I’m in transit with spotty internet access, but clearly we need a thread to discuss the horrific race crime in Charleston. I’m dismayed that not only was this an act of premeditated, racially motivated murder, but the media is slow to even consider that the white perpetrator was a terrorist and a racist (would you believe I’ve even seen the excuse that he had ‘black friends on facebook’?)
Gender Workshop, as ever, is brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Crip Dyke.
There’s been much talk over the last few years about witch hunts. Targeting Dawkins. Targeting Shermer. Targeting Hunt. Targeting anyone who happens to sit near Adria Richards. And though I think it is far from a witch hunt to be criticized by a lot of people, even by a lot of people at once, because your comments or behaviors merited criticism, for a long time I merely rolled my eyes at the inevitable, defensive backlash: “Witch hunt!”
Markus Prime
I wish.
(More about the artist Markus Prime here; he does paint nudes, if that concerns you.)
McKinney has a history of racial tension over swimming pools, and some of the worst enclaves of racism today are the suburbs which were populated by white flight. As we’ve been learning, the police in general are racist enforcers of the white status quo. So I am not surprised by what happened, and I believe the teenaged girl who hosted the party that her neighbors are basically racist assholes.
My basic first aid skills are apparently a bit rusty. What do you do when you see a man losing control of his car at a slow speed, coming to a stop, and sitting unresponsively in his seat? I’d think you’d ask him what was wrong, call 911, and try to help him. Not if you’re a Fredericksburg cop! David Washington had a stroke and was clearly in distress, so a police officer applied what is apparently the modern approach to emergency medicine: he tased an unarmed, unthreatening man, then hosed him down with pepper spray, and dragged him out unto the pavement before running over his foot with a car.
I’m back in the US! At least, I’m in Chicago, with a flight delay, so it’s at least another 6 or 7 hours of traveling before I pull up to my door. Unfortunately, I’m tempted to turn around and go back to Germany.
You see, I’m returning from a most excellent international atheist conference, where I learned a lot and was also very impressed with the commitment of the worldwide atheist community to more than just convincing everyone there is no god. One of the themes that came up repeatedly was the importance of women and feminism to promoting secular ideals.
So after a long flight with total internet deprivation, I land and happen to check in to the Facebook, and what’s the very first thing I see, at the very top of the page? This.
Tried this in another atheist group, got banned LOL.
Thought experiment.
Would you allow rape if it was the only means to prevent the extinction of the human species?
There’s a game called “Rust” in which you play a character in a wilderness. When it first came out, everyone was assigned the same avatar: a white dude. As we all know, “white dude” is the default everywhere, so no one complained.
Then, in an upgrade, they added other avatar options: different faces, different skin color. As an interesting experiment, these options were not under player control: they were randomly assigned. White dudes logging in suddenly found that their avatar might be a black dude (still a dude, at least; female avatars aren’t yet available).
Once again, the timer has run out on the ongoing discussion of American racism, so here’s a fresh thread for you all. I thought you might appreciate the magnitude of the Black Problem: black people get gunned down by the police. The police are far less trigger-happy when it’s a mob of hundreds of heavily armed white people shooting each other.
epa04757409 A composite image of handout booking images made available on 19 May 2015 by the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department showing scores of men and women arrested and charged with crimes stemming from a large shootout and fight between biker gangs outside the Twin Peaks bar and restaurant at the Central Texas Marketplace in Waco, Texas, USA, 17 May 2015. Reports indicate that nine bikers were shot and killed and 18 other wounded. Police have announced that 192 people face charges of engaging in organized crime.
I think this suggests an easy solution to the problem of police brutality. Instead of 40 acres and a mule, give every black person in the country a black leather jacket and a shotgun.
Don’t worry, though. The Waco incident was completely thug-free.
I do love me some Prince.
It’s surprisingly upbeat for the topic…but maybe a hopeful note is what we need right now.
The video got blocked overnight — here’s an official source where you can hear it.
Soraya Chemaly describes the fraternity scene on college campuses.
Feminists United, a group at the University of Mary Washington, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education asserting that their school did little or nothing to address death and rape threats made on Yik Yak [an anonymous social media app] after they protested a rugby team’s sexist chant and argued that there was a connection between Greek culture and sexual assault. Sexual assault ranks second in fraternity insurance claims, men in fraternities are three times more likely to rape than their non-fraternity peers, they consume more objectifying content and are more accepting of rape myths. The connection is entirely valid and well-documented; it’s just that no one likes the information.
Oh, those feminists. Complaining about a song? About idle chatter on social media? It’s harmless! They’re just venting! Free speech! Get a thicker skin!
