How about you?
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by carnival food.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by avocados.
Recommended Reading:
Greg: Dems Move to Force Republicans to Reopen the Government
Akiba: Amid Shutdown, WIC Program Finds Funding
Trudy: "Whiteness is not a culture."
Flavia: The European Catastrophe That Is the Ongoing Death of Undocumented Migrants Is a Feminist Issue [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of death; racism; exploitation; misogyny; sexual violence.]
Fannie: Angry, Concerned Student is Angry, Concerned [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of transphobia.]
Mindy: Maybe If We All Went Barefoot? [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of misogyny and classism.]
BYP: Man Dies Just Three Days after Being Freed [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of prison brutality and racism.]
Leave your links in comments...
Liss Says Stuff #3: The Devil's Advocate
[Content Note: Emotional auditing.]
As requested by Shaker Doctor_Tinycat.
Doctor Tinycat requested a piece on why it's harmful to play Devil's Advocate during social justice discussions, so here we go.
Um, playing Devil's Advocate is taking the opposite side of an argument, ostensibly to explore a subject from every different angle. And there are a lot of reasons why this dynamic ends up being harmful during social justice discussions, but I'm gonna address four of them here.
The first is that what gets called Devil's Advocacy in social justice discussions tends to be a privileged person, ahh, challenging a marginalized person's perception of their own lived experiences. And that's not actually Devil's Advocacy; that's emotional auditing. Um, because it implicitly suggests that a marginalized person's perception of their own lived experiences may somehow not be valid, um, or may be compromised by virtue of their very marginalization. That someone with privilege is more, um, objective. And that is not accurate. Someone with privilege is merely, um—merely has a different perspective on oppression; they are not more objective about it.
Secondly, this practice presumes that there's some aspect of one's marginalization that one hasn't considered—um, and it's typically something that a marginalized person has never had the luxury of never having considered before. It may be a new idea to a privileged person, but imagining that you have some great new insight into someone else's oppression, um, is—or that you can imagine an argument that they've never encountered before, is deeply insulting. And it's hostile to the basic idea of respecting other people's humanity, um, and respecting that they're experts on their own lives.
Um, third: Devil's Advocacy seeks to turn the intimate aspects of one's life into an abstract discussion. Um, it's really unfair to ask, for example, a—a woman to leave aside her personal experience in order to discuss feminist issues in an abstract way. You are discussing the stuff of her life, and you need to keep that in mind. Asking her to "not make it personal" in order to indulge, uh, your exploration of circumstances of her life, um, from which you're totally detached, is profoundly unkind. Um, it's to ask her to wrench her womanhood from her personhood—and these are not separate pieces of a female human being. Womanhood and personhood are the same thing to a woman—this goes for everyone from any marginalized population.
And finally: Devil's Advocacy in social justice discussions is frequently defended on the basis that the person doing it just wants to find out, um, or get a better understanding of the marginalized person's life, of the thing that they're challenging. But here's the thing: Um, if you want to better understand someone's life, what you need to do is ask. You don't need to, ahh, force them to engage in some horrible game of emotional policing.
If you want to know something about my life, you need to ask me, and then you need to make it safe for me to answer—to make sure that I know that I'm not going to be audited. If you really wanna understand someone, you don't need to play Devil's Advocate; you just need to listen.
Note: There are certainly people who will say they view some intrinsic aspect of themselves as renderable from their personhood, and that is of course their right—each person has the right to define themselves in whatever way they like. But it is best to approach each person as if they do not view themselves in detachable parts, because it is extremely harmful to people who don't to be approached that way.
Governor Tom Corbett Fails Sesame Street 101
[Content note: homophobia, incest, sexual abuse]
Remember that old Sesame Street routine, "One of these things is not like the others?" Where kids got to pick out the item that didn't belong? Easy, right?
So play along. Which of these is not like the others?
A. Child sexual abuse
B. Incest
C. Marriage equality
Did you pick C? Good for you! You are definitely smarter than Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett!
The Pennsylvania governor was on WHP-TV in Harrisburg speaking about gay marriage when an anchor asked about a statement his lawyers made in a recent court filing, comparing the marriage of gay couples to the marriage of children because neither can legally wed in the state. "It was an inappropriate analogy, you know," Corbett said. "I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don't you?"
No, sir, I do not think! You have missed the point that one of these things is not like the others.
Now please review with Grover and Big Bird until you get it right.
[See also:In The News.]
So this happened
[Content note: Homophobia, racism, homophobic slurs]
Yahoo Sports:
A gaggle of Ole Miss students, including members of the football team, disrupted the Ole Miss theater department's performance of "The Laramie Project" on Tuesday evening with heckling and homophobic remarks, according to the school newspaper.
A coach was notified of the players' actions and a member of the athletic department was sent to the theater. The players then were subsequently asked to apologize for their actions but were "taking pictures of cast members while making fun of them, talking on their cell phones, hollering at the females in the cast and talking to other audience members during the acts,” per the play's performance report, and according to the paper, the apology given by the players' designated spokesperson caused two cast members of the play to cry.USA Today reprinted a joint statement from the University of Mississippi's Chancellor and Athletic director:
While we work to determine with certainty who disrupted the Laramie Project play, we want everyone within our university community and beyond to know that we strongly condemn the behavior exhibited Tuesday night. As a member of the Ole Miss family, each of us has a responsibility to be accountable for our actions, and these individuals will be held accountable. Our investigation will determine the degree to which any and all students were involved.
As a first step to addressing behavior at the performance Tuesday night, we will meet today with the freshman student-athletes (from various sports) who attended the play and have a dialogue about what happened, about our university-wide commitment to inclusivity and civility, and about the important role they play in representing the university. It is clear that some students badly misrepresented the culture of this university. From there, we will work with Student-Affairs and the Bias Incident Response Team to determine the facts and appropriate next steps.
Incidents like this remind all educators that our job is to prepare our students to be leaders in life during their years on campus and after they graduate from Ole Miss. This behavior by some students reflects poorly on all of us, and it reinforces our commitment to teaching inclusivity and civility to young people who still have much to learn. We will be engaging our student-athletes with leaders on the subject of individuality and tolerance, so we can further enforce life lessons and develop them to their fullest potential.
On behalf of our 22,000 students, our faculty, and our staff, we apologize.
I'm going to be blunt here. My wife's an alumna of the University of Mississippi. I've been to Oxford on many occasions. A few weeks back, I saw that it became legal in LaFayette County (which I don't pronounce like an out-of-towner) to sell cold beer, and on Sundays at that. I celebrated with a fried pickles (and a recipe for comeback sauce reputably from the Owner of Ajax Diner on The Square and reminisced about Square Books and all my other favorite things about your corner of the world. It was a good day.
So even though I'm a northerner, I think I've got a pretty good sense of where you're at. (Also of note: I have a passing acquaintance with what it's like to be a visibly queer woman in your lovely town.) I get that the University is perpetually under the microscope when it comes to the treatment of people who aren't rich white straight cis protestant men. I get that there are people whose job is to obsess day and night about how to keep shit like this from happening, and more to the point, from getting splashed across the nation's news outlets as expressions of bigotry in Oxford Town are wont to happen.
Daily Dose of Cute
Livs.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Tower of Power: "What Is Hip?"
This week's TMNS has been brought to you by bands with rhyming names.
(Sorry I didn't get to you, Oingo Boingo!)
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today. Your threads on the shutdown and the US Capital shooting are, respectively, here and here.
[Content Note: Guns; domestic violence] Related to the story below: The Supreme Court will consider "the scope of a federal law that bans people who have been convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun."
If you are an Adobe customer, you'd better read this security announcement from their Chief Security Officer.
The Cruelty of Republican States in One Chart.
Wendy Davis is running for governor of Texas! Woot!
[CN: Homophobia; incest] Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett compared same-sex marriage to incest. Welp, he seems like a swell guy. (By which I mean a terrible guy.)
The latest in squatch hunting. True Fact: If I had $500,000 to throw around, I would not use it to try to prove the existence of Bigfoot! But that's just me! You do you, bro.
[Parks & Rec Spoiler] Rob Lowe, who is leaving Parks & Rec later this season, is getting his own NBC sitcom called The Pro, about a "former tennis doubles champion 'Big Ben' Bertrahm, whose career flame-out and misguided investments have left him working as the pro at a tennis and golf club, where he tries to hustle and charm his way back into America's 1%." That sounds like a premise that could only conceivably work with Rob Lowe as the star! Good luck, Rob Lowe!
Here Are Two Stories I Happened to Read Back-to-Back
[Content Note: Domestic violence; rape; murder.]
1. Bryce Covert at Think Progress: Domestic Violence Programs Brace for End of Federal Funds after Friday.
Domestic violence programs across the country say they have received letters from federal offices that dole out grant money informing them that after Friday, if the government is not reopened, they will cease operations and the programs won't be able to draw down the funds they normally rely on. While some may be able to weather the storm, small, rural programs and those that rely heavily on federal money are looking at layoffs and disruptions in service.Soraya Chemaly at Salon: "I'm an Instrument That Will Avenge": The Stories of Women Who Fight Back.
...Other programs confirmed they had gotten similar letters from OJP and other agencies. "The whole country has been told the same thing by the Office on Violence Against Women," Kim Gandy, president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, told ThinkProgress. "We also have coalitions across the country that have been unable to draw down their reimbursements from FVPSA [Family Violence Prevention and Services Act] for funds already expended, which means they don't have operating funds going forward. Some are already discussing layoffs."
...But more and more women have been seeking help as the same economic troubles caused by the recession and stagnant recovery have increased and intensified abuse. Eight in 10 shelters report an increase in women seeking help and nearly 60 percent say the abuse is more violent than before the crisis.
The ongoing case of Marissa Alexander demonstrates that even when danger is imminent a woman cannot count on the justice system, especially if she's not white. Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing what she says was a warning shot at her abusive husband. She thought that Stand Your Ground laws applied to her. Perhaps the only good thing to come out of the abhorrent Zimmerman case is an upcoming retrial for Alexander. The question is, does Stand Your Ground apply to domestic violence, especially women of color who defend themselves against abusive spouses?So, here's the shape of things at the moment: Domestic violence programs, which help women safely leave abusive relationships and provide refuge during a time of escalating violence, are being defunded, forced in many places to reduce services and provide less help for fewer women. Meanwhile, women who are forced to defend themselves from violent partners, because they lack community support and resources, are more likely to be convicted of defending themselves and serve disproportionately long sentences.
The documentary "The Perfect Victim" explores the cases of three women who either killed their husbands or had their husbands killed by others after years of violent abuse. It follows the Missouri Battered Women Clemency Coalition's attempts to navigate the legal system and have the women freed after decades of incarceration. Most of the women were denied the right to present their histories of torture and abuse at trial. Two of these women, raped, beaten, trafficked and tortured for years prior to killing their husbands, spent more than a total of eighty-five years in state prison. Even after clemency was granted to one of the women, the parole board did not release her for more than two years because they decided it "would not be in society's" interest to let her free.
Differing punishment dolled out for killing an intimate partner is telling. Vastly more men than women are in jail for murdering spouses, but women who kill abusive husbands serve disproportionately long sentences if found guilty. According to the Michigan Women's Justice and Clemency Project, men who kill their intimate partners get an average sentence of 2 to 6 years whereas women are sentenced, on average, to 15 years. If you find yourself saying, as so many do, "why don't women leave instead of committing murder," it's important to note that a woman is actually at 75% greater risk of harm from her abuser after she leaves.
The Republicans get super pissed when people accuse them of waging a war on women, but no one can argue that domestic abusers (disproportionately straight men who abuse their female partners) are waging a war on women—and the Republican Party is happy to facilitate that war.
US Capitol Shooting Update
[Content Note: Guns; violence.]
So what we know about yesterday's incident in DC is that the driver of the car, who was shot and killed by police after a brief but intense car chase following an attempted breach of barricades at the White House, was a 34-year-old black woman named Miriam Carey, who was reportedly suffering from postpartum depression. She had her 1-year-old daughter in the car with her, and she was unarmed.
What is still very unclear at this point is exactly where Carey was when police shot and killed her. Reports say things like "the chase ended when police fatally shot her," but other reports hint at Carey having already stopped and exited the vehicle (or started to) when she was shot. I cannot find confirmation on where, exactly, she was when she was killed.
In either case, I have yet to read anything that remotely approaches justification for killing her. I suspect that's because there was none. Of course, my definition of "justified" seems to be wildly different than the cops'.
Amadi has been saying smart things on Twitter this morning about the shift in police tactics that seems to have made "shoot first and ask questions later" a standard policy, especially with black suspects. (If you're on Twitter and not already following Amadi, you should definitely be following Amadi.) Also, Kim Brown offered a perfect example of the dramatic difference in approach that police used to take:
In 1994, a man fired a SEMI-AUTOMATIC rifle at the WH. Was he shot? No. Secret Service wrestled him to the ground. http://t.co/qONyY1Pt7P
— KB3 (@KimBrownTalks) October 4, 2013
I just don't see why Miriam Carey had to die.
On Twitter, Yolanda Pierce quite rightly and compassionately observed: "Even video is subjective. One person sees a deliberate attempt to elude capture. Another sees a person who's scared, confused, & in a panic."
To which Amadi added: "even a deliberate attempt to evade capture does not justify police execution."
Yeah. That.
Shutdown, Day Four
Republicans still terrible. Government still shut down.
Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech in Rockville, Maryland, at the M. Luis Construction company. And it was epic. Video of the entire address is below, and the full transcript is here, but, if you only watch one part of it, start the video at 12:56 listen to President Obama take on that dipshit Stutzman, because it is beautiful. I never love Obama more than when he's being snarky and contemptuous. Iain and I just watched this section over and over last night and laughed our asses off.
But, truly, watch the whole thing or read the whole transcript if you can. He calls out Republicans; he calls out the media; he addresses the harm to people that this shutdown is doing. It's not just politics. It matters. It's a very good speech.
Anyway, the transcript for the section on Stutzman is below.
THE PRESIDENT (at 12:56): Just yesterday, one House Republican said — I'm quoting here, all right, 'cause I want to make sure people understand I didn't make this up. One House Republican said, "We're not gonna be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." (Laughter; Obama looks mystified and chuckles.) That was a quote! "We're not going to be disrespected. We have got to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." Think about that!Brilliant.
You have already gotten the opportunity to serve the American people. There is no higher honor than that. (Applause.) You've already gotten the opportunity to help businesses like this one, workers like these. So the American people aren't in the mood to give ya a goodie bag to go with it. What you get is our intelligence professionals being back on the job. What you get is our medical researchers back on the job. (Applause.) What you get are little kids back into Head Start. (Applause.) What you get are our national parks and monuments open again. (Applause.) What you get is the economy not stalling, but continuing to grow. (Applause and cheers.) What you get are workers continuing to be hired. (Applause and cheers.) That's what you get! That's what you should be asking for! Take a vote, stop this farce, and end this shutdown right now! (Applause and cheers; audience member shouts "Right now!" Obama shakes his head contemptuously.)
If you're being disrespected, it's because of that attitude you got — that you deserve to get something for doing your job! Everybody here just does their job, right? If you're working here and in the middle of the day you just stopped and said, you know what, I want to get something, but I don't know — (Laughter.) I don't know exactly what I'm goin' get, but — (Laughter.) I'm just gonna stop working until I get something. I'm going to shut down the whole plant until I get something. (Audience member shouts, "You'd get fired!" Obama looks is hir direction.) You'd get fired! (Applause and cheers.) Right?!
Question of the Day
What's your favorite play? Drama or musical. Ensemble cast or one-person show. Either an original work, or a piece that's been adapted for the theater.
Garbage Treasures: Now with Extra Duran Duran!
As you may recall, Deeky collects and saves useless garbage like we're beyond Thunderdome and useless garbage is now a form of currency and he's a garbageaire. Then, instead of throwing it away, he throws pieces of his fancy detritus collection into an envelope and pays money to ship it to me, at which point I put them in plastic treasure chests and put them out by the curb every week to be collected by the "treasure man," who buries them at the "treasure dump" for me for safe keeping.
But not before taking a picture of the bounty so that I can post it, natch.
Counter-clockwise from top right: A flier for the George Peabody Library Book Festival, which happened September 27-29; a brochure for Medieval Times in Hanover, Maryland; a full sheet of Diary of a Wimpy Kid car window decals; a foil package of Parks and Recreation trading cards; a flier for Reducing Gun Violence in America, forward by Michael R. Bloomberg, featuring the image of a machine gun; an advert for the Broadway Musical edition of Elf, adapted from the movie starring Will Ferell; a pile of business card-sized prints of Duran Duran; the packaging for a Doc Johnson Classic Butt Plug (smooth | medium), built in America since 1976; a manky copy of Jennifer Love Hewitt's book, The Day I Shot Cupid, which looks like it's spent some time in a gutter puddle; a photocard for Disney's Teen Beach Movie, the tagline for which is "Never contradict a girl!" because obviously it is; and a little gummy skeleton covered in cat hair.
This is, by the way, about a quarter of the total contents of the envelope.
LOL FOREVER.
Liss Says Stuff #2: Disablist Language
[Content Note: Disablist language specifically related to mental illness.]
This is just a quick one that I tried to keep as succinct as possible for people who need something on hand to address the use of disablist language during the shutdown, and what makes for an easy alternative. (With special guest star Sophie the Cat.)
So, one of the things I was asked to address during this video series was getting rid of disalbist language from our vocabularies. And this is relevant once again, ahh, because during the shutdown the Republicans are being described as "crazy," "insane," and all sorts of variations thereof, which is pretty common in political discourse.
And, um, I have a pretty simple solution for getting rid of this sort of language, which is: Say what you mean. If you mean that the Republicans, or whomever, are being dishonest, say that they're being dishonest. And, if you mean that they're indecent, say that they're indecent.
There are lots of words that we can use, um, that aren't specific, too, if that's the case—contemptible, reprehensible, um, awful, terrible! Any word that doesn't demonize, ahh, mental illness, or attribute to mental illness what is clearly emanating from some other place, um, is a good word to use.
[Sophie the Cat crawls behind me on the stairs.]
But, specifically saying what you mean, um, addresses the root of the problem. You know, if Republicans are being dishonest and you call them "crazy," the solution is not really the same to "cure mental illness," um, as it is to address dishonesty. So there's a use, um, in addition to not demonizing mental illness for saying what you mean.
[Sophie hops up on my shoulder.]
And that's really—hi, Sophs *air kiss*—that's really the easiest way to get rid of this language from your vocabulary.
FO, L&O:SVU
[Content Note: Racism; violence; rape culture; appropriation.]
Hey, remember when I wrote back in August about how the putrid Law & Order: SVU was planning a Very Special Episode intended to be a hugely inappropriate mash-up of Trayvon Martin's murder, Paula Deen's racism, and NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy...?
Welp, it aired last night, and surprise! It was contemptible garbage.
That fucking show.
US Capitol on Lockdown after Shooting
[Content Note: Guns; violence.]
NBC News reports that shots have been fired outside the US Capitol, and the building is subsequently on lockdown:
The United States Capitol was placed on lockdown Thursday afternoon after shots were fired in the vicinity of the chamber. At least one Capitol Police officer was injured, officials said.CBS News is reporting that the lockdown has already been lifted, and that "a female gunman is reportedly dead on the scene," and Politico is reporting: "Two eyewitness said U.S. Capitol Police fired multiple shots at a black sedan on Constitution Avenue near the Hart Senate Office Building. Two people, including a child, were removed from the vehicle. One adult from the vehicle appeared to be hit by gunfire."
The FBI was responding to the scene, and a helicopter landed in front of the Capitol. A message from the Capitol Police ordered anyone in a House office to "shelter in place."
"Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows," the message said.
The House recessed, and the Senate went into a quorum call — dispensing momentarily with its official business — shortly thereafter.
"We've locked the doors. We closed the window shades. And we are awaiting further instructions," Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) told MSNBC. "We're more or less cut off here. We're watching TV and just trying to figure out what happened."
Information is very preliminary at the moment, so please note that these details are early reports and may change. I'll update as new/additional information becomes available, and please feel welcome and encouraged to share information in comments.
UPDATE: The Guardian's live update stream is here. I direct you there with a word of caution that they do post images from the scenes of shootings.
UPDATE 2: At this point, it's being reported that the "suspected shooter" did not fire a weapon at all and may have been unarmed, but instead was "taken down" by police after an attempted security breach at the White House.
UPDATE 3: Via the Guardian, here is a description of eyewitness video aired by CNN:
A black sedan is stopped outside the White House with multiple police vehicles parked around it including one directly behind it. A half-dozen officers stand around the vehicle, guns drawn. The vehicle reverses violently, hitting the police car behind it. Officers aim pistols at the driver's window and can be seen yelling. The car speeds away, forcing officers to jump to safety. Several pops – likely gunshots – are audible.
The car speeds from the White House and down Constitution Avenue toward the Capitol. Many police cars are in pursuit. The car leads police vehicles one full loop through a traffic circle, eluding them, and continues toward the Capitol.
The final wreck is not on the video.
