Lectures that examine the challenges that freedom, democracy, and human nature bring to bear on reasoned political discourse and debate in our country. While there are great issues facing our nation, American Democracy is organized around the central principal that open, fair and truthful debate, characterized by respect for opposing viewpoints is essential to a healthy democracy. We are committed to the values of respectful discourse — embracing civility and rejecting demagoguery — in government, media and our personal lives. “There can be no high civility without a deep morality.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Other Resources on Civil Discourse: Videos Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s January 10, 2011 Speech on Arizona Public Television Donna Brazile & Panel: Civil Discourse in Politics [C-SPAN] Going Beyond a Civil Discourse [Fox News] James A. S. Leach: Civility in a Fractured Society [University of South Carolina] Web Civility Pledge [Civility Project] Toward a More Civil Discourse [Southern Poverty Law Center] Nastiness, Name-calling, and Negativity [Allegheny College Survey on Civility] Steve Mintz: The Lost Art of Civility [Blog] Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities: Media Archive The Public Conversations Project: Critical Conversations On Challenging Issues Speaker Recommendations Jill Lepore recommends her statements and various articles: New York Times article [Jan 10, 2011 online edition] The New Yorker article [Jan 10, 2011 online edition] Speaker’s Forum [NPR station KUOW] Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address Jefferson’s 1st Inaugural Address The Paranoid Style in American Politics [by Richard Hofstadter for perspective on recent Arizona shooting.] Jeff Sharlet recommends these nonfiction accounts of inexplicable mass killings: Jo Ann Beard’s 1996 Essay: “The Fourth State of Matter” [about mass shooting at University of Iowa, from her book “Boys of My Youth”] Matthew Teague Essay: “The Aftermath” [about media narratives vs. lived experience following 2006 murder of 5 Amish girls in Paradise, PA] Joan Didion Essay: “The White Album [first few pages from Amazon preview, collected essays not available online]
Lectures that examine the challenges that freedom, democracy, and human nature bring to bear on reasoned political discourse and debate in our country. While there are great issues facing our nation, American Democracy is organized around the central principal that open, fair and truthful debate, characterized by respect for opposing viewpoints is essential to a healthy democracy. We are committed to the values of respectful discourse — embracing civility and rejecting demagoguery — in government, media and our personal lives. “There can be no high civility without a deep morality.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Other Resources on Civil Discourse: Videos Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s January 10, 2011 Speech on Arizona Public Television Donna Brazile & Panel: Civil Discourse in Politics [C-SPAN] Going Beyond a Civil Discourse [Fox News] James A. S. Leach: Civility in a Fractured Society [University of South Carolina] Web Civility Pledge [Civility Project] Toward a More Civil Discourse [Southern Poverty Law Center] Nastiness, Name-calling, and Negativity [Allegheny College Survey on Civility] Steve Mintz: The Lost Art of Civility [Blog] Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities: Media Archive The Public Conversations Project: Critical Conversations On Challenging Issues Speaker Recommendations Jill Lepore recommends her statements and various articles: New York Times article [Jan 10, 2011 online edition] The New Yorker article [Jan 10, 2011 online edition] Speaker’s Forum [NPR station KUOW] Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address Jefferson’s 1st Inaugural Address The Paranoid Style in American Politics [by Richard Hofstadter for perspective on recent Arizona shooting.] Jeff Sharlet recommends these nonfiction accounts of inexplicable mass killings: Jo Ann Beard’s 1996 Essay: “The Fourth State of Matter” [about mass shooting at University of Iowa, from her book “Boys of My Youth”] Matthew Teague Essay: “The Aftermath” [about media narratives vs. lived experience following 2006 murder of 5 Amish girls in Paradise, PA] Joan Didion Essay: “The White Album [first few pages from Amazon preview, collected essays not available online]
