Hi, Folks!
I am a tenured Associate Professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA, USA. I have my B.S. Degree with a Double Major in Chemistry and Physics and my Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry with specialties in Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy, Instrument Design, and Automation Software Development. I teach in an interdisciplinary undergraduate program called Integrated Science, Business, and Technology in which our students study the process of developing scientific discoveries into new products and services using collaborative business practices. I develop and teach courses in Energy, Materials, and Informatics, and have personal research interests in Robotics and Machine Intelligence.
After joining Facebook as soon as La Salle was added to the Facebook servers in 2005 and Joining Twitter in 2007, I created the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the University as I was unable to convince our IT department that it was important for the University to have a presence on social media.
After openly sharing my personal Political positions as a Constitutional Conservative and my support of Donald Trump, the backlash on Facebook and Twitter was so severe that I no longer use those networks.
As a Conservative Academic, I understand and deeply experience what it means to be a minority. I'm giving Mastadon a spin in search of respectful conversation. #introduction
political
@williamlweaver
You're not using minority the way people generally use it. Let's use language cooperatively, using words to mean what they are agreed to mean.
Big difference between having an unpopular opinion and being a minority
political
Hi, @alpheus
Do you have experience with academia? Published studies report that political conservatives among college faculty are at best 5%.
How do you define "minority"?
political
@williamlweaver
You said you deeply experience what it means to be a minority.
That sense of the word pretty much implies something that a person is born with that puts them in an oppressed class.
Having unpopular opinions doesn't make someone a minority. We're not talking about arithmetic
political
@alpheus
The largest problem with text-based social media is the loss of inflection and color commentary.
As we are having a political discussion, I purposefully use the term "minority" in that context, as in "Minority Leader", such as Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer.
Unlike the current Majority/Minority political balance of the US Senate at 51 / 47, the Majority/Minority balance in academia is around 95% / 5%. As you know, in statistics, that means the 5% is not significant to two levels of standard deviation. The imbalance is a bit more than arithmetic.
Political Ideology is not popular opinion, it is reasoned philosophy. I don't claim status as a member of oppressed social minority, however, the automatic epithets of liar, racist, homophobe, and misogynist correlate strongly with those used by a majority to bully and suppress any minority.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply and I hope this is helpful.
political
@williamlweaver
Then my interpretation of your minority statement was wrong. I try not to tell people what they meant to say!
If only political ideology were reasoned -- I don't see a whole lot of evidence that it is. In fact, I'm pretty convinced that it mostly is just popular opinion. Something I'm always trying to correct in myself, by the way.
"What are your assumptions" is a question I seriously ask myself regularly. I can tell you what they are if you are interested.
I am going to start following you.
Let's see if we can hold a sustained dialogue over a period of time. 😊
@writetome Sounds great! The Fall semester has started so my desk time will arrive in spits and spurts... =]
@williamlweaver @freemo You were willing to admit you're conservative in your bio *AND* use a USA flag emoji in your handle? Oh lord you're gonna have fun on Mastodon.
Welcome to the jungle
@williamlweaver @freemo FYI you can set the visibility of your toots (see that lock icon below).
I use Unlisted when I know I am going to post something that will trigger someone. Also use CW (content warning). Anything political should be inside a content warning. Using both tools gives you an out when you have someone coming at you--because they would have had to jump over those hurdles to become offended.
Thanks! Great advice!
I have noticed that the network automatically labels and hides Political posts when I use certain keywords. Is this a feature?
@williamlweaver @freemo No, everyone does that by hand. Liberal application of CW is normal behavior on masto.
IMO it's not a bad practice. Someone who has an agenda to deplatform you loses a lot of credibility when they're manually opening up your CW posts, tooting around blocks--etc.
Thanks for the education! I'll be sure to use the CW button. =]
Thanks. I like spicy food and loud music too. =]
@williamlweaver Don't worry, I'm only going to go after you for being left-handed. (JK)
political, us politics
@williamlweaver
I'll listen respectfully.
I decided a couple of years ago to actively seek out something to read every day that I'm certain I'll disagree with. It doesn't count if I do it to build an argument or enhance my own belief in what I already think.
I'm learning to handle cognitive dissonance appropriately. It isn't easy.
Looking for evidence that Trump is not intellectually lazy, dishonest, and in business for himself. If you've got it, I'll listen.