From Adbusters:
Because I am one of the millions of people against the war;
And because America has made it clear that it won’t listen to world opinion;
And because the symbols of America are its corporation and their brands;
I hereby pledge to boycott Brand America, from the moment the war begins and to the best of my ability until the empire learns to listen. [Sign here]
The anti-choice legislation is beginning. Firstup: ban on “partial birth” abortion. My favorite commentary on it is when opponents argued that this puts women’s health at risk, Santorum argues that “it addresses the health issue by declaring that the procedure is never necessary for health reasons.”
It’s been a while since i took a psychological test… Sure enough, i’m a:
Which Enemy of the Christian Church Are You?
When i first signed up with Friendster, it was fairly small and i didn’t know anyone on it. Since then, thanks to so many crazy blogs, it has blossomed into this intense social network that fascinates me on every personal and research level.
Of course, i look at it and the first question that comes to mind is whether or not folks who are high self-monitors will feel comfortable using it. Your friends are all equally accessible to anyone that you are friends with (or are friends with them recursively). What does this mean for the classic gay man who is closeted at work? Would he have two different profiles? Would he not accept friendships from folks from one community?
::bounce:: Social Network Fragments is discussed in Steven Johnson’s most recent column for Discover Magazine. Of course, my excitement is that we are discussed in relation to Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. This makes up for the blatant reminder that my work can be used for corporate control….
Not surprisingly, i’m pretty anti-war. In fact, i’m utterly horrified by it. All the same, every time i show up to a protest or participate in the mass gatherings of anti-war folks, i find myself so disenchanted by the far left. I realize that we all have different reasons for being against the war, but i despise crowds and really can’t stand having folks in my face about every cause that the left supports simply because people are out to be anti-war. In fact, i can’t cope with showing up to a protest and being yelled at… it doesn’t help me feel like a part of a coalition or otherwise build up the strength to help me fight the system. It turns me off, and i tend to go shopping.
Thankfully, a friend of mine realized that many of her friends were uninformed, avoiding or otherwise disenchanted so she brought together a large group of friends to start talking issues. This is great because it is truly allowing me to start getting involved again, because i feel like i have a purpose and a way to help. As one of the resident geeks, i’ve set up a new blog for all of our random listserv babbles and links…
The San Diego Zoo is sooooo cool. I really want to curl up with a panda bear. And oh my goodness are giraffes elegant and beautiful. We wandered around the zoo all day, staring at animals and then people like they were yet another species of animals to observe… only they were wearing American flag t-shirts and other preppy Southern California wears. It was quite a trip. Plus, we did sun salutations on the beach every night. Ahh… so good. Of course, San Diego was *weird*
Currently, there is a lawsuit working its way up the circuit as to whether or not the identity of a chatroom poster should be revealed. Not surprisingly, this theoretically pseudonymous poster wrote damning things about someone and that someone is pissed. And not surprisingly, someone knows who this person is (namely, their ISP provider, AOL). The defense is likening this situation to Tom Paine’s pamphlet distribution, but even that comparison brings up the important question of this case: what kind of speech exists in chatrooms?
I would argue that most posters think they’re babbling in the same fashion as they would on a street corner. Those who are being slandered realize that this is not the case since that record is a bit more permanent (ah yes, sticky data). Do we compare to front lawn babblings? To early press pamphleting? To newspaper slander? What will this mean for how the law sees cyberspeech? And will the law ever change the individuals’ perception of their own speech?
My best friend came to town this weekend and conveniently reminded me how wonderful life is and should be treated. And then she gave me the quintessential opportunity for absurdity! Her grad school situation has been up in the air and she realized that she should go to San Diego to find out whether or not that would be the school for her. In the process, we realized that we could change her flight to a later date, hop in the rental car (since Pierre is still in face lift mode) and rush down to San Diego to see UCSD, the beach and the zoo. Not a bad life we lead, eh?