Historyspeaking topic
The line 'all men are created equal' in the American Declaration of Independence was written in a country where slavery persisted. How should we make sense of this contradiction?
— The American Declaration of Independence (1776)
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- The story of an apple falling on Newton's head is largely a later embellishment, a tale Newton himself may have fed to polish his own image. If even the most scientific discoveries need a fable to be remembered, it makes you question whether truth on its own is ever 'sticky' enough.
- Why was the guillotine presented as an instrument of 'equality' during the French Revolution? Let's discuss the logic behind the idea that execution should be the same for everyone.
- The West holds Germany to a much higher standard of historical accountability than Japan. Why, and does it matter?
- The asteroid thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs was so lethal because it struck a shallow sulfur-rich seabed rather than open ocean, a matter of a few hours' difference; had it landed elsewhere, life today could be entirely different. If the existence of all mammals, and therefore of humans, hung on the angle of a rock's impact, it shows how baseless the feeling that 'we were meant to be' really is.
- Coca-Cola spreading the modern red-and-white image of Santa Claus around the world means the color of his outfit was standardized by an advertising campaign. If a detail of a childhood tale we assumed was 'always like this' is really a marketing decision, how many other 'age-old traditions' in our culture are actually sales strategies?