Why Dissent Matters : Because Some People See Things the Rest of Us Miss

William Kaplan

ISBN 10: 0773550704 / ISBN 13: 9780773550704

Published by Mcgill-Queen's University Press Jun 2017, 2017

About this Item

Neuware - Frances Kelsey was a quiet Canadian doctor and scientist who stood up to a huge pharmaceutical company wanting to market a new drug - thalidomide - and prevented an American tragedy. The nature writer Rachel Carson identified an emerging environmental disaster and pulled the fire alarm. Public protests, individual dissenters, judges, and juries can change the world - and they do. A wide-ranging and provocative work on controversial subjects, Why Dissent Matters tells a story of dissent and dissenters - people who have been attacked, bullied, ostracized, jailed, and, sometimes when it is all over, celebrated. William Kaplan shows that dissent is noisy, messy, inconvenient, and almost always time-consuming, but that suppressing it is usually a mistake - it's bad for the dissenter but worse for the rest of us. Drawing attention to the voices behind international protests such as Occupy Wall Street and Boycott, Divest, and Sanction, he contends that we don't have to do what dissenters want, but we should listen to what they say. Our problems are not going away. There will always be abuses of power to confront, wrongs to right, and new opportunities for dissenting voices to say, 'Stop, listen to me.' Why Dissent Matters may well lead to a different and more just future.

Seller Inventory # 9780773550704

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Why Dissent Matters : Because Some People See Things the Rest of Us Miss
• Publisher: Mcgill-Queen's University Press Jun 2017
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773550704
• ISBN 13: 9780773550704
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 238W x 164H x 35D millimeters 238 millimeters width by 164 millimeters height by 35 millimeters depth
• Weight: 700 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Frances Kelsey was a quiet Canadian doctor and scientist who stood up to a huge pharmaceutical company wanting to market a new drug - thalidomide - and prevented an American tragedy. The nature writer Rachel Carson identified an emerging environmental disaster and pulled the fire alarm. Public protests, individual dissenters, judges, and juries can change the world - and they do. A wide-ranging and provocative work on controversial subjects, Why Dissent Matters tells a story of dissent and dissenters - people who have been attacked, bullied, ostracized, jailed, and, sometimes when it is all over, celebrated. William Kaplan shows that dissent is noisy, messy, inconvenient, and almost always time-consuming, but that suppressing it is usually a mistake - it’s bad for the dissenter but worse for the rest of us. Drawing attention to the voices behind international protests such as Occupy Wall Street and Boycott, Divest, and Sanction, he contends that we don’t have to do what dissenters want, but we should listen to what they say. Our problems are not going away. There will always be abuses of power to confront, wrongs to right, and new opportunities for dissenting voices to say, "Stop, listen to me." Why Dissent Matters may well lead to a different and more just future.

About the Author

William Kaplan is a lawyer, arbitrator, mediator, and author. His books include Presumed Guilty: Brian Mulroney, the Airbus Affair and the Government of Canada, One More Border: The True Story of One Family's Escape from War-Torn Europe, and Bad Judgment: