tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162013782024-03-13T11:34:23.869-04:00Gruntled CenterExploring the Happy Society.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14377809238377382438noreply@blogger.comBlogger2718125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-4151693059495904792022-12-19T08:54:00.001-05:002022-12-19T08:54:51.621-05:00A Libertarian State is a Self-Inflicted Wound<p> </p><p>In the Cold War, the West's great advantage was that our adversaries had crippled themselves with an authoritarian state.</p><p>Since the Cold War, our adversaries' great advantage is that we have crippled ourselves with a libertarian state. <br /></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-11737211285855586912022-01-08T10:38:00.004-05:002022-01-08T10:38:35.633-05:00Russian Exports of Anti-Democratic Extremism, Then and Now<p> </p><p>The Russians promoted left-wing violent rejection of democracy in the 1970s to disrupt the West.</p><p>The Russians promote right-wing violent rejection of democracy today for the same reason.<br /></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-57507712468238675082021-07-25T12:49:00.002-04:002021-07-25T12:49:30.487-04:00Gender Complementarianism vs Male Headship<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Male headship is not the natural counterpart of gender complementarianism,
but its antithesis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Complementary and equal entails <i>dual</i> headship. We
need both parts of a complementary pair to have a functional whole.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The marital couple are meant to exercise headship, together,
over the <i>children.</i></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-34394243138592446462021-06-04T09:25:00.001-04:002021-06-04T09:25:12.098-04:00Cabbage<p> </p><p>The opposite of Garbage In; Garbage Out:</p><p> Cabbage In; Coleslaw Out. <br /></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-50698743473174367352020-11-15T09:41:00.002-05:002020-11-15T09:41:55.470-05:00There is No Necessary Connection Between Conservatism and Profit<p>The conservative parties in all the developed world have become the great protectors of profit-making against all forms of regulation and compassionate limitation.</p><p>Yet there is nothing inherently conservative about profit seeking. Quite the contrary - the profit motive is what makes capitalism so destructive of all traditional structures and relations, however creative that destruction might be.</p><p>The closest connection I see between conservatism and profit-seeking is the dour realism of (Calvinist-inflected) Adam Smith. Smith knew that profit seeking is based on the vice of avarice. He believed there was a way, though, to harness this individual vice into being a source of public good. However, to keep profit seeking within safe bounds, the market needs to be constantly controlled by the state and tempered by the virtues produced in civil society.</p><p>Unfettered profit-seeking is not conservative; it is the enemy of conserving the known and the good.<br /></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-148728494304091582020-10-15T09:11:00.002-04:002020-10-15T09:11:30.305-04:00Contrary to Rush Limbaugh, the Academy Does Not Teach That America is Irredeemable<p><span data-offset-key="2fncl-0-0"><span data-text="true">There are a handful of academics who say America is irredeemable. There are a handful of fanatics on the other side who say America is a savior nation (as Limbaugh does) -- a position I, as a church elder, regard as open heresy. </span></span></p><p><span data-offset-key="2fncl-0-0"><span data-text="true">The vast majority of academics are engaged in the search for truth about their topic, whatever that topic is and wherever the search for truth takes them. As teachers, we necessarily have to address the simplistic ideas that students bring with them. Some things they believe are outright myths. Teaching them that American history contains bad things as well as good ones is an essential aspect of good teaching and good truth-seeking. Some students (and quite a few non-students, like Limbaugh) resist having their idols questioned. This leads some academics to use very forceful language to insist that the bad things really did happen. I still get students who were taught that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. There are still students who are taught that racism ended in the '60s. </span></span></p><p><span data-offset-key="2fncl-0-0"><span data-text="true">I know as a sociologist that is it very hard for most people to grasp the idea of social structures. We tend to reduce all social phenomena to individuals intending their individual action. This makes teaching challenging. But pointing out that bad things did happen, are still happening, and have left a structural residue which continues to have effects beyond what any individual intends, is not the same as teaching that America is irredeemable. </span></span></p><p><span data-offset-key="2fncl-0-0"><span data-text="true">Limbaugh, who makes his money from sensationalized fear mongering, probably does know better (he has admitted as much in his several divorce proceedings), but it would interfere with his business model to admit it to his "dittoheads."</span></span></p><p><span data-offset-key="2fncl-0-0"><span data-text="true">[This was written in response to a friend asking about a specific Rush Limbaugh show from October 13, 2020, but repeats a theme he has expressed often.] <br /></span></span></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-77781082674684121972020-10-03T09:00:00.003-04:002020-10-03T09:00:38.619-04:00To Have a Scientific Mind<p> </p><p>To become a scientist, to have a scientific turn of mind, is to become the kind of person whose mind can be changed by facts.</p><p>Perhaps the only kind.<br /></p>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-64786327101371815522020-04-13T12:37:00.000-04:002020-04-13T12:37:00.321-04:00What Really Trickles DownWealth gets hoarded.<br />
<br />
Ideas trickle down.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-45229098552801816232020-02-13T10:23:00.001-05:002020-02-13T10:23:17.342-05:00Hersh's Politics is for Power is a Serious Indictment of Political HobbyismEitan Hersh is a political science professor. Like me, he is surrounded by people who follow and talk politics incessantly.<br />
<br />
Yet also, like me, he became dissatisfied with just talking about it.<br />
<br />
Worse, he noticed that when you are trying to organize a practical action to actually get candidates elected and bills passed, the people most informed about national politics are often no help. <br />
<br />
Moreover, they can talk national polls, but don't really know anything about the politics of their own community -- where their involvement could make a real difference.<br />
<br />
Hersh has concluded that this intense involvement in following political news is best understood as a <i>hobby</i> -- on the same order as fishing or model railroading or Star Trek cosplay. And that is fine as a leisure pursuit.<br />
<br />
But political hobbyism misleads us into thinking that it contributes to the actual aim of politics: to gain power in order to make things better for citizens.<br />
<br />
I feel the indictment in Hersh's stories. I am moved to take more practical political action.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-60896758006854938772020-02-01T11:23:00.000-05:002020-03-21T17:14:29.886-04:00Tim Keller's Reason for God is Solid Apologetics for Individual ChristiansTim Keller, pastor of the PCA Church of the Redeemer in New York City, is a fine apologist in the C. S. Lewis tradition. His <i>The Reason for God</i> is very good "mere Christianity" for sophisticated critics.<br />
<br />
When I read Christian apologetics, I often find the author can give a solid account of how <i>a</i> Christian should relate to God and other individuals.<br />
<br />
As a Christian sociologist, though, I am also looking to see what insight the author can give about how Christians should make and inhabit social structures. In other words, I want more than Christian morality -- I want an account of Christian social ethics.<br />
<br />
Ethics is the real weakness of the evangelical side of the church. It is great on "changed lives," but throws up its hands at the architecture of "changed institutions."<br />
<br />
In the individualistic traditions of Protestantism -- Baptists and all of their cousins -- this focus only on individuals is built into their DNA.<br />
<br />
For the Catholic branch, and the magisterial Reformation strands, of Christianity, though, this neglect is a real weakness. And of all the magisterial Reformation families -- Reformed, Lutheran, and Anglican -- the Reformed have the most to offer to Protestant social ethics.<br />
<br />
Which is why it is disappointing to see so learned and thoughtful a Presbyterian thinker as Tim Keller whiff on Christian ethics. He says at the end of the book that Jesus will come back to redeem the whole world.<br />
<br />
But what Christians are meant to do with our social structures in the meantime is left hanging.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-42339276883690011922020-01-28T16:00:00.000-05:002020-01-28T16:00:06.151-05:00Dreher Wants to Quit the World Over SexReading Rod Dreher's <i>The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.</i><br />
<br />
The issue that makes him give up on the world -- even more than consumerism, materialism, or abortion -- is the gay agenda. This includes normalizing transgender people. Also porn.<br />
<br />
I appreciate that there are always challenges to living a fully committed Christian life, as Benedictine monks try to do. And even for serious lay Christians, the world is full of challenges. But I just don't see coexisting with gay people as the same as the Dark Ages.<br />
<br />
Probing a bit deeper, I appreciated Dreher's praise of marriage and marriage-supporting communities. I was therefore surprised that he entirely skirted the vexed issue of patriarchy, male headship, complementarity, or even any discussion of gender roles in the one-man, one-woman family. <br />
<br />
I think if he is going to sell people on a benedictine withdrawal into little Christian communities, he needs to settle whether that includes giving up on gender equality. <br />
<i> </i><br />
<br />Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-10376644319040169152020-01-26T08:47:00.000-05:002020-01-26T08:47:18.895-05:00Douthat is Right That Half-Baked Christianities are a Bigger Threat Than IrreligionIn <i>Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics</i>, Ross Douthat puts his finger on four kinds of heresies that have rushed into the vacuum created by the retreat of the old Protestant Establishment. These heresies are recognizably kinds of Christianity, but embrace only one side of a classic paradox or tension.<br />
<br />
• Alternative gospels, from the highbrow <i>Gnostic Gospels</i> to the lowbrow <i>Da Vinci Code</i>.<br />
• Prosperity gospel, from Michael Novak's sanctification of capitalism to Joel Osteen's hucksterism.<br />
• Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (the term is from sociologist Christian Smith) - think <i>Eat, Pray, Love</i> or Deepak Chopra.<br />
• Nationalism, both messianic and apocalyptic.<br />
<br />
In each case, the proponents have grasped half of a good thing, but miss the tempering wisdom of the mean between extremes.<br />
<br />
The last heresy is the one most in my interest. He says the great social movements do have a vision of improving the nation, but tempered with realism about sin. Moreover, when they worked, these movements drew from both parties. What Douthat thinks is unique about this moment is that there are messianic and apocalyptic strands in <i>both</i> the Republican <i>and</i> the Democratic Parties. <br />
<br />
Douthat notes that religious leaders tend to think unbelief is the great danger. I have long thought that human beings are a believing species, because we want to understand why our existence is meaningful. This means that when confidence in the great religions ebbs with a portion of the population, what they turn to is not stark unbelief and nihilism. Instead, every kind of paganism rushes in. <br />
<br />
The heresies that Douthat notes are actually partly signs of life for the church -- they try to draw on the great patrimony of the world religions, especially the biblical strand. That they do so in an unbalanced way is the common error of all humanity, as Aristotelian philosophy always reminds us. But their hearts are, I think, pointing in the right direction.<br />
<br />
Douthat says that each decline of faith in American history thus far has been followed by a resurgence of a chastened but vibrant renewal. He sees some possibilities of that renewal now. I think I am more constitutionally optimistic than he is, so I see his hope and raise it.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-78725338448039131122020-01-25T09:08:00.001-05:002020-01-25T09:10:37.309-05:00Prothero's Culture Wars Argument Would Be Stronger if Race Were Central(I am catching up on some religion and politics books that had been on my list for some time.)<br />
<br />
Stephen Prothero, in <i>Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even if they Lose Elections)</i> reviews previous culture wars in American history. He defines culture wars as
<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“angry public disputes that
are simultaneously moral and religious and address the meaning of America.” </span>
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<br />
I think he is entirely right that we have always had culture wars, and probably always will. We are not more polarized now than we were in past culture conflicts. And some of those fights, against Catholics and Mormons, were more violent than what we have today.<br />
<br />
His thesis is really interesting:<br />
Conservatives start culture wars when the imagined past they think they are losing is already lost. Liberals fight back, and eventually win.<br />
Then the new, more inclusive culture becomes normal, the base for the next imagined past.<br />
<br />
One big issue he slides past, though, is race. He wants to separate race and culture, though he knows that the two are highly intertwined. In particular, he skips over the Civil War and early Jim Crow. I think this is more wrong than right -- the struggle over the cultural meaning of race and white supremacy is a cultural and religious issue.<br />
<br />
Moreover, if he had treated the race fight as the same kind of culture war as the more obviously religious conflicts, his final section on "contemporary culture wars" would be stronger.<br />
<br />
His thesis is that conservatives start culture wars. He says that the conservative narrative explaining the current culture war is that the liberals started it by "taking prayer out of schools" and legalizing abortion. Not so, says Prothero -- if you look at the actual chronology of what mobilized the Religious Right, it was the threat to the tax exemption of the "segregation academies" that they created in response to school integration. Race came first; abortion and "family values" were added later.<br />
<br />
Prothero frames the core narrative of American cultural struggles as expanding liberty, with liberals including more groups over the resistance of more restrictive conservatives.<br />
<br />
I think a stronger way of seeing this same history of struggle is over the equal <i>humanity</i> of different "races" as they were imagined by the competing religious cultures of the day. The opposition to the Irish and the Jews was as racialized a fight as the suppression of black people was, and as today's opposition to Mexicans and Muslims is. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-61186608733216001972019-11-04T20:10:00.000-05:002019-11-04T20:10:06.597-05:00Insight Into the Fearful Fifth<br />
I am coming to think that there is a permanent group -- call them the Fearful Fifth -- who <i>want</i> a strongman to govern. This layer is the base of nationalist movements all over the world.<br />
<br />
I was given some insight into this way of thinking from a workman with whom I was discussing elections. He said he "wasn't into that politics stuff." He was OK with whoever won because if they messed it up too much, the military would declare martial law.<br />
<br />
He described himself as a military brat. He offered that this casual acceptance of martial law was his father's view of the normal way to make order in disorderly countries.<br />
<br />
The Fearful Fifth (I hope it is only a fifth) does not fear fascism. They welcome it as the ultimate, and perhaps only, solution to the problems of government.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-3055189625029511802019-10-13T10:20:00.000-04:002019-10-13T10:20:00.827-04:00White Privilege is About Race, Not Class<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x"><span>White privilege, by itself,
doesn't tell us anything one way or the other about class. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x"><span>Whiteness is still
an advantage for poor white people, too.</span></span></span>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-11280982782058685402019-10-05T09:36:00.002-04:002019-10-05T09:36:21.541-04:00Alternative Religions by Secular Ideologies<br />
The right-wing alternative to religion is libertarianism.<br />
<br />
The left-wing alternative to religion is environmentalism.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-289057102315082922019-09-24T08:28:00.001-04:002019-09-24T08:28:19.840-04:00Not Sure of Your Own Position? Resist the Temptation to Suppress the Free Speech of Others<br />
April Kelly-Woessner is a political scientist who studies tolerance and viewpoint diversity in the academy.<br />
<br />
In the Heterodox Academy podcast episode on "<a href="http://content.blubrry.com/halfhourofheterodoxy/April_Kelly-Woessner_on_Declining_Political_Tolerance_-_Half_Hour_of_Heterodoxy_4.mp3" target="_blank">Declining Political Tolerance</a>," she reports that the people who most want to suppress free speech, on the left and the right, are the ones least confident of their ability to defend their own position.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-33732265848513702142019-09-14T15:22:00.000-04:002019-09-14T15:22:25.423-04:00What is Southern Culture?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This week will have guest bloggers from my Sociology Senior Seminar on Public Sociology. </i></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember the first week of my
college like it was yesterday. I drove eight and a half hours from Pennsylvania
with my mother. We are from a bigger city than where we were headed. Driving
into Danville, at first, I immediately second guessed my decision because of
the demographics and pure relative size of Danville. I had stepped into a town
that, normally, at home we would consider to be “country” and “redneck” because
of its small town, antique feeling it emitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I did not realize that to the citizens of Danville, and even Louisville
and Lexington natives considered to be more refined than an actual country
town, especially due to the prestigious nature of the college. My whole
definition of southern towns was altered, and thus gave me hope for the next
four years. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The second week of freshman year was
when everyone started to meet and co-mingle. During a conversation with a
Kentucky Native they noticed that I had an accent and therefore, was not. This
was news to me. I typically thought of an accent to be a country accent or an
English accent. When prompted, I told them that I was from Pennsylvania. To
this, they responded, “Oh you’re a Yankee!” This was the moment that I knew
southern culture was real. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I spent the rest of my three years
here noticing what made me different from other people, specifically people
from Kentucky (as they are pretty dominant on campus).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My natural route to graduation was to study
this in any way shape or form I could. That form just so happened to be in the
disciplines of Anthropology and Sociology. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had always compared my town to
others, thinking that this is exemplary of what it means to grow up as a
“Yankee”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a narrow-minded view of
my own culture. Harrisburg Pennsylvania was one of thousands of cities in the
north, each with its own identity and culture. In the south, the major cities
are far and few between. To me, cities are the hub of the surrounding groups of
people. It is way easier to get information from a centralized source, than to
get information from small local sources. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When one thinks of the north and the
south, one immediately begins with southern culture. This is always what I
leaned on in conversations and comparisons, especially when I was explaining my
school to people back home. They even aided in the fact that they would share
similar experiences or thoughts that they had accumulated on southern culture.
Typical things such as food, hospitality, specific dialogue, and customs, were
front runners in our word-of-mouth data accumulation. If these things make up a
southern culture, what makes up a northern culture? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When one categorizes, like many do
with southern culture, it does not work simply because northern food,
hospitality, dialogue, and customs vary so much from each northern region. It
is impossible to make assertions about what it means to have northern culture until
northern culture is distinctly defined. I plan on doing this. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My goals are to map out cultural
boundaries. In order to do this, I need to look at both “concepts” in a
historical lens, because this is what initially created these boundaries. Then,
I plan on defining each culture in their own terms. I want to answer why these
are separate boundaries, what made them separate, and what effect do they have
now on American culture and life in general. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think the hardest part about all
of this is to be able to set apart my preconceived bias and prejudice. It’s
hard to do that when I’ve spent the last three years noticing what made me
different. I have struggled a lot here at college, especially socially. I have
always seen things differently, acted differently, and spoke different ways. It
has been frustrating and frankly demeaning of my character because of how often
I question if what I’m doing is wrong, or just wrong in southern culture
aspects. I want to explore this, and ultimately find some peace of mind for
myself and for anyone else who notices what I notice. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i> Demi Kennedy </i></div>
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</style>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-3307364791269884002019-09-14T15:08:00.000-04:002019-09-14T15:08:52.006-04:00 A Liberal Birth Order?<i>This week we will have guest bloggers from my Sociology Senior Seminar on Public Sociology.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">
Recently, I have
been interested in thinking more critically about birth order, especially within
my own family. Particularly, I have been wondering if there could be a
connection between the rigidness of birth order expressed in children and the
political ideologies of the family, mainly the parents. I know that it is
nearly impossible to compare specific families, especially combine with their
political views. For this reason, I will be focusing on my own family and
personal experiences. I want to explore the idea that dynamic choices for children
are not invalidated by parents, a child in a liberal family will likely feel
comfortable choosing different paths. But, those paths might likely relate to
the parents and those family ideologies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">
A little
background- I am the third of four sisters. My eldest sister, Nettie, is 25,
living in New York city working for a publishing company. The second born,
Maggie, is 23, currently applying to medical school, working at a veterinary
office in my hometown. I am 21, currently attending Centre College. Finally, my
little sister, Ellie, is 19, and attends the University of Louisville. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To
examine my own families birth order, I will discuss the education and career
paths of my family in relation to our order, focusing mainly on Nettie and
Maggie. My parents both attended Centre College, post-graduation my father
continued his education at University of Louisville Medical School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My sister Nettie, the eldest, decided to attend
DePauw University in Indiana and is now working at a publishing company in New
York City. My sister Maggie followed the path of my father, she attended Centre
College and is planning to continue on to medical school (most likely at UofL).
I decided to follow both my parent’s paths as well as my older sisters path of attending
Centre College. My little sister, Ellie, decided to attend University of
Louisville Speed School to focus on engineering. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
you can see, there are definitely major trends in where my family decided to
attend school – Go Colonels and Cards! However, I think the most interesting
thing we gain from my personal case, is the fact that the one person who
decided to not attend a basic family school is the first-born, Nettie. In
research about birth-order that I have seen, it is usually the first-borns who
follow one of the parent’s paths closely, to, essentially, do the comfortable
thing, make the parents proud, and get attention from them. Could the reason
that my eldest sister felt so comfortable asserting her own path and not
following the usual <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first-born</i>
tendencies be that my parents were liberal enough to be open and express to her
that they were open to her doing her own thing? Maybe Nettie did not take the
road already traveled because she knew that my parents would support her. They
would give her attention no matter what she did and they would be proud of her
for that. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
it was Maggie’s turn to decided where to go to school, she decided to take that
well-traveled path because, well, no one had yet. It was a spot that was open
and that she could fill to get attention from my parents. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
could continue to explore my whole family’s choices, but I don’t want to go on
and on, and I think that Nettie and Maggie get the point across. They exemplify
children who made choices to gain attention from the parents. In the case of my
liberal family, the eldest child felt comfortable and supported enough to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> take the most common path. Maybe my
parents, both youngest children, even pushed her to do her own thing (a common
youngest child choice) and to not be a classic first born. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sally Ann Finn</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style><br /></i>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-73878975715782021402019-09-14T14:54:00.000-04:002019-09-14T14:54:56.576-04:00Dear Jonathan Franzen, Giving Up is a Position of Privilege<i>This week will have guest bloggers from my Sociology Senior Seminar on Public Sociology. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
falling down the rabbit hole of Twitter the other day, a <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexSteffen/status/1170746494489481216">Tweet</a> popped
up that caught my eye. “I would vote for this as the worst piece on climate
change yet published this decade-” Alex Steffen begins, “flawed in both concept
and execution, morally cowardly, and lavishly self-indulgent.” With gorgeous
words such as those, I felt personally compelled to take a peek at the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending">New
Yorker article</a> attached, and it continued to compel/frustrate me so much
after reading it to the point of having to making this post. Mr. Jonathan
Franzen, a famous (or rather infamous) essayist and novelist known for taking
extreme positions on topics he feels compelled to discuss, as well as a
self-declared “non-scientist” has spurred many to challenge his opinions due to
his vocal take that keeping the world from succumbing substantially to climate
change, and the hope contained within that, should be at this point considered
fictitious. While Franzen does take on the issue of hope and its use in certain
dialogues around climate change in a way that I believe is beneficial – that
is, only using hope as an anchor for stopping climate change (because at this
point the climate will change, we cannot reverse this nor fully prevent it)– he
fails to come around to the reality that the main use of hope, amongst those
like Greta Thunberg and supporters of the Green New Deal, is to prevent pure,
unfettered disaster. It inspires and motivates individuals to take action, to
be concerned for future generations, and to not become disengaged and let the
world go to complete and utter shit, trading concern for others for interior
decoration ideas for their underground bunkers. Not only that, but only a
select few get to even have that privilege of abandoning active hope and even
thinking said thoughts. Jonathan Franzen is clearly part of that. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Franzen is seemingly dropping the torch because he can; unlike
many others he does not feel the immediate life-threatening effects of climate
change such as climate displacement, inadequate access to food, public health
issues, among many others. An award-winning author can afford to relocate,
continue to maintain good health, and stray as far away as possible from any
type of environmental bad – that is until disastrous, worldwide benchmarks are
hit – which of course is guaranteed if we follow in Franzen’s do little or
nothing footsteps. But this “climate apocalypse” is already happening for
oppressed individuals trapped under combinations of income, citizenship, race,
etc. To say that we should go ahead and stop pretending like we can enact any
sort of monumental change is ignorant. No, we cannot prevent all of the major
realities of climate change, such as temperature increase, infrastructure
damage, or rising sea levels- but we can help those already being put in life
and death situations to find significant amounts of relief, big and small, all
while advocating and pressuring our government to decrease the severity of
results with adequate top-down processes. There is a duty to be had among those
with more say in the political realm and freer from certain bounds of climate
injustice. Privileged folk such as Franzen are ignoring this, and with essays
like these, seem to aim at and conjure up those who are on the fence about what
to do (and are quite comfortable with their status in life), to abandon hope,
abandon that drive to make lives better for others, and just accept that what
whatever happens will happen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of discourse around climate change stems
from this internal reflection of how to feel – should we continue to hold onto
hope and actively push for major reform, or prepare for the absolute worse and
abandon all notions that any sort of reform will prevent a “climate
apocalypse”? I think it’s appalling to give in to the latter, and I will do
what I can to call out those who think it’s okay to quit. I believe, much like <a href="https://grist.org/article/4-corrections-for-jonathan-franzen-and-other-climate-cowards/">Eve
Andrews</a>, that “giving up is a bullshit move”, and rather unnatural. There’s
still time to lessen the blow. There’s still time to make immediate
improvements both big and small for those that need it most. Doing otherwise is
simply a move driven by privilege, and should be judged and critiqued as such,
as we continue the dialogue around our role in the climate movement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Salem Menze</i> </div>
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</style>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-78128227069543162942019-09-14T14:42:00.000-04:002019-09-14T14:42:25.997-04:00Perpetuation of Inequality in Sports <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><i>This week will have guest bloggers from my Sociology Senior Seminar on Public Sociology. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><i> </i> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On Saturday, September 7<sup>th</sup>
of 2019, it was once again reinforced that women’s sports are less important than
men’s sports, and in this particular instance, the dogma that football reigns
over everything. University of Maine and Temple University traveled close to a
combined 1,300 miles to play a neutral division one field hockey game at Kent
State University beginning at 9 a.m. On this same day, the Kent State football
team had a game scheduled for 12:00 p.m., with fireworks set to go off just
before the start time. The field hockey game was a very competitive one,
resulting in overtime play. However, due to the firework safety policy, Kent
State administrators came onto the field at 10:30 a.m. to end the match due to
the safety code of the fireworks. While both teams were told in May that the
game would have to conclude at 10:30 a.m., neither teams thought the game would
have to come to an immediate close, causing the game to be eliminated from
their records due to an inconclusive score. Although Kent State offered to
allow them to finish the game later that evening and pay for the extra costs of
accommodation, there is a significant underlying issue this example has further
perpetuated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Women
have had to fight for their rights and to be viewed as equal for a very long
time. Every time I begin to think women have made strides in their fight for
equality, stories like these remind me of the lengths still to come. When
considering athletics, this is one sector in which women have had to fight hard
to be viewed as worthy of competition like their male counterparts. Some may
argue that this is because women sports were introduced later than men sports,
however, that should not be an excuse for the time period in which we are
currently in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Title
IX was created in 1972, prohibiting “sex discrimination in any educational
program or activity receiving any type of federal financial aid” (“<a href="https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/advocate/title-ix-issues/history-title-ix/history-title-ix/" target="_blank">Title IX Legislative Chronology”</a>). While some, particularly men, do not believe there
are any injustices against women, whether that be from lack of education or
arrogance, this federal law specifically indicates that injustices against women
are absolutely real and recognizable in so many different ways. If it were not
present, there wouldn’t be a need for this type of law. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">When
thinking personally about how issues of sports and gender have been present in
my life, I can’t help but think about my high school experience. I attended an
all-girls high school, so I was never introduced to the neglect of female
sports, but instead female sports meant everything. Because of this, I can
recognize how some individuals might not understand why there is a need to
correct how male and female sports are viewed, discussed, and acted upon in
society due to the lack of exposure they have had with the topic. However, it
is 2019 and unfortunate incidents like this are still occurring and it greatly
affects the way women think about their respective sports, and if their efforts
are even worth all of the criticism and lack of importance they receive. I can
confidently say my fellow field hockey teammates at Centre College felt
disrespected and discouraged from what took place at Kent State just last week.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">To
conclude, there is one thought I myself and others have reflected upon from
this incident. Would this have occurred if it were the men’s soccer team
playing? This is a question that I’m confident would receive varying answers.
However, I myself cannot help but believe the answer is no. No, the men’s
soccer game would have been allowed to continue their play without any
repercussions. My framework for answering this question is based off of the
many situations currently in 2019, within sports, but also in other sectors, where
women have been viewed as less than men and unimportant. Men’s sports have
always been more appreciated, especially at the division one level, and this
dogma is exactly what Kent State exemplified to women last week. What do you
think? </span></div>
<br />
<i>Caroline Brotzge</i> <br />
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</style>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-42977718927423386742019-09-14T14:20:00.003-04:002019-09-14T14:20:50.437-04:00 Demanding a New Supply: The Market Fight for “Greener” Options<i>This week will have guest bloggers from my Sociology Senior Seminar on Public Sociology. </i><br />
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">As I waited for my large iced
coffee, an essential luxury for “long” days of class, I made my way to the
extras table so that I could grab a little green straw before stopping short,
remembering at once that I had a stash of environmentally friendly, rainbow
stainless steel straws in my backpack. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to
display to my peers that I was making a conscious decision to <i>save the
planet</i>, if I could do it, why weren’t they? The irony of this situation,
however, did not escape me - I was willing to give myself a pat on the back for
replacing the straw while still using a plastic cup and lid that, while
“recyclable”, were still designed as single-use. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even more, I had
a healthy collection of various drinks in aluminum cans in my fridge that were,
like my coffee cup, single-use products. As a college student, I consume reams
of paper on my own each academic year, but rarely save articles and papers in
their physical forms. When I buy groceries I justify using plastic bags because
I “reuse” them when I’m cleaning the litter box. As I made a mental list of all
of the things I had thrown away over the past few days, I felt a sudden sense
of guilt overtake me; sure, I had some fancy reusable straw, but there were
still plenty of other things I was consuming that ultimately ended up in a
bigger plastic bag destined for a landfill. Even so, considering the future of
my recyclables would probably end up being the same as non-recyclables, the
result of recent Chinese cut backs on the purchase of international
recyclables, it felt like nothing that I did would really matter. I was, after
all, a consumer in an economy that had prioritized convenience and immediacy
far more than it did the concerns of “future” consumers. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Therein, it seems
to me, lies the root of the problem. Although there has been a rise in
lifestyle influencers promoting “no waste” lifestyles, those in which the
individual consumer creates little to no tangible waste in their acquisition
and use of goods, the economy hasn’t seen a large enough shift in demand to
make this kind of lifestyle accessible, affordable, or even generally feasible
for most consumers; for starters, a bulk grocer that allows customers to bring
their own food containers is generally a prerequisite for participation in
no-waste consumerism. While that certainly isn’t the only issue individuals
face in pursuing a lifestyle with little, or no waste, it’s enough to bring the
larger problem into focus; there isn’t enough infrastructural support for
everyone in America to make these kinds of lifestyle changes. Here, in rural
Kentucky, having two grocery stores seems like you’re living in a metropole,
and the local market likely isn’t large enough to support the introduction of
more competition into the market. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, what does
this mean for the Earth? Are we all doomed to live or die by the will of
corporations to adopt more sustainable practices starting from the top so that
the goods and services that we purchase will in turn, be more sustainable?
While yes, or even maybe, would be the easy answers, it’s times like these in
which it’s important that each consumer remember the power of each dollar put
into the economy. As individual players participating in the economic system
(aka, as people with cash who are looking for things to spend it on), we vote
for what we like and don’t like, what we want and don’t, with our purchases.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>Hannah Reis</i> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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</style><br /></i>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-65198750604682086692019-09-07T08:54:00.002-04:002019-09-07T08:54:30.476-04:00Could the Federal Deficit Be a Bridge Between the PartiesA Pew study shows that Democrats and Republicans are very divided about which issues are important.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_-4JtigL5MD4DpSFwZ3vY8pxckCEONyqC9uyVAV9vJe3g56hhjmofdOoFfiDR4LmXfJUJDm4CH8BLiTfSIM1QdN_a_al56MY2OCmm7EgYbafNeBhY0CJYQVSUw0i3IIknhm42w/s1600/1-HwNfZuWkkAVrJB4BJcg0fg.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_-4JtigL5MD4DpSFwZ3vY8pxckCEONyqC9uyVAV9vJe3g56hhjmofdOoFfiDR4LmXfJUJDm4CH8BLiTfSIM1QdN_a_al56MY2OCmm7EgYbafNeBhY0CJYQVSUw0i3IIknhm42w/s640/1-HwNfZuWkkAVrJB4BJcg0fg.png" width="464" /></a><br />
<br />
I see one possible bridge: the federal deficit.<br />
<br />
Republican <i>ideology</i> is that the budget deficit is bad; Democrats, since FDR, have taken a more Keynesian view that sometimes we can live with budget deficits for a higher national purpose. <br />
<br />
However, since President Reagan, Republican <i>policies</i> have increased the federal deficit, while Democratic policies have decreased it. Under President Trump the deficit is the greatest it has ever been, and is growing gigantically.<br />
<br />
Persons of good will in both parties could take this opportunity to at least start talking the same language about reducing the federal budget deficit. This could allow them to look at the last 40 years of policy to see what actually helps -- and hurts -- to achieve that shared end.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-61362830499354288952019-08-29T13:38:00.001-04:002019-08-29T13:38:22.130-04:00The Most Extreme Ideologies Come From the Biggest Mis-Match Between Education and Income<br />
People whose income exceeds their education tend to be conservative.<br />
<br />
People whose education exceeds their income tend to be liberal.<br />
<br />
This confirms Pierre Bourdieu's point that the "composition of capital" matters as much as the total volume of capital.Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-11188982457912827202019-08-03T08:58:00.001-04:002019-08-03T08:58:04.934-04:00True Progressives Lift Up Progress<br />
<span data-offset-key="9r7sl-0-0"><span data-text="true">The world, in most respects, is getting better for most people. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-offset-key="9r7sl-0-0"><span data-text="true"> A truly progressive worldview would emphasize this progress.</span></span>Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864860607925412103noreply@blogger.com0