As discussed previously, on Fridays, I present my weekly social media roundups. Note that toots of articles generally include header images from the articles, which I donā€™t include here unless their creators happen to have released them for use under a free license, and I notice. Most have not, or I donā€™t notice. But I now add my commentary here, where I donā€™t feel restricted by message length.

diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week

Also, I donā€™t generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.

9:07 ā€“ Mon 13 February 2023

Image Not Shown: Scholar-activist W.E.B. DuBois in 1946

W.E.B. Du Bois, Black History Month and the importance of African American studies from The Conversation

ā€œIn other words,ā€ he asserted, ā€œas it becomes more universally known what Negroes contributed to America in the past, more must logically be said and taught concerning the future.ā€

Weā€™ve probably all read plenty of histories of Black History Month, but another one never hurtsā€¦

12:06 ā€“ Mon 13 February 2023

Quoted on Mastodon

ā€¦it is a truth too well attested to you, to need a proof here, that we are a race of beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt; and that we have long been considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments.

Benjamin Banneker

9:05 ā€“ Tue 14 February 2023

Content Warning: Human trafficking, forced labor, neocolonialism

Image Not Shown: Mercy Mutemi, a lawyer representing a former content moderator, after filing a lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc and its local content moderation contractor Sama, in May 2022

Metaā€™s attempt to dodge trial in Kenya thwarted by judge from openDemocracy

ā€¦reminiscent of the exploitative African colonial project that was ā€œpremised on extracting profits from Kenya with no (or minimal) investments and that would enable them to extract profits. Itā€™s what big tech is doing in Africaā€.

This story encapsulates so many issues surrounding corporations and our refusal to decolonialize society, and feels like it shows us all the issues at once.

12:04 ā€“ Tue 14 February 2023

Quoted on Mastodon

The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture.

George Washington Carver

9:03 ā€“ Wed 15 February 2023

Image Not Shown: An old Ace Double paperback. The cover illustration has been replaced with an 18th century illustration depicting a giant Ned Ludd leading an army of Luddites who have just torched a factory. The cover text reads: 'The Luddites. Smashing looms was their tactic, not their goal.'

The Collective Intelligence Institute from Pluralistic

The question of who should benefit from automation is always urgent, and itā€™s also always up for grabs. Automation can deepen and reinforce unfair arrangements, or it can upend them.

I like to tell the story about how my kindergarten teacher used to talk about the amazing world ahead of us, with computers and robots automating jobs, to free people up to do what made us happier. Decades later, nothing has proven her wrong, except for the utter disinterest in finding a better way of feeding and housing people.

12:05 ā€“ Wed 15 February 2023

Quoted on Mastodon

America will not die. As the time demands them, great men will appear, and by their combined efforts render liberty and happiness more secure. The people will be ready and answer in every emergency that may arise.

Charles E. Nash

9:01 ā€“ Thu 16 February 2023

Content Warning: Police violence

Image Not Shown: Demonstrators protest the death of Tyre Nichols on January 27, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bias trainings for police donā€™t change behavior from Futurity

ā€¦study indicates that the current generation of diversity training programs are effective at changing minds but less consistent at changing behavior.

Long-time readers, I hope, already know why these training programs donā€™t work: The problem doesnā€™t come from the individual cops. The problem arises in the institution of policing, built on the idea of protecting capital from people and protecting white status. You can have the kindest, most engaged police officers possible, but when the mission descends from that of slave patrols, border patrols, and private security, then send them to everything from medical emergencies to people playing the radio ā€œtoo loud,ā€ those kind officers will happily kill Black people who look like a possible inconvenience.

12:02 ā€“ Thu 16 February 2023

Quoted on Mastodon

If women want any rights more than theyā€™ve got, why donā€™t they just take them, and not be talking about it?

Sojourner Truth

8:44 ā€“ Fri 17 February 2023

Does anybody know of a best-practice for multiple #fediverse accounts? Iā€™m thinking about trying out #Bookwyrm, for example, but it seems weird to split up identity that way.

Iā€™ve rarely gotten useful responses from asking for information on social media, but I guess weā€™ll see how this goes.

If you havenā€™t already seen it, Bookwyrm tracks reading and enables associated activities. It seems interesting, especially as I continue reading novels, but I donā€™t love the idea of adding more social media accounts.

That said, I may blindly take the step of signing up on a Bookwyrm server, and see how that goes.

9:04 ā€“ Fri 17 February 2023

Content Warning: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, assorted "personalities"...

Image Not Shown: Two older men demonstrating with small signs opposing the policies of Ron DeSantis

The GOPā€™s Culture Wars Would Be Laughable If They Werenā€™t Deadly from OtherWords

In a speech on the House floor, Omar rightly pointed out that the Republican attack was about ā€œwho gets to be an American.ā€

I canā€™t really add to this.

12:07 ā€“ Fri 17 February 2023

Quoted on Mastodon

Even now, sir, after the great conflict between slavery and freedom, after the triumph achieved at such a cost, we can yet see the traces of the disastrous strife and the remains of disease in the body-politic of the south.

Joseph Hayne Rainey

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didnā€™t fit into the one-article-per-day week, but too weird or important to not mention, here.

Content Warning: Republicans, conspiracy theories,

Image Not Shown: Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) holds up a poster of a Twitter announcement of suspending her account during a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 8, 2023

Elon Musk is spoon-feeding Republicans a conspiracy and theyā€™re dutifully spewing it out in Congress from Daily Kos

Republicans are so, so thankful to Musk. Not just because heā€™s thrown the rules out the window and made Twitter a welcoming place for white supremacy, antisemitism, and calls to violence. But because heā€™s feeding these conspiracies to them, one goopy spoonful at a time.

All this money and time spent, because conservatives donā€™t like that people disagree with their unsound policies and conspiracy theoriesā€¦

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didnā€™t fit into the one-article-per-day week, but too weird or important to not mention, here.

Image Not Shown: Digital activists at the ADLM Summit in Merida, Mexico

A look back at the Mayan Languages Digital Activism Summit 2023 from Global Voices

They learned about beatmaking, lyric-writing, and photography, and ended the day by showcasing their own creations in each of these skills.

I assume that readers donā€™t need me to point out that I love these initiativesā€¦

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Credits: Header image is Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week from a manuscript drafted during the Carolingian Dynasty.