Dr. Julie Ponesse, erstwhile professor of ethics at Western University, has been terminated for her refusal to adhere to the Covid vaccination mandate at her school. The following is a YouTube video she made about the issue.
Self-pitying in tone, replete with factual and logical errors, I offer it to readers as an opportunity to hone their critical-thinking skills, something Ponesse, the anti-vax crowd and the over 500 commentators on the video are clearly in short supply of.
Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Ruth, for alerting me to this.
UPDATE: Thanks @MarieSnyder27 for this link to a London Free Press article that excoriates Poness for her self-serving sloppiness in the above video. And interestingly , she is linked to the People's Party of Canada. Here is just a brief excerpt:
Her comments, made public in a video a day before she addressed a local People’s Party of Canada rally, have drawn the ire of several other professors at the university.
“Shame on Julie Ponesse,” philosophy professor Anthony Skelton wrote on Twitter. “This is the anti-thesis of the Socratic mission: to live the examined life. Ponesse’s remarks about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine mandates rest on moral and factual errors.”
Jacob Shelley is a professor of health ethics at Western. He wrote on social media in response to an LFP story about Ponesse: “I’ve asked a lot of questions of (Western University) both privately and publicly. Asked a bunch today, in fact. This (Ponesse’s video) is about refusing to take a vaccination, a policy that is legally enforceable and ethically justifiable.”
If she feels she will be wrongly terminated she always has the option to sue for wrongful dismissal. That she chooses to argue her case on YouTube, the high temple of critical thinking, speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Mound. But I guess she prefers the court of public opinion, which is increasingly prone to easy and cheap manipulation these days.
Delete.. I heard she was refusing vaccine (FYI I am so old school I won't use the term 'jab') .. so sad - too bad
ReplyDeleteBut U Western Ontario I hear has bigger issues currently a number of sexual assaults reported plus a homicide. I assume these may relate to 'frosh week' .. but again, I don't & won't pretend Assault or Dying = 'hijinks' - Rather they are exactly what they are. My son went through 2 'frosh weeks' at Queens and they were insanely wild. None of his friends needed to assault young women & too this day his peer group impresses me at how they evolved from young 'wild men' to be highly credible by the time they hit their 30's. One is the local MP 'Nat' - Nathaniel Erskine - Smith in the Beach(es) & my prediction is he's a future PM, others are Nuclear Operators, teachers, pro musicians and super free spirits etc etc.. Not a bad egg among them
The vaccine issues bother me big time. I'm a huge advocate for our Healthcare exemplars. It puzzles me as its not really 'politically charged' polarization - I also don't see it as about 'rights & freedoms' yet the anti vaxxers / maskers protest outside hospitals now ? I have a huge problem with that. Oddly too are some or many Police & Firefighters protesting vaccine mandates. I can vaguely understand Police.. but tough as nails Firefighters ? I know several Chiefs.. but as a courtesy I don't engage or question them on this.. Like most Canadians, I don't know a single police person.. Nada none.. They drink and toke among themselves, and suffer high divorce rates, alcoholism and suicide - which is usually indicative of Depression and not Anxiety
We ourselves are trundling along.. paying attention to the Science & Public Safety (more than one could say about many elected Public Servants) - We function with very tight 'bubbles' & protocols in this household. If I'm strict then Boss is far more disciplined.. and that's OK. We are both AZ then Moderna and no fear of needles (she's a Veterinarians daughter and I farm boy who's banged home many a needle.. and in my 20's had to endure the big needle sequence after exposure to a rabid cattlebeast carcass.
It's my hope Science will provide a vaccine that deters infection & transmission.. and I'm built for the long haul to get there
I have come to the conclusion, Sal, that since the advent of the Covid vaccine, I really don't know people at all (to paraphrase Judy Collins). While my interpretation of the world is obviously heavily influenced by my education and socio-economic position, until recently I don't think I really appreciated the number of truly dysfunctional people we have in our country and in the world. It has been a quite disheartening revelation for me.
DeleteIt doesn't sound as though they'll be pining for her in the faculty lounge, does it?
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase a line from Macbeth, Mound, I suspect nothing became her in her academic life like the leaving of it.
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