The Other Science Fiction: A Response to Devilstower
My very first diary is inspired by Devilstower's column, "Science Fiction You Should Be Reading." I've been a sci-fi fan for over 40 years, and my experience of the genre is influenced not only by my...
View ArticleAmericans should “expect to live the way Israeli citizens do"
At least that's what Special Agent (retired) Paul Andrews, M.S. wants us to believe, and what he teaches his students as a part-time faculty member in the Criminal Justice Department of St. Joseph's...
View ArticleReflections on Right Wing Rhetoric #1: The Talismanic Word
For the last several years I've been collecting material for a book project on right wing rhetoric and thought. I figure DK is a good place to share some of my reflections as my work progresses. I'm...
View ArticleTerrorist Attacks on American Soil: Right Wing Rhetoric #2
More analysis of right wing rhetoric: This time, a reaction to the Perino-Giuliani-Rove-Cheney-Kristol Axis of Lies, and the insane claim that no terrorist attacks took place on American soil during...
View ArticleWomen Write Military Science Fiction
While I always enjoy Devilstower's sci-fi lists, and agree with most of his recommendations, the women sci-fi writers I read are often absent from them. Consider this post a literary supplement from a...
View ArticleIn the Wake of Memorial Day: Honor Antiwar Vets
An essay about fake vets, politics, and popular culture, from the perspective of an activist who has worked with antiwar vets for decades.
View ArticleWhy there's no such thing as "Reverse Racism"
Tim Wise just wrote a great diary on right wing racism. As usual, though, in the comments some folks started claiming that white folks could be the victims of "racism" too. Even though I thought, from...
View Article"Reverse Racism" charged used to undermine NAACP
A few days ago I wrote an diary explaining why "Reverse Racism" doesn't exist, and describing how the term is propagated by the right wing to advance its racist agenda. Some folks argued hotly against...
View ArticleRight Wing Scholars and their Work
Is there anyone else out there doing research on the work produced by right wing scholars (or pseudoscholars) in their field?
View ArticleTake Back the Media -- Propagandizing Right
Given our shellacking in the recent elections, it's clear we need to rethink our media policy. If the Republicans can get elected on hate and obstructionism, then we're obviously not getting our...
View ArticleDemocratic Media Strategy
Yesterday's diary was a general overview of Democratic media needs. Today's is more specific, and suggests three concrete projects we could undertake to address the current Republican dominance of...
View ArticleOK, we've been screwed. But what's next?
After reading La Feminista's diary, which sums up quite well my feelings about the current state of the Democratic party, I was motivated to sum up my own reaction to the betrayal of the progressive...
View ArticlePlaying the Race Card
I was reading Adept2's diary this morning, and was appalled at the number of white progressives who use the phrase "playing the race card" as if it's a legitimate thing to say. Ever. And this was far...
View ArticleThe "You're a Racist If You Critique Obama" Meme
I wrote a diary the other day because I was disturbed at the regular use of the phrase "playing the race card" by a few white progressives who were claiming, loud and long, that they were under attack...
View ArticleWhite Privilege & Hyperbole: Historical Context & Reflection
I doubt there is a liberal or a progressive -- black or white -- who voted for Obama, who does not have at least some level of disagreement with the President's policies and actions. There are probably...
View Article"Blood Libel" -- Another Right Wing Effort to Twist and Corrupt Language
Sarah Palin's use of "blood libel" is not only inappropriate and offensive, as Jewish groups across the nation are pointing out. It's also part of a deliberate right wing strategy to stake claim to...
View ArticleWhite/Het/Male Privilege, Identity Politics & Progressivism
A refrain that I've heard again and again -- primarily from white, or male, or heterosexual progressives in response to identity-based organizing -- is that "identity politics" is counter-productive,...
View ArticleAnnouncing the White Privilege Working Group
I've just formed a "White Privilege Working Group ," and I'd like to invite members of DK4 who are interested in the following:1. Exploring White Privilege as a concept, including dealing with it...
View ArticleRight Wing Rhetoric
Hi, folks...I've created a group to discuss "Right Wing Rhetoric," and hope it will become a gathering place for those interested in combating conservative rhetorical & propaganda/PR strategies. If...
View ArticleRacism & Sexism in DK4 Tagging
If we're progressives we have to actually act and think like progressives, and I'd like to point out that the DK4 Main Tags are absolutely regressive in nature. In the beta they were called "Master...
View ArticleCollecting Personal Stories of White Privilege
I'd like to start a diary series that collects personal narratives about white privilege, both from the perspective of those who have it, and from the perspective of those who don't possess it, but see...
View ArticleDissecting Right Wing Rhetoric - Diary Series
I'd like to invite contributions to a diary series focused on dissecting right wing rhetoric. Ideally, I'd like to publish at least one diary a week that examines current catch phrases, memes, and...
View ArticleWhite Privilege Diary Series #1 - White Feminist Privilege in Organizations
Over the last thirty years I've worked with a variety of white-dominated feminist organizations that have expressed a wish to "diversify." While feminist organizations differ in structure and intent,...
View ArticleWhite Privilege Working Group Guidelines
Welcome to the White Privilege Working Group! (WPWG, for short)This diary lays out some guidelines for participation. I am always open to suggestions about how to make the guidelines more fair and...
View ArticleBUILDING DIVERSE ORGANIZATIONS: Part 1.1 - How Organizations Are Founded
In the last diary I wrote, I talked about my experiences working with white feminist organizations who claimed to want to diversify. It was a sad story. But the story doesn't always have to end that...
View ArticleDaily Kos? It couldn't be a whiter shade of pale.
After reading the purge lists and the commentary, I've decided to join the Criminal Injustice Boycott.
View ArticleWar on Christmas: The Musical (high bandwidth!)
Here's a musical medley for Kossacks who actually wish that the Republican fear of a "War on Christmas" wasn't more winger insanity, but the real deal. There's something about the insistence that we...
View ArticleRace & Gender Studies: Expertise Counts
This diary was provoked by yet another stumbling attempt to re-invent the wheel by yet another person who feels perfectly entitled to start a conversation on race without doing any homework.
View Article1 in 5 women in the U.S. have been raped: the war against women
The CDC just released the National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey for 2010. The figures are stunning:35.6% of women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an...
View ArticleNobody I Know Thinks of Themselves As White
With all the discussions going on about race, this is a meme that I see coming up again and again: But nobody I know thinks of themselves as white! I'm Dutch-Irish! I'm Norwegian! I'm a proud...
View ArticleWant Milk With Your Racist Circumcision Cake?
Sweden's minister of culture, Adelsohn Liljeroth, who claims to be an antiracist, was caught on video in an egregious demonstration of racist stupidity. An enormous cake decorated to look like a...
View ArticleWhat's the Matter with Sexy Ads?
Half-naked women in bikinis! Olympic athletes montaged into soft porn! Ads that promise the girl along with the car! What's the problem with objectification, anyway?
View ArticleSelling Stupid Men: Advertising and the Myth of the Incompetent Male
"But advertising exploits men, too! Look how stupid they are in so many commercials! That's as bad as objectifying women!" Yes, it's equally bad. But for the women. Not for the men. And here's why....
View ArticlePTSD: The Futile Search for the 'Quick Fix'
A couple of weeks ago I was asked by Scientific American to be a Guest Blogger on the subject of PTSD. The result is now online, and I hope you'll have time to take a look. Summary is below the...
View Article16 August 2013: PTSD News Roundup, with commentary
Google News sends me a notification each day with all the day's stories related to PTSD. Usually I just read them and scream, or cry, or hit my forehead with my hand. But for the last few days I've...
View Article17 August 2013, PTSD News Roundup: Bad Science edition
Sometimes the names of the trauma-focused therapies that folks come up with make me shudder all by themselves, they're so weirdly Orwellian. That's the case for "reprogramming therapy," of which...
View Article18 August 2013 PTSD News Roundup: Therapy Dogs, TV tropes, homelessness,...
It wasn't genocide! It was PTSD!The story that wins the prize for the Most Loathsome Example of Exploiting Sympathy for PTSD to Excuse Egregious Behavior is... "Excessive drinking, PTSD plagued Thomas...
View Article20 August 2013, PTSD and Trauma News Roundup
A couple of folks complained that all I seemed to cover was combat-related PTSD. That's because almost all the PTSD-related news stories that Google serves up are about that population. So, to try...
View Article22 August 2013, PTSD & Trauma News Roundup
There was PTSD news about more than veterans today! This news roundup includes a discussion of the racism of RoseChasm's widely read CNN article about her experience of sexual harassment in India; an...
View ArticlePrejudice, Lies and Memory Tapes: How to Stop Trusting Yourself and Learn to...
This is an essay directed at allies--all allies, in all struggles for justice and equity. My presumption is that you want to be good allies, and that you earnestly believe in the causes for which you...
View ArticleRacial and gendered microaggressions and hypersensitivity, or one last straw...
Sexism and racism (and homophobia and classism and ableism—add your own identity oppression here) are so woven into the fabric of our daily life that that the barrage wears even the most open-hearted...
View ArticleTaking the Vote Away from White People: Tea Party Populism and Elite Intentions
About 30 years ago I wrote about the disfranchisement campaigns after the Civil War and during the Populist movement of the 1880s-1890s. Leafing through some old papers, I realized that the topic was...
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