Touro Communication Club Notes #48
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THIS WEEK: Wednesday, October 29th –Film – “The Great Debaters” - 2 pm – Room 223 -27-33 West 23rd Street - A dramatization of the true story of the unlikely 1935 journey of a debate team from the historically black college, Wiley College, which challenges powerhouse Harvard College.

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;”

The words of William Wordsworth’s 1807 sonnet still ring true almost 200 years later.

After the onslaught of pressured politics and pressured financial chaos, a human being – at least this human being – would not be faulted for becoming turtle-like in retreat from the blur of the world. Voltaire would encourage us to cultivate our gardens (“Cultivez son jardin.”), if we had one in New York.

On the financial front, probably the most significant news of the week was the admission of Alan Greenspan, former Fed chairman, that his argument for markets correcting themselves was incorrect. “I was wrong,” he said significantly. When the money guru of the last 25 years says he’s wrong, this is earth-shaking news.

In spite of the blur of events, several factors are apparent in the home stretch.
Obama’s trip to Hawaii to see his “Toot” (“tutu” is Hawaiian for grandmother.) seems not to have affected the daily news in the media.

Despite Obama’s best efforts, McCain seems to continue to work on the low road of ad hominum attacks.

The electoral map becomes more important with 5 states as toss-ups.

The Obama political fund-raising is approaching the gross national product of several nations.

Reports that there are growing concerns about voter fraud from malfunctioning voting machines. One lawsuit went to the Supreme Court where it was denied hearing.
Everybody’s holding their breath for an “October surprise.” Maybe the financial crisis WAS the October surprise!

But our life at Touro returns to normal after the holidays. I’m confidant that some students have forgotten they are in school and they have to come to class and to study. In my years of teaching, I have observed that after ANY vacation, students need about 4 weeks to get back into the swing of studying.

And then we have Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays! Aw shucks!

Because of the Jewish holidays, here's an extended list of our upcoming Club events:

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – 2 pm – Room 223 – Midtown -The film “The Great Debaters” (2008) with Denzel Washington. A dramatization of the true story of the unlikely 1935 journey of a debate team from the historically black college, Wiley College, which challenges powerhouse Harvard College.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008 – ELECTION DAY – PLEASE VOTE! Lorinda Moore and Olushile Akintade have been conducting a voter registration drive at Midtown and Taino. Over 100 new voters have been registered from Touro. More to come!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 – 1 pm – Room 610: Discussion of the Election

What happened on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 2 pm - Room 610 – Debate – Mock Presidential Debate.

Hal Wicke went over the foreign and domestic issues of both Republican and Democratic candidates. Lorinda Moore, Drani Gabu, Musa Bryant and Amina Bibi developed both sides to each of the issues. Steve Gradman and Marcus Vyandoff joined in the discussion.

As part of the preparation for the debate, we listed the Democratic and Republican positions on foreign and domestic issues. The foreign policy issues were analyzed first – the Iraq & Afghan wars, the credibility of the U.S. abroad, the Bush “Doctrine.” The domestic issues included the financial and housing crises, Homeland Security, energy and global warming, health care and education, immigration, the social (wedge) issues of abortion, same sex marriage, creationism and stem-cell research. It was clear that we could not cover all the issues equally. Our time was spent primarily on foreign policy issues.

As the discussion continued, it became clear that questions of Barack Obama’s relationships with William Ayers and Rev. Wright were attempts of the McCain camp to distract voters from more important issues like the financial crisis. Many media pundits view these ad hominum (attack the person, not the issue) tactics to distract the voter. We will know on November 4th whether the voter was distracted.

Inevitably, as one topic was discussed, it became clear that there were other issues that were interrelated. Probably the greatest lesson of the session was that no issue could successfully be analyzed by itself without understanding its inter-related context.

About 4 pm, we had not finished the exhaustive list of issues. Everyone was relieved that they would not have to debate each other.

The discussion which lasted until 4:30 without break was lively and demonstrated a growing understanding of the issues that face the country during this election and after

As moderator, I was impressed with the general command of the issues that the group demonstrated. Everyone seemed comfortable to express their views – and were candid if they didn’t know much about the many topics.

These sessions are always open for everyone to attend. Bring a friend and join in the excitement. See you next time.

Hal Wicke