Member-only story
She deserved it. But maybe call-ins are better than canceling and call-outs
When Amy Cooper’s Cocker Spaniel was returned to her, I was indignant. She didn’t deserve to have him back! I soon realized her dog wasn’t taken because Cooper made a false claim of being threatened by a black birdwatcher, who simply requested that she leash her dog in a protected park area. Her collar yanking is what did it, as she yelped in fake distress on the phone to the police. People were more outraged at how she treated her dog than how she could have ended a black man’s life. Yep. I was happy she was canceled. They took her dog, and then she was fired. A job well done. Cancel her lying butt all the way to Mordor. But, today I’m asking myself as Christian Cooper did, is canceling the best way to deal with conflict?
A few people on Medium have asked me to go more in-depth about this amazing class I took called Calling in the Calling Out Culture in the Age of Trump led by Loretta Ross and Loan Tran. I am not exaggerating when I say it is the best class I have ever taken. And I’m fairly seasoned in the class-taking department. I read Tran’s article, “Calling in” (2013) after grad school when I worked as a family therapist in Boston. I liked the idea of calling in, but I didn’t quite understand how to do it. I would say I spent the next10 years calling people…