Do decency, integrity, ethics, forgiveness, respect, thoughtfulness, self-reflection, forgiveness, kindness, empathy, civility, morality, generosity, hope, and honesty mean anything to anyone today? Are these traits of weakness that separate the sheep from the wolves, the leaders from the followers, the innovators from the implementers?
How do we determine what really matters in the world and in our lives, and what tools do we use to know? Newspaper, radio, sidebar and continually crawling headlines reveal an unparalleled urgency to get ahead and to be ahead in this moment of instant gratification, unprecedented global competition, intense global economic uncertainties, and technological innovations that follow the way of fashion—“One day you’re in; the next day you’re out.”
As everyone races to be some place to meet someone or to do something—whether to post the latest photo to Facebook or to tweet the latest political gaffe—do all signs indicate that we are losing our humanity? What does it mean to know one’s humanity and what does it mean to lose one’s humanity?
And if we are losing our humanity, how do we reclaim it? Is our ability to connect with worlds near and far eroding our sense of “real” connectivity when we no longer hear, see, or participate in dinner or bus stop conversations because we engrossed in our smart phones, pads, and pods? With these advances, has the quality of our connections and our connectivity been compromised or enhanced? And how do science and technology enable us to know our basic humanity? When someone asks “Can you hear me now?” are we really listening and do we really care?
These are but some of the questions and ideas to be addressed in the fall 2012 kickoff of Project Humanities at Arizona State University in a variety of formats and audiences both local and national. Indeed, life stories about child molestation, movie theater shootings, cheating at Olympic sporting events and medical school exams, and rabid political campaigns built on vicious personal attacks with the purpose to divide and confuse keep many wondering how do we get along when there are so many competing interests and in the face of those who benefit from creating and perpetuating fear of the unknown whether that unknown is a new neighbor, a new idea, or a new way of doing something.
Project Humanities is a university initiative at Arizona State University that explores how we make meaning of our shared experiences. Through research and public programs, Project Humanities connects students, faculty, communities, and institutions toward clarifying, understanding, creating, innovating, and demystifying human ties that bind.
This year’s kickoff is preceded by a host of activities in the “Are we losing our humanity?” theme—three-film summer series of screenings and discussions around the valley and an upcoming September 7 multidisciplinary discussion at the National Press Club in DC among legislators, academics, and funding agencies. The kickoff week of September 10-15 offers a diverse range of activities on the various ASU campuses and around the valley to appeal to different audiences within and beyond Arizona State University—a forum on athletics and sports culture featuring basketball legend, Mercury General Manager and Phoenix Suns Vice President Ann Meyers Drysdale, a community poetry slam with Phonetic Spit, and conversations on video games and transhumanism, and another on science fiction and television with writer Alan Dean Foster. In addition to film discussions and lectures featuring educator Jonathan Kozol and pediatrician Eve Shapiro, of particular note is the Arizona premiere of Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story, at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept.13, at The Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe. Booker’s Place is a 90-minute documentary based on the research of Yvette Johnson, an ASU student who worked on a family history project on her grandfather Booker Wright, a black restaurant owner who also served double-duty as a waiter in a “whites only” restaurant in Greenwood, Miss., in the 1960s. He became an unlikely activist for the civil rights movement when he appeared in 1966 on an NBC documentary by Frank De Felitta, reporting on racism in the South. The movie was recently shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and was the subject of a full NBC Dateline episode. The film will be followed by a Q & A session with ASU professors Aaron Baker, Neal Lester, and Keith Miller (and moderator Sherry Rankins-Robertson); along with the director, Raymond De Felitta and Yvette Johnson, who co-produced the picture.
“Are we losing our humanity?” ultimately seeks to make humanities more relevant and immediate, providing new and multiple ways for folks to “talk, listen, and connect.” All Project Humanities events are FREE and open to the public. For more details about this event, please visit humanities.asu.edu and our Facebook page.
Neal A. Lester is a Foundation Professor of English, Associate Vice President of Arts and Humanities and Director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University.
downtownresident posted at 10:43 am on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
Unfortunately, Neil, you will only be preaching to the choir.
Civility is dead.
Our national "leaders" killed it in the name of politics.
Winning at all costs trumps ethics and civility now.
Dick Cheney spouting the F word on the Senate floor, The President of the USA being called a liar to his face in public.
There's no honesty on Wall Street, in politics or anywhere else that I see. It's every man for himself from here on out.
SethCold posted at 11:06 am on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
Downtown, you are so right, it is more about politics, then humanity. Hate to say it. But, then how do you regain it?. I would like to say I am too old to want it to go. I would still help out and want the best for others. That has been lost it is all about ourselves then others first. Sad!
chatmandu002 posted at 11:52 am on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
When you let the government take over your personal responsibilities then you become less aware in other aspects of life. The attributes Prof Lester questions start with personal responsibility and awareness of your part in the community.
Project Humanities sounds so very liberal, progressive and secular humanism. I'm sure we will hear the usual anti-conservative speeches about racism, the "war on women", corruption of the rich and all the other talking points from the liberal/progressive political structure. All adding up to another rainbow community party for love, self gratification and a dependency on something other than one's self.
asuaguila posted at 1:23 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
Don't forget faculty plagiarism scandals at ASU. What school was that, CLAS?
Arizona Willie posted at 1:44 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
chamanduu002 ... you and other right wingers are always injecting " personal responsibility " -- until discussions turn to paying the nations bills that we have run up on the International Credit Card.
That requires raising taxes -- spending cuts alone won't do it.
But all the right wingers want to do is cut social programs that help the poor / sick / and weak.
" Personal responsibility " is something right wingers only preach to OTHER people about what they do in their lives. They ignore it in their own.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:17 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
HEAR WE GO AGAIN WITH THE ..."ANTI-WHITE"...RHETORIC.
My Gawd........the Civil Rights Movement was almost....."FIFTY YEARS AGO.....50"...time for all the Commie Wanna-Be Liberals to ........MOVE ON...that horse has been ridden to death.
I am so sick of our Local TV Stations and Newspapers running ...."BLEEDING HEART" stories about all the .....ILLEGAL ALIEN familes that are being....RIPPED APART...when these ...CRIMINALS...get caught.....here...ILLEGAL ALIENS from Mexico, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Croatia....where ever....YOU KNEW THAT WHEN YOU OVER-STAYED YOUR VISA OR ENTERED THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY = THAT YOU WERE COMMITTING A CRIME AND WERE SUBJECT TO BEING DEPORTED.......if you went ahead and got married and had kids.....THAT'S TOO DARN BAD....IT WAS YOUR DECISION...NOW, NOT ONLY ARE YOU GOING TO PAY A PRICE BUT YOUR FAMILY IS TOO....THAT'S THE BREAKS.
I KNEW THE MOMENT I STARTED READING THIS COLUMN THAT IT WOULD END UP BEING JUST ANOTHER...........ANTI-WHITE....ANTI-CAPITALIST...ANTI-AMERICAN PIECE OF PROPAGANDA FOR THE .....LEFT-WING.
sockratties posted at 7:46 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
california immigrant leon… You made your decision when you saw the author’s picture. Then you added your political garbage. Then you added in your pet immigration topic. And, of course, the usual hate and outrage. So sad and so predictable…
Cerulean posted at 9:01 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
There are many examples during this election cycle of foul play in civility.
Clint Eastwood is a siren example of the worst in convention speech. As many Republican eyes glazed over in adoration, Clint’s gravitas only lost several legends for me as he blustered deep seated virulence during his deadpan conversation with my President.
Moving forward, I would hope that we can replace vitriol with a sense of future for the best of humanity.
chatmandu002 posted at 9:07 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
Go ahead Willie, keep distorting the truth eventually you will connect personal responsibility with racism like all the liberal/progressives do, especially BSNBC.
If you believe that taxes must be raised to stop the huge deficits then fine. I'm ready to pay my share of taxes EQUALLY along with everyone else. Eliminate ALL the Bush Tax Cuts.
Social programs? Is that the liberal term for "Welfare" programs? You mean the welfare programs that make permanent economic slaves of our citizens, the welfare programs that lead to generational stagnation of people's will to succeed. Decades of generational dependency on government. Welfare roles that keep growing and growing. You mean the poor folks that have given up on exercising their "personal responsibility" and allow the big government to control their lives.
The bigger the government the fewer the freedoms.
remo303 posted at 9:35 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
“Are we losing our humanity?” ultimately seeks to make humanities more relevant and immediate, providing new and multiple ways for folks to “talk, listen, and connect.”
Oh. So it's just a promo for an Arts festival.
Why didn't you just say so?
mnjcpa posted at 1:06 pm on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
Right on chatman! Couldn't be said better.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:33 pm on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
LOL....Mr. Lester's corn-rows had nothing to do with my comment. His column espousing "humanity", "ethics", and "integrity" did however.
How many tens of thousands of College and University "Q & A" discussions have occurred all across America since the 1960's on the Civil Rights Movement ????
The "Liberal Agenda's" never change...Native-American Rights, Hispanic (aka Illegal Alien Amnesty) Rights, Black-American Rights, Japanese-American Rights. Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/Transsexual/Crossdresser (did I leave anyone out) Rights....oh, and let's not forget the "Holocaust" (and how can we with Hollywood coming out with a Holocaust Movie every year)......ENUF ALREADY....TIME TO MOVE ON...THE QUESTIONS HAVE ALL BEEN ANSWERED A HUNDRED...NO MAKE THAT TEN THOUSAND TIMES. THE PERPS ARE ALL DEAD AND BURIED.............LET'S GIVE IT A REST AND TRY AND BRING OUR DEFICIT DOWN BEFORE AMERICANS DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY THEIR TV BILLS ANY LONGER !!!
Bingo6 posted at 6:18 am on Mon, Sep 3, 2012.
Poor Leon a man without a world.Poor
Engaged Voter posted at 10:12 am on Tue, Sep 4, 2012.
"BEFORE AMERICANS DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY THEIR TV BILLS ANY LONGER !!!"
Yes, because paying for TV is very important. Without it, how can you get your Fox News talking points to parrot?
(seriously, Leon is worried about TELEVISION bills?)
chuckles3 posted at 10:57 am on Wed, Sep 5, 2012.
Yep, a hugfest to blame Whitey for everything bad. Except abortion and economic slavery. Thats very humane.
VofReason posted at 2:16 pm on Wed, Sep 5, 2012.
Humanity starts at home- no? How about kicking off the Project with understanding why men impregnate and then leave women to raise the child (oops children) on their own- setting them up for a lifetime of poverty. That ought to get the creative juices flowing- no?
DavidNichols posted at 12:22 pm on Sat, Sep 8, 2012.
Mr. Lester;
Amerca began our "Attrition Programs" in January 2008, the E-verify Law, and the I.C.E. Deportation/Incarceration Programs, of good, hard working Christian Immigrants, many thousands of whom were Parents of our own "Legal Citizen Children".
January 2008 was also the start of "The Great Recession", "The Foreclosure Crisis.". and "America's new Balloning National Deficit".
It is all related, and No Co-incidence.
"America is great because it is good, when it ceases to be good, it ceases to be great."
Alex De Tocqueville, a very wise 1840's French Historian.
This great Nation of Immigrants was built oon Far Bretter Principles, and Values than to rip apart good Christian Families, and to Deport/Dump "Human Beings" at the Harsh U.S. Mexico Border into a known "Drug War" with nothing, not even water, to be killed, or to Die of the elements, as I.C.E. has done to Hundreds of Thousands since January 2008!
Over Forty-Two Thousand Hispanic Human Beings now lay Dead at the I.C.E. Deportation/Dumping Grounds.
Over Five Thousand Hispanic Children are now in U.S. Foster Care.
Over Thirteen Thousand Hispanic Immigrants have been Incarcerated for years with out even charges.
Over One Hundred non-Criminal Immigrants have Died in U.S. Custody.
"Are we losing our Humanity?"
Hell are we even "Human"?
This is our I.C.E.'d Economy, and "I.C.E Put the Car in the Ditch."
To: Good, and Brotherhood, from Sea to shining Sea.