Hey all! So, I am totally new at this! Please let me know if I am posting wrong or if this is not appropriate for this group! I am a gay former Mormon PhD student looking at spirituality and mental health in LGBT people.
I am conducting a research study looking at the effects of spiritual and religious beliefs on the mental health of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or pansexual.
Talking about religion and sexuality can be a touchy topic for many people. Many same-sex attracted people struggle to navigate often conflicting spiritual and sexual identities. Navigating conflicting identities can often lead to increases in such problems as depression and substance abuse.
There is limited research, however, studying the differences potential differences between affirming and non-affirming religious or spiritual beliefs and how these differences may affect the mental health of people who are attracted to the same gender.
If you are an adult who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or pansexual and are currently living in the United States, you are invited to participate in this study investigating queer spirituality and its effect on mental health. Participation is completely anonymous, will take less than 30 minutes to complete, and you can choose to be entered into a drawing for one of three $20 Amazon gift cards.
*Please share with anybody who qualifies and may be interested in this study*
Link to study questionnaires: https://alliant.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9ER7JUU5xYM3i9T
This study has been approved by the Alliant International University Institutional Review Board. Please direct any questions to astoker@alliant.edu
The recent thread on Asians having the lowest acceptance rates to medical school relative to their score had me thinking. I don't really mind Blacks and Hispanics getting affirmative action into medical and other health professions schools. When they graduate, informed patients naturally find that they are less competent so URM doctors will be selected towards working for underserved Black and Hispanic communities. The middle class suburban patient bases are whom white and Asian doctors compete for.
Historically, I've found that most private and state medical schools soft cap Asian students to about 20% of the class; state schools more so than private schools. Two states which present exceptions to this, especially state schools, are California and Texas. California, it makes sense because Asians are 15% of the state population. If you factor in the high Asian share of the population there relative to whites, Asians actually aren't especially overrepresented but comprise a large share of each class than whites in many schools. A conservative majority minority state like Texas seems like the absolute best to be an Asian applicant in terms of minimal discrimination based on our race. Despite Asians being only 5% of the state, Asian students comprise a huge portion of all schools' classes; more than white students in some schools.
I suspect that in states with extremely high minority populations, especially Black and Hispanic, white adcoms lose the moral high ground and can't suppress Asian numbers due to white student overrepresentation. They don't want to admit extremely high numbers of Black and Hispanic students because these folks are less academically qualified and it would severely erode the abilities of the student body to pass the boards and match without intensive academic mentoring. Many Black and Hispanic students struggled and received a lot of extra help for classes and the boards; too many would stretch the academic aid capacity of schools beyond capacity and schools don't want to deal with the fallout of having large amounts of students struggle with the boards and not match. A few students struggling to match can be given uncompetitive patronage residencies in the school itself. So it seems in Texas, where white students are overrepresented as well, admissions seems much more based on merit with far less effort at social engineering. Asian applicants appear to be given a fair go.
My belief is that the best long term strategy to defeat soc
... keep reading on reddit ➡The Socratic method alone is worth it's weight in gold in understanding how to understand. Not only that, but it seems be how children naturally learn (trope of children asking endless questions).
I don't understand why curriculum would rather children read Shakespeare (in my experience, without any context of the cultural or linguistic norms) over a book like the last days of socrates.
I have just finished the four dialogues in this book, I am certain that this book is accessible to anyone who can comprehend a Harry Potter novel. In highschool, not only was Shakespeare very boring, but it was extremely difficult to follow. Above all, the potential for a student to "get anything out of it" is a lot higher with Plato's dialogues than it is with whatever Shakespeare a student is forced to read. Why is this?
Note: I believe that semantically, "arguing" implies that the "winner" has shown dominance and subordinates the "loser," while "conversing" implies that there is no winner or loser, which allows for more acceptance of ideas.
Have you ever been mad at someone in an argument, and realized you were wrong halfway through? Odds are you didn't admit you were wrong. People don't ever want others to subordinate them.
But in a calm discussion, have you ever been convinced of a new idea? I imagine you have.
I believe the reason groups like the alt-right exist is because many white men feel that they aren't even given a chance to converse, but are argued against. OR, they have no interest in conversation in the first place and only want to argue in the first place- both are realistic pathways.
Two of the most influential rights activists of all time- Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.- strictly advocated for non-violence, but did advocate for civil disobedience. This would both take away the oppressors ability to subordinate their group, AND show no willingness to subordinate the oppressor. That is part of the reason why their movements were so rapid and successful.
As a white man, I fully recognize I have an unfair advantage in many walks of american culture. However, I have had my accomplishments straight up diminished and discredited because of my "white male" privilege. I am not saying this is wrong. But it is a direct attack on something I take pride in. Naturally, a direct attack on something someone takes pride in is subordination. When this happens, of course I get emotionally invested, and I am incapable of having a proper disscussion afterwards.
Unfortunately, many of the loudest voices in activism tend to subordinate white men, and this is why white men end up in the echo chamber that is the alt-right.
TLDR
I want equal opportunity for all, and I know that currently we do not have that in this country. The fastest way to change that is activism and I fully support those who advocate and fight for their opportunity. However, to do so requires empowerment of the oppressed, never the subordination of the oppressor.
Side note: I may be laughabley wrong on this, or I might have worded it in a poor way. I'm looking for both corrections, and possibly critiques to how I approach this perspective.
Obviously the US isn't perfect, but as someone who has lived in another country for an extended period of time, the US is much more accepting. The US is very racially diverse compared to other countries as well.
When you hear about many racial problems in the US there are two primary reasons. One, American media is much more open than in other countries, so you are able to hear about problems much more easily than in places why it is censored. This gives the impression that America has a lot more problems than other countries that censor their media. (Similar to the reason why the 1918 flu was called the Spanish Flu, because Spain didn't censor their media so it appeared worse in Spain.)
The second reason is that while there are many racists in the US, they are a minority, and the noise you hear about them is the outrage of the majority against them. In racist countries, that doesn't get attention because racism is the norm. So why give it attention? In other countries racial discrimination is tolerated and sometimes even legal.
America still has a lot of problems though, especially for poor people, who are often black, asian, or latino. The criminal justice system is very unfair for poor people. "One of the best" definitely does not mean "perfect".
