I can't top this Shakesville post on the Tucson shootings, so just go read it

Melissa McEwan at Shakesville has written a piece that deserves to go viral. This is my small contribution to that effort. Here is your teaser:

Let's Get This Straight

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, January 10, 2011

[Trigger warning for violent rhetoric of many different stripes.]

Both sides are, in fact, not "just as bad," when it comes to institutionally sanctioned violent and eliminationist rhetoric.

An anonymous commenter at Daily Kos and the last Republican vice presidential nominee are not equivalent, no matter how many ridiculously irresponsible members of the media would have us believe otherwise.

There is, demonstrably, no leftist equivalent to Sarah Palin, former veep candidate and presumed future presidential candidate, who uses gun imagery (rifle sights) and language ("Don't Retreat, RELOAD") to exhort her followers to action.

There is no leftist equivalent to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a group which was created from the mailing list of the old white supremacist White Citizens Councils and has been noted as becoming increasingly "radical and racist" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which classifies the CCC as a hate group—and is nonetheless considered an acceptable association by prominent members of the Republican Party, including a a former senator and the last Republican presidential nominee...

...This is not an argument there is no hatred, no inappropriate and even violent rhetoric, among US leftists. There is.

This is evidence that, although violent rhetoric exists among US leftists, it is not remotely on the same scale, and, more importantly, not an institutionally endorsed tactic, as it is among US rightwingers.

This is a fact. It is not debatable.

And there is observably precious little integrity among conservatives in addressing this fact, in the wake of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords...

Go read the full post at:

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2011/01/lets-get-this-straight.html

2 reasons I keep up with Lawrence Lessig

UPDATE (8/6/10) on Lessig's video:

On the morning of August 6, I (and a zillion others) got a tweet from Lawrence Lessig saying he has pulled his "Of/By/4" video due to a probable misquote of Lincoln in the video. Read more about it here:

http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lincoln-quote/

When there's more I will post it separately. Meanwhile, let's all aspire to half as much integrity as Lessig showed. No whining, no excuses, just the correction. Now go enjoy some other Lessig videos.

-----update ends-----

I first stumbled upon Lawrence Lessig while investigating better ways for my students to do presentations besides "standard" PowerPoint slide drone-o-rama. Turns out that beyond the technology, his ideas on intellectual freedom mesh rather well with mine, and can inform my thinking & writing whether I believe it happens or not. He's on hiatus from the blogosphere but remains quite active on Twitter and elsewhere.

(1) I like the Lessig method of presentation and wish I had enough TA support to do more of it myself. He hasn't broken anyone's PowerPoint addiction, a pet peeve I tackle with my students in my academic life, but he's managed to work with and build around the core software, and he keeps his talks moving visually so you don't care that they're based in PowerPoint. You learn not to blink much.

(2) He makes sense. We need more "angry white men" who channel it this way. In the below TEDx talk titled "of/by/4" he quotes many people-- yes, his share of "dead white males" and a few live ones (including David Byrne, one of my creative faves who also knows how to liven up PowerPoint) but I admire his selective skills and the lack of women&minorities does not offend. He frames this talk with a pertinent quote from Thoreau:

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Therefore, I dedicate this post to all the progressives who are running around in circles, independently making sense, yet rarely converging to actually bring "progress" writ large. So carve out 18 minutes, not necessarily all at once but it helps. Watch and learn. When done, check out his other presentations at blip.tv.

Van Jones doesn't seem thrown under the bus

Here's an interview with the recently emancipated "green guy" Van Jones at Netroots Nation 2010 in Las Vegas (h/t JJP). He seems to be doing OK in his post-White House life. Runs about an hour. First several minutes is an intro by Howard Dean.

Why I hate the Confederacy, Part III: Literacy tests

Hat tip to JJP for spotting this Rachel Maddow segment on the Tea Party's fervor for good old-fashioned Southern-American values such as "literacy tests."

The first half of the segment has a tolerable if brief intro to the concept of literacy tests and why they were in place from Jim Crow up through the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also shows Tom Tancredo (former Rep.-CO congressman) foaming at the mouth, or just slavering over fond memories of the old days when you didn't have to let minorities vote if you could selectively screen them out and keep white voters in.

Although elsewhere online this seems to be "Dump on Charles Ogletree Week," I am OK with his comments in the second half of the Maddow segment. Take 10% off the top for typical Maddow-interviewee banter and it's all right. He correctly states that Maddow's intro understated the real history. (She has to keep her show on the air, after all.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Shadow of the Torturer

You may be familiar with Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer. The book takes place in a world where torture is not forbidden, not even an exception, but is a fully integrated, normal part of the culture, politics, and society. The story and its sequels follow Severian, an apprentice in the torturers' guild. In the habit of good science fiction, it forces us to rethink our assumptions of good and evil, starting with the Spanish Inquisition and working forward from there.

You may also be familiar with 24, the TV show in which self-flagellating protagonist Jack Bauer must, a few episodes into each season, resort to torture (or the threat of torture) to retrieve information vital to keep the show from grinding to a halt before 24 hours is up. It's something like a video game (after all, he must go through this routine every level, er, season), only with more angst.

I foolishly thought the U.S.-as-torture-supporter question was closed well before this blog even started, but I forgot who I was dealing with. Thanks to the latest idiot terrorist attempt to blow up a plane, the usual attack dogs are back on the job-- crusty old out-of-power Republicans, fading neocons, blowsy over-rouged pundicrats who resemble the real-estate agents you duck around corners to avoid, and all their progeny. They seem determined to ensure that America's global reputation never gets any better, thereby perpetuating the threat and guaranteeing new crops of people who don't like us.

Here's an example:

The setup, the groundwork for resurrecting and justifying the Jack Bauer approach starts at 3:15 in this video from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. The actual references to torture as acceptable kick in at about 6:15.

[Tech note: You may need to resize/zoom in or out with your browser's View menu, as Blogger and MSNBC videos aren't perfectly interactive. Click here for direct link to video if needed.]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The British taught us everything we know about child labor

When Prometheus 6 pointed out the ABC News story about child labor used to harvest U.S. blueberry crops, I did what we so often do. I expressed momentary outrage, made a comment on his blog, and went to the next issue. Child labor as known in the U.S. would certainly go to the back burner after the Nightline video aired on October 30th.

Now, what would trump migrant child labor in the U.S.? How about the British and Australian governments doing the same to their very own kids who are British citizens?

As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were told - wrongly - their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them.

Many parents did not know their children, aged as young as three, had been sent to Australia.

Care agencies worked with the government to send disadvantaged children to a rosy future and supply what was deemed "good white stock" to a former colony.

If you want a bit of irony (and I'm sure you do) I'd like you to meet Baroness Amos, Britain's high commissioner in Canberra as she explains the forthcoming official apologies from the British and Australian PMs. (I'm not great at manually embedding video that doesn't want to be embedded, so please click through below.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8361208.stm

Wow.

When you're handed Van Jones, make lemonade

The Van Jones resignation continues to rub me the wrong way, as I posted over at P6. Let me be a bit parochial-- I'm biased in favor of Jones because of his former James Rucker/Color of Change connection, only two degrees of separation here in central California. I understand that people who work for Obama are supposed to be more respectful to the opposition than Rove and Cheney were, so Jones had to go.

Of all the post-resignation Van Jones stories, the one that whines the least is this one from AlterNet:

5 Reasons Why Van Jones and Progressives Are Better Off with Jones out of the White House
By Don Hazen, AlterNet. Posted September 7, 2009.

Here are the reasons, long version at the linked article.

1. Now He's a Household Name
2. He's Been Rescued From Obscurity [meaning an obscure wonky job]
3. He's the Leader Progressives Need
4. He Has a Renewed Charge to Speak the Truth
5. He Can Provide Real Vision and Organizing Framework

Oh, and the story that seemed to generate the most illiterate, racist comments per column-inch was Zennie Abraham's blog at sfgate.com.