here's what school is really all about

Maryland teacher calls police when her 13 year old student refuses to say the pledge of allegiance.

We need men with guns to deal with the threat posed by a child who won't swear fealty to a bloody fucking rag on a stick. Bow before the altar of the state, lest the state's hired goons drag you away.

life and the spectacle

J.R. Boyd's LadyPoverty regularly posts excellent stuff, but this one really blew me away, and inspired a lot of thought about my own life. I recommend the whole thing, though I'll excerpt some of it to share my own thoughts.

It starts with this quote:

Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle:

The whole life of those societies in which modern conditions of production prevail presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. All that once was directly lived has become mere representation.

I've occasionally noted a feeling of disconnectedness from my world, or that I just don't quite belong where I am. Boyd's elaboration on Debord's thought is a brilliant explanation of a big part of the proximate mechanisms at work in that feeling, defining the spectacle as "the industrial production of information under capitalism."

This passage hits especially close to home:

I have a younger colleague at one of my jobs. When I am able to speak authoritatively on some matter of commercial urgency -- the release of a new movie or electronic product -- we enjoy a warm working relationship. The rest of our time, however, is comprised mostly of crickets and tumbleweeds. It is a sad testament to the fact that we don't consume enough of the same things with the same enthusiasm, for it is only in consuming things that one exercises that degree of individuality to which others can relate.

I relate to this very strongly, especially in regards to colleagues from my former professions and many people I've considered friends over the years. In academia it is a little bit better, to the extent that matters of academic interest are distinct from matters of commercial urgency, which is debatable. Still, even here, in a factory of science nerds whose shared purpose is, at least ostensibly, the pursuit of an understanding of the world, there are lots of nice people to whom I'm unable to relate without reference to movies or sports or some other mass media spectacles. Which isn't to say I dislike or think poorly of those people; quite to the contrary, I lament that spectacle is our only medium of discourse because I imagine I'd enjoy being able to bond over something more real.

Boyd continues:

Divorced from its commercial utility, individuality does not translate well. In fact, it is often met with silence and a horrified expression.

I think I've always tended to push the boundaries of acceptable individualism. In my first corporate job I did this mainly for its own sake, and a bit as rebellion against a stifling culture. Colleagues decorated their cubicles with sports banners; I strung rubber bands between thumbtacks at the right tensions that when I plucked them I could play the "NBC" network 3 notes. I broke unspoken rules by making the same jokes at lunch as I did in the office, knowing they'd get genuine laughs in the former setting, and nervous laughs in the latter. Basically I pushed them just far enough that they thought I was a bit weird, but not so far that they didn't like me. The reaction when I quit illustrates this tension rather well, and their response to my explanation suggests that lots of people would like to break free and be more individual, but are unable to do so for various reasons.

In academia I wouldn't go so far as to say that non-spectacle individuality is encouraged (again with the questionable exception of academic specialty), but a much wider range is tolerated than in the corporate world. But these days my efforts at individuality often have a moral/political purpose, which is where Boyd's final point rings true for me:

Anything which lacks its own promotional budget cannot be communicated intelligibly without enormous effort, because nobody enjoys a preexisting familiarity with it. As Guy Debord would say, our social relationships are mediated by the Spectacle: we can talk to each other about Haiti as long as it is made real by the TV. The rest of the time Haiti does not exist, so we can't talk about it. And that's because nobody will have anything to say about Haiti unless it is on the TV. If you had something to say about Haiti before it was on the TV, then you are a very odd bird, indeed, because nobody else shared that experience. Nobody knew it could exist, or why it should.

I hold political positions with which most people are unfamiliar because they're excluded from mainstream media. People have limited patience for political proselytism so I've taken the approach of trying to amuse people on a regular basis, and then occasionally throw out something substantive (It raised $50, which isn't much, but grad students basically live below the poverty line, so I was happy with that level of donation). Consistently keep people entertained, and they're more willing to listen to your occasional non-entertaining messages. Interestingly, that's the same basic model as commercial media, only they capture the profits for the enrichment of an elite few.

A challenging aspect of the whole thing is that it is pretty hard to be funny without reference to the spectacle, since a lot of humor depends on a shared base of knowledge. I don't want to use the spectacle, so I often try to make goodhearted jokes about people everyone knows, but sometimes I resort to movies. It's easier, and hell, it's fun. But I don't want to do it too often. I think my favorite of all these silly lists, and perhaps my best effort to combine my goal of raising awareness about important political/moral issues and keeping people amused was this one, in which I used Obama's Nobel Peace prize as a basis for a bunch of simple "opposite" jokes.

Anyway, props to J.R. Boyd for a great post, and check out his second post on the spectacle, here.

IOZ: "our government is a huge, implacable, rapacious, imovable death god into whose insatiable maw we are damned to make perpetual sacrifice"

reasons

"...remember when all Good Democrats agreed that Karl Rove's attempts to influence the DOJ was really bad because prosecutorial decisions are not supposed to be politicized?"

No, Glenn, I don't.

buzz

Suddenly I'm getting a Google "buzz" icon in my gmail, which I assume is a new social networking thing. It tells me I now have a bunch of "followers," who will get a notification every time I share something in Google Reader, which I do a lot, or post a blog entry, which I do a lot. So I assume they'll get a lot of shit from me for a few days, and then they'll un-follow me, because why would anyone want to get a notification every time I do anything?

house under water

About two and a half years ago I sold my house. As that was happening, the real estate market was beginning its collapse, and I was aware of this fact and very nervous. After reading this piece, I just checked zillow.com for an estimate of the current value of my old house. It is probably worth $80,000 to $100,000 less than I sold it for, if not less. I wonder what life would be like for me right now if that sale hadn't gone through. I continue to feel very lucky about how it all worked out. I feel bad for the woman who bought my house, and everyone else whose home is now worth less than they paid for it. What a terrible situation to be in.

My takeaway from this is that the only real hope for salvaging what's left of our environment isn't new technologies; it is changing our behavior - trying to meet the vast majority of our needs through local exchange with known and trusted people. It is too easy to just buy something off a shelf and close our eyes to everything that happened to get it to that shelf.

I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't be using gmail.

a sad day.

3 months ago, my marriage ended. Today she moved out.

What can I say? This is tough.

Howard Zinn R.I.P. (updated x4)

Howard Zinn died yesterday. I'll echo Michael J. Smith:

What can you say? He fought the good fight, and probably did more good than most of us.

I'm sorry he's gone, and grateful for what he did.

J.R. Boyd has a nice thought too:

Whatever it is you are good at, marshal those forces against the things you hate in defense of the things you love.

Update:
And a nice tribute from Dennis Perrin.

Update 2:
Jonathon Schwarz - I love his point about resenting bullies.

Update 3:
Kevin Carson

Update 4:

Tom Engelhardt

I've been in a bad mood, which I recognize to be unproductive, yet I feel unable to adjust. I'm not used to this, and I don't like it. Guess I'm getting grumpy in my old age.

I'm due to defend my Master's degree this summer. I can probably work out a way to stay here for my PhD, but I'm also trying to line up other options. I've applied to the University of Guelph, which is just down the road from here. I'm also submitting an application this week to the University of British Columbia, which is a long way from here. If I'm accepted at one or both of those places, I'll have a tough decision to make.

FW: GOD Is Busy

Here's another wonderful edition in the ongoing series of email forwards I get from my family, and my replies to them.

Subject: FW: GOD Is Busy

----- This is great...keep it going! If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!! A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist, and a member of the ACLU. One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, GOD if you are real then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 min.' The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am GOD, I'm still waiting.' It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What in the world is the matter with you? 'Why did you do that?' The Marine calmly replied, 'GOD was too busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So He sent me.' The classroom erupted in cheers!

So a student attacks a teacher for saying things he didn't like, and then delivers a sanctimonious lecture about protecting freedom of speech... this violence and hypocrisy is something theists approve of?

There have been over 4,000 US military deaths in Iraq, hundreds in Afghanistan, and tens of thousands wounded. I guess GOD didn't protect those people, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have died in these wars and the millions who have been driven from their homes? But instead of reflecting on the carnage and terror our country's leaders and military have inflicted on our own troops and on countless innocent people throughout the world, let's all fantasize about smashing atheists in the face!

Destructive and illegal invasions of other countries have obviously made us less safe, not more, which even US intelligence agencies acknowledge (and which was understood to be the likely consequence beforehand). Holding up these murderous rampages as some glorious acts of protecting freedom is ridiculous. And making war out to be a holy act of god makes me proud to be an atheist.

things cops are allowed to do to strippers

if an on-duty cop can't wait outside of a strip club until a dancer leaves, follow her to a secluded stretch of road to pull her over, whip out his erect penis and ejaculate on her, i think we'd all be less safe. thank sweet birthday jesus for good cops like david alex park, and for the jury who ruled that the slut deserved it. hooray for justice!

dinner party lineup

in a dream last night, i was in a room with:

1) a girl that i (barely) knew about 15 years ago, and haven't seen for at least 10

2) a guy i worked with 5 years ago and haven't seen for 4

3) dick cheney, who brought me to the room

WHAT THE FUCK?

spectacle

I have a friend who has a tradition of going to a mall Thanksgiving night to watch the "Black Friday" shoppers. He doesn't buy anything; he just enjoys watching the insane spectacle. I find the whole thing too rotten and sad to get any pleasure out of it, perhaps for the same reasons I don't think I could possibly enjoy watching a dog fight or a cock fight: fighting animals and Black Friday shoppers are both pitiable creatures conditioned to enthusiastically destroy themselves for someone else's benefit.

I manage to avoid the consumerist frenzy of the Christmas season for the most part, as I don't watch TV or go to malls. There do seem to be more parties to attend though.

today i sewed a button onto a pair of pants. i haven't tried them on yet to be sure it worked, mostly because i'm too proud of myself right now.

I honestly believe that this guy, an unemployed 22 year old running for mayor of Minneapolis on an "awesomeness" platform, would make a far better pres than BO

more great things the state does

Government steals peoples' homes and gives their land to private corporations. Supreme Court approves, saying the theft serves a legitimate public purpose, presumably because the city claims that it is all part of a plan to lure big-pharma ogre Pfizer to the area and create jobs. A few years later, Pfizer announces they're shutting down operations and leaving. Hooray!

why gay people shouldn't adopt children, according to Utah Senator

So the quote is funny in that way, but also note the obvious contradiction. If gay people living their lives or fighting for equality offends him so much that he sees such actions as "stuffing it down his throat," then, no, he isn't okay with gay people.

Virginia cops kill an unarmed man suspected of stealing flowers. Hooray for the state!

a brave kid

Not a big fan of lawyers, but his career aspirations aside, I'm going to say that Will Phillips is awesome.

All living no blogging these days. Most of what's going on I just don't want to blog about.

I churn out one of these most weeks, but those are geared to a fairly narrow audience.

The strike here ended with the union accepting the offer that had been on the table before it started, leaving me wondering why the hell we were on strike.

Noam Chomsky on life without his wife

union

My union of teaching assistants has been on strike for over a week now. I've withheld my labor, and put in 5 days of picket duty, each 4 hour shifts, for which I was paid $10/hour from union funds, which partially offset my lost teaching wages. Picketing has been a memorable and exhausting experience. I wonder if I've been fighting for nothing though.

I suspect the union will cave and accept a bad contract from the University, which is a shame, because I think it will hurt the quality of education here in the long run, and it will make it even harder for grad students to pay their bills without debt financing. Ideally we'd have a huge turnout and a decisive rejection of the offer, which would put tremendous pressure on the administration to come back with a better deal that includes protection for TAs from tuition increases, better benefits, and limitations on class sizes. More likely, in my estimation, is that the offer will be accepted with less than half of the union bothering to vote. Results will be announced later today; maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I do want to get back to work soon though. I genuinely like many of my TA duties (with marking exams as the primary exception), and picketing is distracting me from my research. But if the strike continues, I'll most likely be back out on the lines...

wow

dundas peak

Martin Daly - Risk-taking, Inequality, and Homicide

A recent public lecture by my supervisor. 45 minute video.

confusion

Why would someone think it's wise to embrace the defining tactics of a political movement that has been stomped, repudiated and crushed?

Uh, because they're part of that movement and continue to believe in it, and because it hasn't actually been crushed, just rebranded?

expectations

Criminalizing cancer and AIDS patients for using a substance that is (a) prescribed by their doctors and (b) legal under the laws of their state has always been abominable. The Obama administration deserves major credit not only for ceasing this practice, but for memorializing it formally in writing.

- Glenn Greenwald

What other abominable things does BO deserve credit for not doing?

please consider sending Arthur Silber some money. he's a brilliant writer living in desperate poverty and illness. every little bit helps.

i might have commented on the BO peace prize or columbus day, but i was visiting friends in wisconsin. cheese and beer, etc.

responsibly avoiding responsibility

Nina Alexander, the prosecutor who went after a grandmother who bought more cold medicine for her 3 grandchildren than the law allows one person to buy within a week, says basically: "I am incapable of distinguishing law from morality, and thus am absolved of any responsibility for anything I do that follows the letter of the law. I am a robot, programmed by the state. You wouldn't get mad at a robot, would you!?"

My favorite part was her demented nanny-state logic whereby a law that results in chaining, caging, and fining the poor old lady trying to care for her sick grandkids must be "a good law because it has had the desired effect, i.e. a reduction in meth manufacturing and meth use." By Nina's logic, a law that says anyone suspected of using meth must immediately be shot would be a good law.

As always, the lesson is that the state poses more danger to you than it prevents. A secondary lesson is that law is a religion, and a particularly pathetic one.

I'm to the point with BO where I can't even stand to hear him talk. I have to turn it off. It took me years to get to that point with W.

Freddie Got Fingered

I always liked this movie.

Margo

My co-supervisor died last Thursday. She was a wonderful person and a brilliant scientist. I've written about deaths of friends and family on here before, but I feel like I have very little to say this time, despite the loss being quite severe. I'll miss her.

American public overwhelmingly supports a public option in health care reform. The political class overwhelmingly opposes it.

But... but... but... the political class are supposed to represent the population...

... wouldn't passing something the public wants make them more popular....

... why don't I just cover my ears and sing happy songs

stupid people

Councilor Paula-Ayn Phillips said she was afraid backing a resolution or law that decriminalizes marijuana could lead people to not being punished for driving or flying under the influence of drugs or could encourage people like surgeons to operate under the influence.

i have lots of respect for GG's work, but... what's the problem here? or, i think the answer is obvious

It's a bad time to be an American these days...

I'm not at the point where I can see "begs the question" used to mean "an obvious question that follows from this is..." and not lament the demise of the superior-in-all-ways former meaning of that phrase, but I am at the point where I recognize that I should just... let it go.

celebrate Constitution Day with me!

Today is Constitution Day. The "Constitution" was some document that some old dudes in goofy wigs wrote a long time ago. People used to believe that the purpose of the Constitution was to limit the powers of the federal government. Isn't that cute? Luckily we've made a lot of progress since then and now we know that the Constitution ensures more important things, like allowing George Bush to start wars of aggression and Barack Obama to order his employees to committ murders. Yay Constitution! Yay Government! YAY America!!!!

barely scratching was successful, by the way.

sleeping arrangments

"Sleeping together may be harmful to health and relationship."

We've been dancing around this idea for a while, but reluctant to act on it for various reasons. A recent change we've tried has been to take the two beds we own, one double and one twin, and put them right next to each other.

adspar on demand

I'd like to blog about something, but don't have any great ideas. Post an idea in the comments and I'll write about it.

her nipples are legal!

To follow up on this item, charges against the topless lady have been dropped. Turns out that nothing she did was against the law. Needless to say, the men who kidnapped her will not face any consequences.

I thought this part of the story was interesting:

Two other factors played a role in the police prosecutors’ decision to drop the charge against Nicosia, according to Duguay.

They wanted to keep the N.H. Supreme Court from having a chance to weigh in on the law, which could have happened if Nicosia was convicted and appealed, Duguay said. If asked to examine the state law dealing with indecent exposure and lewdness, the court might find that the language in the statute is too broad and then drop the entire statute, he said.

Apparently we came very close to allowing a court to review the law, which risks determining that the law is inappropriate, and having to change it! Whew, disaster averted!

more on schools

or, or, as prof crispy says:

surely schools are good at absolutely anything compared to their ability to teach individual responsibility. they're more effective at nurturing an extreme ethic of concealment, even as they try to encourage a culture of anonymous denunciation of others etc. and of course what you're subjected to in terms of actual subject-matter is standardized across all individuals, and the behavioral goals are uniformity, silence, and detailed control over people's movements and expressions to achieve homogeneity.

I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs - some chinaman in Korea took them from me - but I went out and acheived anyway!

I've been exceptionally unflexible my entire life. Touching my toes was unimaginable; I couldn't get more than 2 inches past my knees. About two weeks ago it occurred to me that this wasn't healthy, could lead to injury, etc., and that I should work on improving it.

So I've been stretching haphazardly during the day, and the improvement is pretty impressive. I can reach down to my shins now, about 2 inches above my ankles.

I used to do pilates every once in a while with Kira, and the sensation at the end of a pilates session was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Now I know that feeling is what stretching feels like.

what's mine is mine

Via Radley Balko, I notice this splendid story about how police forcibly catheterized a man suspected of drunk driving, after he had already passed a breathalizer test. When the blood and urine tests also showed he was innocent, police charged him with obstruction of justice, for resisting their efforts to shove a tube up his penis.

The state owns you. It claims your body as its property.

things we can all agree on

chick behind the veil... selfish bitch?