If you want to think for yourself, you have to know who you are. Who is the self- separate and different from all other selves? You need to know what you believe and why before you can know whether you’re thinking for yourself or simply parroting what others have told you, whether you’re acting on the basis of your own beliefs and values, or simply going along with the way you’ve been told to behave by your parents, your friends or your culture. We have posted a short discussion and list of values and how to assess what your values are. This is the Values List suggested in Dr. Presley's new book. Click here to see it.
May 18: The new book Standing Up to Experts and Authorities by Dr. Presley is now available. Click here to learn about it or order it.
April 20: There is now a Facebook page and a website for Dr. Presley's book, Standing Up to Experts and Authorities. Click here for the website; click here for the Facebook page. The book is scheduled for release May 1.
The Links page has been updated
2009 September 7: Dr. Presley
now has a Facebook page. Click here. Click here for the Table Of Contents for Sharon's forthcoming book on standing up to experts and authorities.
September 5: Sharon's Presley's new book, Standing Up to Experts and Authorities: How to Avoid Being Intimidated, Manipulated and Abused, will
be published February 14, 2010. A web site for the book is forthcoming.
In the meantime, there is a blog for the book at Sharon's MySpace
page: www.myspace.com/sharonlpresley. Sharon invites all those wo have a MySpace page to join in on the blog and become a "MySpace friend."
2008
August 30: Joel Kramer
and Diana Alstad have revised and updated their essay "A
Winning Strategy for Progressives: Securing
the Vote & Church/State
Separation" to reflect current
events. You can find it by clicking here
Sharon
Presley's book on standing up to experts and authorities is due to go
to the publisher next month and should be out early next year.
2007
January 14: It is with great sorrow that I note
the passing of RIT advisory board member Robert Anton Wilson who left
us on Jan. 11. Bob was a friend of mine as well. No one I know
was ever more independent in his thinking. A true maverick in his
writing and his thought, he was also one of the funniest, kindest and
warmest human beings I ever knew. He and his late wife Arlen, a former
RIT Director, were, each in their own way, one-of-a-kind and dear to
me. Their memory will inspire us.
March 29: RIT, along with the Civil Society
Institute of SCU and the Association of Libertarian Feminists, are
sponsoring a
One-Day Conference entitled "Authority and Autonomy in the Family" on
August 19 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. Speakers lined
up so far include Nathaniel Branden, Peter Breggin (by live video),
Susan Love Brown, Marshall Fritz, and Sharon Presley. For
information about the conference, see its new web site: www.autonomyinthefamily.orgThis is a one-of-a-kind conference
and we are proud to be a part of it!
Check out the ACLU "Freedom Files"
at the link below. The series now includes "Religious Freedom,"
Dissent, " "Women's Rights," "Gay/Lesbian Rights, " "Beyond the Patriot
Act" and more. The web site tells you where you can see them on
TV (including Link TV on satellite systems) and how you can obtain
copies. Support the ACLU's fight for civil liberties!
2005
November 8: The ACLU has launched a TV series on
free speech in America entitled "Freedom Files." The next episode
is "Dissent" which airs Nov. 10 and 24 on Link TV (available on Direct
and Dish satellite stations) at 8pm EST. Court TV will begin running
epidodes in January. The ACLU has a big push to get people
involved and watching. For more information, go to www.aclu.tv People need to know what's going on and it's not pretty!!
We are sad to report that Joan
Kennedy Taylor, one of our advisors, passed away on Oct. 29. She was a
great defender of critical thinking and free speech and a wonderful
person. A memorial can be found at http://joankennedytaylorblog.blogspot.com/ September 8:For a first hand account of the
tragic devastation in New Orleans, see one person's account on the voltairine.org web
site. Kate tells us how government agencies not only failed to help but
prevented private organizations from helping. A tragic situation made
worse by those who are supposed to serve.
July 14: Perhaps
it is ironic that on
Bastille Day, hardly a nonviolent event, we post a link to an excellent
site archiving materials about nonviolence as a political strategy. It
includes materials by Gene Sharp, one of the leading scholars of
nonviolence. It is the web site of Fragments, a publication that has
been around for a long time off and on. As violent events
increasingly capture the news, it becomes even more important for us to
contemplate the power of nonviolence. Click here.
July 13: Emma
Goldman was one of America's
greatest resisters to authority. Her words on patriotism are, alas, as
relevant now as when she first said them. Ths timely quote can be
found at www.voltairine.org
July 12
A second guest
editorial by Kramer and Alstad on the importance of separation of
Church and State entitled "A Winning Strategy for Progressives:
Securing Church/State Separation, Religious Freedom & the Vote" has
been posted in Editorials. Click here. Sharon
Presley is currently working on an anthology of American Women
Resisters to Authority. For a outline, see www.voltairine.org/womenresistoutline.html
Dr. Presley will be giving a talk on
this topic at Santa Clara University on October 6. For further
info, click here.
March 13
Newly posted: A guest editorial by RIT "fellow travelers" Diana Alstad and Joel Kramer (see our review of theirGuru
Papers as well as their tapes that we carry)
speaks to the crucial importance of separation of Church and State and
why democracy in the US is in danger because the lines are increasingly
being blurred.
February 16
A guest editorial by long-time activist Art Smith has been posted under
Editorials. Entitled "Not
Again!", it
challenges Americans not to
remain silent about the abuses of
power and abrogation of human rights
going on right now in the US by
drawing parallels to what happened in Nazi Germany. A
thought-provoking
editorial. We welcome comments.
The
new book co-edited by RIT Executive Director Sharon Presley, entitled Exquisite Rebel, has just been
released. For more information,
see
voltairine.org
Sharon Presley will be speaking several times this spring on the new
Voltairine book as well as on the topic
"American Women Resisters to
Authority." For more
information on these speaking engagements, see the Events section of
the Voltairine web site.
December
31, 2004
Sharon Presley's "Sez Who?" column is now online at ISIL.org. Dr. Presley answers
questions about
how to stand up to authority and
experts. Send your questions to her at presley@rit.org
September 22, 2004
Exquisite Rebel: Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre edited
by Sharon Presley
and Crispin Sartwell will
be published in December 2004
by SUNY Press. For
further info, see www.voltairine.org
Sharon Presley has a new web site at www.sharonpresley.com.
Dr. Presley's articles
from The Truth Seeker, Liberty and other sources are
posted there.
A second guest
editorial by Kramer and Alstad on the importance of separation of
Church and State entitled "A Winning Strategy for Progressives:
Securing Church/State Separation, Religious Freedom & the Vote" has
been posted in Editorials. Click here.