Links on race and living in the USA

A few links for you all as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.

1. A story of how someone(s) defaced Gap's advert and Gap's response. Much has been said on this and I won't repeat it but a) this is New York City. New bloody York. Bastion of civilization and all that. Pshaw. b) The chap is a Sikh and people have mistook him for Muslim ("make bombs"). c) Of course, if he *were* Muslim, it wouldn't make this sort of thing any better.

I"m assuming it wouldn't be difficult to know who did this. After all, subway stations should have CCTVs. But, while Reddit and its ilk are pretty keen on figuring out (wrong) "terrorists" during mass murder events (see the Boston bombings), there's far less interest in figuring out hate-related issues. Or, racism.

2. Talking of racism, the latest NSA story discusses how various prominent and non-prominent Muslims were kept under surveillance and their porn-viewing habits tracked in case (note this: in case! Not when. Not as) they do something nefarious. There are a lot of things to be upset about in this whole NSA surveillance saga but this is absurd.

3. Finally, here's the story of how TSA spent $900 million over the last 5 years on "behavior detection officers" to detect high-risk travellers. How many travellers were caught? 0. Yup, zero.

Saving others (in pop culture and in "reality")

It's the first weekend of Thanksgiving break here in the US. I've spent much of it listening to sports (cricket--Ashes--Australian win for the first time in...oh ages! Felt great), watching sports (Liverpool-Everton and also Ireland *almost* making history) and watching other stuff on TV. Mainly the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode. About which I might get around to saying something soon(ish). 

There's also this, which I almost enjoyed more. This was more of an "in" thing--for fans--while the actual episode was a bit too much flash and glamour. 

For those of you interested in international development and aid, there's this. It's a parody (?)/spoof (?) of charity videos about Africa. I think the video works better in Europe where there *are* charity videos being played on TVs. Here, especially on public TV in Southwest Virginia, I've never seen any. Usually the adverts on TV here are about various kinds of medication "you should ask your doctor about" (turning the patient into a consumer who needs to know what medications they need before they even step into the doctor's office) or anti-drugs adverts in which some random band is playing and they suddenly stop to tell us they couldn't do it if they were smoking and/or on (vaguely defined) drugs. Of course, this is in between elections (the US is always in the process of having elections, it seems) in which case, the advertisements are about various local politicians and they good (evil) deeds. 

Girls girls girls

I like this because not only does it push back against the stereotypical depiction of girls in popular media but it also pushes back against stereotypical depiction of boys. I often have a hard time explaining to students that feminism isn't just about women's issues or female stuff. It's about gender relations and the socially-constructed world we live in in which men, women, neither, both, others, all are characterized in specific ways such that deviation from those ways of acting is considered odd (by the mainstream).

Or, a shorter way to say this: just watch the video.



Via Openculture.

PS: Yes, we can make the claim that girls-who-read don't need a chap to validate that he "likes" them reading. They read because they fancy reading. This also serves to distinguish "girls who read" from "girls who don't read", thus pitting women against each other. This is just objectification of a different sort. Yes, agreed to all of that. But, small steps, eh? I still find this quite subversive in terms of critiquing general representations of women in the media. And, on a shallow note, Mr. Grist isn't hard on the (my?) eyes either.

In the beginning...

Inspired by this article, where the Deputy Dean of a Quite Important University writes about the Bachelor, I have decided to take the plunge and start this. I'm not a deputy dean (of anything) but I spend a lot of time wallowing in the shores of popular culture and, often, diving into its murky depths (while murdering metaphors/whatever this is). The posts will be short and generally pretty much what I read that day (or came across that day).

Who am I? I"m a junior faculty person at a large public university in the United States. I teach students about (US) national security, foreign policy and research methods. I'm also teaching a seminar on "Asymmetric Warfare" for Fall 2013. I'll write more about myself as time goes on--need to save it so y'all don't quit after the first read.

My profile picture shows me hanging out in front of a Hobbit House. As one does.

The web address for this blog comes from this Sherlock Holmes quote which sums up what I would like to do here: "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles."

The title of the blog itself is from an old Doctor Who episode, Survival (1989)

There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea is asleep and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do.  
- The Doctor