The Pragmatist Pamphlets

 " A time comes when silence is betrayal." - As quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr.  Whether you are talking about a military conflict or a the battle of ideas, it is generally better to have a large army than a small one. The more individuals we have supporting and defending our core values, the more we are able to defeat the enemies of reason. And yet, countless people that share our values fail to speak up. The reasons for their reluctance are numerous.    Most people are too busy to notice the dangers of idea pathogens or wrongly assume that they are unimportant.  The intrusion of anti-science, anti-reason, and illiberal movements occurs slowly and incrementally without many people becoming aware of the larger problem. Instead of ignoring the problem, recognize that while it affects others today, it could reach you tomorrow. Most people are reluctant to join the battle of ideas is what is called the "diffusion of responsibility" or "the bystander effect"...

In his best selling autobiography Up From Slavery (1901), Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) tells his story of growing up under slavery and then during Reconstruction, his adjustment to new freedoms, his work with the Tuskegee Institute (a school that remains in operation to this day), and the struggles he encountered along the way. Washington is remembered as an ambitious advocate of practical, industrial training as a means of lifting blacks and whites out of poverty.  Washington believed that lifting Black America out of poverty came primarily through economic advancement, and that legal protections and softening of racist attitudes among Whites were secondary responses that would surely follow.  While he supported legislation to secure equal rights for Black America, he also advocated for vocational training, free enterprise. patience, and thrift as the best paths to progress.  As an educator, he was instrumental in transforming Tuskegee Institute into Tuskegee Univers...