Todd Pittinsky, a professor at Stony Brook University as well as an associate professor at Harvard Kennedy School, proposed the idea of using allophilia to promote more positive relations between people. Allophilia is the idea of embracing or loving other people’s differences, and is what needs to be adopted as a solution to prejudice in society. It surpasses tolerance in many ways, containing all of the answers to the issues that tolerance failed to cure.
Many people speak out against the idea of allophilia simply because they believe it is too optimistic and unrealistic, but allophilia is not out of reach. We see it in action every day, but our focus is always drawn elsewhere, always drawn to the negativity and prejudice that is still rampant in the world. Allophilia has been overshadowed, but if more people know to look for it, the more the idea can be given a footing in society. When students aspire to go abroad and learn about cultures completely foreign to them; that is allophilia. When a Protestant girl accompanies her Catholic friend to Mass one Sunday because she is curious and interested in how another branch of her religion worships Christ, that is allophilia. When a heterosexual marches in a gay pride parade, clad in rainbows and promoting homosexual rights, that is allophilia.
If people love each other’s differences, then racism, homophobia and prejudice in general could one day be eradicated. —
TARYN RAE VEST, TROY
Speak up
The speak up contributor who called Greene County conservatives "sorry hypocrites" showed the typical liberal's lack of critical thinking. Conservatives are OK with tax issues they can vote on. They are not so keen on having frivolous taxes imposed on them with no choice about it by tax and spend politicians. Big difference.
If anyone, Democrat or Republican, believes the latest round of congressional hearings on Benghazi isn't politically motivated against Hillary Clinton's possible presidential nomination, they're just plain stupid.
So a pit bull can maul a three-year-old child in Springfield, requiring over 200 stitches, and the owner gets the dog back? The Ohio Legislature just a few years back actually repealed a law that recognized pit bulls as inherently vicious. Back then, the dog wouldn't have been returned to the owner. Apparently, local and state politician's value "bullies" more than children.
When a vicious dog bites or injures another person, that dog should be put to death without any questions. The latest incident was an innocent little boy in his own yard, but not safe. The people who keep vicious dogs should be prosecuted to the fullest. What makes this case worse is that the dog was not licensed or vaccinated.
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