When we were children back in the stone age, it was not uncommon to hear a parent say, “Watch your language!” It was sometimes punctuated with “young man” or “young lady.” Our language reflected the cultural values of the time. Certain communications were expected, and others definitely frowned upon. When speaking to adults we were expected to say, “yes sir” or “yes ma’am.” We did not refer to adults by their first name, ever, because … Continue reading
Category Archives: Fear
The old saying is “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” That is true when kids are rough housing and things go dangerously awry. But life can be that way too. Quite often, it seems, human beings go through life with little thought to what happens when we breathe our last. Life is all fun and games for lots of people, until the music stops and there is no chair to grab onto. … Continue reading
Our nation collectively grieved the tragic loss of life on September 11, 2001. Despite the anger we all felt towards the terrorists, we all gathered together to comfort those who would not see a husband, wife, father, mother or child return home after a normal day of work. Losing to death someone whom you love is devastating in large part because there is the realization that you will not see your loved one again in … Continue reading
Two weeks ago, we wrote a blog called “Social Justice U”. The blog highlighted a talk by Dr. Jonathan Haidt, where he gives concrete examples of how political correctness and protected victim status is harming society, and greatly exacerbating the very social ills that the “social justice crowd” claims to address. He points out that to arrive at truth, there MUST be a welcoming of all viewpoints to the table. This is how universities used … Continue reading
The first presidential debate of 2016 was held at Hofstra University. The leadership at Hofstra, with all the problems this nation faces, was very concerned about – hurt feelings – the possibility that students might suffer emotional distress from hearing ideas that might challenge their thinking, or hear words that might scare them. They went so far as to post a “Trigger Warning” sign, to warn students that they may hear language which may trigger … Continue reading
Why do you believe what you believe? Why do you behave the way you behave? Peer pressure has a dramatic impact on social conformity. Human beings are quite susceptible to “group behavior,” and have an almost overwhelming desire to imitate the group they are a part of without even questioning why. As I watched the above video this week, I was reminded through this demonstration of the great power of conformity. A young woman … Continue reading