June 5, 2024 — Big change sometimes happens very quietly. For example, on April 5, the AP Stylebook added a new entry on “obesity, obese, overweight.” It goes into a great deal of detail about language for writing about obesity. But here is the heart of the matter, in the words of the Associated Press stylebook editors: “The phrasing […]
November 19, 2023 — “I am.” These two words define so many struggles we face in public discourse today. People define their own identities in diverse ways and fiercely defend them. Disparage a person’s identity and you are attacking them. What follows is not gentle, rational, or easily calmed. Right now, we see how potent it is in public […]
November 28, 2021 — Medical terms can carry a lot of baggage. Leprosy, cancer, diabetes, autism, and obesity are just a few examples. What they all have in common is that they describe conditions that can cause a lot of trouble, but either don’t or didn’t have an easy resolution. So to greater or lesser degrees, people attached stigma […]
September 26, 2020 — We are in a season where identity is right out front. Everywhere you turn, people are declaring what they stand for and who they’ll vote for. We see banners, little garden flags, even a pickup-sized flag tacked on to a bike by a scrappy old man pedaling furiously down the street. We humans seem driven […]
May 8, 2019 — Identity is every bit as tricky as it is important. It gets even trickier when an identity is the target of bias. Another layer of complexity comes with the conviction that we can choose our own identities. Does a condition or physical characteristic define me? Is it an identity to claim or a challenge to […]
September 15, 2017 — Does everything have to be about politics? Can’t we just have convivial meals and enjoy the food? Maybe it does and maybe we can’t. So says a growing body of research on motivations for a plant-based style of eating. Openness, Political Interests, Conservativeness, and Conscientiousness Tamara Pfeiler and Boris Egloff describe how these personality traits […]
