Toots š from 02/13 to 02/17
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 donāt include here unless their creators happen to have released them for use under a free license, and I notice. Most have not, or I donāt notice. But I now add my commentary here, where I donāt feel restricted by message length.
Also, I donāt 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
āIn other words,ā he asserted, āas it becomes more universally known what Negroes contributed to America in the past, more must logically be said and taught concerning the future.ā
Weāve probably all read plenty of histories of Black History Month, but another one never hurtsā¦
12:06 ā Mon 13 February 2023
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.
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
Metaās attempt to dodge trial in Kenya thwarted by judge from openDemocracy
ā¦reminiscent of the exploitative African colonial project that was āpremised on extracting profits from Kenya with no (or minimal) investments and that would enable them to extract profits. Itās 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
The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture.
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 itās 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
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.
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 donāt 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 donāt work: The problem doesnāt 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 ātoo loud,ā those kind officers will happily kill Black people who look like a possible inconvenience.
12:02 ā Thu 16 February 2023
If women want any rights more than theyāve got, why donāt they just take them, and not be talking about it?
8:44 ā Fri 17 February 2023
Does anybody know of a best-practice for multiple #fediverse accounts? Iām thinking about trying out #Bookwyrm, for example, but it seems weird to split up identity that way.
Iāve rarely gotten useful responses from asking for information on social media, but I guess weāll see how this goes.
If you havenāt already seen it, Bookwyrm tracks reading and enables associated activities. It seems interesting, especially as I continue reading novels, but I donāt 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 GOPās Culture Wars Would Be Laughable If They Werenāt Deadly from OtherWords
In a speech on the House floor, Omar rightly pointed out that the Republican attack was about āwho gets to be an American.ā
I canāt really add to this.
12:07 ā Fri 17 February 2023
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.
Bonus
Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didnāt 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 theyāre dutifully spewing it out in Congress from Daily Kos
Republicans are so, so thankful to Musk. Not just because heās thrown the rules out the window and made Twitter a welcoming place for white supremacy, antisemitism, and calls to violence. But because heās feeding these conspiracies to them, one goopy spoonful at a time.
All this money and time spent, because conservatives donāt 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 didnāt 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 donāt need me to point out that I love these initiativesā¦
Follow Me
If you appreciate this sort of content, then you should probably follow me on Mastodon to get it as early as possibleā¦and feel free to reply, at least to the good stuff.
Credits: Header image is Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week from a manuscript drafted during the Carolingian Dynasty.
By commenting, you agree to follow the blog's Code of Conduct and that your comment is released under the same license as the rest of the blog.
Tags: linkdump mastodon socialmedia week