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Another weekish post - 15-23 May 02012
May. 23rd, 2012 12:09 amWelcome aboard. Let's start with two women in North Carolina, who have been hurt by the recent anti-QUILTBAG ballot initiative. Because of people, progress marches on. Because when the waveform collapses, and the potential becomes actual...it's a lot harder to vote to hurt such wonderful people. Now that it's been legal in several places, look at the shocking consequences. People kissing. And getting married. Shock.
A high school GSA created a character, Allie the Ally, and posted her on the Internet for people to print and photograph. They did. In all sorts of places. View the travels of Allie the Ally at her Tumblr.
Out in the world today, Reporters Without Borders released their 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index - if you think your country is doing well...generally speaking, think again.
a prison guard underwent gender reassignment surgery, then returned to work. This is only news because she's the only guard to have done so.
Africa's chlid and infant mortality rats are falling greatly. There's no one factor that can be pointed to as the reason, but the combination of good policies and better economies are definitely helping things out. Hopefully, these policies will extend to things like HIV infection prevention as much as they do malaria infection protection.
Domestically, while ostensibly considering funding for defense spending, the Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee voted to prohibit same-sex marriage ceremonies on military bases and to allow chaplains to voice how much they hate gay people so long as they say it is for religious reasons.
The birthrate for minorities combined was greater than the birth rate for white people, according to the last Census data. You may cue up the nativist worries, and possibly more in the way of Papers-Please type legislation.
A federal court refused to reduce the $22,500 per song fine assessed to a convicted music downloader, pleasing the corporate overlords and ensuring that common sense does not exist in the courts, to charge someone approximately $22,498 more than the cost of obtaining a legal copy of the music from iTunes would be. Cruel and unusual punishment, I think, would not be a bad argument to make.
Into technology, where humans can now replicate the full range of dolphin sounds. Now comes the phase where we try to teach each other our language.
Thanks to an electrode implanted in her brain, a paralyzed woman can manipulate a robotic arm. Which allows for things like taking a sip of robot-assisted coffee.
In a system that evolves itself into new configurations to meet a changing and adapting environment, the following should not be a surprise - rare genetic variations are a common occurrence in human genomes.
Observe opinions, where the editors of the Wall Street Journal believe that President Obama may have done Mitt Romney a favor by coming out in favor of lesbian and gay marriage. At least, in the sense of "now the social conservatives are on board" - but they're not going to go so far as to say that doing so might get enough to come out for the other side, too. Because they believe that civil rights should be subjected to majority votes as a question for the states, perhaps.
Let's think about that for a minute, though - Straight White Male is the lowest difficulty setting for the real world, (and do read the additional Q and A that follows from the exercise) which means that it's easier for them to accumulate the power that allows for the deciding of political issues, and for their voices and votes to be counted more, and less barriers to be in their way to exercise their power. Which means, if we're talking about things where the "majority" gets to rule on rights for the minority, then who gets to be the majority of that majority? Straight White Males, who have trouble with things that are different, as a historical precedent and rule.
So I've been looking at the polling, and Mitt Romney, who was normally suffering badly during the primary in a theoretical matchup with Barack Obama, has suddenly pulled within the margin of error now that there are no more candidates to choose from. So exactly what happened? The coalescing of the Straight White Male vote on one candidate, rather than fighting each other to put their preferred Straight White Male in charge. Barack Obama did Mitt Romney a favor? Bullshit. Most of the people who give a damn (on the conservative side) about Barack Obama coming out in favor of same-sex marriage were already going to vote against him because he was Secretly Foreign, Secretly Muslim, or whatever other reason they needed to say "He's Not Like Us." Barack Obama did himself a favor with the audience that might actually elect him by doing this. Any slippage in the polling probably reflects more of the Straight White Male vote being galvanized to go vote for their privilege than the liberal audience abandoning him over it.
Mr. Ahlert attempts to reinforce the position of Ms. Riley in the Chronicle of Higher Education, accusing the Chronicle of caving to disgraceful pressure, instead of allowing someone to claim that black studies departments are not doing actual work. In the Chronicle. Of. Higher. Education. And again, misses the point of the criticism - the studies mentioned are trying to see if there's institutional racism present in all sorts of places. Which makes things look silly, right until someone finds a very important correlation and we find out that no, really, it was there. Might not be these three, but it will be someone.
There's a question here that I don't feel qualified to answer, or even explore much, without a suspicion that I'm going to screw it up badly. Here's the assertion: Spporting people who commit violent acts against women makes you complicit in those acts. Because keeping a friendship with a known abuser is saying that you're okay with abuse happening, even if you'd never commit it yourself. Which leaves little-to-no room for the possibility of change, if I understand it correctly, if this is taken out to its logical conclusion. If adopted, this position would basically shun all abusers and refuse to really believe that they can reform themselves into non-abusers. Or, I guess, there's no mechanism by which someone could prove they had changed, because of that stigma. I suppose there's actually a bit of poetry to it, since the stigma of being a victim often follows someone for far longer than it should, and there are always people willing to throw that back at someone or make victimizing comments to try and silence them or keep them "in their place." I guess it has something to do with a basic belief in the goodness of people, if they're willing to sincerely make a change. Which becomes a problem at the point where you're pretending something problematic doesn't exist and that their unwillingness to change isn't also a problem. I'm not sure how to avoid sounding like an apologist nd maintain that there should be some way of reconciliation through severe apology and demonstrated acts of restitution. Something 12-Steps-ish, maybe?
A column suggests that because the social sciences do not result in theories based on randomized experiments that can predict things tha tare yet unknown, we should not accord them much weight in making policy or influencing our decisions. The comments suggest the columnist does not understand the nature of the social sciences and what they are trying to do. At least, some of them do. Others are more than happy to pile on.
Last out, Mr. Sowell endorses whatever violent, brutal, and illegal tactics are needed to defeat the Occupy movement, because he believes them a mob that can't get their way by being in the majority and have thus resorted to violence against shops, graffiti, and other lawless behaviors. He says that politicians are unwilling to enforce the requirements of equal protection under the law when it comes to the Occupy movement. The Fourteenth Amendment is being trampled, says he!
He has to paint the Occupiers as violent thugs, though, because, several amendments earlier, there is this amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." And for people who have actually seen inside the Occupy camps...peaceable assembly asking for the redress of grievances is pretty much what's going on.
Last for tonight, why feminism means better sex - feminism means knowing about anatomy and what works with that anatomy.
A high school GSA created a character, Allie the Ally, and posted her on the Internet for people to print and photograph. They did. In all sorts of places. View the travels of Allie the Ally at her Tumblr.
Out in the world today, Reporters Without Borders released their 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index - if you think your country is doing well...generally speaking, think again.
a prison guard underwent gender reassignment surgery, then returned to work. This is only news because she's the only guard to have done so.
Africa's chlid and infant mortality rats are falling greatly. There's no one factor that can be pointed to as the reason, but the combination of good policies and better economies are definitely helping things out. Hopefully, these policies will extend to things like HIV infection prevention as much as they do malaria infection protection.
Domestically, while ostensibly considering funding for defense spending, the Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee voted to prohibit same-sex marriage ceremonies on military bases and to allow chaplains to voice how much they hate gay people so long as they say it is for religious reasons.
The birthrate for minorities combined was greater than the birth rate for white people, according to the last Census data. You may cue up the nativist worries, and possibly more in the way of Papers-Please type legislation.
A federal court refused to reduce the $22,500 per song fine assessed to a convicted music downloader, pleasing the corporate overlords and ensuring that common sense does not exist in the courts, to charge someone approximately $22,498 more than the cost of obtaining a legal copy of the music from iTunes would be. Cruel and unusual punishment, I think, would not be a bad argument to make.
Into technology, where humans can now replicate the full range of dolphin sounds. Now comes the phase where we try to teach each other our language.
Thanks to an electrode implanted in her brain, a paralyzed woman can manipulate a robotic arm. Which allows for things like taking a sip of robot-assisted coffee.
In a system that evolves itself into new configurations to meet a changing and adapting environment, the following should not be a surprise - rare genetic variations are a common occurrence in human genomes.
Observe opinions, where the editors of the Wall Street Journal believe that President Obama may have done Mitt Romney a favor by coming out in favor of lesbian and gay marriage. At least, in the sense of "now the social conservatives are on board" - but they're not going to go so far as to say that doing so might get enough to come out for the other side, too. Because they believe that civil rights should be subjected to majority votes as a question for the states, perhaps.
Let's think about that for a minute, though - Straight White Male is the lowest difficulty setting for the real world, (and do read the additional Q and A that follows from the exercise) which means that it's easier for them to accumulate the power that allows for the deciding of political issues, and for their voices and votes to be counted more, and less barriers to be in their way to exercise their power. Which means, if we're talking about things where the "majority" gets to rule on rights for the minority, then who gets to be the majority of that majority? Straight White Males, who have trouble with things that are different, as a historical precedent and rule.
So I've been looking at the polling, and Mitt Romney, who was normally suffering badly during the primary in a theoretical matchup with Barack Obama, has suddenly pulled within the margin of error now that there are no more candidates to choose from. So exactly what happened? The coalescing of the Straight White Male vote on one candidate, rather than fighting each other to put their preferred Straight White Male in charge. Barack Obama did Mitt Romney a favor? Bullshit. Most of the people who give a damn (on the conservative side) about Barack Obama coming out in favor of same-sex marriage were already going to vote against him because he was Secretly Foreign, Secretly Muslim, or whatever other reason they needed to say "He's Not Like Us." Barack Obama did himself a favor with the audience that might actually elect him by doing this. Any slippage in the polling probably reflects more of the Straight White Male vote being galvanized to go vote for their privilege than the liberal audience abandoning him over it.
Mr. Ahlert attempts to reinforce the position of Ms. Riley in the Chronicle of Higher Education, accusing the Chronicle of caving to disgraceful pressure, instead of allowing someone to claim that black studies departments are not doing actual work. In the Chronicle. Of. Higher. Education. And again, misses the point of the criticism - the studies mentioned are trying to see if there's institutional racism present in all sorts of places. Which makes things look silly, right until someone finds a very important correlation and we find out that no, really, it was there. Might not be these three, but it will be someone.
There's a question here that I don't feel qualified to answer, or even explore much, without a suspicion that I'm going to screw it up badly. Here's the assertion: Spporting people who commit violent acts against women makes you complicit in those acts. Because keeping a friendship with a known abuser is saying that you're okay with abuse happening, even if you'd never commit it yourself. Which leaves little-to-no room for the possibility of change, if I understand it correctly, if this is taken out to its logical conclusion. If adopted, this position would basically shun all abusers and refuse to really believe that they can reform themselves into non-abusers. Or, I guess, there's no mechanism by which someone could prove they had changed, because of that stigma. I suppose there's actually a bit of poetry to it, since the stigma of being a victim often follows someone for far longer than it should, and there are always people willing to throw that back at someone or make victimizing comments to try and silence them or keep them "in their place." I guess it has something to do with a basic belief in the goodness of people, if they're willing to sincerely make a change. Which becomes a problem at the point where you're pretending something problematic doesn't exist and that their unwillingness to change isn't also a problem. I'm not sure how to avoid sounding like an apologist nd maintain that there should be some way of reconciliation through severe apology and demonstrated acts of restitution. Something 12-Steps-ish, maybe?
A column suggests that because the social sciences do not result in theories based on randomized experiments that can predict things tha tare yet unknown, we should not accord them much weight in making policy or influencing our decisions. The comments suggest the columnist does not understand the nature of the social sciences and what they are trying to do. At least, some of them do. Others are more than happy to pile on.
Last out, Mr. Sowell endorses whatever violent, brutal, and illegal tactics are needed to defeat the Occupy movement, because he believes them a mob that can't get their way by being in the majority and have thus resorted to violence against shops, graffiti, and other lawless behaviors. He says that politicians are unwilling to enforce the requirements of equal protection under the law when it comes to the Occupy movement. The Fourteenth Amendment is being trampled, says he!
He has to paint the Occupiers as violent thugs, though, because, several amendments earlier, there is this amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." And for people who have actually seen inside the Occupy camps...peaceable assembly asking for the redress of grievances is pretty much what's going on.
Last for tonight, why feminism means better sex - feminism means knowing about anatomy and what works with that anatomy.
