Because the Universe is Confusing
Archive for November, 2009
Amy Goodman And Canada’s Olympic Paranoia
Nov 28th
The Canadian government has leveled public housing, stifled civil liberties and harassed local activists. The last thing they want is someone like Amy Goodman telling the world.
NASA is the reason we can’t feed people
Nov 27th
If you rightly figured out this is COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT, kudos to you! People who think that science funding is the problem should start getting educated about the truth so that they can get to the heart of the issue. Here are some facts to get started with:
1. NASA’s proposed 2010 budget is 0.00129% of the US’s annual military spending. That’s $18 billion v. $1.14 trillion.
2. In 2009, the Military’s budget contained $9.4 billion for weapons alone. That same amount could end world hunger according to former US UN Ambassador, George McGovern.
Based on these facts alone, I think it’s pretty clear why we can’t feed people. It’s not because we’re stargazing. It’s because we’re bombing people.
Young Gay Man Leads the Way for Hockey
Nov 24th
Can a gay man advance in professional hockey? He can if he works for the Toronto Maple Leafs! Or for Miami University Hockey. God bless Rico Blasi! And I am certain these two organizations are not alone here.
I wish this burden would fall on someone else’s shoulders, not Brendan’s. Pioneers are often misunderstood and mistrusted. But since he wishes to blaze this trail, I stand beside him with an axe! I simply could not be more proud of Brendan than I am, and I love him as much as I admire him.” — Brian Burke
John Buccigross: How one of hockey’s toughest men accepted his son’s courageous admission – ESPN.
Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja | Guardian UK
Nov 24th
Doctors in Iraq‘s war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.
Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Pink Mennonites!
Nov 23rd
For people who have been feeling depressed by the Catholic Church’s recent incredibly anti-lgbt visibility, take heart! The Pink Menno campaign is doing the good work of changing hearts and minds in the Mennonite Church of the USA:
Welcome! Thank you for visiting our site. Pink Menno started with a very simple vision that a brother and sister shared during Christmas of 2008. Wondering what they could do to make the Mennonite Church an open and welcoming place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer people, they envisioned a sea of people dressed in pink as a sign of support singing hymns together in the middle of the upcoming Columbus convention. From that vision, a small online community formed, which gradually grew and gained more followers and supporters.
How to Radicalize a Scientist
Nov 22nd
The following is a repost of a Facebook comment made by a former classmate of mine from Harvard, Craig Hetherington. Craig is a doctoral student in physics at UC Berkeley. In his response to a friend who didn’t think much of Berkeley’s student protestors, he explains how UC’s recent use of police force against students is basically a how-to guide for turning conservative scientists into revolutionaries. UC beware! Craig offers a unique perspective on the happenings at the University of California, and I hope the administration is paying attention.
What was the purpose of the protestors outside the building? It was a large and diverse group of people. Most of them were chanting things like “education not prisons” or “fire Yudof” or “this is what democracy looks like.” I imagine most believe, as I do, that a 32% tuition increase, while class sizes are increased and services are cut, and while that tuition is used as collateral for obtaining loans, is unfair. Many were probably there to give moral support to their friends inside. As for me (and others), my presence at the rally was more out of curiosity than anything else. But the point is that I, along with 99% of the people outside, was exercising my constitutional right to stand around on a rainy afternoon and speak my mind.
Yet when the police charged (and they did charge, in some cases with beanbag guns raised), they were pressing against individual human beings who just happened to be at the front lines. 99% of them didn’t want a fight, but it came to them. Even if they wanted to run away, it’s not like they could move back given the mass of bodies behind them. (And anyway, they were already obeying the law by staying behind the yellow police tape so, constitutionally speaking, I do believe they had every right to be there.) At the rally, because of the actions of the university and the police, we were all in it together.
That’s the thing about violence. It lumps people together and radicalizes them. The rally started as a statement about how the university is screwing the students. And it became a near-riot. You’re right that peaceful protests happen every day on Sproul Plaza. And if the university hadn’t called on 50-100 riot police to silence this protest, it would have remained peaceful too. The result is that a conservative, meek guy like me became incensed, came darn close to getting in a stupid fight, and will possibly never trust the university again.
I never thought that I would find myself on the front lines of this issue. I hope that if fate were to put me in this kind of situation again, I would have the courage to stand my ground. On Friday I saw that if we are passive, we will be pushed around and pushed as far as possible.
Apathy has gotten the students at the university into this situation. We stood around as corporate executives took over the Board of Regents. We didn’t care when janitorial services were cut because it only affected other departments. We didn’t mind when fees were increased because we’re on fellowship. We laughed when third-world language classes were cut because who speaks those languages anyway? But now we have been pushed so far that I’m personally affected, and now I see that I should have acted sooner. Like it or not, we’re all in this together. Yesterday the barricades were far away. But tomorrow they will be in your face, and you’ve got to push back.
Disclaimer: I totally don’t agree with the attitude toward so-called third-world language classes that he mentions, for what are likely obvious reasons to regular readers of this blog.
brainyblackbitches.com
Nov 22nd
All together now, let’s breath a sigh of relief that such a website does not exist. At least not as far as Google can tell me. A search for the words “brainy black bitches” pulls up the website, “MY BLACK SLUTS,” a pornography site with its own set of linguistic problems that I won’t get into.
So, why bring up a website that does not exist? Because this weekend, some of my activist friends excitedly thought that I had found it and/or brought it into existence. Yes, some of my activist (read: leftist/revolutionary) friends excitedly clicked on a link in my google talk status, hoping to find an actual “brainyblackbitches.com.” They then messaged me to tell me how disappointing it was that the website wasn’t real! Indeed, not one person seemed to breath a sigh of relief.
The first time it happened, I didn’t think much of it because I was still in a state of mind guided by how it came to be my status in the first place. In the course of thinking about the need for women of color to network online, I proposed to my white boyfriend that I start a website to serve the community. Since he’s a funny guy, I asked him for suggestions of smart titles.
His first suggestion was “brainyblackbitches.com,” which we giggled over. Why? Because it is the stupidest possible name. Because it was so ridiculous that we had to laugh. Because the idea that an anti-racist activist like me would produce such a site is, well, laughable. Ryan actually put it pretty well himself when he messaged me, “Here’s an idea for what not to call a website for women of colour in science. Also, I like alliteration.”
What’s not funny is that people are disappointed that I hadn’t, or that someone hadn’t made such a site. As complaints rolled in, I started to wonder — does the left know the difference between itself and the KKK? Deep down of course (I hope) the answer is yes. But I’ve started to wonder whether the artists walking around saying they should be able to do blackface and say “nigger” and all of this other crap are actually getting their cues from the left, and not in fact from the KKK-like right extremists that so many are quick to blame.
Where exactly would they be getting these hints? Well, there’s this fascinating movement working toward “taking ownership of the language.” So, nigger is good when a lefty uses it, and bad when a righty uses it. Somehow, this disempowers the language because now everyone is using it and sometimes it is offensive but sometimes it is disempowering the offensiveness. All of this is determined by the fact that people on the left are obviously trustworthy, unlike those evil people on the right. By the same logic Bitch Magazine, apparently “Provides commentary on our media-driven world from a feminist perspective” (thus ensuring that I have yet another reason to feel uncomfortable calling myself a feminist).
The truth is that some words have lost their power. I have no problem using “queer.” That probably has something to do with the fact that “queer” is as bad as “gay” to the homophobes. There really is no good word. The words are used equally as slurs and positive self-identifications. Additionally, people have more and more realized that there is nothing wrong with being strange, that is queer. That is far from the case for the word “bitch” or the word “nigger” or even the word “colored.” It’s worth noting that none of the people who were excited were Black, and I’m pretty sure my Black friends would have been furious if they thought I had anything to do with such a site.
Adrienne Rich once called English “the oppressor’s language,” and I get that people are desperate to make it their own. But getting tied up in trying to take back the language, I think, is a quick way to:
a. Confuse potential allies
b. Give cover to potential anti-allies
c. Provide a theoretical distraction from what my friend Narinda calls “the racism truck hurtling at us.”
So let’s not get confused. Just because ANGRYBLACKBITCH is “practicing the fine art of bitchitude” over at Blogger doesn’t mean everyone who is interested in social justice is interested in using these words to describe themselves. I may agree with ABB about a lot of things, but I’m perfectly satisfied to be a woman, and to struggle for recognition as one (even in the world of science, where, well, the facts should be obvious). Indeed, having Sojourner as one of my middle names has always given me a sense of ownership over the question that Ms. Truth once asked, “Ain’t I a woman?”
I don’t need to be a bitch to be recognized as an equal. I’m a brainy Black woman, thanks.
On science and prostitution – New Scientist
Nov 21st
Under the name Belle de Jour, Brooke Magnanti wrote about her experiences as a prostitute for a London escort agency, and her blog became a bestselling book, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, and a television series.
She has a master’s degree in genetic epidemiology and a PhD from the University of Sheffield’s department of forensic pathology.
Belle de Jour: On science and prostitution – CultureLab – New Scientist.
Yes, white women are doing well
Nov 20th
Recently, it was proudly announced, “GOOD NEWS! Women are doing well in astronomy!” But,if you look at the data, that fantastic news is really only for white women. And as Sojourner Truth said, ain’t I a woman? Below I give an example of what I mean. Something I am leaving out of the discussion — because it deserves its very own space — is the way these numbers hide the challenges that Asian women in particular face.
So, just how many American women have earned degrees in physics and astronomy since the NSF started keeping track in 1973? Using NSF’s WebCASPAR database, I’ve produced a couple of tables for you to eyeball. As you can see, white women have seen extraordinary growth by an order of magnitude, as have Asian women. Unfortunately, women from traditionally underrepresented groups (Black, Hispanic [which includes Latinos/Chicanos/Puertorriqueños etc.], Native American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders) have not faired so well.
Here are two tables. The first one is for women in physics, and the second is for women in astronomy. A few things that are worth noting:
1. Women make up a larger percentage of the population in astronomy, so this data should be disturbing. Although astronomy is more accepting of white women, it does not seem to be a safe space for women of color, especially Blacks and Hispanics.
2. There has been no notable progress for Indigenous Americans.
I don’t have time to do a statistical analysis here, but if you get curious about the data, I invite you to plow through it yourselves. EDIT: You can check out women in physics and women in astronomy. I used to have the tables posted here, but they were very hard to read in this blog theme.
Church and State in JFK’s America
Nov 13th
Freedom of religion in our nation means, first and foremost, the right of individuals to live their lives in accord with their most cherished religious beliefs, and free of government interference. It is not for our government to tell Muslims they must drink alcohol or eat pork, it is not for our government to tell Jews they must consume shrimp or work on Saturday, and it is not for our government to tell Catholics they must have abortions or marry persons of the same-sex.
At the same time, though, the reciprocal of that freedom is an equally fundamental responsibility. This is the responsibility not to use the authority of the government to compel individuals to live their lives in accord with our “religious dictates” that they do not share. Muslims have the right not to consume pork, but they should not use the power of the government to forbid others to eat pork. Jews have the right not to work on Saturday, but they should not use the power of the government to prohibit others from working on Saturday. And Catholics have the right not to marry people of the same sex, but they should not use the power of the government to forbid others from marrying the person they love.
As John F. Kennedy understood and stated so eloquently, in America “no religious body should seek to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace.”
