One subject that Donald Trump has renewed conversation about is political correctness. He is not for it, and that has pushed many to also challenge it. Political correctness is now often allied with identity politics and that is seen by its critics as a cause of liberals. On the other hand there are those who still believe in the values inherent in free speech and political correctness even if their meaning is not always uniform. Yet, for others still free speech has come to mean being able to say what one wants without regards to notions of political correctness. Free speech came out of the free speech movement of the 60’s which itself ushered in or reinforced the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and LGBT rights. The idea was to leave behind old ways and old patterns which were discriminatory, for example Continue reading “Political Correctness and Sensitive Speech”
Category: Better Relations
Social Media Downside–A better Answer?
A law professor at Pace University noticed that the students he observed in a colleague’s classroom all took notes when the professor was speaking, but the rest of the time, when students were commenting, for example, they used their laptops to shop or check on Facebook. He then decided to ban all laptops in his own classroom. What he discovered was that when students were without laptops they interacted with each other. The discussions were livelier and hopefully more interesting. He explains in his NYT article that Continue reading “Social Media Downside–A better Answer?”
White Nationalists–The Chain’s Weak Link
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It’s a saying that seems to have relevance to Donald Trump’s election. Much is being said about those who form part of his base, if not the majority of it, the white nationalists, the alt-right, by whatever name those who have a belief system that to most of us represents intolerance. Given the trend of the US electorate, the trends of US society, these are people who seem anachronistic, with values that run counter to the movement of inclusiveness and pluralism. Their values appear to feed racism, sexism, homophobia , xenophobia and many of the categories which as a whole our society has been in travails to overcome. To many reading this it may be that Continue reading “White Nationalists–The Chain’s Weak Link”
Fears and Fear
An article about why some of us crave fear tickled my concern. It cited the research of Dr. Katherine Brownlowe, a behavioral neuropsychiatrist at Ohio State Medical Center. I googled her to see if I could get more information on her research. I wasn’t able to which of course does not mean it is not important. And too newspaper articles’ renditions of scientific research has been known not to provide full contexts and end up misleading. All that acknowledged, my concern is not lessened. The article was trying to give some idea of what it is that makes people seek Continue reading “Fears and Fear”