|
The Communitarian Update
Number 40
October 12, 2001
EVENTS
Conference on the Census
On 10/22 - Dialogues on the social significance of the rise of minorities. Sponsored by the NYU Department
of Sociology. 9 am to 5 pm in Room 407 of the Student Events Center at 5 Washington Place on the NYU campus.
Evening session, 7 pm to 10 pm, in Hemmindinger Hall at 33 Washington Place, NYU. Among many participants:
Victor Nee (Cornell), Phil Kasinitz (Hunter), Roderick Harrison (Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies), Claudette Bennett (US Census), and Rodolfo de la Garza (Columbia).
Evening: "Author Meets His Critics" Amitai Etzioni will respond to critics of his new book The Monochrome
Society. No charge, open to the public; register in advance. Contact Deirdre Mead at comnet@gwu.edu and
place NYU in the subject line.
DEBATE: ACLU VS ETZIONI ON RIGHTS VS PUBLIC SAFETY.
Monday October 15 at 4:30 pm, Amitai Etzioni, GWU University Professor and author of The Limits of Privacy
will debate Arthur Spitzer, Legal Director of The American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital
Area. The topic will be "Civil Liberties and Public Safety in the Post-September 11 World." The discussion
will be moderated by Professor Mary Cheh of The George Washington University's School of Law and will take
place in Moot Court Room, which is located in the Law School, 2000 H Street (corner of 20th and H Streets,
NW).
Diversity within Unity Conference
The Diversity within Unity project's first transnational conference on November 1st and 2nd, in Brussels.
Scholars, public intellectuals, and political leaders will exchange ideas on the societal adaptations of
democratic societies to growing diversity that can preserve an, albeit changed, societal unity and identity.
Mackenzie Baris at comnet@gwu.edu with "DWU" in the subject line.
NEWS
Senator McCain Praises AmeriCorps
McCain calls for an expansion of national service in an article in the October issue of the Washington
Monthly. The article is available online at
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0110.mccain.html
Americans Choose Security Over Rights
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Americans supported increased security in a weekend USA Today/CNN
Gallup poll. 58% favored special security checks for Arabs, including American citizens, before boarding
planes. 49% special ID for Arabs. 33% making it easier for authorities to read mail, check e-mail and tap
phones. 29% even support allowing police to search people randomly.
Late HIV Diagnosis Costs Lives
Four in ten people infected with HIV do not find out until 10 years after acquiring the virus, when the
infection has often advanced into late stages, reports the Center for Disease Control. Early diagnosis
not only allows patients to take part in life-prolonging therapy, but decreases the chances that they will
pass the virus along to others. http://www.cdc.gov
SEE COMMENTS ON PREVIOUS UPDATE BELOW
Become an endorser!
Show you're proud to be a communitarian by reading and endorsing our platform. Go to our web site:
http://www.communitariannetwork.org. Recent endorsers
include Gustavo Herrarte (Guatemala City, Guatemala), Jessica Dills (Dayton, OH), and Berto Salaj (Armed
Forces Europe, Zagreb Croatia).
New Issue of The Responsive Community!
(Free sample issues available)
The following issue was completed just before the September 11 attacks. A special issue dedicated to the
discussion of the attacks will follow shortly.
Volume 11, Issue 4, Fall 2001
Up Front
On Recruiting Teachers: A Communitarian Approach - Representative David E. Price
The Promise and the Peril of "Communities of Character" - William A. Galston
Essays
Individualism and Its Discontents - Wilfred M. McClay
Clearly, individualistic values reign supreme in the United States today. This lucid piece of intellectual
history explains why.
A Symposium on Legislating Morality
If all legislation has a moral dimension, how do we determine which legislation is justified and when
government has usurped the moral duty of the community? Four authors present their criteria for legislating
morality.
Can Legislation Solve Our Moral Problems? - Christopher Beem
Democratic Soulcraft - R. Bruce Douglass
The Bounds of Civic Morality - Thomas A. Spragens, Jr.
Lawmaking in a Good Society - Amitai Etzioni
A Journey in Stages: The Many Faces of Assimilation - Amy Goldstein and Roberto Suro
The Hispanic population in the United States now exceeds 35 million. Can they all fit in America's melting
pot--and do they want to?
Departments
The Community Bookshelf
Walking Through Open Doors - David Sciulli
Review of Joel Schwartz's Fighting Poverty with Virtue: Moral Reform and America's Urban Poor, 1825-2000.
Have Communitarians Been Duped? - Kelton Cobb
John Ehrenberg's Civil Society: The Critical History of an Idea.
Especially Noted
The Community's Pulse
Kaleidoscope: Habermas's Proceduralism Tries to Tackle Bioethics - Michael Adrian
Libertarians, Authoritarians, Communitarians
Commentary - Seyla Benhabib, Emily R. Gill, Elona M. Vaisnys
Visit The Responsive Community on our web: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq.
If you would like to receive a FREE sample of our publication for yourself or your organization, please let us
know at comnet@gwu.edu, or call (800) 245-7460. Same--to subscribe.
Comments on Update #39
In Update # 39, we included a section titled "Lessons from September 11, 2001" and received the following
responses:
I don't know whether I'm a "civil liberal" or not, but I take deep offense at the hectoring divisive tone
in the sentence using that term below. Using the tragedy and evil of last week to score rhetorical points
off real or imagined rivals of long standing is shameful.
Putnam Barber
Seattle
Sounds like the right approach. May God Bless you all.
Dick Howard.
I agree, goodness and justice will ultimately triumph over evil. But is there not a chilling irony in
juxtaposing a condemnation of last week's destruction of innocent lives (the terrorists' means to what
they see as a good end) with a (neutral? approving?) report of destroying human lives in the womb as a
means of reducing crime? Can civilization create a culture that truly respects life when nearly as many
lives are aborted each day as were lost in the Trade Center Attack?
In friendship,
Tom Lickona
|
