Yesterday was a great natural learning day. Liam was watching the miniseries Holocaust (with Meryl Streep and Michael Moriarity). He then came over to me asking about how something like the Holocaust could happen. We then had a discussion on the role of scapegoating. I explained to him how scapegoating is used throughout history to maintain or achieve power. I used the current example of how many Americans are scapegoating illegal immigrants. For that matter, some are scapegoating all immigrants/foreigners.
I also discussed the role of economics when it comes to war. For example, my father kept asking himself what does Afghanistan have that we want? He knew very well that the Taliban and Al-Qaida were just the perfect excuse to invade, but what did America want? Then, he said he read about the oil pipeline in Afghanistan and he got it instantly. I told my son this anecdote in a hope to really help him absorb the lesson "follow the money." I kept repeating, and even wrote on the chalkboard, "scapegoating" and "economics."
We then went into a conversation about how Iraq and Saddam Hussein were blamed for 9/11 when they had nothing to with it. Again, we see scapegoating (they are Muslims, from the Middle East, etc.), and we see economics...OIL.
Later in the day, he read a chapter on feudalism in the Middle Ages. This portion of the day was not part of his self-directed learning, but rather what I assigned for him to complete.
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