Great White: "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"
Sharks!
Me, May 22:
[The federal government] goes on vacation for, like, the whole summer. And so does most of the mainstream media. Because nothing says professional rejuvenation like watching David Brooks play so many pranks on Saxby Chambliss in the Hamptons, or whatever.Today, on CNN's front page:
So summertime in the US brings political news like, "Look at all these fucking sharks!" True Story: The summer of 2001 saw so many stories about shark attacks, shark near-attacks, and shark sightings on cable news that everyone was laughing and pointing at the cable news and calling it The Summer of the Shark. (I'm pretty sure Nero composed CNN's shark segment opening jingle.) Then some people blew up some buildings in New York. And that was the end of Shark Summer.
But not philosophically. We still act like important news only happens when the kids are in school, or something. So whatever important election-related news there might be over the next few months will probably be eaten by a shark.
So to speak.
"CNN's Brian Todd reports on additional sightings of great white sharks off Cape Cod—and what they mean."
Could they mean that there are sharks in the ocean? I guess I'll have to TUNE IN to find out!
In case the CNN item doesn't satiate your voracious desire for shark news, you can also stop by ABC, CBS, the AP, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Herald, Boston Magazine, and the Union Leader, among others, all of which have featured shark stories yesterday or today.
And, hey, if sharks aren't your thing, CNN is also currently promoting on its front page the story of an alligator attack in Florida and the discovery of a fish with teeth in an Illinois lake.
In other news, there is a presidential election in November, and both candidates are pretty okay with further eroding workers' rights in order to maximize corporate profits and sacrificing a robust social safety net to subsidize wealth.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Films That Are Not Part of a Film Franchise, i.e. no prequels, no sequels, no cynical capitalizations despite tenuous connections (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights). Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Today in Mitt Romney Stands in Front of Something
In other Romney news, here is another great picture of some Romney Family Vacation Fun in the Sun, by which I mean Mitt Romney Putting in Danger Lives with Which He Is Charged to Protect. It's no dog on a car roof, but it is seven children in the bow of a speedboat!
I'm no Professor of Boat Safety, but that does not seem right to me. What they need is MORE KIDS and MORE SPEED!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Do not trust this man with the ship of state, America. He will put us all in the bow and then crash into the side of a mountain onto which a roadrunner has painted a gold-plated boathouse.
Question of the Day
What was the last celebratory event you attended?
I recently attended the wedding reception of my oldest friend A, who married his partner M. (Technically, civil unioned, out of state, because Indiana is stupid and bigoted.) And it was sooooooo lovely. They are both coffee fanatics, and the table settings were take-home bags of coffee beans labeled "A Perfect Blend." Adorbz.
Speaking of Wild Weather...
Like much of the rest of the US, the extreme heat we had in NW Indiana last week was punctuated by some incredible storms. Below: Video and some still images I caught one afternoon, just before the sky opened and let loose on us a colossal rager of a storm. It wasn't quite a derecho, or "land hurricane," but the storm here may have turned into one as it moved eastward.
Video Description: I pan across the sky from left to right and back again, following a series of sweeping, ominous, awesome clouds, hovering above a dark day sky. The wind whips and lightning flashes.
Quote of the Day
"This heat wave is about as unusual as they get. We had every single state in the lower 48 hit 90 or 100 degrees because of this heat wave. That's unheard of."—WCBS New York meteorologist Lonnie Quinn.
Photo of the Day
Five-times Wimbledon Ladies Champion Serena Williams attends the Wimbledon Championships 2012 Winners Ball at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel in London [Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/Via]I. Love. Her.
That is all.
Today in Mitt Romney Does His "Jaws" Impression
Dun-DUHN. Dun-DUHN. Just when you thought it was safe to believe maybe your country wouldn't ever again be run by a rightwing fucko with nepotism where his bootstraps should be and a black void of empathy where a soul should be, leaving a cavernous void of decency thinly masked by a vacant, disconnected grin and the slightly confused gaze of the impenetrably privileged!
You know what's so fun about US elections? While Mitt Romney's boosters were waxing irascible about the conundrum of nail ladies having the vote in spite of their evident failure to comprehend the sophisticated systems of privilege that keep their clientele in gold-plated car elevators, and bitterly complaining about how President Obama wants to RUIN AMERICA!!!1!!eleventy!!1! with his socialist tax plans, Mitt Romney was taking a much-deserved break from the campaign trail to do a little Real AmericanTM vacationing at his vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, seen at center next to his wife Ann, drives his boat out of the boathouse at his vacation home with his grandchildren seated on the bow on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Thursday, July 5, 2012, as he continues his vacation off the campaign trail. [AP Photo]HA HA YEAH that's just the boathouse. That's just the BEAUTIFUL HOUSE that his BOAT lives in. Here is the Romneys' actual vacation home, not even a primary residence:
The vacation home of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is seen on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., Monday, July 2, 2012. [AP Photo]Just remember that picture next time you hear Mitt Romney talking about how he understands and cares about the lives of working class USians. He cannot. He is nowhere near them. By design.
Obama Wants to Extend "Middle Class" Tax Cuts
That's what all the headlines say, like: "Obama renews call for holding down middle class tax rates." But a more honest headline would read: "Obama renews call for extending current tax rate for 98% of the country, including many people who well above and well below middle class, if the word 'middle' still has any meaning."
Wordy, but honest.
Here is some related reading:
Pat Garofalo: Why Letting the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich Expire Will Not Hurt the Economy, in Three Graphs.
Steve Benen: Obama Pushes Middle-Class Tax Cut, Reignites Larger Fight.
And Richard Adams' typically great coverage is here.
Daily Dose of Cute
Video Description: Zelda the Black-and-Tan Mutt stands in the garden at attention. She sniffs the grass, catches a scent, and begins to follow it. As she walks slowly away, nose down, sniffing intently, she reveals Dudley the Greyhound, lying on his side in the grass, his ears flopped forward. He blinks. Fin.
With the incredible heat here last week, most of the action was indoors. The dogs wanted to walk about 200 yards before they were ready to turn home, and outdoor playtime lasted about seven minutes before they were all, "Hell no." And I had to agree.
Dudley, who is obviously the cutest dog on the planet.
Zelda, who is obviously the cutest dog on the planet.
[Full Disclosure: I am pretty sure that every dog is obviously the cutest dog on the planet.]
Dear Internet, I think we should talk about this.
[Content Note: Harassment; bullying; threats of violence.]
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how the phrase "it's just the internet" as a response to abuse and harassment online is little more than a bullshit phrase that enables the abusers. I also tweeted about an idea that I've been turning over in my head for some time: ""Trolls" are unserious. Laughable. This diminishes the abusive, threatening, violent behavior. They are people engaging in bullying.".
I want to talk about using the word "troll" to describe people who engage in violent, abusive, threatening behavior. I'm not really talking about the generally mock-worthy juvenile behavior of the 'who monitors your bevis?' variety (though that is obnoxious and one definitely could make a case that it is bullying). No, I mean the people who engage in the rape threats. The death wishes. The DDoS attacks. Sending a continual stream of hateful email under various aliases. The constant sockpuppeting to harass. The photoshopping pictures. The searching out of addresses and phone numbers, then posting that info encouraging further abuse. The setting up of entire other websites for no other purpose but target someone with hatefulness. The "fill the comment section with porn and/or hate to try and ruin someone's site" attacks. The creating a "game" targeting the person you hate with violence. The, as Jay Smooth put it, "sustained, amplified, hyper-aggressive" behavior (aside: I highly recommend watching Jay's video because his point about how "don't feed the trolls" is a silencing and enabling tactic is relevant and righteous).
"Troll" is is othering, in a way. It's "monstering", though in an almost comic sort of way that encourages a "do not take seriously" mindset because who is supposed to take trolls seriously, right? You're supposed to "not feed" the trolls, after all, no matter how horrible. People who engage trolls in comments tend to be admonished. People who confront them in posts or tweets are admonished. All of that rather plays into reducing the behavior to something that's less-than-real abuse. It's "just trolling".
Like with how it's been suggested we should change the discussion about domestic abusers and rapists to stop making it seem like only "certain kinds of people" abuse or rape (the "monsters", the "strangers in the bushes"), I'm suggesting we, as a whole internet society, need a language--and thus perception--change about those who abuse and harass people online.
I get that it is easy, almost natural, to want to separate out those who write things like this to someone who criticized the creators of a comic strip:
"I hope something pushes you far enough that you kill yourself. I'm tired of assholes breathing my air."I mean, WHO SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT, right?
As I said in my one post:
It is a genuine person, too, who made that threat. Not some abusive robo-troller program. Perhaps that person is serious or perhaps they think it's "funny" to threaten and abuse another person into silence and fear.I'm not meaning "humanizing to seem sympathetic" but to realize that they are real people engaging in some truly heinous behavior--behavior that if done in-person or even over the phone, could in some cases potentially be criminal.
I know, I know: "troll" is so ingrained in the culture of the internet that it seems like it'd be impossible to change the reference; that suggesting changing a term that's as old and well-worn as "LOL" can seem too radical and/or unnecessary. Tradition, however, does not preclude change. Jay starts this process by separating them out in to two levels. I'm not sure that's enough.
Perhaps if we could talk about people who abuse and harass others online in terms (or acronyms...we, as the internet, do love a good acronym, right?) that don't tend to minimize the behavior, there could be further progress in really confronting the culture of violent abuse and harassment that happens, especially to women and people of color and LGBT people, online. Further progress in seeing it for what it is.
Top Five
One of Iain's and my favorite conversational games over dinner or on a road trip or falling asleep at night is Top Five, which is, just as it sounds, listing our Top Five in any category of which we can conceive—best albums, worst songs, most underrated actresses, countries we'd love to visit, places we never want to go again, etc.
We always have fun playing it, and we often find ourselves revisiting memories long uncalled as we search for the perfect five to put on our lists.
So! I thought it might make a neat regular feature, offering a chance for commenters to share something personal and get recommendations (or not, if it's a Worst List!) from one another.
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
For our inaugural thread, here is your topic: Top Five Books by Female Authors. Go!
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by summer dresses.
Recommended Reading:
Anonymous: I took secret photos of my abortion to empower and educate women.
Jos: Overheard in Public: A Positive Trans Birth Story [Content Note: The post at this link contains a reference to hate speech.]
Robin: Idaho Trial Over "Unlawful Abortion" Could Have National Repercussions
Emily: People in Glass Closets: Anderson Cooper and Straight Responses to Coming Out
Michelle: The Death Threat: It's Not About Health [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of fat bias.]
Arturo: Healing Histories Project Shows New Orleans Working Its Way Back
Andrew: Chicago Fire Soccer Club Teams Up With Equality Illinois
Kate: America's Dirtiest Beaches
Melissa: TV Trailer Watch: Steel Magnolias [Video]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning? Should our nails ladies has the right to vote?
Speaking of Mitt Romney and the commoners, here is just an excellent observation by a Romney supporter about how the commoners who support Obama just don't get it:
As protesters assembled on a beach in advance of Mitt Romney's evening event at the home of conservative billionaire David Koch, the candidate slipped to East Hampton for his first of three fundraisers on this tony stretch of Long Island.It's like I always say: No one is more in touch with how the world works than millionaires at Republican fundraisers in the Hamptons sitting in air conditioned cars that cost more than my house.
The line of Range Rovers, BMWs, Porsche roadsters and one gleaming cherry red Ferrari began queuing outside of Revlon Chairman Ronald Perelman's estate off Montauk Highway long before Romney arrived, as campaign aides and staffers in white polo shirts emblazoned with the logo of Perelman's property -- the Creeks -- checked off names under tight security.
...A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. "I don't think the common person is getting it," she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. "Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them."
"We've got the message," she added. "But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies -- everybody who's got the right to vote -- they don't understand what's going on. I just think if you're lower income -- one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understand the impact."
The funny thing is that she almost spoke some unintentional truth, had she meant how few US voters in the working classes have a comprehensive understanding about how the Obama administration's corporate-friendly policies underwrite the continued erosion of worker protections. (An issue on which Mitt Romney would be even worse for workers.) But of course she meant that she might have to pay more taxes. Oh the humanity.
[Post title explained.]
Today in Mitt Romney Mingles with the Commoners
[Content Note: Reference to animal cruelty.]
I bet Mitt Romney really loves running into dogs while he's campaigning, especially since he's being followed by a vehicle with a fake dog strapped on top and constantly greeted by protests like Good Dog Bad Romney, reminding everyone that he cares as little about animals as he does about people:
Whooooooooooops Mitt Romney you should have been nicer to your dog. Jerk.
Blog Note
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back!
In addition to the blog's redesign, I have also updated the Shaxicon and the Feminism 101 section, which now includes many newer pieces as well as a section linking to the Fatsronauts 101 series. Enjoy!
