Why dissent matters: because some people see things the rest of us miss
Canadian non-fiction, Canadian authors (Non-fiction), Social issues
Human-narrated audio
Summary
Frances Kelsey was a quiet Canadian doctor and scientist who stood up to a huge pharmaceutical company wanting to market a new drug--Thalidomide--and prevented an American tragedy. The nature writer Rachel Carson identified an emerging environmental disaster and pulled the… fire alarm. Dissenting juries can and do change the law. Occasionally dissenting judges save lives, or at least try to. Occupy Wall Street was the first truly international protest. Who were the occupiers and what did they want? Another growing international protest movement is BDS: Boycott, Divest, Sanction. It is directed at Israel. In October 1973 Israel came close to defeat when Egyptian and Syrian forces massed on the borders and overconfident Israeli officials did virtually nothing. Forty-five years later Israel's leaders seem woefully blind to another unfolding national security threat. Our world has been saved by dissenters: people who have been attacked, bullied, ostracized, jailed, and sometimes, when all is over, celebrated. 2017.