid pandemic and the climate change. Nature does not understand the word revenge. It is our actions that are responding against our interests. We can learn from this crisis and get stronger but only if learn to interact with nature. The mistake was thinking that we were not part of the natural world, that we were the chosen species, and then we could do whatever we liked.

Adapted from : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/halt-destruction-nature-worse-pandemics-top-scientists

TEXT 2.

    Markus Gabriel is a 40 years old German phylosopher. He thinks the covid-19 is just the beginning of a chain of other crisis to come. But on the other side, he believes a new, more moral, ecological world will come out of this. This is nothing compared with the ecological crisis. World governements know that it is going to kill hundreds of thousands of people in the coming years. Governments know it, and voices are raising calling for a new model of global economy, a new Green Deal. 

    The rich are now also obsessed with their health and with what is going to happen. China, he says, is not trustworthy, it is just taking revenge on previous agressions. We have to find new ways of dealing with China and it cannot be through globalisation and unfair deal. Why do European companies have factories in China? For the lower wages. That is not moral. 

    He says there is an infectious chain in capitalist transactions. Even our tiniest everyday actions have consequences. When you buy  paracetamol, a toy for your baby or a car some people at some point of the production chain has had to suffer. We are all responsible for the suffering of others because we are all interconnected. At some point of these interconnections of chains there is somebody who dies because of the lack of clean water, draughts that cause starvation, pollution, or for other causes connected with the way our economy interacts with the environment ( covid-19). If you do wrong you make the world a worse place to live in . Neoliberalism is a destruction machine. 

    If we think of life  we realise that it is crazy. We  become better human beings by just doing less. Remember the lockdown period in 2020. In a way, many people felt better an more connected with themselves and with the others. If we try to go back to normal, nature will respond against it and we will not have peace until we behave in a more sustainable way. 

    What he fears most is that Trump will win the elections. Then, if there is a fast economic recovery, people will see him as an example. His policies will bring more chaos globally. That is a real threat. 

1. What would you say, is Markus Gabriel an optimist or a pessimist? Why? What are you? 

2. What two different types of crisis does he see? 

3. Explain the term  infectious chain according to the test?  

4. Trump is a representative of populism and America a good one of capitalism and neoliberalism.  Explain the concepts populism,  capitalism and neoliberalism? fFind out about the history, the good things and the bad things. What are the alternatives? Why does Markus see a problem in Trump's winning the elections?

5. In a sense, Markus is a moralist; he talks of being moral and immoral. Morality has to do with the fact that humans, and that makes us differents from animals, are free to choose between doing good or evil. Doing good is morally correct and brings us also good things, whereas acting wrong or being immoral brings evil as a result. If we think about the way we live and the things; 

a. do you think you and your family could change habits in order to be more moral? Make a list with the things you do and how can you change that. 

b. How do your daily actiong affect the environment or other people? 

6. Some people have just discovered that they are feeling better by being locked down. Why? Are you one of those? Do you know anybody?

Spring Equinox.

   This year is different. Spring has come and despite the good weather we have to be at home.  But Spring is always a time of celebration and metaphors. Our ancestors believed that life responded to the cycles of the sun and so after the darkness of winter here came again the birth in Spring. Life then was cyclic and had a rythmic repetion.

   Spring is  represented in northern hemisphere cultures by metaphors that represent light and life. Officially Spring starts on  21st of March but festivities that celebrate the birth of the Sun do not take that date into consideration and we can consider Sant Valentine's day on the 14th of February celebrating love a Spring festivity, or the Carnival . But the Christian calendar has  Easter, which commemorates  the death and resurrection of Jesuschrist as the most important celebration. 

Now, read the following text and answer the questions;

Spring Equinox.

1. Why does it refer only to the Northern hemisphere? What happens in Chile, for exemple?

2. Where does the word Equinox come from?

3. What is a leap year? How do you translate it ?

4. What is the difference between Equinox and Solstice?

5.  Why do people gather at Chichen Itza?

6. Now do some research and explain what is the Nowruz in Iran and Shunbun no Hi in Japan. Write two different files explaining:

- The origins, the history, the meaning. 
- How do they celebrate it now?
- Choose some pictures that illustrate the festivities.

7. PROJECT: Click on the  link below about Easter celebrations in the Comunitat Valenciana. Use the text to write to get the basic information. Then, write an email to a friend in Australia who is asking for information about Spring festivities here. You can use information you have about celebrations in different towns or villages in the area. The e-mail should have a minimum of 400 words. You can include pictures.


Festes de primavera.