Todd Battistelli
@fromtherostra.com
How do our disagreements go? #rhetoric, #writing, and #education.
Viewpoints that I express are my own and do not represent the views of organizations with which I'm affiliated. Reposts are not endorsements.
he/him
Viewpoints that I express are my own and do not represent the views of organizations with which I'm affiliated. Reposts are not endorsements.
he/him
Pinned
Todd Battistelli
@fromtherostra.com
· Nov 13
Hello!
My main interests are writing and learning, particularly as they relate to productive disagreement in rhetoric, organizational & workplace communication, emergent strategy, coalition work, and facilitation.
More here: fromtherostra.com/2023/03/10/w...
1/3
My main interests are writing and learning, particularly as they relate to productive disagreement in rhetoric, organizational & workplace communication, emergent strategy, coalition work, and facilitation.
More here: fromtherostra.com/2023/03/10/w...
1/3
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Tenure-line faculty, this better teach many about solidarity with our colleagues in more precarity. They are fighting the good fight. We should be in solidarity with them because it's the right thing to do. And if that's not enough, always remember that what comes for them will come for you.
Indiana University removed a Lecturer from her "Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice" course after a student filed a complaint about a graphic the instructor showed in class, which included "Make America Great Again" as an example of "Covert White Supremacy."
www.wfyi.org/news/article...
www.wfyi.org/news/article...
IU lecturer removed from class during intellectual diversity investigation
A lecturer in the Indiana University School of Social Work has been removed from teaching one of her classes Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice while the university investigates a complaint...
www.wfyi.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Tenure-line faculty, this better teach many about solidarity with our colleagues in more precarity. They are fighting the good fight. We should be in solidarity with them because it's the right thing to do. And if that's not enough, always remember that what comes for them will come for you.
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
At 13, I joined a Wolfenstein 3d modding forum. 22 years later, my posts are still there - and still searchable.
The discussion I had in Discord 2 years ago?
Not so much.
We chose this. We can choose better.
blog.discourse.org/2025/11/the...
The discussion I had in Discord 2 years ago?
Not so much.
We chose this. We can choose better.
blog.discourse.org/2025/11/the...
The Death of Community Memory
I recently spent forty minutes searching through Slack trying to find a technical decision — made eight months ago — about an app that 60% of my creative life depends on...I eventually gave up and just asked someone to explain it again, which they did, poorly, because they didn’t quite remember either.
blog.discourse.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:58 PM
At 13, I joined a Wolfenstein 3d modding forum. 22 years later, my posts are still there - and still searchable.
The discussion I had in Discord 2 years ago?
Not so much.
We chose this. We can choose better.
blog.discourse.org/2025/11/the...
The discussion I had in Discord 2 years ago?
Not so much.
We chose this. We can choose better.
blog.discourse.org/2025/11/the...
"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 11, 2025 at 8:24 PM
"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”
One of the great challenges of pluralism is letting others use their own vocabulary to describe themselves and then engaging those vocabularies rather than suppressing them.
#pluralism #coalition #interbelief #interfaith #ReligiousPluralism #nonreligion
#pluralism #coalition #interbelief #interfaith #ReligiousPluralism #nonreligion
“You are this. You are that.”
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
November 11, 2025 at 3:41 PM
One of the great challenges of pluralism is letting others use their own vocabulary to describe themselves and then engaging those vocabularies rather than suppressing them.
#pluralism #coalition #interbelief #interfaith #ReligiousPluralism #nonreligion
#pluralism #coalition #interbelief #interfaith #ReligiousPluralism #nonreligion
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
An 1849 humanist naming ceremony conducted by none other than George Holyoake – the man who coined the term 'secularism'.
Humanist ceremonies are not a new thing. Far from it.
This one dates back to 1849, and was conducted by the man who coined the term 'Secularism' George Holyoake.
Very cool #HumanistHeritage, and the description of the ceremony itself is quite entertaining.
heritage.humanists.uk/naming-of-ma...
This one dates back to 1849, and was conducted by the man who coined the term 'Secularism' George Holyoake.
Very cool #HumanistHeritage, and the description of the ceremony itself is quite entertaining.
heritage.humanists.uk/naming-of-ma...
Humanist Heritage: From the archives: Naming of Mazzini Truelove
On 11 November 1849, at the Literary and Scientific Institution, 23 John Street (now Whitfield Street), London, George Jacob Holyoake […]
heritage.humanists.uk
November 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
An 1849 humanist naming ceremony conducted by none other than George Holyoake – the man who coined the term 'secularism'.
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Humanist and author Kurt Vonnegut was born on this day 1922.
Here's Kurt on the humanist approach to life, as featured in #TheLittleBookofHumanism ❤️
Here's Kurt on the humanist approach to life, as featured in #TheLittleBookofHumanism ❤️
November 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Humanist and author Kurt Vonnegut was born on this day 1922.
Here's Kurt on the humanist approach to life, as featured in #TheLittleBookofHumanism ❤️
Here's Kurt on the humanist approach to life, as featured in #TheLittleBookofHumanism ❤️
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
"Hiring professors with PhDs is meaningless if administrators are the ones deciding what gets taught,” he said. “Faculty will start asking not, ‘Is this accurate?’ but ‘Will this get me in trouble?’ That’s not education, it’s risk management.”
#HigherEd
#HigherEd
Leonard Bright, president of the Texas A&M Chapter of the AAUP said faculty were not consulted on the proposed changes, which he called “a direct violation” of their expertise + freedom to teach. “If that’s the case, there’s just going to be a further black eye on higher education here in Texas.”
Texas A&M to vote on banning “race and gender ideology”
The proposal appears to mark the first time a Texas university system offers definitions of what kind of instruction related to race and gender should not be permitted.
www.texastribune.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:57 AM
"Hiring professors with PhDs is meaningless if administrators are the ones deciding what gets taught,” he said. “Faculty will start asking not, ‘Is this accurate?’ but ‘Will this get me in trouble?’ That’s not education, it’s risk management.”
#HigherEd
#HigherEd
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
"From generating phishing emails to suggesting a college student using it to study commit self-harm to suggesting putting glue on pizza, Gemini might not be the killer app worthy of teachers tying their reputations to." #EduSky #AcademicSky
Before You Become a Gemini Certified Educator
Be careful what you tie your name to.
www.criticalinkling.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
"From generating phishing emails to suggesting a college student using it to study commit self-harm to suggesting putting glue on pizza, Gemini might not be the killer app worthy of teachers tying their reputations to." #EduSky #AcademicSky
“You are this. You are that.”
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
November 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
“You are this. You are that.”
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
No. We are people trying to work in coalition, each with the agency to describe their own identities and the forbearance to respect differences among them.
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Being a member of a "meeting" or a "religious society" was simply not essential to the earliest Friends' self-identity. Today, the opposite seems true—that you can't REALLY call yourself a Quaker until you join a meeting.
Matt Rosen's new Pendle Hill pamphlet invites us to revisit the old ways.
Matt Rosen's new Pendle Hill pamphlet invites us to revisit the old ways.
REVIEWED: Awakening the Witness: Convincement and Belonging in Quaker Community
What makes someone a Quaker? Matt Rosen's new pamphlet reveals it's about more than deciding to become a member of a meeting.
www.friendsjournal.org
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Being a member of a "meeting" or a "religious society" was simply not essential to the earliest Friends' self-identity. Today, the opposite seems true—that you can't REALLY call yourself a Quaker until you join a meeting.
Matt Rosen's new Pendle Hill pamphlet invites us to revisit the old ways.
Matt Rosen's new Pendle Hill pamphlet invites us to revisit the old ways.
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Happy National Native American Heritage Month : Open access means honoring every voice. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month by exploring stories that deserve to be remembered and shared.
November 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Happy National Native American Heritage Month : Open access means honoring every voice. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month by exploring stories that deserve to be remembered and shared.
This is not a place of deliberation.
No dialogue was achieved here.
No dialogue was achieved here.
November 11, 2025 at 2:52 AM
This is not a place of deliberation.
No dialogue was achieved here.
No dialogue was achieved here.
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
"All good causes are mutually helpful."
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Like… people want affordable groceries, housing, and healthcare, *And* they want their friends and loved ones the be alive and safe and free from persecution.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
Too many news outlets & pols framing Tuesday as affordability *Instead Of* "woke"/"DEI"/whatever the fuck when Mamdani & Sherrill both *explicitly* embraced trans & other LGBTQ+ rights, VA solidly rejected Republicans' virulent anti-trans attack adz, & a PA elected their 1st trans mayor. Be serious.
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 PM
"All good causes are mutually helpful."
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Like… people want affordable groceries, housing, and healthcare, *And* they want their friends and loved ones the be alive and safe and free from persecution.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
Too many news outlets & pols framing Tuesday as affordability *Instead Of* "woke"/"DEI"/whatever the fuck when Mamdani & Sherrill both *explicitly* embraced trans & other LGBTQ+ rights, VA solidly rejected Republicans' virulent anti-trans attack adz, & a PA elected their 1st trans mayor. Be serious.
Pro-Equality Candidates Win, Anti-Trans Campaigns Lose Again, in Election 2025 | GLAAD
History was made, and repeated, in the 2025 election, with significant impacts for LGBTQ Americans and candidates who campaigned to support LGBTQ people. Virginia voters elected the Commonwealth’s fir...
glaad.org
November 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Like… people want affordable groceries, housing, and healthcare, *And* they want their friends and loved ones the be alive and safe and free from persecution.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas. They are in fact bound up together.
Discussing why people within your coalition disagree
vs.
Despairing that people within your coalition disagree
vs.
Despairing that people within your coalition disagree
November 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Discussing why people within your coalition disagree
vs.
Despairing that people within your coalition disagree
vs.
Despairing that people within your coalition disagree
It’s a Democratic National Convention. What’s the worst that could happen?
Hubert Humphrey: (gulps nervously)
Hugh Howey: “Hold my beer!”
Hubert Humphrey: (gulps nervously)
Hugh Howey: “Hold my beer!”
November 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
It’s a Democratic National Convention. What’s the worst that could happen?
Hubert Humphrey: (gulps nervously)
Hugh Howey: “Hold my beer!”
Hubert Humphrey: (gulps nervously)
Hugh Howey: “Hold my beer!”
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Dr Ougrin says the transcripts appear to show ChatGPT encouraging an exclusive relationship that marginalises family and other forms of support, which are vital in protecting young people from self-harm and suicidal ideation. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
I wanted ChatGPT to help me. So why did it advise me how to kill myself? - BBC News
ChatGPT wrote a woman a suicide note and another AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with children, BBC finds.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Dr Ougrin says the transcripts appear to show ChatGPT encouraging an exclusive relationship that marginalises family and other forms of support, which are vital in protecting young people from self-harm and suicidal ideation. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
November 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
Whatever else happens today I just spoke to the kindest, most generous customer service rep ever. I didn’t think I could love her more and then she mentioned not having kids until she was almost 42. My people!! ❤️
Hire humans, not bots!! Put actual people on the phone!!
Hire humans, not bots!! Put actual people on the phone!!
November 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Whatever else happens today I just spoke to the kindest, most generous customer service rep ever. I didn’t think I could love her more and then she mentioned not having kids until she was almost 42. My people!! ❤️
Hire humans, not bots!! Put actual people on the phone!!
Hire humans, not bots!! Put actual people on the phone!!
Reposted by Todd Battistelli
As instructors the most important curricular question is always: what is it that is worth learning—from students‘ own volition and from our expert perspectives? The answer is unlikely to be „outsourcing all parts of a task.“ We are at a point where my first-year students tell me as much, unasked.
In my field, LLMs are quite useful because there are tasks that are slow to do by hand, easier to check, and not worth learning -- eg "give me the 18-25 populations from these StatsNZ spreadsheets".
The problem, generally, is the many tasks that satisfy the first two conditions but not the third.
The problem, generally, is the many tasks that satisfy the first two conditions but not the third.
November 9, 2025 at 7:48 PM
As instructors the most important curricular question is always: what is it that is worth learning—from students‘ own volition and from our expert perspectives? The answer is unlikely to be „outsourcing all parts of a task.“ We are at a point where my first-year students tell me as much, unasked.
"...freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
A 450-foot Prometheus. A 500-foot George Washington. Tech investors are racing to build colossal monuments celebrating Western power.
America’s Tech Right Is Obsessed With Building Giant Statues
With proposals for a 450-foot statue of Prometheus on Alcatraz and a 650-foot George Washington, MAGA adherents are racing to build America’s largest statue.
bloom.bg
November 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
"...freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl