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Howard Speaks: The Free Exchange of Ideas (on Dentaltown) by Dr. Howard Farran

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Howard Speaks: The Free Exchange of Ideas (on Dentaltown)

by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, publisher, Dentaltown magazine

A few months ago, I did a podcast with University of Iowa dental student Michael Brase, who had been threatened with expulsion after he questioned the university faculty’s condemnation of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The interview garnered an extraordinary number of views and streams.

On Dentaltown’s message boards, the most common theme seemed to be that students were paying to learn about dentistry, not to receive mass emails about the dental school’s stance on one topic or another, and that targeting Brase for pushing back on their condemnation was incredibly troublesome.

One of my first memories of college was that I would have knock-down, drag-out debates until 3 in the morning with a student who lived a couple of floors down from me in the dorm. It was the most fun ever, and I just loved it—but now I also think that if those debates had been filmed and uploaded to YouTube or something, we probably would’ve been in trouble because we weren’t holding back on our thoughts. (I mean, the name of my podcast today is Dentistry Uncensored, so would you expect anything less from a 20-year-old version of me?)

Sharing different opinions

Some people don’t like social media because of all the crazy things that other people are saying on there. I actually like it for that very reason—because the alternative is not knowing what they’re saying.

One intellectual exercise I found useful over the years is to engage with an opposing viewpoint, by invoking the “inverse.” If I’m getting into a really heavy debate with someone, I’ll say, “OK, let’s switch sides.” It gets into the structure of how this debate is not you vs. me but the ideas. Everybody should be respected and heard. Everybody has their own personal framework, their own reference, their own life and journey, so how do we respectfully hear those viewpoints? Those opinions create transparency, which in turn offers the opportunity for checks and balances. That’s what the Dentaltown message boards are all about! When Townies post their questions, they encourage peers from all over the world to share their opinions and suggestions. Even contradictory viewpoints are welcomed, as long as the discussion remains respectful, which gives everyone who logs on the opportunity to discover what other people are thinking and would do in their shoes.

The forums are a safe space to share questions, opinions and ideas about everything from dental “pearls” that solve everyday problems in the practice to practicing goodwill during a divorce.

It’s all about respect

Back to Brase’s story: After the student shared his story with state legislators, they intervened on his behalf and the disciplinary hearing he’d been threatened with was canceled. That, in turn, led to a meeting in front of the state house oversight committee, where leaders from all three public Iowa universities ended up apologizing for “egregious” incidents that suppressed students’ First Amendment rights.

As Brase himself said during our podcast, “I hope that people start to realize is that you can have real debates, real discussions, without attacking each other. You don’t have to try to silence each other just because you don’t like the other person’s opinion. It’s OK to have a difference of opinion. And I hope that people see that and that we can start actually talking about issues.”

I want to hear your opinion about this column! Please leave a comment under this article.

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