News:

If you have any trouble logging in, please contact admins via email. tankathaf *at* gmail.com or
recusantathaf *at* gmail.com

Main Menu

Impressed with "Stanley" cartoon!

Started by DeterminedJuliet, April 09, 2012, 03:39:28 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

DeterminedJuliet

So, for Easter, our son got a DVD of the cartoon "Stanley" from one of his grandparents. I had never heard of it before, but after the little guy got bored playing with his blocks this morning we put it on, and I'm kind of impressed!

They just had an episode about Spring. It started with the kids watching some t.v. coverage of Groundhog's day. They get all excited because, since the Groundhog "said so" they think that Spring is going to show up immediately.

That's when the cartoon mom steps in and said "Actually, Groundhog's day is a legend - legends are something that people like to believe, but aren't necessarily true." She then takes them all outside and shows them how to look for empirical evidence (they didn't call it that, but still) as to when Spring will actually arrive. They called themselves Spring "detectives" and looked for "clues".

I thought it was pretty cool! Getting kids to look for real-world evidence, instead of putting their faith in Legends and "just because" thinking. Thanks, Stanley!  
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

Ali

Sounds cool, I will have to check that out!

Tank

Interesting I think I'll have a look too.

Is this the character?

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

DeterminedJuliet

"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

markmcdaniel

Sounds good to me as well. I have no idea how well it will work in practice, but, it seems to me that trying to teach critical thinking is a good idea.
It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science - Charles Darwin

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the object of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a god, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. - Albert Einstein

Religion is a by product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity. - Arther C. Clarke

Faith means not wanting to know what is true. - Friedrich Nietzsche

OldGit

#5
I will try that with the grandson, Cap'n B, if I can get a copy over here.