The Dissidents

In recognition of Banned Books Week (September 22-28) we are launching our inaugural book club with James LaRue's On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US. Join us for a live meeting with the author on Wednesday, Oct 2 at 7pm ET. In preparation for the live stream, read along with our ILV advisors who will discuss the book in 4 brief special episodes of the Dissidents Podcast to be released on Wednesdays, September 4-25. This is the third episode, on Part II, entitled “Cancel Culture”. In On Censorship James LaRue issues a balanced and reasonable call to action for all citizens. It is a combination of personal reflection and deep dive into specifics of book banning. James LaRue has been a public library director for many years, and was director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. He has written, spoken, and consulted extensively on intellectual freedom issues, leadership and organizational development, community engagement, and the future of libraries. He lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. This year the theme of Banned Books week is "Freed Between the Lines." The annual event is a reminder that the freedom to read is a liberal value worth defending. Learn more about banned books here: https://ala.org/bbooks/banned Episode I: https://youtu.be/j1L-bg7SH3w?si=6rIVcgot-nDadz7B Episode II: https://youtu.be/fAsyMQ5pP5M?si=K0k4VTEy9_zy0JTB

Join ILV Director, Jennifer Richmond, and ILV Advisor, Jason Littlefield every month for Reformation Radio's live conversation on ILV's X (⁠@ilvalues). Each month we explore current and unfolding events with the aim of finding strategies for uniting people for the cause of liberty. Bring a cup of coffee, a headful of thoughts and a heart full of hope. This bonus podcast is the inaugural recording from our conversation on Empowered Humanity Theory. Follow us on X and be a part of our future conversations. Podcast Resources: ILV: https://ilvalues.org/ ILV on X: https://x.com/ilvalues EmpowerED Pathways: https://www.empoweredpathways.org/

In recognition of Banned Books Week (September 22-28) we are launching our inaugural book club with James LaRue's On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US. Join us for a live meeting with the author on Wednesday, Oct 2 at 7pm ET. In preparation for the live stream, read along with our ILV advisors who will discuss the book in 4 brief special episodes of the Dissidents Podcast to be released on Wednesdays, September 4-25. This is the second episode, but you can find our first conversation here. This week we discuss the last 20 or so pages of Part 1, starting with “What Do Libraries Buy, and Why?” through “How to Respond to Library Challenges.” In On Censorship James LaRue issues a balanced and reasonable call to action for all citizens. It is a combination of personal reflection and deep dive into specifics of book banning. James LaRue has been a public library director for many years, and was director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. He has written, spoken, and consulted extensively on intellectual freedom issues, leadership and organizational development, community engagement, and the future of libraries. He lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. This year the theme of Banned Books week is "Freed Between the Lines." The annual event is a reminder that the freedom to read is a liberal value worth defending. Learn more about banned books here: https://ala.org/bbooks/banned

Join us for today’s episode with Joia and Chris in conversation with Cherise Trump, the Executive Director of Speech First. Cherise discusses the unique free speech protections in the United States and the need to educate the public on the value of free speech. She points out how the United States Supreme Court has ruled time and time again, as recently as 2019, unanimously that there is no offensive speech or hate speech exception to the First Amendment. Cherise emphasizes how students should take ownership of their free speech rights and engage in debates and discussions, even if they face opposition or disagreement. She also highlights the work of Speech First in advocating for free speech on college campuses and the need for responsible politicians to promote open and substantive debates. Find out more about Cherise’s work with Speech First at: https://speechfirst.org/

In this week's episode Elizabeth and Professors of Sociology Mark Horowitz and Anthony Haynor talk about the pitfalls of trying to publish research findings that challenge progressive orthodoxy. They describe their own experiences with editors and reviewers (one of their papers about grade inflation was the topic of prior episodes). We also discuss public complaints about the editorial process at Frontiers and Perspectives on Psychological Science. In our view, editors and reviewers are doing their fields an injustice by judging papers on their conformity with ideology instead of focusing on quality and scientific merit. Podcast Notes: Uttl, Bob & Violo, Victoria & Gibson, Lacey. (2024). Meta-analysis: On average, undergraduate students' intelligence is merely average. Available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378173544_Meta-analysis_On_average_undergraduate_students'_intelligence_is_merely_average One summary of the Perspectives on Psychological Science Controversy: https://www.chronicle.com/article/i-am-the-victim-a-journal-editor-is-under-fire-after-a-diversity-debate-is-derailed?sra=true Mertonian Norms of Science Wikipedia Mertonian Norms

In recognition of Banned Books Week (September 22-28) we are launching our inaugural book club with James LaRue's On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US. Join us for a live meeting with the author on Wednesday, Oct 2 at 7pm ET.   In preparation for the live stream, read along with our ILV advisors who will discuss the book in 4 brief special episodes of the Dissidents Podcast to be released on Wednesdays, September 4-25. We begin our discussion with the first half of Part I, which is entitled “The Role of the Library.”  If you are following along, we read the sections “My Censored Life” through the end of the section labeled “Why People Challenge Library Resources.”  In On Censorship James LaRue issues a balanced and reasonable call to action for all citizens.  It is a combination of personal reflection and deep dive into specifics of book banning.  James LaRue has been a public library director for many years, and was director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. He has written, spoken, and consulted extensively on intellectual freedom issues, leadership and organizational development, community engagement, and the future of libraries. He lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. This year the theme of Banned Books week is "Freed Between the Lines."  The annual event is a reminder that the freedom to read is a liberal value worth defending.  Learn more about banned books here:  https://ala.org/bbooks/banned

Writer and activist Helen Raleigh has paired up with Professor and economist Paul Prentice to provide “three counterpunches” to socialism. The first counterpunch is about defining our terms. What is Democratic Socialism? According to Helen and Paul, it is a oxymoronic term we simply made up to “soften” socialism. However, when they ask others what it means the typical response is sharing and caring, versus capitalism that is equated with greed. Through political, economic and personal examples, they show how government sharing, much like Democratic Socialism, is just another oxymoron. Following along with these ideas, their second counterpunch looks at the popular fallacy that many Nordic countries are thriving Democratic Socialist regimes. They are market capitalist countries with a heavy welfare system. The Nordic countries themselves use the term Social Democrat, which is a nuanced, but widely divergent term from Democratic Socialism. In their third counterpunch, they try to change the messaging around capitalism to highlight its more compassionate attributes. Through both personal stories of Helen’s life in China and Paul’s incisive economic perspective, when put side-by-side, “compassion” is more the domain of capitalist systems. In order to see this more clearly we have to disassociate true capitalism from other forms of capitalism, e.g., “crony capitalism” (another oxymoron), which is really just fascism in disguise. In the end, they conclude that the most important question is not one of partisan politics (e.g., left vs right), but one of human nature and which system fosters the “better angels” of our humanity. Podcast Resources: Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation: https://victimsofcommunism.org/ Helen Raleigh: https://www.helenraleighspeaks.com/about Paul Prentice: https://i2i.org/about/our-people/paul-prentice/

Today’s episode features what turns out to be a succinct masterclass in public speaking as Chris and Joia chat with Zander Keig, one of the senior leaders of the Institute for Liberal Values and an expert public speaker with over 30 years of experience. Zander discusses his early involvement in advocating for gay and lesbian rights in the 1980s (and the importance of freedom of speech in articulating those demands) as well as his experience as a conscientious objector in the military. He provides a framework and tips for effective communication and encourages listeners to find like-minded individuals and organizations to support their advocacy for free speech.   Listen to Zander’s podcast, The Umbrella Hour, at: https://ukhealthradio.com/program/the-umbrella-hour/

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: Dissidently Speaking, Brent Hamacheck: https://www.amazon.com/Dissidently-Speaking-Change-Words-War/dp/1962578089/ Letters in Black and White, Jennifer Richmond & Winkfield Twyman, Jr.: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Black-White-Correspondence-America/dp/1634312368/ Black Enterprise, Or, How I Became Black, Winkfield Twyman, Jr.: https://twyman.substack.com/p/black-enterprise-magazine-or-how Yes, the Term “Far-Right” is Frequently Abused, Helen Pluckrose: https://substack.com/@helenpluckrose/p-147330524 Matthew Henson, This Week in Black History, Institute for Liberal Values: https://institute-for-liberal-values.circle.so/c/this-week-in-black-history/august-week-2 The Prince, Niccolo Michiavelli: https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Niccol%C3%B2-Machiavelli/dp/B08WZHBPW6/

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: Dissidently Speaking, Brent Hamacheck: https://www.amazon.com/Dissidently-Sp... Letters in Black and White, Jennifer Richmond & Winkfield Twyman, Jr.: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Black-... • Chapter 42 on John Mercer Langston: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gZsG... Black Enterprise, Or, How I Became Black, Winkfield Twyman, Jr.: https://twyman.substack.com/p/black-e... The Dartmouth Scar Experiment, Winkfield Twyman, Jr.: https://twyman.substack.com/p/the-dar... The Alternative Reading Guide for the 1619 Project Essays, Jennifer Richmond & Winkfield, Twyman, Jr.: https://truthinbetween.com/curricula Understanding and Embracing the Role of the 21st Century American Dissident, Brent Hamachek: https://www.brenthamachek.com/post/un... AP African-American Studies is Still Radical, National Review, Stanley Kurtz: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner... Common Ground Campus: https://www.commongroundcampus.com/