Great TED lecture from Professor Michael Sandel who argues that in order to rejuvenate an old style inclusive political debate we must enable citizens to bring their own moral convictions to bear on democratic argument…
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
Writer Christopher Hitchens has died aged 62. He was as contrary as he was brilliant. Here is a brief In Memoriam from Vanity Fair (his outlet of choice since 1992) and, here, a longer tribute from his friend Christopher Buckley Stanley in The New Yorker. Better, perhaps, though to post one of Hitchens’ own writings in [...] read our review »
World by Storm has a nice piece up on the IRA’s role in helping MK, the armed wing of the ANC, in the 1980s. In particular he sees a strange alchemy at work there: …if one can think of a clearly legitimate contemporary struggle it was that against apartheid and it is to the credit [...] read our review »
If you like this and you surely will then try
http://justiceharvard.org/
Don’t worry, Mick there is little chance of any failure of those “citizens [(who comment on Slugger ) failing] to bring their own moral convictions to bear on democratic argument…” anytime soon I would imagine. Although sometimes I do get the impression that you might prefer if they were just a wee bit more reticent in that regard betimes.
Why do you think that Rory?
I thought the essence of debate was to trash and thrash. Where does inclusivity come into it?
Mick,
The problem with this argument is that it calls on folks to bring their own moral convictions to the table while at the same time entering into lucid/rational debate about those very same convictions. I just don’t see it happening.
Slugger is the perfect example. While this site may serve as a place to learn more about other’s moral convictions and to gain a sense of empathy (that is Slugger at its best) it often times the “debate” is simply exchanged recriminations.
The question is not how do we get people to bring their moral convictions to the debate, but how do we get people to put their moral convictions up to examination and critique within that debate as citizens?
pardon the typos
[...] The lost art of democratic debate – A TED lecture by Michael Sandel (at Slugger) on the marginalised role of citizens' moral opinions in democratic discussion. [...]