George Zimmerman, killer of unarmed 17 year old Trayvon Martin. It has taken some days for the sense of outrage to build, as it becomes more obvious that yes, this guy (Zimmerman) is a dangerous gun-wielding irritant, who against the express wishes of the police decided to track down and confront Trayvon Martin for the heinous crime of being black in public.
We all know what happened next, and that Zimmerman seemed to get away with it. That looks less likely now, at least. Coverage is widespread, but for my money, Ta-Nehisi Coates has the best of it, over multiple posts and days.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
The US right and blog use
Interesting study out of the Berkman center at Harvard here.
(Linked by Leiter)
This seems to tie in quite closely to the ongoing discussion I am in over at the Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective. The link is to a critical discussion of my article 'The New Political Blogosphere' in Social Epistemology 26(1), 55-70.
Notably, we find evidence of an association between ideological affiliation and the technologies, institutions, and practices of participation across political blogs. Sites on the left adopt more participatory technical platforms; are comprised of significantly fewer sole-authored sites; include user blogs; maintain more fluid boundaries between secondary and primary content; include longer narrative and discussion posts; and (among the top half of the blogs in our sample) more often use blogs as platforms for mobilization as well as discursive production.
(Linked by Leiter)
This seems to tie in quite closely to the ongoing discussion I am in over at the Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective. The link is to a critical discussion of my article 'The New Political Blogosphere' in Social Epistemology 26(1), 55-70.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Implicit bias and race
The Hendricks thing happening over at newapps has been painful to read for a while now, and has just taken an interesting turn with a new focus on the possible racial component of the criticism of Hendricks. Buried in the commentary to that thread is a link to an interesting test run through Harvard, which attempts to measure implicit bias in comparisons between two groups, European Americans and African Americans.
The test can be found here and is worth doing, it uses the standard methodology for this kind of thing. I was surprised to find that I have a moderate bias in favour of African Americans. Trying to determine why this is, my first thought is that, living outside of the US, my primary exposure to American people is through political coverage, and there are comparatively few African American Republicans. As such, I am more likely to trust African Americans than European Americans, because they are less likely to be spouting Republican nonsense. Now, this explanation is appealing, but unlikely to be complete. Oh well.
The test can be found here and is worth doing, it uses the standard methodology for this kind of thing. I was surprised to find that I have a moderate bias in favour of African Americans. Trying to determine why this is, my first thought is that, living outside of the US, my primary exposure to American people is through political coverage, and there are comparatively few African American Republicans. As such, I am more likely to trust African Americans than European Americans, because they are less likely to be spouting Republican nonsense. Now, this explanation is appealing, but unlikely to be complete. Oh well.
Friday, February 24, 2012
The Australian (Federal) Labour Party...
Seems to have a death wish. Surely someone has told these people that messy, intrigue filled leadership contests are a bad way of convincing voters that you will be able to provide a stable government if you are elected? Even the mess that is the Republican primary system in the US at the moment seems better than what is going on here with Gillard and Rudd.
Monday, February 6, 2012
This is just silly...
Outrage in NZ over a Smokefree ad featuring Piri Weepu, in which he bottlefeeds his young child! Bottlefeeds! As if breastfeeding were not good enough! (Forget, for the moment, how difficult breastfeeding would be for him).
Really? Really?
I would take it as a good thing that a man is being portrayed as a nurturing, involved figure in a popular ad campaign. Complaining about this can only be counterproductive for the pro-breastfeeding groups making the complaints.
Really? Really?
I would take it as a good thing that a man is being portrayed as a nurturing, involved figure in a popular ad campaign. Complaining about this can only be counterproductive for the pro-breastfeeding groups making the complaints.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Rolling Stone: Best news source in the US?
At the very least, they do a wonderful line in long form journalism. That talent is noticeably under-represented in more traditional new media. For a thoroughly depressing example, take a look at this piece about how a small town in Michelle Bachmann's home district is creating such a strong anti-homosexual vibe (linked, naturally, to the strength of evangelical religion in the area) that many young kids have killed themselves there.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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