Burned-Over District and Religious Revivalism

 

I found that region of country what, in the western phrase, would be called, a "burnt district." There had been, a few years previously, a wild excitement passing through that region, which they called a revival of religion, but which turned out to be spurious. ... It was reported as having been a very extravagant excitement; and resulted in a reaction so extensive and profound, as to leave the impression on many minds that religion was a mere delusion. A great many men seemed to be settled in that conviction. Taking what they had seen as a specimen of a revival of religion, they felt justified in opposing anything looking toward the promoting of a revival.  –Charles Finney, Autobiography of Charles G. Finney (1876)

 

In the early decades of the 19th century, a region in upstate New York became the most  spiritually and socially combustible area in the United States. Known as the “Burned-Over District,” this stretch of land witnessed such intense waves of  religious revival that it was said there was no more “fuel” (souls) left to burn.

The term refers to western and central New York State, stretching roughly from Albany through Rochester and into Buffalo. This region lay along the Erie Canal, a major route of commerce and migration in the early 1800s. The rapid social and economic changes brought by the canal system created fertile ground for spiritual searching and new movements.

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

• Founder: Joseph Smith (1805–1844)
• Origin: Palmyra, New York
• Smith reported visions beginning in 1820, including visits from an angel named Moroni and the discovery of golden plates that became the Book of Mormon.
• The early Latter-day Saint movement reflected the district’s mix of revival fervor, millennial expectation, and belief in ongoing revelation.

2. The Millerite Movement

• Leader: William Miller (1782–1849), a Baptist lay preacher.
• Belief: Christ would return around 1843–1844. When this didn’t occur—the Great Disappointment—followers eventually formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

3. The Spiritualist Movement

Spiritualism, in religion, a movement beginning in the 19th century in America and Europe based on the belief that departed souls can interact with the living. Spiritualists sought to make contact with the dead, usually through the assistance of a medium, a person believed to have the ability to contact spirits directly. Some mediums worked while in a trancelike state, and some claimed to be the catalyst for various paranormal physical phenomena (including the materializing or moving of objects) through which the spirits announced their presence.

Britannica

  

Millenarianism

the doctrine of or belief in a future (and typically imminent) thousand-year age of blessedness, beginning with or culminating in the Second Coming of Christ. It is central to the teaching of groups such as Plymouth Brethren, Adventists, Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses.  Dictionary.Com

 

Millenarianism or millenarism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and religions worldwide, with various interpretations of what constitutes a transformation.  These movements believe in radical changes to society after a major cataclysm or transformative event.

Both millennialism and millenarianism refer to "one thousand". They both derive from the Christian tradition. Neither term strictly refers to "one thousand" in modern academic usage.

Millenarianism is used to refer to a more cataclysmic and destructive arrival of a utopian period as compared to millennialism which is often used to denote a more peaceful arrival and is more closely associated with a one thousand year utopia.

Christian millennialism is part of the broader form of apocalyptic expectation. A core doctrine in some variations of Christianity is the expectation that the Second Coming is very near and that there will be an establishment of a Kingdom of God  on Earth.   According to an interpretation of biblical prophecies in the Book of Revelation, this Kingdom of God on Earth will last a thousand years (a millennium) or more.  Wikipedia

 

millennialism, the belief, expressed in the book of Revelation to John, the last book of the New Testament , that Christ will establish a 1,000-year reign of the saints on earth (the millennium) before the Last Judgment. More broadly defined, it is a cross-cultural concept grounded in the expectation of a time of supernatural peace and abundance on earth.

Millennialism offers a version of the fundamental eschatological belief that at the end of time (the “End,” or “Endtime”) God will judge the living and the resurrected dead. This belief in ultimate divine justice provides a rationale for theodicy, the reconciliation of God’s goodness with the existence of evil in the world. In providing solace for the suffering of countless generations of believers—Jews, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists—millennialism has had immense appeal in every age. Although its name comes from the 1,000-year period mentioned in the Revelation to John, millennialism is primarily concerned with the earthly nature of the coming “new world.” This radical transformation promises an end to existing institutions of power and, therefore, infuses millennial beliefs with a revolutionary quality that threatens those in authority.  Britannica

To understand millenarianism, consider the following points:

• Millenarianism is a belief in a coming transformation of society, often linked to religious prophecies.
• It typically involves the expectation of a "millennium," a period of peace and prosperity.
• Many millenarian movements anticipate a messianic figure or divine intervention.
• These beliefs can lead to social or political activism aimed at bringing about change.
• Millenarianism has appeared in various cultures and religions throughout history.
• It often reflects a response to social, economic, or political crises.  AI Summary

 

Adventism

Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (Second Advent) of Jesus Christ.  It originated in the 1830s in the US  during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher William Miller first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as Millerites. After Miller’s prophecies failed, the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement.  Wikipedia

Adventist, member of any one of a group of Protestant Christian churches that trace their origin to the US in the mid-19th century and that are distinguished by their emphasis on the belief that the personal, visible return of Christ in glory (i.e., the Second Coming  is close at hand, a belief shared by many Christians. While most Adventist groups remain relatively small, the Seventh-day Adventist Church  has become a significant global body, with congregations in more than 200 countries and a membership of more than 14 million.

Adventism is rooted in the millennial expectations recorded in the Bible.  From their biblical study, the Adventists came to believe that, at the Second Coming, Christ will separate the saints from the wicked and inaugurate his millennial (1,000-year) kingdom. The Adventists’ emphasis on the Second Coming led many of them to predict the date of its occurrence.

Britannica

 

 

 

  

12 Common Superstitions—Why?

 

Black cats crossing your path

Knock on wood

Breaking a mirror

Walking under a ladder

Opening an umbrella indoors

The number 13

Spilling salt

Horseshoes are good luck

Saying “bless you” after someone sneezes

Stepping on cracks

Wishing on a shooting star

Holding your breath while crossing a funeral precession or passing a cemetery

 

Who's superstitious?

  

Witches 1400 - 1800

Religion, science, magic, superstition—what’s the difference

Outbreaks of witchcraft trials and execution coincide with wars, famine, disease, social turbulence

Popular religion blurred lines between Christianity, paganism, and magic

1500s antagonistic climate between Reformation and Counter-Reformation—the greatest period of witch executions

1980s panic over diabolic cults sexually abusing children, recently QAnon

Who were accused--80% of suspected witches were women, old, lame, marginal status, beggars, willful, outspoken, aggressive, competitive-- Female willfulness seen as a threat

Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code—the church burned at the stake an astounding five million women”. Grossly exaggerated but popularly believed

In Europe, Scandinavia, and America, 90K to 100K witch trials took place between 1400 and 1800, about 30K to 40K executions took place, roughly 1 out of 10 were convicted and executed

Torture was used to extract confessions, torture believed to be “progressive”

 

 

Women are chiefly addicted to evil

Women are the fragile sex

A woman known no moderation; all wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman

What else is a woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil nature?

The lust of women leads them into all sins

The root of all women’s vices is avarice

Superstition is chiefly found among women

When a woman thinks alone, she thinks of evil

Women are intellectually like children

A woman is more carnal than men

When a woman weeps, she weaves snares

Women distract the minds of men

--lines taken from Malleus Malificarum, Heinrich Kramer (1487)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

True or False: Contagious Hysteria, Mass Deceptions, Conspiracy Theories, and Confidence Games

 

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Marcus Aurelius

 

Those who tell the stories rule society. 

Plato

HCOL 40000-665

Fall 2026

Honors Colloquium

Sadler 221

Tu Th, 11:00 AM-12:20 PM

 

Dan Williams, PhD

Director of TCU Press and TCU Honors Professor of Humanities

Office[s]: TCU Press (3000 Sandage), Sadler 427

Office Hours: Thursday and Friday, 8 AM-noon, at TCU Press, and by appointment (in person or virtual)

d.e.williams@tcu.edu

817-257-5907 office

 

Emails are usually the best way to reach me, and all emails from students are usually answered the same day.  For appointments, please email before our meeting to be sure where I will be.

 

Final Exercise:

Our final exercise will take place on Thursday, December 17, from 11 AM to 1:30 PM.

 

I will email you this syllabus before our first meeting and as well upload it and other courses materials to our D2L site.  I will also post grading points on D2L.

 

Our course blog, where I will upload materials and list your individual learning blogs is located at:

 https://trueorfalsefall26.blogspot.com/

 

Student resources, policies, and information can be located at: https://cte.tcu.edu/tcu-syllabus-policies/

 

Course Description:

True or False is a discussion-based Honors colloquium that examines a variety of deceptive truth claims.  In the context of a world dominated by digital realities, deep fakes, and “alternate facts,” this course investigates historical and contemporary occurrences when multitudes of people were misled by deceptive truth claims.  After an initial discussion of current scams and swindles, such as phishing and catfishing, the course will proceed loosely chronologically to consider the Salem Witch hysteria, when nineteen people were executed and hundreds more accused of witchcraft, the mid-nineteenth century Millerite Movement, when hundreds of thousands of people literally believed the world would end on a prophesized date, the White Slave Trade hysteria of the early 1900s, when thousands of people across the US were in panic believing that young white girls were being kidnapped and sold into slavery, several of the world’s most notorious con men and swindlers such as Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes, religious cults such as the Branch Davidians in Waco and, and conclude with hoaxes and conspiracy theories.  Throughout the course, the manipulation of belief will be examined.  Readings will kept short to allow students to research course topics for themselves by examining a variety of books, online sources, films, and videos.

 

Prerequisite & Concurrent enrollment:

You must be enrolled in the Honors College to take this colloquium.

 

Recommended Print Sources:

Catch Me If You Can, The True Story of a Real Fake, Frank Abagnale, Crown, 2002

The Confidence Man in American Literature, Gary Lindberg, Oxford University Press, 1982

Cults: Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups, Max Cutler, Gallery Books, 2022

The Death of Expertise, Tom Nichols, Oxford University Press, 2024

The Death of Truth, Steven Brill, Knopf, 2024

The Delusions of Crowds, William J. Bernstein, 2024

Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls: The War on the White Slave Trade, Ernest A. Bell, 1910

The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can, Alan Logan, 2021

History’s Greatest Deceptions, Steven Lazaroff and Mark Rodger, 2018

The Salem Witch Hunt, Richard Godbeer, Bedford St. Martins, 2017

 

Films:  

The Music Man, 1962

The Flimflam Man, 1967

Paper Moon, 1973

The Sting, 1973

Trading Places, 1983

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988

The Grifters, 1990

The Usual Suspects, 1995

The Crucible, 1996

The Spanish Prisoner, 1998

The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999

Heartbreakers, 2001

K-Pax, 2001

Catch Me If You Can, 2002 (Frank Abagnale)

The Italian Job, 2003

Matchstick Men, 2003

Confidence, 2003

Idiocracy, 2006

Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, 2007

The Wave, 2008

Catfish, 2010

American Hustle, 2013

The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013

Now You See Me, 2013

The Greatest Showman, 2017

The Inventor, 2019 (Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos)

 

Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok)

 

Teaching Philosophy:

I value all perspectives, and I do not believe there are dumb questions or right or wrong answers.  I teach through discussion, so I do not lecture or test for short-term memorization.  I will introduce subjects, concepts, contexts, and situations, and I will do my best to engage you in critical discussions.  My aim is not to train you to think like me—but to motivate you to think for yourselves.  Learning is a process of self-discovery, and you learn best when you are active and interested.  Every course I teach is partnership, and I ask students to actively contribute to its success.  My goal is always to help students develop their intellectual acumen and their own critical perspectives.

 

True or False Learning Outcomes:

1.        A general familiarity with truth theories and current global and national issues concerning the validity of truth claims and the manipulation of belief.

2.        An understanding of confirmation bias and related

3.        An overview of current deep fake practices

4.        A general familiarity with the historical development of the Salem Witch Hunt

5.        A general familiarity with historical mass delusions, particularly the Millerite Movement and the White Slavery Panic

6.        A general familiarity with historical con games and confidence men

7.        A general familiarity with current online practices of fraud, imposture, and deception.

8.        A general familiarity with depictions of fraud and deception in popular media (film, television, and social media)

 

Honors Colloquia Outcomes:

1.        Students will integrate knowledge across different modes or domains,

2.        Students will develop informed, course-related perspectives grounded in their identities, values, and academic learning.

 

Course Requirements:

 

1)    Attendance and Participation.  Discussion and participation are essential requirements of this colloquium. Students are required to take an active part in the colloquium and to contribute to its success.  In every class we will discuss the assigned texts, videos, and/or images, and in most classes there will be some sort of in-class activity (brief writing assignments, group work, assigned research and discussions).  Anyone absent will not receive credit for these activities.  Missing more than six classes during the term will result in a drop of one letter grade.

 

2)    Familiarity with the Texts and videos.  A knowledge of the assigned texts and videos is crucial and expected.  Please prepare for each class by reading, viewing, and/or reviewing what’s assigned.  I expect that you will be able to demonstrate a familiarity with our course subjects by contributing to our discussions.  I assign participation points to those who demonstrate active class engagement.  There are three ways you can do this: speaking up during class discussions, writing about content and your reactions in your class journals, or talking with me during my office hours (in person or virtual).

 

3)    Learning Journals.  Throughout the semester you are required to keep an online journal (a blog) and post a minimum of twelve entries—six before Fall Break, and six before Finals.  In these entries you are asked to comment specifically on your learning experiences—particularly about what you’ve read, viewed, and/or researched in this course, and what you learned from our class discussions.  More generally, you are welcome to comment about all of your learning experiences (both inside and outside of classrooms).  In response to our assigned texts and videos, I encourage you to comment on what you found to interesting, informative, useful and/or relevant. You are equally welcome to comment on what you did not find to be interesting, informative, useful, and/or relevant.  What you write is up to you, but I ask is that you honestly reflect on your learning experiences and assess the value of these experiences in terms of your own life.  Entries should be a minimum of around 250 words in length.

 

I strongly recommend that you use Google’s Blogger for your online learning

 journals.  It is one of the oldest blogger platforms, but it is by far the easiest.  There

 is no learning curve.  I will create a central course website using Blogger, and I will use it for course content and to link your individual blogs.

 

My primary interest is having you reflect on your learning experiences.  My goal is that you develop your own critical perspectives. 

 

Plato once wrote: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

 

Anyone who waits until the week before midterms or finals to post 3 or more journal entries will receive half credit for those entries.  Keeping your learning journal is an exercise in self-reflection as you learn and should not be reduced to an academic “homework” assignment that can completed at the last minute simply to complete the assignment.

 

4)    In-class Research Presentations.  Student research is a primary course emphasis, and the presentations will be scored according to the range and depth of student work. 

 

Throughout the semester students will take part in four presentations.  1) Topics Research (2), 2) Popular Media (film reviews), and 3) Campus Surveys.  Students will work in teams of 2 for each of these three assignments. 

 

For the two topics research, students will present their research on two of the course’s primary subject areas by researching and and presenting relevant information concerning their subject areas, such as an overview of historical events and/or episodes, the social and cultural causes, the motivations of the people involved, and the consequences and repercussions of the events and/or episodes (plus any fun facts they discovered).  Your primary task is to discover and present relevant information about your topics to the rest of the class.  In addition to informing the class concerning what happened and who was involved, teams must try to explain relevance of their topics—why is it important to know about this subject?

 

For the popular media presentations, students will present their research on popular media depictions of con men, scam artists, trickers, scoundrels, and swindlers primarily in film (see above list of suggested films) but also in social media (such as Tik Tok and YouTube). Teams will preview, introduce, present, and discuss the depictions con men, scam artists, trickers, and swindlers in film and social media, noting how their depictions reveal them as heroes, antiheroes, or just plain scoundrels.  Each team will preview its film or social media site in advance, choose up to 15-20 minutes of video clips, and then prepare brief introductions for each of the sequences they’ve chosen. The primary focus of their introductions and discussions should demonstrate how con men, tricksters, and swindlers have been  marketed for popular audiences and as well how these depictions compare to the historical representations.  Teams may also offer critical assessments on their media’s overall quality, representations, techniques, and can conclude can with rotten tomatoes assessments. 

 

For the Campus surveys, students will interview other students, faculty, and staff concerning current fraudulent practices on campus and/or concerns about truth-telling.  The specific survey questions will be developed collaboratively in class, but the basic ideas are to discover if others on campus know about, and are concerned about, truth telling and/or fraudulence, cheating, swindling, and deceit at TCU.  What deceitful practices they have observed or experienced on campus. (online, in person, or in the classroom).  In a world where it is difficult to discern the difference between true and untrue, the surveys should ultimately assess whether campus members are worried about the fractures of truth telling.

 

All four presentations should be interactive and should engage the class in discussions.

 

5)    Final Class Assignment: What Have I learned Videos.  For the final course assignment, (still) teams of 2 students will be required to create and present a brief video (8-10 minutes max) that offers a concluding reflection of the team’s thoughts, observations, and experiences throughout the semester.  There is no specific format or formula, but teams are asked to reflect on what they experienced as learners that was relevant.  What did you learn that you thought was helpful and/or valuable. These videos should be engaging and creative.  Ultimately, each team must create a video responding to one overall question: What are you going to take away from this course?  What are your actual outcomes compared to the course outcomes?

 

These videos will be shown on our designated final exam slot during finals week, Thursday, December 17, from 11 AM to 1:30 PM.

 

6)    Never Use the Non-Word “Very.”  Throughout the semester, I ask that you exclude the non-word “very” in all class writing.  It is used so frequently that it has become meaningless.  English has a rich vocabulary, and there are far stronger words to intensify thoughts and feelings.  People who frequently use it demonstrate a lack of vocabulary.  There will not be points taken away for its use, but there will be 3 extra credit points for any student who never used the non-word in their writing.

 

Course Assignments and Final Grade:

Attendance and Participation               20%

Learning Journals                                             30%

Research/ Review Presentations       40%                                          

Final Presentations                                         10%

Eradicating the Non-Word Very           3 points extra credit

 

For alternatives to the non-word:

                  https://englishstudyonline.org/words-to-use-instead-of-very/

                  https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/words-other-than-very

https://lingoharvest.com/english/grammar/adjectives-adverbs/58-better-adjectives-than-very.html

 

Grading Scale:

A               94-100

A-             90-93

B+           86-89

B               81-85

B-             78-80

C+           75-77

C              73-74

C-            70-72

D+           67-69

D              64-66

D-            60-63

 

Course Schedule:

 

T, 8/25

Introduction

 

Tr, 8/27

Truth, confirmation bias, and alternate facts

“Six Times Seven Is Not Forty-One,” The Death of Truth (2024) 9-page handout

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201808/what-is-truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kho5KvPBDSw

confirmation bias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zoWTb3KP-k

confirmation bias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cebFWOlx848

what is truth, illusion of truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HLe58bJF2I

what is truth, historically

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1OvbwY6GPM

truth is drowning

 

T, 9/01

Paper Moon

 

Tr, 9/03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk08WKT71dQ

propaganda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtpHX3nr7uE

propaganda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UF6zAqDSJE

propaganda

https://www.un.org/en/countering-disinformation

UN document

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1OvbwY6GPM

safeguard your mind

 

 

 

T, 9/08

Deep Fakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OqFY_2JE1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7akzhpx0EIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W631WArdFOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuufkPTFt0E

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d2wgvg55jo?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Presentation: Yasmine and Ana

 

Tr, 9/10

Online scams, Phishing, cat phishing, spear phishing

https://www.phishing.org/what-is-phishing

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams

https://us.norton.com/blog/online-scams/what-is-catfishing

https://www.spokeo.com/compass/what-you-need-to-know-about-catphishing/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at53zE5zOH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_7sP-yaZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY5suVb0BSI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etSfYERBK28

Presentation: Mia and Olivia

 

T, 9/15

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Presentation: Daniel and Grace

 

Tr, 9/17

Social Engineering

 

T, 9/22

Salem Witch Hysteria

https://www.history.com/articles/salem-witch-trials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sv93yRPQSs

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3h6pyWrOq4

Presentation: Sandra and Ashley

 

Tr, 9/24

The Wave

Presentation: Sophie and Styrling

 

T, 9/29

The Millerite Movement

https://www.thoughtco.com/millerites-definition-1773334

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism

https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/william-miller-convinced-thousands-millerites-world-end/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXzKNeosMvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcnJMGOPbi8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90mZj5YdRyc

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SiP_rIdUJ-E

Presentation: Kristina and Christiauna

 

Tr, 10/01

Werewolves and Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Presentation: DW

 

T, 10/06

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Presenters: Elle and Lauren

 

Tr, 10/08

Fall Break

 

T, 10/13

White Slave Trade Hysteria

https://www.npr.org/2008/03/11/88104308/the-long-colorful-history-of-the-mann-act

https://reason.com/2008/03/13/the-white-slavery-panic/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/white-slavery-origins-of-anti-trafficking-movement/

https://www.npr.org/2008/03/11/88104308/the-long-colorful-history-of-the-mann-act

https://reason.com/2008/03/13/the-white-slavery-panic/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/white-slavery-origins-of-anti-trafficking-movement/

Presentation: Elle and Lauren

 

Tr, 10/15

Cults, Waco

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Branch-Davidian

https://allthatsinteresting.com/branch-davidians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhKmRtBfxjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GJhsnxcsrY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3B7iWE1PrA

Presentation: Styrling and Sophie

 

T, 10/20

The Italian Job

Presentation: Sandra and Ashley

 

Tr, 10/22

Hoaxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKzZ9d7PtzA [tulip mania]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUuo4M2aLwE

https://www.historytools.org/stories/the-most-infamous-hoaxes-in-history-deception-trickery-and-the-power-of-belief

https://allthatsinteresting.com/con-artists

https://moneyinc.com/the-20-most-notorious-con-artists-of-all-time/

Presentation: Mia and Olivia

 

T, 10/27

Now You See Me

Presentation: Yasmine and Ana

 

Tr, 10/29

Conspiracy theories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW5VGdL4brQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCQx2hlEPEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3JIRvP-7m8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVXPEemu8g

Presentation: Sandra and Ashley

 

T, 11/03

The Greatest Showman

Presentation: Kristina and Christiauna

 

Tr, 11/05

Con Man or Genius, P. T. Barnum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBw9A5s4wBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vnlpj4vIcU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL-9DmnZRYM

https://barnum-museum.org/about/the-man-the-myth-the-legend/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vnlpj4vIcU&t=41s

https://www.britannica.com/biography/P-T-Barnum

Presentation: Kristina and Christiauna

 

 

T, 11/10

Swindlers, Victor Lustig, Charles Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe2iQ1f-IYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-MT7ClmvlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywMqxYwHfqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-fJmJrq_0

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-smoothest-con-man-that-ever-lived-29861908/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Lustig

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker

https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/conman-sold-brooklyn-bridge.htm

Presentation (Lustig): Yasmine and Ana

Presentation (Parker): Sophia and Erin

 

Tr, 11/12

Swindlers, Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4waqVKanxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDQG-ZKRFg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4waqVKanxA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bernie-Madoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE-zDmbokos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al5SLsoe0C0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1Y66IwKvc

Presentation (Ponzi): Sophia and Erin

Presentation (Madoff): Grace and Daniel

 

T, 11/17

Frank Abagnale, Elizabeth Holmes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIYtKR24LQs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UmcxQto7UU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9vRVyI-3yM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIqF95qiQSs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLwtxDxWxUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8PogrCTCsA

Presentation (Abagnale): Elle and Lauren

Presentation (Holmes): Sophie and Styrling

 

Tr, 11/19

Catch Me If You Can

Presentation: Mia and Olivia

 

T, 11/24

Thanksgiving Break

 

Tr, 11/26

Thanksgiving Break

 

 

T, 12/01

Deception in Social Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7VtVy0WJ8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFHbruKEmw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n94qNB9V5ZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN8alp5-C7U

Presentation I: Sandra and Ashley

Presentation II: Grace and Daniel

 

Tr, 12/03

The Wolf of Wall Street

Presentation: Sophia and Erin

 

T, 12/08

Class Surveys

All Teams Presentation

 

Technology Policies:

Laptops and iPads are welcome in class, but I ask you not to use cell phones for anything during class time.

 

Writing and the Use of AI-Generated Writing:

Writing is an extremely important requirement in our course.  I consider writing to be an act of discovery and a significant learning tool.  You learn about your subjects, your thoughts, and ultimately yourself by writing.

 

Use of Chat GPT and other AI platforms are neither forbidden nor required.  If you use it, I require that you cite its use as a source the same way you cite other sources used in your research and writing.  Unacknowledged use of AI-generated text may be academic misconduct and/or a violation of professional ethics.

 

Keeping a personal blog tracking your learning experiences is your most important assignment in this course, and I expect you describe your personal thoughts, observations, and reactions to our course content and discussion.  Chat GPT cannot do this for you.  Your course blog is not academic discourse that you need to stress over.  Your blog entries should more resemble a personal letter rather than a formal essay. I challenge you to develop your critical perspectives and to be ambitious about your writing, but my primary challenge is for you to honestly reflect on your learning experiences.