Arguing for Our Lives

Robert Jensen is a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and a founding board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. He is the author of All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice; Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity; The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege; Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity; and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream. Jensen is also co-producer of the documentary film "Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing."

• Critical Thinking in Crisis Times“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”-James Baldwin James Baldwin, The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, Randall Kenan, ed. (New York: Pantheon, 2010), p. 42.Introduction: The age of anxiety PART ONEChapter 1In defense of intellectual lifeChapter 2 Intellectual basics: Simple but not simplisticChapter 3Power basics: Political but more than politicsPART TWOChapter 4Thinking critically about politicsChapter 5Thinking critically about religionChapter 6Thinking critically about news mediaPART THREEChapter 7Thinking creatively: Paradoxes, metaphors, aphorismsChapter 8Thinking soulfully: We are not machines, the mind is not a computerChapter 9Thinking courageously: Reframing ourselves and our worldConclusion: The age of anguish

"The book provides clear, 'simple but not simplistic' frameworks for engaging in more constructive dialog about the issues that matter most."--Andy Lee Roth, YES! Magazine "A potent attack on the rabid, irrational saber-rattling that passes for political and social discourse today, Arguing for Our Lives is a cogent, closely argued, sober, yet passionate call for ordinary men and women to help save our democracy by reclaiming our intellect, by honing our powers of rational argumentation."--Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer "A pamphlet in the classic sense of all good-hearted propaganda, Arguing For Our Lives: A User's Guide to Constructive Dialog, addresses America's fear of intellectualism and the trepidation many people (including Dr. Jensen's journalism students) feel about claiming the very achievable title of critical thinker."--Roberto Ontiveros, San Antonio Current "Do you completely trust the sensational, sound-byte driven news and polarized politicians who never seem to say anything at all, unless it is a totally frightening slip? In a time when public discourse is rife with big-money propaganda, we need to work even harder to think and communicate clearly. While Jensen has honed his critical thinking years over two decades in the classroom, this is a jargon-free book that will enable you to, in the here and now, make small, meaningful steps toward a better world."--Alexis Coe, SF Weekly "Robert Jensen has long been one of the most vocal iconoclasts in Austin and the country, someone who isn't afraid to eloquently state his politics even when the national temperature would keep most people out of the kitchen...His latest book, Arguing for Our Lives, acts as a guidebook to rhetoric and our popular dialogues indicting ideas of neutrality, stilted notions of 'being political', but also encouraging us to passionately discuss the things we're not supposed to in polite company. Jensen salvages the word 'intellectual' from its present nadir, demystifies the application of critical thinking skills to everyday problems, and shows how ideology and politicization are inevitable products of point of view; the more visible we can make them, the more honest the conversations we can begin to have. It's a fascinating read that explains his own personal teaching philosophy, while exposing the ways in which our language can shroud our intents and content."--Austin Chronicle