Rosa Parks' Birthday

Today is the birthday of Rosa Parks.

I want to mention Parks because of her role in the Civil Rights Movement, and this month is Black History Month. Challenging the norms of society takes courage. Not all challenges to norms are correct, because norms are there for a reason, but not all norms are correct, either.

Rosa Parks, and other Civil Rights leaders and activists, challenged social structures of America. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice,” promised at America’s founding.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book List of 2020

 I am giving a list of my favorite books that I read of 2020. Note, these are not books that just came out in 2020, but these are books that I read for the first time in 2020. The Basics: Philosophy by Nigel Warburton. A basic introduction to philosophy that discusses ideas like the existence of God and voluntary assisted suicide. A good introduction to philosophy that is written in a conversational style. Bad Boys, Bad Men by Donald Black, MD. Black is a psychiatrist who has extensively studied Anti-social Personality Disorder (ASPD). Anti-social personality disorder is costly to society and the people are those with the disorder, because of the havoc they cause because sufferers break so many social norms. Crazy by Pete Earley. Earley is a journalist by training, whose son experienced psychosis after graduating from college. The book is about the criminalization of people with mental illness, and how jails and prisons are now the largest provider of psychiatric services in the Un...
Read more

Why Americans Should Support Ukraine

            Ukraine fights Russia, not just for itself, but for the preservation of political and economic freedom everywhere. Sometimes after a country has an increase in democracy, and then later there may be democratic backsliding. For example, this is what has happened in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Today in Russia, dissidents and protestors are arrested, discredited, or silenced. Barriers creating checks and balances between branches of government are removed.             Both democracy and capitalism require the rule of law, and the rule of law requires justice. Without justice, democracy and capitalism may devolve into dishonesty and exploitation. Ukrainians fight to preserve their freedom to dissent and protest, because Russians do not have those freedoms. If the United States does not continue to support Ukraine, that responsibility falls to ...
Read more

Humor and Democracy

Image
               The White House Correspondent Association’s (WHCA) Dinner is a testament to political freedom in America. In more authoritarian governments, satire and political comedy is monitored, discouraged, or suppressed. That President Biden is willing to sit through jokes about him, his opponent, and politics shows that the political system can face its imperfections with good nature, and its shortcomings aren’t so serious that they can’t be joked about. (Also, there is a difference between jokes and bullying. Some but not all jokes are bullying, and not all bullying is joking.) Authoritarians find themselves too serious and important to be the target of a joke. As President Biden toasted at the dinner, to a free press and an informed citizenry! Since 1924, only one President hasn't attended  any  WHCA Dinners. See below. P.S. The image of a goldfish is from Open AI's algorithm, Dall-e. It's not a real goldfish.  Edit: P....
Read more