A lot of what we’ll look at in this course has to do with why we think, feel, and believe the things that we do, but another large part is considering why we do the things that we do.
Before we study those things, I thought it might be interesting to see how many you can pick out and explain even before we begin. Recently I watched a movie that included a lot of interesting factors that went into a very complicated case.
On Saturday, May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, 12-year-olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured 12-year-old Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to impress the fictional character Slender Man. It was a horrific attack, but miraculously, the victim survived. (source)
Obviously, the two girls did something horrible and wrong, but WHY? Yes, the story made the news because they did this to impress the fictional character, Slenderman, but that doesn’t quite explain it all.
We’ll watch a documentary that explores the case in detail. As the movie progresses, you’ll be introduced to different factors that led up to the attack. Your job is to list, and eventually try to explain, as many factors as possible.
What all went into making these two seemingly innocent girls do something horrible? What were they thinking/feeling? Why did they do it?
I will tell you that factors can be INTERNAL and EXTERNAL. Other than that, at this point, I won’t tell you much, because I want to see what you can figure out by watching. It might be interesting to revisit this after we’ve studied more.