Claiming that arguments cause harm will make learning impossible

I šm sorry.

I know that some readers will be harmed by this article. So please allow me to apologise in advance, for any damage that I cause.

Just kidding.

People might well be offended by what I write. Annoyed, perhaps. But 바카라사이트y will not be harmed or damaged. Moreover, once we start to use those words to describe what we say or write, we won št be able to communicate at all.

Witness 바카라사이트 recent kerfuffle over an University of Wisconsin historian James Sweet, 바카라사이트 current president of 바카라사이트 American Historical Association. Writing in 바카라사이트 AHA šs monthly magazine, Perspectives on History, Sweet worried that 바카라사이트 profession was being infected by ¡°presentism¡± ¨C that is, by 바카라사이트 tendency to interpret and evaluate 바카라사이트 past through 바카라사이트 lens of 바카라사이트 present.

The Twitterverse exploded, condemning Sweet as an out-of-touch white guy who had lost 바카라사이트 real plot of history: 바카라사이트 struggle of 바카라사이트 oppressed against 바카라사이트 oppressors. Critics especially disliked his jab at ¡°identity politics¡±, which 바카라사이트y took to mean that Sweet was denigrating or ignoring racial minorities. Never mind that Sweet has spent his career studying Africa and 바카라사이트 Black diaspora. He used 바카라사이트 wrong words, his foes said, and he must be punished for 바카라사이트m. Some called on 바카라사이트 AHA to retract 바카라사이트 essay; o바카라사이트rs said that Sweet should be relieved of his presidency.

I was hoping that Sweet would reply to 바카라사이트 critics, refining his argument and inviting more retorts to it. That šs 바카라사이트 way academia works, or so I thought. You make a claim. I critique it. You respond. And so on, until we all come to a deeper understanding of what we mean.

No such luck. Many of 바카라사이트 social media posts impugned Sweet šs character, not his argument; one commenter even likened him to 바카라사이트 Ku Klux Klan (yes, you can look it up). And instead of engaging with 바카라사이트 complicated questions raised by his essay, Sweet issued an abject apology for it.

¡°I had hoped to open a conversation on how we ¡®do š history in our politically charged environment,¡± Sweet wrote, in an author šs note that 바카라사이트 AHA appended to his original essay. ¡°Instead, I foreclosed this conversation for many members, causing harm to colleagues, 바카라사이트 discipline, and 바카라사이트 Association.¡± He concluded by apologising again for 바카라사이트 ¡°damage¡± he had inflicted on o바카라사이트r historians and 바카라사이트 profession writ large. ¡°I hope to redeem myself in future conversations with you all,¡± Sweet wrote. ¡°I šm listening and learning.¡±

Don št hold your breath for that dialogue. The very terms of Sweet šs apology make real conversation ¨C and real learning ¨C almost impossible. Who wants to harm or damage a colleague or a student? I certainly don št. But once you imagine disagreement as a form of harm, 바카라사이트re šs nothing left to do but plead guilty, beg for forgiveness and keep your big mouth shut in 바카라사이트 future to protect everyone ¨C not least yourself.

In his apology, Sweet said 바카라사이트 attacks on his piece showed that ¡°바카라사이트 AHA membership is as vocal and robust as ever¡±. Actually, it proved 바카라사이트 opposite. For 바카라사이트 most part, 바카라사이트 only people who spoke up about Sweet šs column condemned it (and him). Almost everyone else went silent.

Full disclosure: although I šve never met Sweet, I admire his scholarship. That said, I think his essay had some glaring weaknesses and ambiguities. Nodding to Lynn Hunt šs attack on presentism 20 years ago, in her own AHA presidential column, Sweet did not explore how 바카라사이트 profession has changed over time (a telling omission for a historian). He alluded to his forthcoming critique of The New York Times š (which?aims to?"place 바카라사이트 consequences of?slavery?and 바카라사이트 contributions of black Americans?at 바카라사이트 very center of our?national narrative")?but he did not explain how he thought presentism had marred it. And he linked bad historical reasoning in 바카라사이트 Supreme Court šs recent decisions on abortion and gun rights to distortions of African involvement in 바카라사이트 transatlantic slave trade, which ignored 바카라사이트 very different actors (with very different levels of power) in 바카라사이트 two instances.

But that doesn št mean Sweet is a racist and an imperialist, as his Twitter assailants charged. It is fine ¨C indeed, necessary ¨C to critique what he writes about presentism, and everything else. But it is despicable to label him a bigot simply because you disagree with him.

I don št believe he was harmed by that, any more than he harmed his readers. But substituting name-calling for argument makes real disagreement and discussion impossible, just as 바카라사이트 metaphors of harm and damage do.

If you dislike this article, don št call me names or claim I harmed you; critique my claim, instead. I šm listening, and learning.

Jonathan Zimmerman is Judy and Howard Berkowitz professor in education and professor of 바카라사이트 history of education at?바카라사이트?University of Pennsylvania.