I am glad that you acknowledged that conservatives are ready and open to debate their opinions. I am also glad to hear that “conservative ideas are still valuable in moderation.” I wish that I could return the compliments.
Without listening to and critically thinking about opinions – even when we know them to be fully, utterly wrong – we lose any reason to reexamine and reevaluate our own opinions. Without contemplation, we become complacent in our established beliefs, and eventually we simply accept them as truth.
Harvey hit every part of Houston. It didn’t discriminate based on race or class or political affiliation. In this way, the natural disaster eliminated the elements of our society that so often play a role in discussion and in our discourse. It equalized people, taking away semblances of difference and division. Everyone was hurt, and everyone is still hurting.
Ryan Born is within his First Amendment rights to express his appalling point of view, and in each of these possible interpretations of his intent, the rest of us have a moral obligation to condemn what he has said. Shame on him!
While a traditional liberal arts education is intellectually uplifting, another may ask: is it worthwhile considering the jobs required today?
Puerto Rico, home to over 3.4 million American citizens, just went through one of the most severe natural disasters in its history when Hurricane Maria unleashed a siege of flooding and winds upon it.
PGSU: "There is no room in a civil, democratic society for these two positions to 'debate' on an even playing field. Allowing or encouraging such “debate” does not affirm 'free speech' but instead threatens many people whose safety and personhood has long been devalued."
Last week, the Spanish police arrested 14 Catalan officials in Barcelona. The conflict between the Catalans and the Spanish government has escalated in recent weeks, ahead of a referendum scheduled for October 1, in which Catalans want to decide whether to remain in Spain or to become independent.
It was in that moment that I realized I had adopted an unpopular and possibly sacrilegious opinion among college students: I dislike free food.
“Can I say Mandarin to describe the language that you are speaking?” “What do you mean your Chinese name isn’t Flora?” These sorts of questions were met with hilarity from Chinese people who had never been so brashly questioned by a foreigner. But the answers were kindly given, even if they were also condescending. I accepted it and took the time to understand that the answers were usually this one person’s opinion or explanation, not representative of the entire Chinese populace.
The date was September 6. The news said that the force of Hurricane Irma would hit later that day. We were as prepared as we could be and braced for the storm. The wind gradually grew stronger as the day got longer and the night drew nearer. My Mom, Dad, and I stepped outside on our patio many times to see increasingly worsening conditions. Our last outside visit before Irma invaded was seeing one of our fondest trees enduring such high wind force bashing that it cracked in half, like an inflatable stick man used in car advertisements.
We face the demoralising suggestion that our classes are less rigorous, our schedules less demanding, our aspirations less ambitious.
President Eisgruber recently penned a letter to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, urging the Committee to “refrain from interrogating nominees about the religious or spiritual foundations of their jurisprudential views.” The issue arose at the confirmation hearing of Amy Barrett, a Catholic law professor and nominee for a judicial appointment.