Social Psychosis
I’m no Luddite, but the fervor over the new iPhone is making me a little fearful.
Numerous people with whom I have casual contact feel absolutely no shame in announcing their unbridled excitement over the prospect of getting a new one, to upgrade their barely-a-year-old models. These aren’t people who I normally associate with techno-lust. My dept head… an artist friend … a college student … etc.
I’d say this is a true psychosis, but then the pharmaceutical companies would have to come in and “fix” the problem.
Furthermore, what’s the obsession with the white model? I’ve also seen various crying faces reacting to the unavailability of the white model for pre-order. 
Oh, humanity. You do make me fearful. Constantly.
p.s. This commencement speech [the link takes you to an archived version of a transcript] from David Foster Wallace in 2005 makes a good case for searching for some ground in the midst of ridiculousness and tragedy, notwithstanding his 2008 suicide … Perhaps bloggers already knew this?
BP: A Monster with Many Tales
So, let’s agree that we’re all pretty much united by fear and disgust over the BP oil spill. While acknowledging that, I’m becoming increasingly aware that we’re favoring the tale of corporate greed over the tale of environmental disaster. We want someone to blame, and, yes BP deserves blame, but does that have to be the angle through which we approach all national coverage of the story? Focusing on this as a business failure keeps it from prompting humanitarian outreach. It makes everyone else into victims. We want to tag this all on the evil monster that can be lashed a hundred thousand times with a barbed whip. Congress wants an enemy they can fine. And then it’ll all be better? We can just mutter under our breath curses at BP?
Part of me also innocently [read: having done no research] wonders whether this disaster could have occurred with any number of oil companies. If you look at a map of the area, it is carved up among companies with similar interests. Focusing on BP’s guilt is smoke and mirrors that detracts from our collective guilt.
I think this is an example of why studying narrative still matters. We want stories with villains. We don’t want hopelessness. In order to assuage the myriad other meanings that might rush in to fill the void, we bandage it up focusing on the wimpy bandages rather than the wounds.
(Granted, this is also a story of the company controlling the narrative, but we’re complicit in making it a story about BP.)
Scientific American Man
I have childhood memories of my grandfather’s large collection of Scientific American magazines, dating back to 1917. My mother eventually convinced my father that storing them in the garage was not the best use of that space, so those delightful drawings and earth-shattering discoveries are long gone from my grasp. Instead, I’m left with the current Scientific American, which, apparently, doesn’t much like science. Or, at least, it aims to put the “man” in it.
In true credit to the fact that putting a woman in charge doesn’t make something feminist, the publication is now under the editorial eye of Mariette DiChristina. I don’t know how she plays into the mess that is columnist Jesse Bering, the recipient of the venomous waves I’m emitting from my mind.
I really do like that he purports to take a new approach to science, integrating methods that the rigors of science have worked hard to crush. Much of this is the work of feminism, arguing that there isn’t one absolute truth or dominant narrative, and to insist that there is one is to crush alternatives. That said, it boggles my mind how he can be so hateful towards women.
He’s currently under fire for his evolutionary psychologist’s perspective on women and their periods, but, while he’s reaching into territory that might intrigue and bring more women to science, he does it an way that reinforces the “chicks need not apply” mantra. This is not our story. I just want to point to the smart responses that this has elicited, most notably from Elysia.
I get it.. this guy is an attention seeker, whose science is wacky and biased, but the question persists: why does he write for Scientific American?
Outfit Panic
I left the house wearing one thing, got outside, turned around, and changed. This is outfit panic. This is my life.
A Few Things You Can Do To Make Me More Comfortable At Your Wedding
Wedding Fest 2009-2010 has ended!
- Give everyone a plus one, or no one a plus one. For Christ’s sake, don’t make me show up and keep answering the question “Where’s your girlfriend?!” from surprised wedding-goers with “She wasn’t invited.” Your wedding is about romantic love (everyone gets a plus-one), friendship (no one gets a plus-one), or family (please, don’t even invite me.) I know, I know. Money, space, blah, shut the fuck up. You’re throwing a wedding with 125 people at it. My plus-one isn’t going to break the bank. But taking off everyone’s boyfriend you don’t REALLY like but tolerate might save you some cash.
- Recognize that it sucks that you can get married and gay people can’t. I used to fucking hate when people put that note in their program, and then one of my best friends did it, and the language of it worked. It’s not that hard. You are exercising a right not everyone has. Deal.
- Do not give me too much alcohol and not enough food during the cocktail hour. I will be drunk. I will want to be inappropriate. Just “run out” of drinks for a few minutes.
- If you’re getting married at a weird time, tell us how to dress. That way no one looks ridiculous except on purpose.
- Do not force all the women you perceive as single to catch the bouquet. Sometimes I try for it, others I don’t. Don’t make me feel like shit if I want to ignore you. Also if you play “Single Ladies” more ladies will become single for the bouquet toss. And please, do not toss the damned garter. Let dudes catch the bouquet.
- Listen to the language of your ceremony. All traditional weddings are performed saying “this man and this woman.” How about “these people”? Using the traditional language is constant reminder during the ceremony that this is a heterosexual institution, and us dykes and faggots aren’t welcome in it. It actually hurts to listen to it.
Eye do declare
This article on finding the Afghan woman who graced the covers of National Geographic in 1985 gets at so much of the weirdness the National Geographic legacy.
She didn’t want her picture taken, yet her image has become emblematic of ethnic conflict. Her personal story unknown, and unimportant.
Even now, when the magazine goes back to try to fill in the story, she cannot speak it. It’s filled in by her brother.
She longs for the order of the Taliban days, even as she stands in for its wrongs to Western eyes.
It’s such an amazing example of orientalism, and how it’s still part of us.
Despite that, the image is arresting, and knowing her story is fascinating. I long to be fascinated, to fill in abstracts with knowing, even as my knowledge is invasive of her dignity.
I don’t know if it’s better or worse humanizing this image, since our attempt to fill in a story only emphases the gap between our framework and the possibility of knowing. The story itself breaks down into a tally of how she spends her days; her asthma; her timeline. Is that humanizing? Or is it the eyes?
Balkan reading list
I intend to update this with interesting information (blog entries, exhibitions, etc) relating to the Balkans. There will be a static link on the sidebar since this post will fall into the abyss of the archives.
International Relations
- Interview with Sule Kut, The Balkans Project (Feb 21, 2010). Discusses Turkey’s relationship to the Balkans, and re-frames the conception that the Balkans are inherently violent. Discusses the influence of the Ottoman empire as both civilizing and oppressive.
Art
Film
Not at Liberty. Divulge.
Yesterday Monette and I had a long, resource-filled, conversation about the evils of Target vs. the evils of Wal-Mart (after a surprise post from a mutual friend), and we determined that it really is a false binary. Both are evil, in different ways.
But that doesn’t stop me from wanting everything here.
I used to visit this stuff at the Liberty store in London, not knowing it was part of their distinctive history. Seriously. I want it all.
In a related note: Wal-Mart produce beating Whole Food’s? We are truly living in a world beyond good and evil.
In a fit of glory..
“When you get caught up in ramifications and implications, doesn’t the love get sucked out of the equation? Don’t logic and dogma evaporate in intimate, romantic situations? Or maybe it’s just that I have a new perspective… because Tuesday I got engaged.”
…yet another Jezebel editor gets engaged and immediately changes their outlook on silly things like dogma.
sez Wikipedia: Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.
On future jargon
I realized that my last few posts are kind of jargon-y. I’ll work on that.
I might even write another statement on jargon, because there aren’t enough out there. Maybe I’ll even set up a death match between jargon and neologisms.
And on narrative, and why I think it matters since everything that inspires me to write a little ditty on this site seems to be related to narrative in some fashion.
For now, I’m just writing an apology for taking shortcuts.
p.s. Speaking of which, I kind of love that today’s XKCD inspired the creation of a Facebook group: “If 1,000,000 people join this group, it will have 1,000,000 people in it.”
Honor Society
