Wrong Identities, Chosen and Imposed [Radio Readings]

Last updated on: January 24, 2015 at 12:33 pm by Leah Libresco

Wrong Identities, Chosen and Imposed [Radio Readings] 2015-01-24T12:33:06-05:00 Leah Libresco

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You’ll be able to catch “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and tomorrow (Sun) at 1pm. And the audio this week is already up at the archive page!

Every week, I put up a “Radio Readings” post, so you can track down the books, articles, songs, (and, this week, mathematical figures!) that I cite on the show. So, without further ado, here’s what I’m talking about this week.

Letting your “enemy” define your identity

“The Case for Civility Campaigns After Charlie Hebdo“ (me in TAC)

Civility campaigners aren’t protecting victims from villains, but trying to foster a conversation about how to live well, and what constraints on our own actions we should accept, not due to fear of legal or violent reprisals, but out of positive concern for others.

This is not a project of censorship and violence, trying to prevent exposure to what offends us, but a project of education and charity, trying to know and love our neighbors well enough to only offend when necessary, tempering our actions by cultivating empathy for and understanding of the pain of others.
“Keep Your Idenity Small” – Paul Graham

The most intriguing thing about this theory, if it’s right, is that it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. If people can’t think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.

Most people reading this will already be fairly tolerant. But there is a step beyond thinking of yourself as x but tolerating y: not even to consider yourself an x. The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.
“The Rotten Orange and the Kingslayer” (me on Homeric epithets and running jokes)

Hero [in Much Ado About Nothing] is falsely accused, but in Game of Thrones (I’ll be careful about spoilers, don’t worry), even a truthful claim can become an uncharitable fetter. Ser Jaime Lannister is often called “Kingslayer” since, before the series begins, he betrayed his oath as sworn man to Mad King Aerys and killed him. (Aerys’s own sobriquet may give you a hint as to why). Other people Jaime interacts with keep referring to him as Kingslayer and Oathbreaker, and the constant repetition changes what they expect of Jaime and what he expects of himself.

“Have you tried thinking of yourself as a large cone?”

Wikipedia article on codeswitching
Wikipedia article on conic sections

(“Conic Sections” by Magister_Mathematicae – CC BY-SA 3.0)

Learning about people in the wrong order

Wikipedia page on “Ban the Box” campaigns
Link to get involved in “Ban the Box” campaign, if you’re interested
“A Nation of Valjeans” (me at First Things)

When Jean Valjean appears for the first time in the stage musical Les Misérables , he is in the process of being paroled, and he is in an argument with his former jailer. When Inspector Javert barks out “You are a thief,” Valjean replies, “I stole a loaf of bread.” For Valjean, his crime is an action in the past, regretted and repented. From Javert’s point of view, the crime isn’t something Valjean did; it’s something he is, now and forever.Our criminal justice system frequently takes the same view . Over five million citizens are denied the right to vote because they have committed a felony. Disenfranchisement is not akin to parole check-ins or other prudent defenses against recidivism. It is a denial of the former prisoner’s membership in the body politic.
“Blind Auditions Key to Hiring Musicians” (effect of blind auditions on gender discrimination)
“Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination” (discrimination in hiring against “black-sounding” names)
“Perceived Criminality, Criminal Background Checks, and the Racial Hiring Practices of Employers” (absent criminal record boxes, some employers use race/perceived race as a proxy for criminal history)

To be your brother’s keeper, first be your brother’s brother

The line from the West Wing I’m quoting is from “Posse Comitatus” and runs:

Leo: I don’t want him putting a voice to the guy. I take my daughter to a seafood place, the first thing she does is name all the lobsters in the tank so I can’t eat ’em.
The facebook commenter I’m quoting said:

It’s not good for the person sitting this way to spend their commutes cultivating indifference to others’ needs and placing the burden on others to ask for a little courtesy.

No. Wrong. You have no idea what’s good for that person. “Cultivating indifference to others’ needs and placing the burden on others to ask for a little courtesy” may be exactly what that person needs at the moment. Respecting autonomy means recognizing that individuals are the best judges of their own wants and needs. A man “spreading” on the subway obviously believes that it is in his own best interest to sit that way. You have no grounds to say that it isn’t.

“I’m shaming you for your own good” is one of the scariest arguments out there. Usually it’s insincere, but it’s even scarier when people mean it.

And I have three bits of bonus content, that were in the back of my mind while I was broadcasting, but didn’t make it into the program:

Wikipedia page on person-first language. (The difference between saying “a disabled person” and “a person with a disability” — which puts the right thing at the heart of their idenity? Note, preferred languages varies a lot by disability/difference, e.g. “Deaf person” is almost always preferred to “person who has deafness” and there’s a fair amount of people on either side of “person with autism” or “autistic person.” It’s usually best to ask individual people which they prefer.)
“Miss Manners and Mr. Manspreader” by B.D. McClay in The Hedgehog Review
“Didn’t you ever break on the floor?” (me on my college debate group’s valorizing changing your mind)

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