Sneaky Excuses
Now ask students if there are times when we know something is wrong, but we do it anyway – or times when we don’t do something even though we know it’s the right thing to do.
Distribute the student chapter Sneaky Excuses and go through it with the class, then have students complete the interactive quiz to make sure they understand the different types of sneaky excuses.
Point out to students that it’s very easy to let ourselves be convinced by sneaky excuses: everyone probably agrees at least somewhat with some of those statements. Explain that the best way to keep ourselves from falling for sneaky excuses is to learn to recognize them, so we can make a habit of countering them.
Next, distribute the student chapter There’s No Excuse and have students watch the videos and complete the quizzes. You can have students work individually, in pairs, or small groups, or project the videos and complete the activity together as a class.
Make sure students identify these sneaky excuses:
- It’s Real to Me: Ask students how the excuse (“It’s not even real”) minimizes the harm done by making deepfakes.
- She Knew the Risks: Ask students how the excuse (“She knew the risks when she sent it”) blames the victim for what the boy did wrong.
- He’ll Thank Me Later: Ask students how the excuse (“He’ll thank me later probably”) lets the person pretend that she was actually doing something positive instead of something harmful.
- One More Person: Ask students how the excuse (“It’s not like it’ll matter to her if one more person shares it”) lets the person pretend that what she’s doing doesn’t hurt the person in the photo.