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The Communitarian Update
Number 26
March 2, 2000
Protect Children with Filters
The FCC is handing out $1.66 billion in public funds to 25,875 schools and
libraries to help connect then to the Internet. Despite urging from both
the Clinton White House and conservative members of Congress the FCC has
refused to make equipping the computers involved with filters a condition
for receiving the funds.
Parents can protect their children at home by using various filtering software,
but are unable to do so (even for children age 12 and younger) in public
schools and libraries.
The FCC chair has stated that he would ask schools and libraries to "think about" the matter...
You are invited!
For the first time since 1991, The Communitarian Platform is being reopened for endorsement.
Fox's Next Move?
The Fox sequel to "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire," in the race to grab ratings
might be "Who Wants to Be Adopted by a Millionaire." In it children will be paraded before
a fat cat. (Surely, there will be no show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's Politician"--
that would be old hat.)
Irish Stereotype or creative image?
Bill Clinton, urging cooperation among opponents in the Northern Ireland peace process,
likened the sides to "a couple of drunks" said, "I just hope everyone will belly up to
the bar and do their part."
Senior Roommates
More and more elderly people are finding roommates as a way to cut costs and make friends.
Deborah Altus, an associate professor of family studies at Kansas State University conducted
a survey of 100 older Midwesterners who reported feeling happier and healthier since finding
a roommate.
Soft Communitarians
Amitai Etzioni believes that Jonathan Rauch's article on soft communitarians
("Conventional Wisdom: Rediscovering the social norms that stand between law and
libertinism," Reason magazine, February 2000) is one of the most seminal articles
published on the subject.
Eastern Sociological Society
Amitai Etzioni will speak at the plenary session of the Eastern Sociological Society
on March 4 on The State of Sociology at the Beginning of a New Millennium. This
session will be preceded by an Author Meets Critics session on his book, The New
Golden Rule.
Close Up
The C-SPAN program, Close Up will feature a discussion of the First Amendment with
Amitai Etzioni on March 8. Check local listings.
Werkstatt Deutschland
On March 9-10 in Berlin Amitai Etzioni will participate in a conference with Federal
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He will speak on the topic "A Responsible Society:
Morality and Individuality within a Modern Democracy."
Internet and Privacy
North Carolina State University will be hosting Amitai Etzioni on April 6. Dr.
Etzioni will speak on privacy and the Internet, a major theme of his book, The
Limits of Privacy.
Communitarians Down Under
The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, suggested what he called a communitarian
approach to solving Aboriginal problems. During an interview from Bourke, New South
Wales, Howard urged treating housing for the poor not as a specifically Aboriginal
problem but as one that affects poor of all backgrounds.
The Responsive Community
The most recent issue includes an article about the ill effects of cohabitation by
Linda Waite. It caused quite a bit of interest in the press and otherwise. Find out
more about the journal at our web site, http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/index.html.
Read the table of contents from each issue and a sample article from our most recent
issue. For information on subscribing, send us an e-mail at comnet@gwu.edu. We'd be
happy to send you a free sample copy.
Court draws on Responsive Community article
A federal appeals court in California rejected a challenge to HUD's "One Strike
and You're Out" policy, under which any drug-related crime by a member of a tenant's
household is grounds for eviction from public housing. Joe Escher from the CCI filed
a brief drawing on an article by Dennis Saffran in The Responsive Community (Volume 6,
Issue 4, Fall 1996). The Court, citing the article, found that the policy was a reasonable
means of reserving scarce public housing spaces for the vast majority of law-abiding poor
families whose members do not threaten the safety of other tenants. Review the article
at: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/Saffran.html
Who should bury the hatchet?
During the meeting of Association for Practical & Professional Ethics, Professor Amy
Gutmann from Princeton suggested that it is time to bury the hatchet in the "war" between
liberals and communitarians because now that communitarians recognize rights, liberals
have won. While burying hatchets is always a good idea, the debate may have to continue
until liberals accept the need for social formulations of the good.
Utah Limits Sex Education
In a measure that was passed by a 40 to 27 vote, the Utah state Senate voted to ban discussion
of birth control and requires students to be taught that "sexual relations outside of marriage
constitutes criminal conduct."
New Publications
Serving the Word: Literalism in America from the Pulpit to the Bench by Vincent Crapanzano
(Norton Books, 1999) Reviewed by Alan Wolfe in the January 31, 2000 issue of The New Republic.
Rationality and Human Behavior by Donald B. Calne (Pantheon Books, 2000). Neurologist Donald Calne
looks at human reasoning power and calls for a coupling of reason with compassion.
Family, Religion, and Social Change in Diverse Societies edited by Sharon K. Houseknecht and Jerry
G. Pankhurst (Oxford University Press, 2000).
Open Moral Communities by Seymour J. Mandelbaum (MIT Press, due out April 2000). Seymour
Mandelbaum's extended reflection on communities and the myths that sustain them is a plea
for a communitarian sensibility.
The Communitarian Update is compiled by Jennifer Ambrosino. Send RELEVANT news items
to comnet@gwu.edu. Please consider forwarding the Update to others who may be interested.
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