Yesterday, as part of my work on A Systems Perspective on Love and Power, I was writing about the challenges and potential contributions of dissent. Then, this morning I learned that Howard Zinn died. This brought back memories of anti-war protests at Boston University in the mid-60's. I was an Instructor at the Business School there at the time; few if any of our students, and most determinedly, none of our faculty (including me) participated in the protests. What I recall most clearly was the disdain heaped on Professor Zinn and Murray Levin, another College of Liberal Arts faculty member as they led protest marches. They were described as un-professional, inappropriate, knee-jerk liberals, and such. Decades later, history offers a different assessment of who was silly, stupid, and inappropriate in a misguided war that chewed up the lives of many thousands of Vietnamese and Americans. There was a period some years later when I became interested in history; it was then that I came across Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I found it a stunning and scholarly piece of work; one message that ran throughout was the of role people's dissent- rebellions, strikes, protest - in challenging the status quo and creating change. I was a member of the History Book Club at the time and I saw that Zinn's book was not on their list. I wrote the Club suggesting the book be included. I got a letter back stating that the Club's policy was to include only "mainstream" histories. (Let's keep our history pure, unsullied by facts.) This time I shot back an angry letter. No response. Then a second angry letter. Still no response. I wrote to Howard Zinn telling him of my efforts. I received a short reply: "It's always important to protest."
In one obituary, Howard Zinn was described as "a national treasure." Which he was, and the gift he offered all through his life was dissent in the service of justice. That is the contribution of dissent. And yet, I am sure that there are still some who would describe him as a U.S.-hater, traitor, unpatriotic, and more. Some of the costs of dissent.
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