December 20, 2017

From our Chair, Tung Nguyen, on how to deal with this mess of an administration:

Unlike many old people I know, I have fewer core beliefs as I get older. This is because the more I see, the less I know to be true. I think that this is unsettling to most people, and that may explain why they cling to as many beliefs as possible. But here is one that I hope I never give up on. I don’t believe in tyranny, be it of an individual leader in any setting (see Weinstein) or in politics or ideology. No one gets to dictate how others should think or act. Life is a circle so if you go far enough to the left you get Communist tyranny and to the right you get Fascist tyranny. What’s sad in America, which has been the best (not at all perfect) example of how to fight tyranny is that they are using our own democratic institutions to create the infrastructure of oligarchic oppression. Don’t let them win by despairing or giving up the fight and turn inward to your work and family, unless you are willing to be subjugated. My parents risked everything so I can be a free person, and I am willing to do the same for my children.