'Politeness constrains us': Massey lecturer Ian Williams on developing our own opinions amid cancel culture
This year's Massey lecturer is the award-winning Canadian writer and professor Ian Williams, who has chosen to focus on the topic of conversations — more specifically, our inability to have them in an age of increasing polarization, cancel culture and emerging forms of online communication..
Williams explains that he believes it's important to discuss taboo subjects, such as race or sexuality, even at the risk of offending people or saying the wrong thing."What Audre Lorde is suggesting here is that even if people misunderstand you, even if you're going to get cancelled, even if you are saying the wrong thing, it's worth taking the risk to say it," says Williams.
"I think we ought to realize that one half of our conversations is, in fact, listening," he says. "Is it courageous to speak or is it courageous to hold your peace … and not rush in to contradict them and prove your point, but to just listen graciously, to let it settle, to offer no comment or whatever and just let it be?"From Williams's perspective, one of the threats to courageous listening is our inability to approach difficult conversations without an agenda.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: CBC - 🏆 32. / 63 Read more »
Source: TerraceStandard - 🏆 24. / 68 Read more »
Source: sherdogdotcom - 🏆 66. / 51 Read more »
Source: sherdogdotcom - 🏆 66. / 51 Read more »
Source: BNNBloomberg - 🏆 83. / 50 Read more »
Source: CBCOttawa - 🏆 68. / 51 Read more »