The sad case of Dr. Greg Patton

Today I am taking a sidestep from my harm series and examining the case of Dr. Greg Patton. On August 20th, 2020 Dr. Patton, a professor at USC’s business school with over 20 years of teaching experience, delivered a lecture on oratory to students in the master’s program. He explained the importance of avoiding filler …

What do we owe deceased victims?

Last semester I participated in a proseminar titled the Moral Dimensions of Harm. Two questions we discussed were: What duties do the living have to compensate victims of past injustices?Assuming that the living have a duty, what form should their compensation take? Given the recent global wave of statue removals and historical revisionism, I find …

A message to my fellow Austrians and friends around the world

A few days ago Arnold Schwarzenegger, posted “a message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world” on LinkedIn. I won’t wade into the quagmire of comments (and rants masquerading as comments) that his video has triggered. Suffice it to say, the United States is deeply divided and Joe Biden faces a challenge. I …

I’m not listening

As an educator, the following quotation from an interview with Jane Elliot in today’s New York Times struck a nerve. For those unfamiliar with Jane Elliot, she is an American diversity educator and developer of the controversial Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes experiment. For more information about her see her homepage, her Wikipedia article, or the PBS …