(12 comments) SHARE        Monday, March 28, 2011
The War On Science is Now a War on Education The Open Records request for Professor William Cronon's email is an expansion of the Republican attack that began with evolutionary biologists and then expanded with "climate gate." Their attempts at intimidation will not stand. If nothing else, this latest tactic offers further evidence of the lack of respect the right has for college professors as well as the disdain they have for the freedom of speech and right to dissent.

(13 comments) SHARE        Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Liberal Inside of Me Dr. Timothy Chandler withdrew from a Provost job at Kennesaw State University he had just won after a local newspaper found that a paper he published in 1998 contained a reference to Karl Marx. This is the latest tactic by the right to discredit educators and education. It is also a namecalling propaganda strategy similar to that used by Peter King against Muslims. In America, these outrages cannot be tolerated.

(4 comments) SHARE        Saturday, March 12, 2011
From Baghdad With Love The similarities in strategy between Governors Walker and Snyder is worthy of a comparison to the Republican campaign strategy in the early days of the Iraq war and the situation in Baghdad. Overreaching ideological fervor combined with a strategy of controlling the situation by silencing the opposition, coupled with placing cronies in charge, allowed war profits for those at home but led to civil war in Iraq.

(3 comments) SHARE        Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Republican War on Higher Education: Abraham Lincoln Weeps The massive budget cuts to higher education sweeping the country should be of great concern to all of us. Public higher education provides opportunities for access to these institutions and the excellence in them to non-elites. But these cuts will change that. Thirty years of Republican propaganda will have been successful if an effective counter narrative isn't launched.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, February 28, 2011
Cantor's Excellent Question and How We Should Answer It Eric Cantor asks an excellent question - why are we putting people on the federal payroll that we can't afford? But he gives the wrong answer by threatening to cut 700,000 American workers. The right answer is to cut the Iraqi and Afghanis we have on the federal payroll, and while we are at it, the contractors that have wasted billions of dollars on failed projects over there. Then end the war.

(3 comments) SHARE        Saturday, February 26, 2011
Divided We Fall What do the protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have in common with the protests in Wisconsin and Ohio? What does the "bold plan" put forward by the Chancellor of the U of Wisconsin system have in common with the "bold plan" being discussed in Arizona to create competition among colleges for resources? What is it like to be a college professor in these times and what should we do about it? Here's what

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Protests, Power, and the Longer Storyline: Lessons from Revolutions Past The recent uprisings in Libya and Bahrain provide us with hope but also a reminder of the long slog that accompanies most revolutions. Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, dictators backed by the military make protests messy. Vietnam taught us that. We need to practice patience as well as passion and recognize that this struggle against money and power will take years. The same is true in the US. Wisconsin is only the beginning ...

(3 comments) SHARE        Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Republican Hate Narrative Against Public Employees and Unions Scott Walker is a multi-millionaire governor who hates public employees and unions. John Boehner is a multi-millionaire Speaker of the House who hates public employees, unions, & NPR. The Koch Brothers are billionaires who provide funding for politicians and the dupes of the Tea Party to rise up against the government programs that provide a quality of life and protections against corporations. The Republican rich hate us.

(3 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Spending Cuts as Magical Realism Both proposals to cut spending are exercises in magical thinking and both suffer from an inability to address the Big Four: War, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But of the four, the cost of war is most pressing. To seriously address the deficit requires ending the war and taxing the wealthy and the corporations who have "recovered" better than the rest of us. What we need is a bipartisan plan to accomplish it.

(3 comments) SHARE        Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Tyranny of Silence The success of the Egyptian protests demonstrates the power of voice in a democracy. It is a lesson that those of us on the left (and in the center) should learn from, much as those on the far right have done. As we watch our democracy become a plutocracy, as we see our values compromised and our services and salaries diminished while the rich get richer and the wars go on, we need to remember what Egypt has taught us.

(8 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Obama's Rhetorical Leadership: Cutting the Bad Guys Off at the Pass The president has demonstrated his rhetorical and leadership skills in two recent public appearances - the interview with Bill O'Reilly and the speech at the C of C. While as a communication scholar I applaud his ability to adapt his message to his audience and situation, as a progressive I am less satisfied. However, I say let's get behind him while he cuts off the bad guys at the pass, and hope real change follows.

(2 comments) SHARE        Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Battle of Narratives Over Egypt Journalists are missing the point of the Egyptian protests for the same reasons as they missed the impending global economic collapse. The call for "democracy" in Egypt means a call for lower food prices, more jobs, and less income inequality, all stories that are bypassed by networks only interested in spectacle. Up next: the global food crisis, job shortages, and inequality which may affect us like the Egyptians.

(2 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Four Good Reasons America Got It Wrong in Egypt Why is the U.S. getting it wrong in Egypt? There are four good reasons for our failure to get behind a popular democratic uprising against a tyrant. All of them are understandable, but also wrong-headed. We cannot continue to pursue old policies that no longer are in our best interests, nor can we afford to act on the basis of fear.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, January 29, 2011
Democracy, God, the People, and the Pharaoh: A Master Narrative's Work is Never Done Understanding the use of the term "Pharaoh" to describe Egyptian dictator Mubarak creates a link to a powerful master narrative that cuts across religious and cultural borders. One result is that the ironic posture of the US - professing support for the protesters desire for democracy while continuing to support Mubarak - must be resolved in favor of the people if our words about democracy are ever to ring true in the region.

(5 comments) SHARE        Thursday, January 27, 2011
Game-Changing Narratives, Or: How Social Media is Changing Reality The convergence of new social media and politics is on the verge of changing how we think about and act on reality. This piece explores that convergence by bringing together some new research on gaming, emotions, social media, and terrorism that should be a wake-up call for all of us.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, January 24, 2011
SOTU Message to Obama: You Need to Pick Up the Pace and Score Three Touchdowns The president should surprise everyone by acting on what is obvious to all of us: we need to end the wars that are costing us $190 million or more a day. With the savings, we can create a federal jobs program and provide incentives to business to hire and train workers. We can save education, health care, and social security. And we can win the battle of narratives abroad by showing what is best about the US.

(2 comments) SHARE        Friday, January 21, 2011
JFK's Inaugural Address: 50 Years Ago and Still Relevant Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural address. I take another look at it but find in it some good lessons for us today. While our time is messier and more complex than his was on the world stage, we face many of the same divisive challenges at home that we then faced abroad. It was a great speech for its time, and its message should resonate for our time.

(3 comments) SHARE        Thursday, January 20, 2011
Inflexibility as a Poor Narrative Stance: The Republicans on Health Care and Sarah Palin on Tucson A communication problem confronts our country and it is, for lack of a better descriptor, "inflexibility." Yesterday the House Republicans demonstrated it in their stubborn symbolic vote that did nothing but waste time, which is also what Palin's speech on Tucson did last week. In both cases we see leaders entrenched in their own "rightness" while poses peril for the rest of us. If you are too rigid to bend, you break.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, January 17, 2011
Narrative Inheritance, Redux: What We Should Learn Again From Martin Luther King, Jr. We remember Martin Luther King, Jr. through his powerful speeches, his image, and the courage of his nonviolent convictions. But in the wake of the tragedy in Tucson, we should also remember the transformation of society that he enabled with his words and actions. Those who followed him did not let his death stop his dream. Today we need not shy away from the hard politics ahead, but remember King and change America.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, January 15, 2011
The Many Storied Story of "The Narrative" and What the Loss of It Costs Us Politicians, pundits, academics, and ordinary citizens talk about "the narrative." But what is a "narrative?" Why is it important? What is the work that "the narrative" about our country does in our country? Given the triumph of the Tea Party anti-government narrative, what can be done to recapture "the narrative" high ground? And how did Obama's speech in Tucson remind us of what we lost when we lost "the narrative?"