sundries

[rm]

Folks, sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I don't have all the data, sometimes the answers aren't clear cut. I often assemble these sundries as I'm going through my day, which particularly means the "sometimes I don't have all the data" thing comes into play a lot. There are also lots of cases where I feel information should be out there, even if it's not information I feel qualified to make a thorough judgment on.

Anyway, last night (when I had no Internet! it's broken at home again) rosefox alerted me to this thread regarding an ICFA-related scholarship opportunity for PoC. Talk about: 1. me not having all the data at first (yikes!), 2. the situation not being clear cut (more opportunity for more people; GOH is Nalo Hopkinson vs. ugly RaceFail history) and 3. Me being entirely not qualified to say how anyone should proceed as a I am not an ICFA member/participant, a person offering a scholarship, or a PoC.

So! There's a scholarship opportunity. And there's some important concerns about it. And now you have links to both. As always, I appreciate when you guys have got more than I've got on things and can help me fail better.

Meanwhile! Patty and I are seeing Quartett at BAM tonight. It's based on Dangerous Liasons.

Link from keori: Alan Grayson truly gets how and why politics should be theater.

Bath & Bodyworks employee fired for being Wiccan. Thanks to hughcasey for the thorough write-up.

Large Hadron Collider now felled by birds and baguettes! No, really. Via firefly_124.

"Kiss me where I can't" -- Gilded Age Monuments and Secrets.

WHUT?

Apparently only men tell important stories. Wait, haven't I heard this before? From unpublished exes of mine that wanted my career to be as non-existent as their own?

via lipsum: What the whole God, guns and gays thing is really about -- one particular construction of masculinity as an excuse for irrational, fear-based behavior.

Instead of The Innocence Project's results being taken seriously, the involved students grades have now been subpoenaed to find out the "real motivation" for their justice-related work. Northwestern is refusing to comply.

LGBTQ issues that should be on everyone's radar right now? ENDA. Sadly, I imagine it will be a tougher sell in a bad economy -- the evil gays may take your job. Also, a moment of rage: President Obama, where are you? If you are such a strong advocate for my rights why not even one mention on the Maine situation? Why no emails to Dems in Maine before the vote?

I'm totally worried about how this whole Ft. Hood shooting thing is going to play out. We should probably be discussing the mental health of our soldiers, but instead, I (and many others) worried that it will just be one more excuse for anti-Islam rhetoric. On another note, the civilian police officer who stopped the shooter happens to be a woman.

I'm glad Precious is getting good reviews.

I am up to 7,247 words on ConSweet. The quality of some of my writing is going downhill, because I haven't figure out how to do everything I need to do, but the quality of my first draft writing is actually usually much higher than first draft quality, so me actually writing a first draft and Getting Shit Done is probably fine. Oddest thing current in book: a shopping cart full of pineapples.

via feyandstrange: Doctor Who cufflinks. The rubber Dalek ones are supercute I think. Ianto cosplayers, note Cybermen cufflinks; yes, I fucking dare you!

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Why no emails to Dems in Maine before the vote?

Yeah, it wasn't like he wasn't willing to wade into state politics before the most recent round of elections Bill Thompson COUGH COUGH...

Apart from a couple of asshats who are getting ripped to pieces by the relevant ONTD comms, yes, I'm also glad that the reviewers are recognizing in Precious a film that isn't comfortable, but is very human and very necessary.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

One of the things I like about my Lit. Department is that while it's quite conservative it has changed the canon intro classes that include more than the token woman author.
But yeah, the whole It's All about the Mens... not new, but at least it's News :P

In the local papers there was a very big emphasis on the fact that the shooter was of "Palestinian Origin" - so, yeah.

[rm.livejournal.com]

News here says he was of Jordanian origin, although the parents would not confirm that and just said "small town near Jerusalem."

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Yep, the whole God, guns and gay thing is about keeping the perceived upper hand in life. That's what prejudice, any kind of prejudice is about. Its the deliberate debasing of other people because they are are a threat to your beliefs. And if you acknowledge their beliefs as valid, then your little house of cards (aka masculine ego) will crumble into dust.

I am so sick and tired of hearing about the opressed white male. Go spend time as a slave, then you can complain. Live your life with a 1 in 3 chance of being raped or beaten, then you can complain. Have your entire immediate family gassed, stoned, murdered, then you can complain.

You don't automatically get all the good jobs, cause the others are better, smarter, work harder than you - tough. You don't get people kissing your ass because of your sex and gender - tough. You actually have to earn what you get instead of it automatically being conferred on you - tough.

And yes, I know there are plenty of nice white straight men out there - but to all you Rush Limbaugh loving, Fox News watching, Glenn Beck idolizing aggrieved and oppressed white men - let me as a straight white female say - FUCK YOU! As a Jew, let me say - FUCK YOU TWICE! As a member of PFLAG, let me say - FUCK YOU THREE TIMES. As a proud Liberal with a capital "L" - well, you get the idea.

How many straight, white men does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None, they just stand still and expect the world to revolve around them.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

LOVE the lightbulb joke.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Obama signed the hate-crimes bill that made gay-bashing illegal and reinterpreted DOMA to make the Census count same-sex marriages. What's more important, words or actions? Yeah, I'd like him to express disappointment in the Maine vote, but I think he honestly believes he can't spend political capital on it until after the health care bill. But as the ENDA testimony shows, he's actually DOING the stuff we want.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I don't care about him talking about it after the fact. I just wish some effort had been made by the DNC to address the Maine thing before it happened.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Re: the Ft. Hood shooting.

When the shooter's name was announced my first thought was "How many times are we going to hear 'Pres. Barack HOOOOO-SANE Obama' in the next few weeks?" What is also going to be interesting is how the fact he was a psychiatrist is going to get addressed. It is known that people who treat PTSD in others can develop it as well.

However, I have noticed that very often folks on the more conservative side of things tend to be skeptical of not outright hostile to the field of psychology. What with the whole "talking about feelings" thing and "effete", "elitist" self-reflection. That, or the accuse the profession of "finding excuses" for behavior. (rolls eyes)

That, and it took decades of advocacy to get PTSD recognized by the Govt as a "real" affliction for vets coming back from Vietnam. Will this incident cause mental health issues in the Armed Forces to finally be taken seriously, or will Dr. Hasan be used to accuse mental health professionals to be accused of being a fifth column?

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Will this incident cause mental health issues in the Armed Forces to finally be taken seriously

I'd love to believe so, but the precedent isn't favorable.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

The shooter represents a group many of us are afraid of, but I'm not going to be any nastier to psychiatrists.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

A+

Terrorism

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I've already found myself embroiled in arguments about it on Facebook since some people are so quick to point to the Koran and start denying this person is actually an American citizen...UGH!

Re: Terrorism

[rm.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of reasons I don't spend time on Facebook, and this sort of stuff is one of them.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

"Kiss me where I can't" -- Gilded Age Monuments and Secrets.

Wow, I knew Stanford White was quite the wild thing of his era, but this is a new twist.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

it will just be one more excuse for anti-Islam rhetoric.

One thing I read but have yet to verify , is that he was written up multiple times for telling his patients to turn to Islam as a method of dealing with their problems. Not to pick on Islam, but trying to convince someone that the solution to their emotional/combat stress/etc problems is religion is a bad thing all around. If a individual decides to choose religion as a method to deal with it - that's one thing ... but to have a specific religion spoon fed to you by your doctor during treatment ... that's bad IMHO.

Also I think that all religions suffer from damage to reputation due to the 1% of their members who do stupid things, however not all of them are treated the same way. For example if a person who practices Islam goes on a shooting spree and people rally against it , it's called anti-Islam rhetoric, but when a Christian shoots a doctor who performs abortions and there is backlash against Christians it's not called anti-christian rhetoric.

I have a few friends who practice Islam , and they are not planning to blow up anything or run around shouting 'death to America' or other stereotypical actions. The same goes for Christians ( most of my Christian friends are pro choice ) and Catholics ( who have never molested a child nor would they ever want to).

I think that when a person does something off the charts, as a society we look for the lowest common denominator and blame that for their actions. We have preconceived notions fed to us by popular media & social norms and jump to them effortlessly. I don't think Islam is a special case.

Here is how it can work .. and note that I do not approve of this kind of thinking nor does it reflect my thoughts or opinions ...

If the shooter was white , and male the assumption would be that they are a gun nut hoarding AK47's for the day the commies attack.

If the shooter was black and male , the assumption would be that they are a bad home life and ghetto upbringing / rap music / no father criminal.

However , if you were to add religion to the mix ...

If the shooter was white, male and Christian the assumption would be that the were a religious zealot acting out on their interpretation of the bible

If the shooter was black, male and practiced Islam , the first word on the lips of millions would be " terrorist "

In general facts take a back seat to something easy to swallow that does not take much time or brain power to produce. Luckily we have " news " outlets that are happy to provide that. Granted this does not apply to many people, and especially many people here , but I feel we are in the minority.

[featherofeeling.livejournal.com]

For example if a person who practices Islam goes on a shooting spree and people rally against it , it's called anti-Islam rhetoric, but when a Christian shoots a doctor who performs abortions and there is backlash against Christians it's not called anti-christian rhetoric.

I think that's because the backlash you're talking about is very different. Take the first case, with a hypothetical Muslim shooter. Even if the crime had nothing to the person's faith, you're still going to hear a lot of nasty rhetoric about Islamists and terrorists. Internet commenters on news sites are already lining up to attribute the Ft. Hood shooting to the man's faith and background, and were even before reports started coming in (whether true or false) that seem to substantiate that. Fox News reporters last night were actively trying to find that the man had converted to Islam or had extremist beliefs. More, many Americans tend to conflate "religious extremist" with Islam itself, rather than to the person who belongs to the Muslim faith. You hear a lot of rhetoric about the violence and hatred inherent in Islam whenever a Muslim does something criminal. When Muslim = fundamentalist = terrorist already in many people's minds, a backlash against Islam is a lot more likely and troubling than one against Christianity would be in another situation.

Whereas in the second case - in which Christian beliefs are explicitly behind the shooting - you might get a reaction against Christians putting their beliefs into action, or against what would be called a fundamentalist ideology within Christianity, but it wouldn't target all Christians. In fact, you'd be likely to hear a lot about how the shooter violated the tenets of Christianity. There are a lot fewer people saying the same thing about Islam, and we're called naive and bleeding-heart liberals for doing so.

Also, I agree somewhat with your four scenarios, but in the Ft. Hood case, I think that If the shooter was white, male and Christian the assumption would be that...he was psychologically damaged by the stresses of seeing the effects of war, and that we should look after the mental health of our soldiers. Being white and being Christian would mean that he would probably have the privilege of having those traits be invisible, leaving people to treat him as an individual rather than as a representation of a minority.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Oh hee, now I know where to get the TARDIS cufflinks I saw a DWNYer wear at the last who_york... ace!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Large Hadron Collider now felled by birds and baguettes!

If it had been a piece of banana, I would have started wondering if any large blue boxes with blinking lights on top had been spotted in the area.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I still maintain that this (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/09/terrible-news-gordon-freeman-spotted-near-large-hadron-collider/) is the real reason behind their problems.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I saw Quartet in Chicago a couple of years ago, I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

[sociallyawkrd.livejournal.com]

Re: Ft. Hood. I agree this should turn the focus to mental health issues especially with our military and I agree it is going to (and already has here) caused anti-Islam rhetoric.

My response: Pointing out that most previous shooters most likely identified with Christianity but no one says hey! This must be a Christian dogma to kill people!

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

On ENDA: I am continually surprised at the awesomeness of Nashville's congressman, Jim Cooper. I don't know everything bill/act he's supported, but since he's supporting ENDA, that still makes him awesome. I wrote him a letter yesterday.

So much for Nashville being overrun by bigoted conservatives...?

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and regarding the Fort Hood shooting...what worries me about that article is the bottom half of the first page, during which there is speculation about whether it should be considered a terrorist attack. Granted, the author and sources seem to (not entirely) dismiss it, but the fact that they even brought it up disturbs me. Like some other people seem to be thinking, I wonder: what if he'd been a white guy of any other religion? If he were Christian, would be perceive his actions as terrorism or even bother to ask, or would they first look to evaluating his mental health? I hear what delchi is saying and I sympathize.

I haven't heard any of the allegations that Hasan was giving religious advice to his patients, but if he was, I still wouldn't automatically point to "terrorism" as an explanation for his actions. Some doctors, despite the rules that may be laid down in their health institutions about respecting patient beliefs and not discriminating against anyone for their religious beliefs, will always feel that they are above the rules, and that could be a personality thing, not necessarily a religious fanatic-thing. It would still be unethical, but it wouldn't spell "terrorism."

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I feel like that NYT article about the Ft Hood shooting is wretched. The information is scattered and incongruous, and the description of the shooter as "a balding, chubby-faced man with heavy eyebrows" smacks of about three different -isms. Feh!

Also, they only mention his occupation once, in the lead sentence, but in a weird, passive-voiced, left-handed way.

WTF. I had to read the article three times before I found it.

Bad, bad reporting!

[rm.livejournal.com]

It is a weird piece! Lots of people are noting that CNN seems to be doing a decent job, but they're definitely not doing much to point out the huge contradictions coming from military statements.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

- There's going to be a WTF post over at dimlight this weekend about Publisher's Weekly and Scholastic, I think.

- I really want to see Precious. I should see if it's screening anywhere in my range.

- Agreed on the Obama WTF.

- Fort Hood scares the hell out of me. I've already seen commentary in that vein. Sigh.

[bizetsy.livejournal.com]

I am surprised the article does not talk about Mission Warrior Reset .

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm a little surprised about the 'why didn't he get help' comments. Unfortunately, one of the manifestations of certain mental illnesses is the inability to perceive that it is you rather than everyone else who is off balance. And I don't think psychiatrists are exempt from this.

That being said, if he was behaving inappropriately as a physician, particularly if this was a change in behavior, someone should have done more than 'write him up.' I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that he was a psychiatrist deterred anyone from making him get some help.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

People don't get mental illness. I have the sort of depression that is really not environmental, it's due to brain chemistry and I've had it all my life, and I cannot count the number of times I've been told to just look on the bright side or cheer up or get more exercise and eat fresh fruit and blah blah blah blah blah. Even when I'm in a really really low phase, my reasoning seems completely rational to me, and that's knowing what's wrong with me, knowing that it's illogical - but part of me doesn't believe that it's illogical.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

I made a comment about Ft Hood on another f-locked post where I was the only one (except for a single comment that he needed a psychiatrist) who... shit, I can't figure out the wording I want. Not giving him the benefit of the doubt, because it's awful, but... not acting as though he just got up in his right mind one morning and decided to shoot a bunch of people for the hell of it. Which I thought was a little ironic considering my comment was:


Asked whether the shootings were a terrorist act, Lt Gen Cone said: "I couldn't rule that out but I'm telling you that right now, the evidence does not suggest that."

Four paragraphs after a note that he'd been harassed because of his Middle-Eastern ethnicity, I find that an interesting inclusion, and potentially quite telling. From an overseas perspective, and one where the Army is really very much something that no one thinks about unless they're involved in it in some way, the situation seems to have much in common with school shootings. I imagine people are less sympathetic because he's a fully grown man and should be able to respond rationally to feeling trapped or picked on, particularly as he'd also presumably have to pass psych evals to get into the Army in the first place, because when I see news about school shootings much of the commentary focuses on why the student feels that it's a reasonable option and whether they'd been a victim of bullying or harassment. (Never mind that the most destructive school attack ever was done by an adult.)


(My Ianto says "We do not say the C word!")

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

should note that the article I read was this one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8345713.stm

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I am too sick to give blood, ugh. The Fort Hood thing is insane. They are starting to run the pictures of the dead in the local news.

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

I know I don't often comment, but thanks for the insights into your life and the issue you raise... *giggled* at the Large Hadron Collider story

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

any interesting mail lately?

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

WRT Fort Hood. You may enjoy Shoshana Johnson on CNN. She is not suffering fools gladly. She's yelling at them. It's wonderful.

Warning, Dr. Phil makes sense in this video. Very confusing



http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/shoshanna-johnson-calls-out-jag-tom-kennif?ref=http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/shoshanna-johnson-calls-out-jag-tom-kennif