The Village Idiot Studio

IF YOU THINK CONSTITUTIONS AND LAWS KEEP YOU SAFE,
YOU BETTER THINK AGAIN. 

For the past fifty years it made sense for liberals and progressives to advocate increasing freedoms, rights and protections for minorities. Over the past twenty years there’s even been a push to go beyond ‘toleration; and respect, even celebrate them. But the good times could not last because- as this course will teach you- privileging minorities was not strategically wise. 

The strong, the dominant and the many (the majority) were bound to say ENOUGH! Enough to the reverse discrimination and losing out to women, immigrants and gay people for jobs and scholarships. Worse still, white people and men are fed up with being abused for their immutable qualities- such as color, race and sex. This is not just an American phenomenon, but a global one. 

The Pluralist’s Paradox is the only course that challenges the very basis on which minority/majority relations have been built since 1945. Based on how the real-world works, not on how we would like it to be, it tells an inconvenient truth- minority security requires majority support. Alienating the dominant group will not protect the rest of us. This is especially so as the world becomes more illiberal and authoritarian. The days of aggressive minority demands and attacks on the dominant culture are gone. This course will help you develop a realistic picture of how minorities can survive and thrive even when they are heavily outnumbered and weak. 

Here’s the counter-intuitive insight- ‘empowering’ minorities doesn’t make them secure- it makes them even more vulnerable to backlashes. This no-nonsense course will give you the tools to understand the complex dynamics between the dominant classes and the weak or the marginalized. 

In this 12 session, 18 hours, course, you will learn more about democracy, diversity and minority rights- and how to save it than at a graduate program at Harvard or a ‘teach-in’ at Columbia. Because unlike their professors and activists I have actually had decades of experience:

  • Protecting minority groups and helping strengthen majority/ minority relations. 
  • Studying how minorities and the weak have historically negotiated their existence and survival.
  • Studying the actual and complex dynamics at play between groups of differing power and status.
  • Recognizing and working with the fragile nature of order and security in society.
  • Appreciating and helping to mitigate the vulnerabilities of both majorities and minorities.
  • Understanding how these vulnerabilities affect perceptions and behaviors.
  • Helping groups shift from ‘ideal’ and ‘wishful’ to realistic aspirations for inter-group relationships.
  • Helping people discover the surprising truth about pluralistic societies and what it takes to sustain them.
  • Developing the skills and dispositions required to be a member of a pluralistic society.

$350.00USD

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Please know that Village Idiot Studio records all webinars, classes and study groups. We also retain all rights to any and all conversations, chats, as well as video and audio recordings that are produced during and as a result of our courses. These will also be shared with present and future students or for creating educational videos. Please know that these recordings may not be used by the students or anyone outside Village Idiot Studio without our written permission, either in part or whole, for any purpose other than your own personal learning needs. By taking this course you are also giving us permission to use excerpts from the sessions to create promotional and educational material for Village Idiot Studio. If you wish to withhold permission to use your name or image, please tick the appropriate box.