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Robin James: SCOTUS to US: There is no such thing as civil society
Robin James: SCOTUS to US: There is no such thing as civil society
Civil society was something that existed among white Europeans and which was supposedly lacking among indigeneous peoples across the rest of the globe. Because personhood and all the rights that go with that status were thought to exist only in civil society and not in the state of nature, it was then no violation to colonize land thought to be in the state of nature or to treat people thought to be in that state as property. Social contract theory used the idea of “civil society” to justify the colonial/racial project of excluding non-white people from personhood. […] By de-funding public education, rendering public space inherently more risky, and eliminating the right to privacy in one’s sexual and reproductive choices, these three decisions all eliminate the existence of a key element of classically liberal social ontology: the civil private sphere (i.e., the realm of civil privacy, the private sector, etc.). Put simply, they’re reworking the way the U.S. Constitution models the relation between public and private from the classically liberal model the framers used in the 18th century into a neoliberal one premised on the idea that, as Margaret Thatcher infamously put it, “there is no such thing as society.” In this neoliberal model, there is no civil society (e.g., public space, the realm of individual civil privacy, etc.) and the state only exists to enforce the boundaries of the patriarchal racial capitalist framing of the domestic private sphere.
·its-her-factory.com·
Robin James: SCOTUS to US: There is no such thing as civil society
Elizabeth Plank: Why We Love Angry Men, But Hate Impassioned Women (PolicyMic)
Elizabeth Plank: Why We Love Angry Men, But Hate Impassioned Women (PolicyMic)
In other words, a man is angry because he cares, while a woman is angry because she's an emotional wreck. Men who are angry don't only get more respect, status, and better job titles — they also get higher pay Despite the fact that men can use anger to achieve status, women may need to be calm in order to come off as rational. You know, so that people don't think they're PMS-ing, or whatever.
·policymic.com·
Elizabeth Plank: Why We Love Angry Men, But Hate Impassioned Women (PolicyMic)
Why Universal Health Care Is Unambiguously Necessary for America
Why Universal Health Care Is Unambiguously Necessary for America
Given the importance of medicine, I feel that it would be useful to clarify this issue. I will explain clearly, and with evidence, why it is that universal healthcare of any sort would be better than the current system in every significant way. If you find yourself disagreeing with this assertion, I ask that you read on before replying, as all conceivable objections will be addressed and resolved.
·mrdestructo.com·
Why Universal Health Care Is Unambiguously Necessary for America
Anders Zanichkowsky: Why I Oppose Marriage Equality
Anders Zanichkowsky: Why I Oppose Marriage Equality
I have two main problems with the marriage equality movement: 1. That its operation takes a tremendous amount of money, energy, and attention away from far more pressing issues. (Sometimes this is clear and direct, such as California spending $43 million on Prop 8 while $85 million was being cut from HIV/AIDS services. Sometimes this is more subtle, the successes of which can be measured when every single straight person I know uses their approval for same-sex marriage to demonstrate their allyship to me.) 2. That its strategies actively work against movements for queer economic justice, by removing capitalism, meaningful immigration reform, and gender/sexual deviance from the discussion entirely.
·azanichkowsky.wordpress.com·
Anders Zanichkowsky: Why I Oppose Marriage Equality
Andrew Cohen: No One in America Should Have to Wait 7 Hours to Vote (The Atlantic)
Andrew Cohen: No One in America Should Have to Wait 7 Hours to Vote (The Atlantic)
There is no hidden agenda here. The strategy and tactics are as far out in the open as those voters standing in line for hours waiting for their turn to vote. This transparency—of motive and of evidence—is also what distinguishes the complaints that Democrats have about Republican tricks on voting from Republican complaints about Democratic tricks on voting. Widespread "in-person" voter fraud or voting by illegal immigrants exists mostly in the minds of conspiracy theorists. Yet proof of voter suppression is visible to all of us with the naked eye. All we have to do is look. There is no political equivalence here—only more lamentable false equivalence.
·theatlantic.com·
Andrew Cohen: No One in America Should Have to Wait 7 Hours to Vote (The Atlantic)
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Occupy Wall Street: A Frenzy That Fizzled (NYTimes.com)
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Occupy Wall Street: A Frenzy That Fizzled (NYTimes.com)
Has the debate over breaking up the banks that were too big to fail, save for a change of heart by the former chairman of Citigroup, Sanford I. Weill, really changed or picked up steam as a result of Occupy Wall Street? No. Have any new regulations for banks or businesses been enacted as a result of Occupy Wall Street? No. Has there been any new meaningful push to put Wall Street executives behind bars as a result of Occupy Wall Street? No. And even on the issues of economic inequality and upward mobility — perhaps Occupy Wall Street’s strongest themes — has the movement changed the debate over executive compensation or education reform? It is not even a close call.
·dealbook.nytimes.com·
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Occupy Wall Street: A Frenzy That Fizzled (NYTimes.com)
Frank Chimero: Louis CK's Shameful Dirty Comedy
Frank Chimero: Louis CK's Shameful Dirty Comedy
‘Anthropologist Mary Douglas has a nice definition for dirt, saying it is “matter out of place.” A fried egg on the plate is fine, but a fried egg all over my hands is dirty. Hyde continues to say that dirt is always a byproduct of creating order: to create a place for things means that there will be situations where things will be out of place. And this is why Louis CK’s comedy is dirty: the thoughts, as dark and natural as they may be, are put out of place. The secrets are told on stage in front of others, but it’s through that vocalization that we begin to understand ourselves and our relationship to the world we live in.’
·blog.frankchimero.com·
Frank Chimero: Louis CK's Shameful Dirty Comedy
luo.ma: Answers and Questions
luo.ma: Answers and Questions
‘the church’s desire for “answers” has not served it well. Whether that was the church insisting that Galileo recant his position that the earth was not the center of the universe or whether it’s trying to come up with easy ways for Americans to not have to think critically about how we live and consume and participate in the capitalist society which is willing to let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.’
·luo.ma·
luo.ma: Answers and Questions
Rortybomb: Parsing the Data and Ideology of the We Are 99% Tumblr
Rortybomb: Parsing the Data and Ideology of the We Are 99% Tumblr
‘Upon reflection, it is very obvious where the problems are. There’s no universal health care to handle the randomness of poor health. There’s no free higher education to allow people to develop their skills outside the logic and relations of indentured servitude. Our bankruptcy code has been rewritten by the top 1% when instead, it needs to be a defense against their need to shove inequality-driven debt at populations. And finally, there’s no basic income guaranteed to each citizen to keep poverty and poor circumstances at bay. We have piecemeal, leaky versions of each of these in our current liberal social safety net. Having collated all these responses, I think completing these projects should be the ultimate goal of the 99%.’
·rortybomb.wordpress.com·
Rortybomb: Parsing the Data and Ideology of the We Are 99% Tumblr
NYTimes.com: College the Easy Way
NYTimes.com: College the Easy Way
“Students are hitting the books less and partying more. Easier courses and easier majors have become more and more popular. Perhaps more now than ever, the point of the college experience is to have a good time and walk away with a valuable credential after putting in the least effort possible.” “Many of these young men and women are unable to communicate effectively, solve simple intellectual tasks (such as distinguishing fact from opinion), or engage in effective problem-solving.”
·nytimes.com·
NYTimes.com: College the Easy Way
Squashed: On Those "Entitled" Twenty-somethings
Squashed: On Those "Entitled" Twenty-somethings
“Apparently people in their 20s are a bunch of entitled whiners. I also hear we’re afraid of hard work. I’m rather sick of hearing it. Of course we have a sense of entitlement—we had an understanding with the older generation. We followed through with our half of the deal. What happened? Let’s talk a bit about generational justice.” As a commenter puts it: “I’m a tired of hearing a generation that got everything handed to them (I’m looking at you baby-boomers) bungle everything up so badly and then badmouth the generation that has to clean up their mess (e.g. the national debt, the planet, the educational system, and so on).” See also my notes on that NYTimes article: http://pinboard.in/u:matthewmcvickar/b:a83c50952510
·squashed.tumblr.com·
Squashed: On Those "Entitled" Twenty-somethings
NYTimes.com: Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona
NYTimes.com: Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona
“It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members. But it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge. Many on the right have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats. They seem to have persuaded many Americans that the government is not just misguided, but the enemy of the people.”
·nytimes.com·
NYTimes.com: Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona
CommonDreams.org: When Did Teachers Become Bums?
CommonDreams.org: When Did Teachers Become Bums?
"It is they, fronted by President Obama, who are behind the charter school movement. Their goal is to make franchises of our schools, docile, low-cost industrial robots of our teachers, and McStudents of our children. This, despite the fact that the best academic studies of charter schools have shown that they perform no better than public schools and in many cases perform worse. Sometimes much worse."
·commondreams.org·
CommonDreams.org: When Did Teachers Become Bums?
NYTimes.com: What Is It About 20-Somethings?
NYTimes.com: What Is It About 20-Somethings?
Finally got around to reading this. I still can't reconcile the problem, but this is a very thorough analysis. My hunch is that it isn't exactly an undiscovered life stage or nothing but spoiled kids, but rather a confluence of factors stemming from stuff like 'extended adolescence' (and the provision thereof by parents, college atmospheres, and the entertainment industry), the recession, the internet, and an increasingly ineffectual educational system.
·nytimes.com·
NYTimes.com: What Is It About 20-Somethings?
kung fu grippe: On ‘Conspicuous Compassion.’
kung fu grippe: On ‘Conspicuous Compassion.’
Why I don't think I'm a curmudgeon for thinking the green Iran icons are a joke. "…if you believe for one minute that publicly agreeing with an echo chamber is changing anyone’s mind, behavior, or outlook, you need to stand up, locate your disused front door, walk the fuck through it, and then go spend a full (unwired) day doing something to actually help another person."
·kungfugrippe.com·
kung fu grippe: On ‘Conspicuous Compassion.’