Episodes
Wednesday Jun 30, 2010
17: Majority rule and minority experience
Wednesday Jun 30, 2010
Wednesday Jun 30, 2010
America functions with a careful balance on a couple of ideas. One is majority rule. The other is checks/balances on power. Controls are in place specifically to prevent oppression of minority groups. Always get suspicious when you hear someone complain about "the will of the majority" being thwarted. Does such a majority know what it's like to be on the other side? I don't believe we've advanced as far in race relations as some Americans might suggest. Different Drummer: Carlton Douglas Ridenhour
Sunday Jun 20, 2010
16: Whether we take fathers for granted, or loss?
Sunday Jun 20, 2010
Sunday Jun 20, 2010
My father has been gone for close to two decades now. I miss him more than I ever have. I'm still not yet older than he was when he died, and I sense that his life experience could inform me greatly today. Some sociologists believe that the absence of dads is a big factor in the problems we are facing. There may be many things that our children, collectively, are not hearing from fathers. Not just hard words, either; the list surely includes laughter. Different Drummer: Jacques Clouseau
Tuesday Jun 15, 2010
15: Declaring war on ‘Just Say No’
Tuesday Jun 15, 2010
Tuesday Jun 15, 2010
When it comes to drugs and drug policies, we'd better say much more than just "no." In many ways, the "just say no" campaign invested its power in the simplicity of ignorance. After all, if you merely abstain then you never have to understand what you are abstaining from. Or do you? Education is crucial because knowledge is the only way to avoid being duped ... or doped. Different Drummer: Steven D. Levitt
Friday Jun 04, 2010
14: Sex education the Protestant way; then, not now
Friday Jun 04, 2010
Friday Jun 04, 2010
Knowledge is power, and it is very difficult to resist temptations that come out of nowhere. Being prepared and understanding consequences are crucial ways of making good choices when other options are very tempting. When I was growing up, 10 years old, education was the approach my parents and my church used for sexuality. And it wasn't "abstinence only" either. I openly wonder whether my Protestant denomination would handle sex education the same way today, or at all. Different Drummer: Alex Comfort