Author: TheConversation

By Patricia Illingworth, Senior Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Professor of Ethics, Northeastern University I teach a course on ethics and philanthropy and have written about how to donate to charities ethically. Recent news about people who make big charitable gifts acting badly is making me wonder whether philanthropy really does make the world better. Think about it: Members of the Sackler family, who have given millions to arts institutions, also own Purdue Pharma. That’s the company that patented and aggressively marketed Oxycontin, an approach that helped bring about the opioid...

By Diane Winston, Associate Professor and Knight Center Chair in Media & Religion, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Tinseled trees and snowy landscapes are not the only signs of the upcoming holiday season. Red kettles, staffed by men and women in street clothes, Santa suits and Salvation Army uniforms, also telegraph Christmastime. The Salvation Army is among America’s top-grossing charities. In 2018, its 25,000 bell-ringers helped raise US$142.7 million. That was part of the charity’s $3.8 billion year-end revenue from bequests, grants, sales, in-kind donations and investments as well as direct contributions. William Booth,...

By Eranda Jayawickreme, Associate Professor of Psychology, Wake Forest University Frank J. Infurna, Associate Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University In our culture, there is the idea that enduring a tragedy can be good for your personal growth. But what does the science say? Surviving adversity will provide you with a newfound appreciation for life. You will be grateful for your friends and family. You will learn from the experience. You will become more resilient. This theme appears in media coverage, time and again, in the wake of natural disasters and terrorist attacks. Is there actually value in pain...

By MaryCatherine McDonald, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Old Dominion University; Marisa Brandt, Assistant Professor of Practice, Michigan State University; and Robyn Bluhm, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University In the wake of World War I, some veterans returned wounded, but not with obvious physical injuries. Instead, their symptoms were similar to those that had previously been associated with hysterical women – most commonly amnesia, or some kind of paralysis or inability to communicate with no clear physical cause. English physician Charles Myers, who wrote the first paper on “shell-shock” in 1915, theorized that these symptoms...

By Maria Höhn, Professor and Chair of History, Vassar College Until the 21st century, the contributions of African-American soldiers in World War II barely registered in America’s collective memory of that war. The “tan soldiers,” as the black press affectionately called them, were also for the most part left out of the triumphant narrative of America’s “Greatest Generation.” In order to tell their story of helping defeat Nazi Germany in my 2010 book, A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany, I had to conduct research in more than 40 different archives in the...

By Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University The beloved children’s television icon Fred Rogers, who is played by actor Tom Hanks in the film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” entered the world of children’s programming during an era of massive political and cultural upheaval. When Fred Rogers wrote a script that included an electric wheelchair, he had Jeff Erlanger in mind. His producer and director tried to convince him that instead of bringing in Jeff’s family all the way from Madison, Wisconsin, they would be able to find someone locally. But...