Turkey Day is behind us, and the winter holidays and 2016 await. Despite the weather, this is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the holiday spirit, and I do feel as though people are more generous this time of year.
However, we live in a world in which too many need our generosity and our best effort every month, every week, every day. Over the next few weeks we will prepare for a holiday shared by a billion people around the world, and I hope the prevailing spirit of that season will be an opportunity for some much needed and tough conversation.
As always, happy Wednesday and happy reading!
This Day in History
1954 - The Senate votes 65-22 to condemn the behavior of Senator Joe McCarthy, the famous architect of McCarthyism, America's Cold War era Salem Witch Hunt. McCarthy claimed that communist spies had infiltrated every level of the American government and military. His unsubstantiated vitriol and fear destroyed the livelihoods of many innocent individuals and helped create a toxic domestic environment. Ultimately, his colleagues tired of all this and voted to censure him. McCarthy's tactics and message are on full display today as our politicians rush to condemn the terrorists who are undermining our society and values the same way McCarthy condemned the communists. This behavior isn't constructive, serves as a recruitment tool for the actual terrorists, and ultimately does nothing to help the West win the ideological and psychological war. It would be nice to think we could remember lessons learned so recently. Alas we now live in a world of the Red Scare revisited. Based on the map below, do you think Oklahoma is under a greater or lesser threat from terrorists today than it was from communists in 1950?
Talking is Tough
The world is full of different peoples with different attitudes and mindsets, not to mention all variety of different problems. It's no secret that when we fail to fill the gap among those differences with dialogue that conflict often erupts, but that doesn't mean talking is easy. In fact, we often battle over the semantics of our own conversations rather than using them to spur change.
Today's first article from Maria in NYC addresses a large part of the problem, the enforced creation of educational "safe zones," in which certain ideas are too sensitive to be discussed (from the Atlantic). The problem is that the real world is full of horrible issues which must be resolved, and if we aren't able to discuss and dissect them in a classroom, it's hard to imagine we're going to fix them outside of one. Classrooms are safe when we can grapple with difficult questions calmly and respectfully, not when they are "cleansed" of "offensive" content. Such learning environments are an injustice to the students and all of those who need their future ideas and leadership. The world needs problem-solvers, timidity need not apply.
Speech and Progress
There are, of course, people who are simply offensive, but censoring or drowning out ideas does not eliminate them but rather validates them, even if those ideas have little or no merit of their own. This is what our founding fathers understood about free speech, bad ideas cannot be repressed, but must be challenged and exposed in the public forum where they can wither and die. Debate and conversation are necessary for progress. Censorship, governmental or otherwise, is an impediment to progress, even if the ideas being censored are bad or hateful (from the Economist).
E-Talk
For all the wonders of the internet, it has certainly enabled us to water down our discourse. It's hard to fit nuance into 140 characters, but we've simplified it even more (from Medium). I don't blame people for wanting to show respect and sympathy for victims of the Paris attacks, or to show their support for gay marriage, but changing a profile picture on Facebook doesn't do much to address the issues. I fear that by simplifying things this much we create the illusion we are bringing change without doing the work needed to actually affect it.
The Hard Truth
Conversation is difficult because it forces us to face some hard truths about ourselves rather than hiding from them. One of the hardest truths, and one of the most deadly, is the that much of the horrific violence we see in our own country is caused by white men with similar profiles (from Southern Poverty Law Center). As a white man, that's not a fun fact, but if we are going to address the issue and the underlying causes we need to talk about the problem. As absurd as it may sound to some, many white men do feel lost in a country that is changing rapidly. If you are someone who might scoff at that, consider the deadly manifestations of these feelings and then ask yourself if a better future doesn't involve mitigating and addressing them too.
Memphis's Own!
Straight out of Graceland (sort of), meet Presley! Yes he's named for one famous Elvis Aaron P, and yes he's got his namesake's rhythm and energy. He's a hyper little man with a ferocious under-bite. In fact, Presley needs a specialty bowl for his meals so he can scoop his food out.
Despite his yeti-like appearance, Presley is a laid back guy looking for a good tummy rub. He'll run around like crazy, but only until he finds someone to pet him, which is what every dog really wants! Big thanks to Christina in DC (formerly of Memphis) for sharing Presley!!
Will's Weekly Trivia!
I'm not going to stop badgering you to send theopt-in form to friends, and to fill out the feedback form, but a few weeks ago someone asked for trivia, so I'm going to honor that suggestion by at least attempting this.
Here's how it will work. Each week, I will include one "trivia" question. Questions will be related someway, somehow to the digest and/or the linked articles, so you should be able to anticipate the content (and perhaps even find the answers!) in the digest. Questions will take multiple formats - at least for the time being - and there will only be one question each week.
IF you choose to answer the question, respond to staton.will@gmail.com with your answer. Please note that by competing you are giving me permission to publish your first name in the trivia section each week as I will keep a running tally of the score. Length of the trivia game and prize for the winner are TBD, but obviously there is a lot of pride on the line! And I assume at least a few people will cheat :)
TRIVIA!
1. In addition to Paris and Beirut, Daesh (ISIS) recently carried out an attack against Russian interests in citizens, but outside of Russia. In which country did this take place?
