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The Death of "Why?" Blog August 19 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger C-Span came to record my book talk at Barnes and Noble last month, so I knew it was coming. But it was still exciting to flip the remote to C-Span in my parents' living room and watch them jump around at the sight of their kid on the TV set. The talk itself was good, but not as good as that feeling. As those of you who have purchased the book now, I dedicated it to my parents, who certainly have suffered the most from my love of questions. I don't think you can access the C-Span clip, but you can hear my latest interviews on The Peter B. Collins Show and Blog Business World with Wayne Hurlbert. CONTINUED > 
July 29 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger The nitty gritty: TDOW on Grit-TV with Laura Flanders I had the great pleasure of being invited to Grit-TV to talk about the book. Laura asked me about why I wrote the book, whether the media is doing its job of asking questions, and about what kinds of questions I think people should be asking the answers to which cannot be Googled. The highlight for me was when they played clips from America's Town Hall Meeting on the Air, the old radio show that I argue in the book is an illustration of how the media can model inquiry while engaging viewers in current day debates. What a contrast to the Dobbs and O'Reilly of today. More in the chapter "Consuming Opinion." As Samuel Goldwyn once famously said, "When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." I don't think Fox would disagree. What about the questions? CONTINUED >
July 29 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger A review from Tom Watson, author of CauseWired (and friend): July 26, 2009 Every era has at least a few serious voices who openly question the new ways, the settled conventional wisdom around innovations in style, technology and social habits that change - at least on the surface - how society operates. As everybody else is celebrating the greatness of, well, themselves, these idoloclasts happily throw poison-tipped darts in a cultural clash with the totems of perceived progress. Such a counter-programmer is my friend Andrea Batista Schlesinger, the 32-year-old New Yorker and progressive activist whose first book The Death of Why holds up a big, fat stop sign to those who would celebrate under the banner "all that is modern is good." CONTINUED >
July 21 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Podcast Interview with the Intrepid Liberal Journal Robert Ellman of the Intrepid Liberal Journal grills me in this podcast interview currently cross-posted throughout the political blogosphere. From his recap of the conversation: "[Schlesinger] was engaging and assertive in a conversation that was just over forty-six minutes. Among the topics discussed and debated is her contention that we're ideologically segregated, her argument that the Internet has reinforced a destructive group think mentality in our society, her advocacy for civics education and objection to teaching "financial literacy" in public schools and we closed by discussing her decision to join Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign as a senior policy adviser." CONTINUED >
July 19 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger TDOW on Firedoglake book salon I had a great time participating in the Firedoglake book salon yesterday. The conversation was moderated by Mark Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation. From his generous intro: "Andrea Batista Schlesinger's commentary has a simple thesis. An inquisitive attitude is essential to dutiful citizenship in a democracy, and the attitude is waning among American youths. Teenagers and 20-year-olds in the United States have little curiosity about the workings of government, they don't follow the actions of their representatives, they don't read the newspaper or watch the network news, and, worst of all, they don't care--or at least they are taught not to. The institutions that should inspire civic inquiry--schools, media, governments--fail their responsibility, sometimes deliberately so, and the rising generation follows their lead. We've lost the crucial interrogative "Why?" CONTINUED >
July 19 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger TDOW on Firedoglake book salon
July 15 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Lots of life for "The Death of Why." Today, the "Ideological Segregation by Click and by Clique" chapter is excerpted at Alternet.com where a lively discussion in the comments section is underway. On Saturday, you'll find me on Firedoglake.com's book salon for a two-hour chat moderated by Mark Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation. We don't agree on everything, so this should be an interesting conversation. On Monday, I'll be in DC at Busboys and Poets to talk with Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change about the book and its relevance to the progressive movement. Lots more in the events section. Check it out, sign up, and don't forget to buy a copy... CONTINUED >
July 15 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Provocative New Book Challenges Us to Really Ask "Why?"
June 29 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Answers can be found in questions
June 17 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Book chat at Crooks and Liars - Why? Just a simple one-word sentence, yet it conveys probably the most anarchic, the most radical, the most provocative and the most democratizing thought in the world. The ability to question....no, the right and responsibility to question is the very cornerstone of our democracy. The Founding Fathers set forth programs and laid the groundwork to check the workings of our govenment by requiring it to answer to the people from which it was composed. And yet, somewhere in the last forty years ago or so, we've lost our way. Where did we lose our way? When did questioning stop being an act of democracy and become unpatriotic? How does this bode for our collective future as another generation is raised with fewer skills to look deeper at issues and analyze and synthesize information to consider solutions? CONTINUED >
June 14 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger Remember Civics? Here's Why We Need It I want to make an argument that may seem strange in the midst of so many debates--health care, stimulus, CEO compensation and so on---that are critical to American working people: We all have to start caring a lot more about civics. Civics? Yes. If we want to ensure that a pro-worker progressive movement is in our future, we need to raise a generation of young people who feel connected to the institutions of their democracy, who understand how to navigate them and who understand from an early age that it is their right--and their responsibility--to question them. CONTINUED >
June 11 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger What's the question in education reform? Two years ago, I began the journey of writing this book. A lot has changed in that time - both in the real world and in my own life - but one thing remains as clear to me as when I began writing my book proposal: the question we ask is as the important as the answer. It is with the question that we define the parameters of the conversation. It's true when it comes to our personal lives -how many times have we fought with the people around us only to realize that we were answering different questions? It's especially true when it comes to public policy. Look at the national debate over education reform. I write about this in Part 2 of my book, entitled "Citizens or Consumers?" I write about the decline of value placed on civics education in our schools, where young people are taught to question their democracy. CONTINUED >
June 11 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger RaceWire: The Color Lines Blog
June 11 — Andrea Batista Schlesinger
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