Dave Axler wrote:
(And did anyone besides me notice that in the process of denouncing
Penn's "corporate plutocracy," Glenn was effectively plugging their
wholly-owned station -- which still operates, courtesy of Penn, under an
"educational" license despite its having almost no educational content
whatsoever?)
penn is all about hearing and airing multiple viewpoints,
all about sharing values, exchanging opinions, negotiating
issues. it's all part of penn president amy gutmann's
championing of the idea -- and the ideals -- of deliberative
democracy:
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2004/100704/also2.html
Arguing for reason in a name-calling culture
By JUDY WEST
As Amy Gutmann acknowledged Sept. 23 at the Penn
Bookstore, deliberative democracy is not a phrase that
trips off the tongue easily. But, she said, "It holds out
the biggest promise for making democracy the best it can
be."
"Deliberation is difficult. It requires education,
experience and good models," Gutmann said during a talk
and book signing for two of her books, "Why Deliberative
Democracy?" (with Dennis Thompson) and "Identity in
Democracy."
Deliberation is important, Gutmann argued, because too
often we talk about difficult subjects only with people
who hold the same views. We need to be pushed to give
reasons for those views, and powerful people need to
justify their decisions and respond to the objections of
their critics. Otherwise, she said, "it's just a game of
power, money and media influence."
Even in a "less than friendly environment," such as the
lead-up to the war in Iraq, deliberative democracy still
made an appearance, Gutmann said. "The debate wasn't one
that deliberative democrats dream about," she conceded,
but even after the war had begun and President Bush
persisted in his attempts to justify it, his opponents
continued--and still continue--with their reasoned
objection. "Deliberative democracy," she said, "has the
resources to support continuing challenges."
Education, said Gutmann, is the key to fruitful
deliberation. For an uneducated audience, as the
popularity of reality TV attests, "it's a lot more
entertaining to watch people call each other names." The
challenge is to teach people ways of treating others
civilly so that you can further important causes in a
society where people will inevitably disagree.
The university setting, said Gutmann, is an "excellent
case study" of deliberative democracy at work. "In the
end," she said, "I'm responsible for my decisions, but
I'd do better in many cases to convene a diverse group to
inform me."
On the ongoing need to keep the discussion going, Gutmann
cited her favorite New Yorker cartoon, which shows a
small boy tugging on Jefferson's coat tails and asking,
"If we hold these truths to be self-evident, why do you
keep carping on them so much?" Because, said Gutmann, in
a democracy we need to--and we need places like Penn to
educate people to carry on those arguments with reasoned,
deliberative debate.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
[aka laserbeam®]
[aka ray]
SERIAL LIAR. CALL FOR RATES.
"It is very clear on this listserve who
these people are. Ray has admitted being
connected to this forger." -- Tony West
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