A recent article in the Gleaner has the following paragraph:
“On some of the issues emotion is very important,” said Graham. “But pertaining to education today, I feel emotion has clouded the real reason on why we are bringing forward an improved education system now that is going to provide bilingual opportunities for every student in the province.”
Reason versus emotion. This is what we eggheads call a “false dichotomy”: the two things are not necessarily opposed. Of course, when the Premier says “the real reason on why we are bringing forward an improved education system,” he is almost certainly not referring to reason in the abstract: thinking; rationality; reasonableness. No, he means “motive,” which in this particular case is the opposite of reasonable.
That aside, one wonders what these “some of the issues” on which “emotion is very important” actually are, if not our children? How about: being cheated? May we get emotional about that? Or about not being listened to? Not being properly represented? Being lied to, and insulted, and treated with disrespect, and manipulated?
Are any of these things about which it is permissible to be emotional?
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