boost: Seeing White — A Podcast About US Racism
Sunday, March 15th, 2020 04:38 pmI’ve just finished the Seeing White podcast. It’s fourteen 30 minutes episodes that examine how the identity and power of Whiteness was created in the U.S. It’s great. I learned so much! The episodes are around 30 minutes long, with contributions from historians, artists, community activists. It’s not about making me feel bad as a white person: it’s about helping me understand how deeply chattel slavery is still present in our society, in our laws, in our distribution of wealth and power.
The fundamental takeaways are:
- Racism is not about individuals, or especially about how we feel.
- Racism is a structural issue.
- The negative stereotypes that surround us are not the cause of racism, but the result. By claiming black people are less important and less human, the US has justified 400 years of slavery, exclusion and murder.
- Whiteness serves a function in the US. Over the last 400 years, our laws have repeatedly refined what "white" means to control who has power.
There’s a complete transcript for each episode, as well as links to supplemental readings.
Unfortunately, it’s a little tricky to grab the audio. The easiest way to listen is through the producer’s link, sceneonradio.org/seeing-white. It’s the second season of a four-year program called Scene on Radio. Search for "seeing white" in your podcasting app, and you’ll see it listed as Season 2, episodes 1 - 14.
ANSWERED! Origin of "Sex Object" or "Sex Objectification"
Monday, March 17th, 2014 05:08 pmGreetings, o wise ones
I've poked the standard free searches available to me and haven't found out who first used the words "sex object" to describe how patriarchal culture defines women as nothing more than a being with whom to have sex.
I'm looking for the coiner of phrases like:
He whistled at me then pawed me like a sex object because I wore a skirt
He asked my husband where he worked; he asked me how many kids we have. I hate that kind of sex objectification.
Feel free to signal boost!
I've poked the standard free searches available to me and haven't found out who first used the words "sex object" to describe how patriarchal culture defines women as nothing more than a being with whom to have sex.
I'm looking for the coiner of phrases like:
He whistled at me then pawed me like a sex object because I wore a skirt
He asked my husband where he worked; he asked me how many kids we have. I hate that kind of sex objectification.
Feel free to signal boost!
Concrete Impact of ALEC's Budget Implementation
Friday, July 1st, 2011 06:41 pmBecause I'm a worrier, the last few months have been hard for me personally. My family's bequest has meant I'm somewhat directly insulated from the impact of Wisconsin's conservative revolution, but many of my friends and colleagues aren't that lucky.
People with disabilities interact more with government. We are more likely to be poor, and therefore more likely to need the welfare system (living expenses, housing, food discounts, medical care).
Only comprehensive, government-wide action can undo the decades of systematic oppression documented in the prelude to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Disability Advocates Wisconsin Network provides a detailed yet understandable accounting of how people with disabilities are going to be affected in so many ways by the budget just passed.
I bring up this list because it neatly reminds us all that "disability issues," like "women's issues," are pretty darn broad.
Are you wondering "Who's ALEC?" The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and Paul Weyrich. In brief, they're a group of policy wonks who develop model laws based on the values they hold dear: absolute free market capitalism, elimination of governmental regulation, deployment of public-private partnerships wherever possible. Wm Cronon, a UW-Madison history professor explores in greater detail on his web site.
I bring up ALEC because the misery we're experiencing may be coming to a state like you -- and it may be letter-for-letter what we've been protesting against. Informed is always a good look on a radical.
People with disabilities interact more with government. We are more likely to be poor, and therefore more likely to need the welfare system (living expenses, housing, food discounts, medical care).
Only comprehensive, government-wide action can undo the decades of systematic oppression documented in the prelude to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Disability Advocates Wisconsin Network provides a detailed yet understandable accounting of how people with disabilities are going to be affected in so many ways by the budget just passed.
I bring up this list because it neatly reminds us all that "disability issues," like "women's issues," are pretty darn broad.
Are you wondering "Who's ALEC?" The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and Paul Weyrich. In brief, they're a group of policy wonks who develop model laws based on the values they hold dear: absolute free market capitalism, elimination of governmental regulation, deployment of public-private partnerships wherever possible. Wm Cronon, a UW-Madison history professor explores in greater detail on his web site.
I bring up ALEC because the misery we're experiencing may be coming to a state like you -- and it may be letter-for-letter what we've been protesting against. Informed is always a good look on a radical.
Recommended Browsing
Thursday, March 31st, 2011 05:36 pmETA: Cut. Sorry about spamming your droll. :(
Let me offer you a link paté -- I've actually read all these stories, and wanted to share their greatness with you:
( Link Paté )
Let me offer you a link paté -- I've actually read all these stories, and wanted to share their greatness with you:
( Link Paté )
After three years of drooling, I treated myself to one of Torontonian Catherine Crowe's fabulous enameled jewelry pieces. You can spend many a happy hour admiring her artistic variety at her Imago Corvi site. As befits a WisCon Art Show Artist, her work is closely tied to mythology and stories.
This is the piece I decided on, the "Spirit Selkie." ( The animal I feel closest to is a manatee. )
This is the piece I decided on, the "Spirit Selkie." ( The animal I feel closest to is a manatee. )
Kevorkian: truth behind the movie
Sunday, April 25th, 2010 04:38 pmI loathe typing his name, but Jack Kevorkian is in the news again, because someone's turned his life into a docudrama. Follow the link to learn the many things that "everybody knows" about Kevorkian which just ain't true. The blogger, Stephen Drake, has been closely following Kevorkian's activities for two decades.
Hail storm post
Monday, April 5th, 2010 05:25 pmDay 1 of my "internet diet." Had a wonderful time on a pre-lunch st/roll with a friend who's a computer programmer by day and is offline at home. Boundaries! She has them! Then I met up with ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
were_duck and we nommed on various things in various places. Including chocolate gelato with cayenne and cinammon! YES!
People have fought and died for the right to vote. In Wisconsin, Tuesday 6 April 2010 is when we can next exercise this franchise. If you don't know where to go, or how to do it, let Disability Rights Wisconsin explain it all.
The speediest way to scan your d-roll/flist is via the mobile phone interface
http://www.dreamwidth.org/mobile/read for dreamwidth
http://www.livejournal.com/mobile/friends.bml for livejournal. (LJ is pushy, and will try to serve you http://m.livejournal.com instead.)
The plus is no graphics, just the username plus the post's headline. Makes one hunger for missing subject titles and grin like a loon for folks who cut-tag cleverly.
Anon!
were_duck and we nommed on various things in various places. Including chocolate gelato with cayenne and cinammon! YES!People have fought and died for the right to vote. In Wisconsin, Tuesday 6 April 2010 is when we can next exercise this franchise. If you don't know where to go, or how to do it, let Disability Rights Wisconsin explain it all.
The speediest way to scan your d-roll/flist is via the mobile phone interface
http://www.dreamwidth.org/mobile/read for dreamwidth
http://www.livejournal.com/mobile/friends.bml for livejournal. (LJ is pushy, and will try to serve you http://m.livejournal.com instead.)
The plus is no graphics, just the username plus the post's headline. Makes one hunger for missing subject titles and grin like a loon for folks who cut-tag cleverly.
Anon!
rave: Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 09:31 amJust finished a fabulous book I recommend to, well, everyone.
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson
It's a highly readable tour of psych research on cognitive dissonance and how we justify error. Using examples from marriages and genocides, therapy, medicine, criminal justice and the law, it convincingly demonstrates the ubiquity of our reluctance to acknowledge our errors. I came away recognizing the human tendency to shifting a focus from what I did to what I intended. This move comforts and soothes the pain of cognitive dissonance; instead of facing error, it permits us to burrow into self-justification. This insight underlines the efficacy of "criticize the act, not the actor," since the latter would most likely stir up defensiveness.
When the authors apply their analysis to the broader world, it's useful and horrifying. This is how leaders justify torture and prosecutors justify imprisoning innocents. On the smallest scale, it's useful and mortifying: this is how we create grooves in our relationships, from which no amount of love and care can seemingly shift us.
Tavris & Aronson establish their thesis on many scientific studies (with footnotes! yay! footnotes!) and it's changed how I look at "guilt" and "blame." Highly recommended!
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson
It's a highly readable tour of psych research on cognitive dissonance and how we justify error. Using examples from marriages and genocides, therapy, medicine, criminal justice and the law, it convincingly demonstrates the ubiquity of our reluctance to acknowledge our errors. I came away recognizing the human tendency to shifting a focus from what I did to what I intended. This move comforts and soothes the pain of cognitive dissonance; instead of facing error, it permits us to burrow into self-justification. This insight underlines the efficacy of "criticize the act, not the actor," since the latter would most likely stir up defensiveness.
When the authors apply their analysis to the broader world, it's useful and horrifying. This is how leaders justify torture and prosecutors justify imprisoning innocents. On the smallest scale, it's useful and mortifying: this is how we create grooves in our relationships, from which no amount of love and care can seemingly shift us.
Tavris & Aronson establish their thesis on many scientific studies (with footnotes! yay! footnotes!) and it's changed how I look at "guilt" and "blame." Highly recommended!
International Women's Day
Monday, March 8th, 2010 07:02 pmThe song Bread & Roses was inspired by the IWW (Wobbly) organizing campaign in the Lawrence, Mass textile mills. The workers were almost all female (since the owners could pay them less) and mostly immigrants. My family history somehow intersects here: I heard fuzzy stories growing up about my Socialist Grandfather Knebel running away from the company police on the Lawrence train platform—I assumed he was in town making trouble.
March 8th used to be one pivot point of my year.
( Read and hear all the details )
March 8th used to be one pivot point of my year.
( Read and hear all the details )
It Just Happened & I Can't Believe It
Monday, December 28th, 2009 10:34 amSo I have a small bumpersticker on my chair's back reading "Thank you for not patting me on the head."
Clearly the couple this morning overlooked it.
I was in a post-swimming trance, reading SGA fanfic, and waiting for the paratransit van (as you do). Suddenly a woman looms into my vision. "Why did you put sparkles in your hair?" she queries. I'm "huh? buh..." and she repeats "do you know you have sparkles in your hair?" I shrink away from her hands which are swooping in for a landing. "Oh look, dear" as she turns to her male partner, "It's her gray hair! It sparkles! Did you know your hair sparkles?"
I was speechless, although the urge to bite was strong. She invited her guy over to look at the remarkable sight of my head. At that point I got myself together enough to speed around 15 feet away and stare balefully at them. They didn't, thank Ghu, follow me.
Just another morning on the planet. At least it's 20° F (which is warm in these parts).
Clearly the couple this morning overlooked it.
I was in a post-swimming trance, reading SGA fanfic, and waiting for the paratransit van (as you do). Suddenly a woman looms into my vision. "Why did you put sparkles in your hair?" she queries. I'm "huh? buh..." and she repeats "do you know you have sparkles in your hair?" I shrink away from her hands which are swooping in for a landing. "Oh look, dear" as she turns to her male partner, "It's her gray hair! It sparkles! Did you know your hair sparkles?"
I was speechless, although the urge to bite was strong. She invited her guy over to look at the remarkable sight of my head. At that point I got myself together enough to speed around 15 feet away and stare balefully at them. They didn't, thank Ghu, follow me.
Just another morning on the planet. At least it's 20° F (which is warm in these parts).
Christmas, Music, Garrison,
Saturday, December 19th, 2009 04:21 pmFull disclosure: we are 100% bah humbug at our house. I'm culturally Jewish and personally athiest. MyGuy was double-dipped Baptized and left organized religion with junior high. Christmas means Asian food and avoiding family members. No presents, no singing, no hits, no runs, no errors.
When we started listening to A Prairie Home Companion in 1977, it was cool and retro. Unfortunately Garrison Keillor decided around a decade ago that he could really sing, and now it's just annoying.
Even worse was his column this week asking the non-Christians to stay away from Christmas. In particular, why are these annoying Jews writing those annoyingly secular holiday tunes (like White Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer).
That bastion of Hebraic effete East-coast elitism, the NYTimes, followed up with Michael Feinstein's story of complaints because his Christmas program included too many Jewish songs.
Nicely matched, both linked at this TIME blog from James Poniewozik's Christmas is Too Jewish? Oy Vey.
But the real reason to follow the link is the fabulous Saturday Night Live animation, where the genuine Darleen Love sings "Christmas Time for the Jews" in all her Motown glory.
When we started listening to A Prairie Home Companion in 1977, it was cool and retro. Unfortunately Garrison Keillor decided around a decade ago that he could really sing, and now it's just annoying.
Even worse was his column this week asking the non-Christians to stay away from Christmas. In particular, why are these annoying Jews writing those annoyingly secular holiday tunes (like White Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer).
That bastion of Hebraic effete East-coast elitism, the NYTimes, followed up with Michael Feinstein's story of complaints because his Christmas program included too many Jewish songs.
Nicely matched, both linked at this TIME blog from James Poniewozik's Christmas is Too Jewish? Oy Vey.
But the real reason to follow the link is the fabulous Saturday Night Live animation, where the genuine Darleen Love sings "Christmas Time for the Jews" in all her Motown glory.
