Willful Blindness (book review)

Canada Day Protest 2010 (Photo credit: nouspique)

Recently I read Margaret Heffernan’s book “Willful Blindness” (2011, Random House).  The byline of the book really says it all: “Why we ignore the obvious at our peril”…

In my own research work,  I have been pondering this concept of “willful blindness” for quite some time. I think it explains a lot about why as a society we are often slow to take action on things which — when examined from a somewhat independent and objective perch — seem blindingly obvious and urgent.

BP “buying” researchers…?

Image via Wikipedia

Chris MacDonald, in his business ethics blog, pointed out an article highlighting how BP was approaching the university research community and effectively “buying up” their support and silence for their upcoming legal battles. The blog entry (and link to original article) is here.