Are you a Gadfly?

I took a class called Forbidden Books this class is a steam class which means we learn about things that have to do with society. We are currently studying why some books are banned and whether we think it is right or wrong. So far for this class, we have gone on one FE to a bookstore. This bookstore talked about how they try not to censor things unless it disagrees with their opinion. For this action project, we had to make a Socrates dialogue.

Below is my dialogue transcript.

Chevy: You hear about what happened in Florida last week.

Godwin: Yes, I have heard, it was a horrific incident. 

Godwin: We must make public spaces safer. I am tired of hearing people getting hurt where they should be safe. It's ridiculous that people can't go out in public without worry of getting hurt. They happen way too often don't you think?

Chevy: These horrible tragedies like Florida only happen once in a great while, but for the most part, public spaces are safe.

Godwin: What about the people in Columbine and other such places, even the incident at the concert in Las Vegas? These things actually happen quite often actually. People need to be able to defend themselves.

Chevy: I still don't think people should carry guns because they could accidentally shoot someone. We should still wait for the police to arrive so they can solve the problem.

Godwin: But the police didn't stop the shooter until it was too late. The average response time for police across America is 10 minutes. That's a lot of time considering what is going on. Why would a police be any better than a citizen?

Chevy: I really don't think just any person with no training could take down a guy with an assault rifle. I feel like it would just cause more victims. The normal assault rifle has 30 bullets to shoot, and I know all those bullets won't hit your target and they could hit other things.

Godwin: I see but you have to keep in mind that we would train them, I agree that nobody without training should be in public with a gun, but that won't be the case. Haven't you heard of training?

Chevy: I suppose that if they were trained then it wouldn't be any worse than police plus they would be right at the scene. When I think about it I think that a bystander who has the proper trainer is good to have a firearm because a person committing a crime wouldn't suspect it which also adds the element of surprise to the table which is definitely an advantage.

Godwin: There are multiple examples of people with guns saving lives such as the Jeanne Assam who killed a gunman that was attempting to shoot into a crowd of thousands exiting a church. This would have been an event the size of the Florida shooting but nobody heard because someone with a gun stopped the shooter. Did you ever hear that story?

Chevy: Wow I never heard that story, I guess there really are people that have guns for the right reason. I guess you've been right all along and guns in the right hands really can save lives.

Godwin: Thanks for talking to me Chevy! I have to go catch a plane, to England! Thanks for talking to me today and I hope you take my words and apply them to your everyday life.

Chevy: No problem Godwin I really appreciate you helping to explain your point of view to me. I really look at this topic differently and I hope that I could use your technique with other people. I really learned a lot from this discussion.

Godwin: Goodbye

Chevy: Goodbye

 

In conclusion, I think that this was more difficult than I had originally thought. I went into the project imagining that it would be simple. As I found out it was much more complicated to write a good script that made sense. Another challenge I faced was when I had to make the video. Our camera had a hard time focusing on the beginning and so we had to redo our video multiple times. We eventually got it to look good and now it looks like a transition. Another problem I faced was properly managing my time. I think I did pretty well considering all the applications that needed to be done along with lots of homework. In the end everything came together to make a fun and educational video.