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Showing posts from February, 2020

On so-called 'Civility Pledges' and the abolition of free thought and free speech

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I have blogged previously about the glaring problem of lack of tolerance for viewpoint diversity in occupational therapy, and unsuccessful attempts to address the concern.  See here for more details.  It is not a new problem in occupational therapy, and now the problem is being demonstrated again. An important agenda item has been added to the Spring Representative Assembly meeting of the American Occupational Therapy Association - to explore the creation of a 'Civility Pledge' as follows: On its surface, most people will agree that it is important to be kind and respectful when interacting with others.  However, 'Civility Pledges' have been introduced before in our national government, on many college campuses - and they rarely succeed in gathering much interest or respect. Why is that? Most 'Civility Pledges' end up listing speech and behavior that goes far beyond apirational kindness - and wades into the murky territory of mandated 'guiding p