March, 2021 archive
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
I suspect that this symbolism was not intentional.
“The Stories We Tell Ourselves” 0
At the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Emory University Professor Falguni A. Sheth discusses the recent mass shooting of women of Asian descent and punctures the pretense that racism had nothing to do with it. A nugget:
The absurdity of these statements is insightful: It allows us to glimpse the ways in which racist violence is denied and separated from its longstanding history in the United States.
Follow the link for the rest.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And,as we learn time and time again, a polite society is a clean society.
Police said the single bullet went through his arm and hit his girlfriend in the abdomen while sitting in a chair nearby. A teenage girl was in another room but was not hurt, police said.
Facebook Frolics 0
Zuckerborg assimilation frolics. Here’s a bit from the EFF’s deep dive into Facebook’s proposal for “reforming” the decades old law that regulation the internet; follow the link for the complete piece.
Afterthought:
I believe that law is long overdue for a second look. The central provision currently in question was designed to protect neutral platforms from liability for content posted by users.
At the time the law was enacted, the primary platforms were web hosting providers, BBSes, and services such as AOL and Compuserve.
The era of the algorithm had not yet arrived. I believe that now, in the era of the algorithm, when platforms manipulate content to promote “engagement” and “attract eyeballs,” those platforms are no longer neutral in any sense and should be held accountable for the actions of their algorithms.
But the Zuckerborg’s plan to perpetuate its predominance is not the way to go about it.
Rather, what we need is another Teddy Roosevelt.
Mobbed Up 0
At The Roanoke Times, John Freivalds suggests that mob-like behavior has played a larger role in American history that we are willing to recognize. It’s an interesting take; here’s a snippet:
