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The Blogger: Who is She?
February 16, 2007










The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "A Hard Right
Punch." The sub-title reads, "Michelle Malkin's Conservative Fight Has
Others Coming Out Swinging."

The article reports that 36 year old Malkin Conservative blogger said
of her critics, "'They'll ridicule my looks, ridicule my ethnicity, go
after my family." Malkin continued, "They've attacked my husband
relentlessly. There's a strong sexist strain among my liberal critics,
who think it isn't possible I could have gotten anywhere without my
Svengali husband, or some white man, embedding ideas in my head."
Read the Article!!


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Do your students think that their opinions matter? Why/why
    not? Do your students think that they have the right to share
    their opinions with others? Why/why not?
  • Consider holding an opinion party in your classroom in
    which everybody gets to share one opinion with the
    entire class and a second opinion in small groups.
    Students could make art work about the importance of
    ideas with which to decorate the room. They might even
    bring in some food. Students should learn to celebrate
    their opinions.

  • Ask: If you disagree with somebody do you have the right to
    tell them that you disagree with them? Why/why not? Do you
    have the right to make fun of the other person's ideas?
    Why/why not?
  • Consider developing a list of rules with your students
    that would dictate how to behave in popular discussion.
    Who should speak first? Where should you be looking
    when somebody else is speaking to you? How loud
    should one's voice be?

  • Ask your students if they've ever been made fun of. How does
    it feel when somebody else makes fun of you? Why does it feel
    this way?
  • Consider asking students to write simple sentences in
    response to these questions. What lesson can be learned
    from the fact that people don't like it when others make
    fun of them?

  • According to the newspaper article, Michelle Malkin posted the
    following words on her blog after her critics were perhaps
    overly harsh, "I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU." Do your
    students think that this was a good idea? Why/why not?
  • Ask your students what they think is the best way to get
    bullies to leave them alone? Is it possible to get a bully to
    leave you alone without having a fight?


Discussion-Starters for Older Students

  • Vocabulary terms to discuss: Persona; Naive; Riled; and,
    Conservative.

  • Do your students think that Michelle Malkin has the right to call
    her detractors names, such as "moonbats," on her blog where
    anybody can read it? Why/why not? Does she have the right to
    swear at her detractors? What about encourage others to kill
    them? Do her detractors have the right to publish her phone
    number online? Why/why not?
  • Consider asking students to develop 10 rules to govern
    proper blogging etiquette. They might begin working in
    small groups and then reconvene as the whole class.

  • Michelle Malkin has a well read blog. Do your students think
    that they can trust what she says as "true." What do your
    students think that somebody has to do before they can trust
    what they are reading? Is it ever possible to trust what you
    read? Is it ever possible to trust anything?
  • In groups of two or three, students could develop a set
    of directions as to how to ascertain if what one is
    reading should be trusted.

  • Ask your students what the term, "marketplace of ideas,"
    means. In what ways is the "marketplace of ideas" different
    today than it was twenty five years ago, before the
    popularization of the Internet? Has the Internet helped or
    hindered the "marketplace of ideas." Explain!
  • These questions could make for an interesting class
    discussion.
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