There are so many interesting people that I want to check out but they don’t take the time to add their blog, website or social media link at their GRAVATAR page. Do you really expect me to search thru Google looking for your moniker when so many others often use the same or a similar one?
Please add the link(s). The web is supposed to be fast and easy, not a hassle!
As far back as 1992 in a graduate studies methodology course I questioned the psychiatric model â not dismissing it, mind you, but questioning it. After all, thatâs what weâre supposed to do in academia, right? University is not a church or a political party. Itâs a place where the mind can explore new possibilities and critique existing conditions.
Sadly, the professor who hosted the course was a capricious, cynical stooge. He is alleged to have said that “a university is a place where a professor can get a paycheck.” And after initially agreeing to write letters of recommendation for post-doc scholarships, at the last minute, just before application deadlines, he changed his mind and literally shafted me.
âShaftedâ might sound like a harsh word but itâs the very word the Department Head at the time used to describe what happened, later on, when I was also not given the chance to teach a course, which is important to your CV.
Sensing that my academic future was on the line, I went through every legitimate government agency, asking for help. Everybody just passed the buck and I didnât get a fair chance to compete for a post-doc scholarship. (I had a fantastic track record for getting funding before running into this professor).
I suppose there is some value in seeing the dark side of life along with the sunny side. Until meeting this professor, I was the apple of just about every professorâs eye. Iâd hear comments like âItâs Michael Clark and all the other students.â Or âShe is not as good as you.” (“she” being a leading student). “What would we do without you, Mike!” Michael Clark is “stellar,” “outstanding,” and I could go on. But when I encountered this dishonorable professor, the dynamic changed.
Letâs not fool ourselves. University is as politically charged and potentially corrupt as any other social institution. The higher you go, the more you see it. I was naÃŊve at the time and could not understand why one crummy professorâs actions could seemingly influence so many others. But thatâs what apparently happened. Many professors who once glowingly supported me suddenly did not return my emails. Some had integrity and hung in there, and for that I am truly appreciative. However, the ones who did try to help were mostly undergraduate professors. And that just doesnât cut it when you need several letters of recommendation for post-doc funding (My Masters professors were all in India, which in the 1990s was still a difficult place to communicate with, and I was not given adequate time for snail mail).
The professor who shafted me would have known all this. In his jaded, cynical way, he was clever. He tried to slough me off by suggesting I go see my âPeterborough peopleâ after changing his mind about supporting me. (Peterborough, Ontario is where I did my undergraduate studies).
Weird? Not really. I see it more clearly now. But I donât like to use overly nasty words at this blog. It would alienate readers and get the site designated as mature, which would only hinder any chance of getting a more positive message out there.
Anyhow, todayâs tweet brought back a lot of memories. I wrote about the DSM-III-R from a cross-cultural perspective back in 1992-93. I was moderate and didnât romanticize things. I recognized that people with mental injury or differences often do suffer.
But it only took one creepy professor with a bit of imo questionable power to put me in the academic trash can. He was the kind of professor who was often seen volunteering in the department mail room when the mail room secretary wasn’t around. But he would rarely, if ever, show up at colloquia and graduate presentations. It seems he liked to sift through the mail more than talk about intellectual issues, which in retrospect seems pretty strange to me. No time for academic debate? Lots of time to play mail boy?
Little did this enigmatic professor know, however, that out of the ashes, Earthpages.org | Earthpages.ca would arise. So even though Iâm not getting paid for doing this blog, at least the internet has provided a forum that one lousy, authoritarian professor tried to shut down.
I mean, this guy may have had power in Religious Studies within the Canadian system. But he couldn’t shut down Google. And Google US recognized the value of Earthpages well before any search engines north of the border did. A little nod to my American friends. ð
Ethics class (Photo credit: aditza121)
Copyright ÂĐ Adam Wood, 2013
Whenever a new technology arrives, laws are created to prevent abuses and to ensure fair play among users. The effect of new inventions on society is sort of like the old Wild West. Freewheeling technology users do just about anything they can, and change comes fast. Consumers spend much time and energy mastering their new toys, while companies are mostly concerned with innovation and growth. Ethical issues might be raised but the laws to enforce them come later. This is because new technologies raise novel, complicated questions that require careful consideration.
Think of the automobile. Licensing wasnât always mandatory in the US and, in the beginning, drivers made their own license plates out of ceramics. These days, practically every country demands certain skills and, of course, paying a government fee to obtain a driverâs license and vehicle plate.
Vonage V-Portal retreiving IP Address (Photo credit: K. Todd Storch)
Other examples can be found with computers and the internet. New laws are being written right now to protect intellectual property, from trending pop tunes to the latest software coding. And recently, the idea of willing your email or social media accounts to another person before your natural death is gaining popularity. Googleâs Digital Will allows grieving relatives to remove a loved oneâs internet account after theyâve passed, provided the accounts have been willed to them. In the past, some have sued internet-based companies to ensure that a deceased personâs account goes offline.
Human relationships can pose additional ethical dilemmas in the digital age. Imagine two lovers who plan to spend their lives together. But the man deceives and suddenly leaves the woman. He seems happy to be free while the woman is devastated. She asks him to stop emailing her and leave her alone so she can move on. He finds a new partner while she remains single. Despite this, he continues to visit her blog and she sees his IP address through her blog stats. The man knows she can see his IP address, so could his behavior could be taken as a type of attention seeking and possibly emotional abuse?
This might seem to be pushing it. But letâs consider the problem another way. Letâs say the man doesn’t visit the woman’s blog. Instead, he drives to her home every few days and, each time, leaves a signed note in her mailbox saying âI was here.â
Image via Tumblr
How would this be viewed by the law? Would the man be guilty of stalking? If so, the woman could pursue a restraining order to keep him at a psychologically safe distance.
The previous example of the IP address showing up after the man visits her blog isn’t too different. It has a similar psychological effect. But what legal recourse would the woman have to prevent the man from digitally ‘dropping by’ and reactivating the harmful emotions triggered by his lying and abandoning her?
Until laws are drawn up for these subtler forms of emotional abuse, unethical internet users will probably continue to satisfy their own needs at the expense of others who have no legal recourse to stop them.
Image via Pinterest / Google
Google Glass… the next big thing? www.google.com/…
Related articles
More alternative headlines at twitter.com/earthpages
Now that Earthpages.ca – Think Free is becoming a bit better known I find myself posting more comments than ever. Being a stickler for spelling, I used to copy and paste my comments into my word-processor to spell-check before posting because many blog sites don’t have spell-checking for comments. This took time, was a hassle, and sometimes caused more trouble than good because I felt that posting into my word-processor somehow robbed me of the sense of immediacy that is so vital to the web. Remember McLuhan who said ‘the medium is the message?’ Well, maybe it had something to do with that.
But to make a long story short… The other day I explored my I.E. 7 browser and discovered that with a simple right-click a Google spell-checker for on-line forms appears. And oh, what a relief it is! Errors show up in red and corrected versions are green. Almost like Christmas!
In the past I’ve been pretty minimalist with downloading updates, mostly because I had modest equipment (I still do) and didn’t want to load up my HD with tons of junk that I didn’t need. But the times are a changin’, and so am I. Now I’m realizing that it’s good to keep step with the latest software.
In most cases, anyhow…
Balancing the Opposites and Outing Ignorance
Tracing the Sacred
its a wonderful life ...
ð Be respectful of your HOME ð
Edebiyat burda, kahve tadÄąnda.
āļĨāļāļāđāļģāļŦāļāļąāļ āļŠāļĄāļļāļāđāļāļĢ āļŠāļĨāļēāļĒāđāļāļĄāļąāļ āļŠāļĨāļēāļĒāļāļļāļ āļ§āļīāļāļĩāļĨāļāļāđāļģāļŦāļāļąāļ āļāļĒāļēāļāļāļāļĄ āļĨāļāđāļ§ āļāđāļ§āļ āđāļāļĄāļąāļāļŠāļ°āļŠāļĄ āļŠāļĄāļļāļāđāļāļĢāļŠāļĨāļēāļĒāđāļāļĄāļąāļ āļŠāļĄāļļāļāđāļāļĢāļĨāļāļāđāļģāļŦāļāļąāļ āļĨāļāđāļāļĄāļąāļ āļ§āļīāļāļĩāļĨāļāļāđāļ§āļ āļāļāļĄāđāļ§ āļŠāļĄāļļāļāđāļāļĢāļŠāļĨāļēāļĒāļāļļāļ āļ§āļīāļāļĩāļĨāļāļāļļāļ āļĨāļāļāļ§āļēāļĄāļāđāļ§āļ āļāļĒāļēāļāļāļāļĄāđāļĢāđāļ§ āļ§āļīāļāļĩāļāļģāļāļąāļāđāļāļĄāļąāļ āđāļāļĄāļąāļāļŠāļ°āļŠāļĄ āđāļāļĄāļąāļāļŠāđāļ§āļāđāļāļīāļ āļ§āļīāļāļĩāļĨāļāđāļāļĄāļąāļ āļāđāļ§āļĒāļāļąāļāļāđāļēāļĒ āļāđāļāļāļāļđāļ āļāļĩāļāđāļāļāļāđ āļāļļāļāļĒāļļāļ āļŠāļĄāļļāļāđāļāļĢāļŠāļĨāļēāļĒāļāļļāļ āļāļ·āđāļāļĒāļē āļĨāļāļĒāļēāļ āļĨāļāđāļĢāđāļāļāđāļ§āļ āļĨāļāļāļ§āļēāļĄāļāļąāļ āļĨāļāļāđāļģāļāļēāļĨāđāļāđāļĨāļ·āļāļ āļĨāļāđāļāļĄāļąāļāđāļāđāļĨāļ·āļāļ
There is always something.
Wolff Poetry is a free resource that offers poetry writings, publishing and writing resources for poets, and writers, and poetic writings of Linda J. Wolff
Smiling âĒ Writing âĒ Dreaming
"Find what you love and let it kill you." â Charles Bukowski
Living Life. Learning to do that better. Sharing it here.
My journey from leaving the corporate world to developing the Bookmark Ninja web app
Chinese, language, learn, speak, write, textbook, contract, beginner, advanced, intermediate, commercial, marketing, correspondence, characters, radicals, decomposition, business, numbers, numerals, contract, email
I Dare You to Figure Me Out
Musings of a Modern Witch
Hard case books
⊠Enjoy The Journey!
Men's Fashion, Inspiration and Lifestyle blog.
HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL
Natur: Tradition: SpiritualitÃĪt
A blog by Dr. Abhinav Majumder
The Casual Way to Discuss Movies
Dive into the deepest and darkest mysteries of our world and explore ideas that you never thought were possible
science mystry;Science-fic;Rocket science;Fuel tech;
Writing for Happiness, Colorful Painting, and Personal Growth for All
A canvas to tell your story
Stupido ÃĻ chi lo stupido ÃĻ
Paranormal News, Video, Audio and Reports
Daily Devotional of Earvin Kyle Tupas Amacan
Mindfulness, Spontaneity and Authenticity
An Adventure in Indie Publishing
Challenge | Think | Learn | Write
~ it feels good to be lost in the right direction
Exploring open roads without breaking the bank
Art and Lifestyle by Brandon Knoll
Musings about sleep, psychology, therapy and research
Intelligent and goal-driven
Knycx Journeying: Blog and Snapshot my journeys in this fascinating world
Weird and Random Thoughts
Helping people change through effective communication
Awesome af lil junkie of 1999.
