The Dissidents

In the second of our two-part series, Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman, Jr. talk with Brent Hamachek about his book Dissidently Speaking. As self-proclaimed Dissidents in their own book, Letters in Black and White, Jen and Wink were excited to hear from Brent on how he defines “dissidently speaking.”  In this episode, we work to define labels like “left,” and “right,” examine how we’ve co-opted terms (e.g. communism and liberalism), explore the manipulation of slogan words (e.g. marginalization and woke), discuss a variety of ethics, including objective ethics, “Tootsie Roll” ethics, and the “Golden Rule,” and emphasize the power of metaphor.

Join us for a conversation on how we can “sober up” from our conflict addictions and just… do better.

Podcast Resources:

In the first of our two-part series, Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman, Jr. talk with Brent Hamachek about his book Dissidently Speaking. As self-proclaimed Dissidents in their own book, Letters in Black and White, Jen and Wink were excited to hear from Brent on how he defines “dissidently speaking.”  We discuss the power of language, including changing the statement “it is” to the question “is it,” the danger of false axioms, our addiction to confrontation, the need for discernment and defining terms in our communication, especially in our use of social media, how we are good at labeling but bad at describing, the declination of codependence and the importance of exchanging left and right labels with a simple question – how much freedom are we willing to give up?

Join us next week as we go deeper into labels, slogan words and dogma.

Podcast Resources:

In today’s episode, Chris and Joia interview Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky, who has been the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. Brandy discusses the importance of free speech and the erosion of this right in recent years, which makes us become more “robot-like”. She also emphasizes the need for education on democratic values and free speech in K-12 schools.

Learn more at: https://jilv.org/

In this week's episode Mark Horowitz joins us for a discussion about potential racism revealed by online daters' preferences. In a recent published critique of a book on the subject, Mark questions the authors' claims of systematic and racially exclusionary patterns in online dating. The book was based on a large dataset and we appreciate the complexity of the process used to compile the descriptive statistics. However, we question the authors' conclusions when there are many alternative biosocial explanations. Mark and Elizabeth agree that reducing daters' discriminatory behavior to racism is not supported by the data, and is particularly ill-considered in today's polarized ideological environment.

Podcast Notes

Horowitz, M. (2023). The Dating Dupe―The Limits of Biosocially Unfriendly Sociology. Controversial Ideas, 3(2).

Curington, C. V., Lundquist, J. H., & Lin, K. H. (2021). The dating divide: Race and desire in the era of online romance. University of California Press.

The topic of this week's episode is the long history of biases inherent to the book reviews used for library collection decisions. Elizabeth is joined by academic librarian Pamela Hayes Bohanan to discuss 60 years of research and reflection about the limited exposure librarians get to the large corpus of potential acquisitions.  While perspectives differ, there is little disagreement that publishers, editors, and book review publications are impacting what appears in your local public and academic libraries.

Podcast notes

April Liberalism in Practice Panel Discussion: McCarthyism in the Stackshttps://youtu.be/_xwjUR7tNGM?si=LlwxLTrZqEyvy7MC

Pokornowski, E., & Schonfeld, R. C. (2024, March 28). Censorship and Academic Freedom in the Public University Library. 

Best, P. (2024). How to Combat the Biased School Library Book Selection Process.

Gordon, Rosalie M. (1961). Why you can't find conservative books in public libraries.  Human Events, 18, 591-4.

Macleod, B. (1981). Library Journal and Choice: A Review of Reviews. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 7(1), 23-28.

Kister, K. (2002). The conscience of a reference reviewer. Journal of Information Ethics, 11(1).

Join in as Chris and Joia speak with Ken Pope, the Vice President for Academic Operations and Strategic Partnerships at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Ken discusses the importance of free speech and the need for a robust understanding of ideologies like Marxism, socialism, and communism. He also emphasizes the role of education in promoting a complete understanding of these ideologies and the negative consequences of totalitarian systems. Ultimately, Ken encourages aspiring free speech leaders to become informed, stand up, and speak out: “If you would be the first man or woman to stand up, I guarantee you, you will not be alone."

See: https://victimsofcommunism.org/

In this bonus episode, we share the recording of our Liberal Values in Practice livestream about the current state of libraries and librarianship, including comparisons to McCarthy era fears. Library professionals Pamela Hayes-Bohanan, Sara Hartman-Caverly and Caroline Nappo define McCarthyism in both its historic and contemporary contexts and its relationship to library work.  The panelists answered a series of questions about the exponential rise of book challenges from both the left and the right, funding pressures, author de-platforming, as well as biases in publishing and collection practices.  

Podcast Notes

This bonus episode is one of a series of panel discussions ILV hosts monthly. Learn how you can participate in live discussions by visiting ILValues.org, signing up for our newsletter, or visiting us on Circle for access to past events and notice about upcoming events.

American Library Association reports record number of unique book titles challenged in 2023: https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

‘My Heart Sank’: In Maine, a Challenge to a Book, and to a Town’s Self-Image Wealthy, liberal-leaning Blue Hill prided itself on staying above the fray — until the library stocked a book that drew anger from the left:  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/us/libraries-book-bans.html

In this bonus episode, we share the recording of our Liberal Values in Practice livestream with Helen Pluckrose. ILV Director Jen Richmond and Dissidents Podcast hosts Mike and Elizabeth discuss Helen's new book, The Counterweight Handbook: Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice - at Work, in Schools, and Beyond. We ask Helen what Liberalism means. We also ask what Critical Social Justice is, whether it remains a genuine threat, and what the average person can do when faced with an ethical choice between silent submission to ideological pressures and often very risky opposition. There is no better person to answer these questions, and the new handbook cuts through the jargon of critical theory to help readers decide how best to stand up for their individual liberties and universal rights.

Podcast Notes:

This bonus episode is one of a series of panel discussions ILV hosts monthly. Learn how you can participate in live discussions by visiting ILValues.org, signing up for our newsletter, or visiting us on Circle for access to past events and notice about upcoming events.

FIRE on Elizabeth’s story

George Orwell on the proper making of tea

In this episode, co-hosts Chris and Joia have the pleasure of speaking with Pam Hayes-Bohanan, a librarian with a career spanning nearly three decades. She shares her journey and insights on the importance of free speech, including discussing how her upbringing and experiences shaped her beliefs. She emphasizes the need for diverse voices and critical thinking, highlighting the importance of allowing ideas to be shared. Pam also discusses the role of libraries in providing credible information and promoting education on thinking skills.

See: https://heterodoxacademy.org/blog/utopia-in-the-stacks/

In this week's episode Steven James Lawrence joins Elizabeth for a discussion of critical theory, teaching in K-12 and college, as well as what he calls an organic perspective on diversity, equity and inclusion. We talk about the healing value of stories and the potentially destructive nature of community prescribed victim narratives. Stephen describes his success in inviting colleagues on an inclusiveness-focused journey, an alternative to often resented and ineffectual top-down methods of DEI enforcement.

Podcast Notes

Steven James Lawrence has served as chair of the Faculty Development Committee at the Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, a Federally-designated Minority Serving Institution (MSI), where he promoted "invitational" approaches to DEI that were non-ideological.

Steven's substack

Steven's Organic DEI substack postSteven's personal reflections on contemporary social theories and how they disconnect us from ourselves and one another

Pasupathi, M., Fivush, R., & Hernandez-Martinez, M. (2016). Talking about it: Stories as paths to healing after violence. Psychology of Violence, 6(1), 49-56.