Cultureplaces

A scholar with an agenda targets as ‘dangerous’  our conference on filtering out faulty research. By  Peter W. Wood Jan. 12, 2020 5:22 pm ET 598 PHOTO:  DAVID KLEIN An unhappy side effect of the digital age is “cancel culture.” Anyone with an attitude of moral superiority and a Twitter account can try to shut down an event where opinions he dislikes are likely to be spoken. For several years the National Association of Scholars has inveighed against this infantile form of protest, which undermines free expression of ideas and legitimate debate. Now the cancel caravan has arrived at our door. We are holding a conference co-sponsored by the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif., in early February. It is meant to be an exchange among scholars on the problem of “irreproducibility” in the sciences—fake science or failed science, or something-is-missing science. It’s a big problem these days, but there’s no agreement on what to do about it. Our goal is bring togeth...

  August 14, 2015 Sex Workers’ Rights are Human Rights Sex workers all over the world face a constant risk of abuse. This is not news. Nor is it news that they are an extremely marginalized group of people, frequently forced to live outside the law. No one would be surprised to learn that they face discrimination, beatings, rape and harassment – sometimes on a daily basis – or that they are often denied access to basic health or housing services. But when word got out that Amnesty International had initiated a  consultation to develop a policy to protect the human rights of sex workers , it was like lighting a touch paper. Journalists and celebrities climbed on the band wagon. Ever-more sensational headlines condemned Amnesty International for advocating for “prostitution as a human right”. As a global human rights organization, Amnesty International has a responsibility to assess how best to prevent human rights violations. As such, it is right and fitting that we should look...