| Jerusalem: A Radical Proposal (Posted to WeirdJews) |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|07:22 pm] |
Most liberal/moderate Americans as well as Jews, I think, seem more or less in favor of a two-state solution. I think I am, too. However, for some time now, I've had an idea about Jerusalem:
So long as it is the capital of Israel, the Palestinians will never be happy. If any amount of it gets taken away for a Palestinian capital, many Israelis would be unhappy, and if they lost it in its entirety - well, I can't see them doing that willingly.
So here's a stupid idea - stupid mostly because no one with power would let it happen.
Make Jerusalem an international city. Capital to neither side, and strictly secular in its government - and making absolutely sure that all faiths have access to their holy sites. Better to piss everyone off than to piss one side off.
Other than the obvious (it will piss people off really badly), can people tell me how many ways this idea is bad? I'm curious to air this in a Jewish forum, something I've never done before. |
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| Twitter for freedom |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|01:10 am] |
I never thought I'd get a Twitter account. But I've made a brief exception. Here's why, and also why I urge everyone reading this to follow suit:
Twitter is being used by Iranian protesters to organize their rallies. Naturally, the security forces are searching Twitter to find their quarry so they can do all manner of nasty things to them. One small way that those of us who are removed from the situation can help these protesters is to intentionally spam the Twitter search engine by having your account show up as Tehran-based, thus diluting the search results to make them less usable to authorities.
1. Open a Twitter account if you haven't already.
2. In your settings, change your location and timezone to Tehran. The timezone menu specifically denotes Tehran time, so this is easy.
3. Don't keep yourself private and thus unavailable to the search engine.
That's all you have to do, I think. Probably don't even have to tweet, although one tweet might help, just to get the search engine's attention. I am not going to make real use of my account, so no, I have no followers and never intend on having any. But I've felt pretty impotent over this amazing series of events in Iran, and this is something I, and all of you, can do to make a difference. It takes 5 minutes and might just literally save lives. So go for it. |
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| Grumble grumble |
[Jan. 8th, 2009|02:43 pm] |
I'm getting annoyed at the automated Facebook statuses that chronicle Hamas rocket launches or Gaza deaths. They are far too one-sided and they strip the deaths and events of context.
I've been spending the last few days listening to NPR and the BBC's "Have Your Say" while driving, and two things above all have angered me:
1. Talking about the right of Palestinians to defend themselves in response to the blockade. Yes, of course, everyone has the right to defend themselves. Trouble is, the blockade was imposed BECAUSE Hamas started firing rockets at Israel immediately after the withdrawal.
2. The one caller on the radio - and there are others out there - who blame Israel and others for not engaging Hamas when it was elected into power, for not, in the caller's words, giving Hamas "the benefit of the doubt." Right. The benefit of the doubt. The entire organization is built around the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state! They carried out suicide bombings and other attacks! Why should Israel try to negotiate with that agenda?
Now, to make it clear, I feel horrible for ordinary Gazans. They're caught in between a fundamentalist regime that provokes Israel to make itself look like a victim for PR benefit on the one hand and one of the world's most powerful militaries on the other. I also want to make clear that I understand that just as Israel withdrew from Gaza, they also set about expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank. I just really wish people would take time to understand the history and see that Israel has really been forced into doing what it is now doing, and that it is also unlikely any good will come of it, either. |
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| Why does this not raise ethical concerns? |
[Dec. 5th, 2008|11:16 am] |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05hm.html?_r=1&hp
In short, this man, who I had not previously heard of, had absolutely no long term memory beyond, they say, 20 seconds - except for vague outlines of his life and certain motor skills. They did lots of studies and experiments on him.
Was his informed consent really a possible thing? Did they even ask for it? I am disturbed by the fact that this obituary doesn't really mention that. There is only the one mention of him being upset at a researcher treating him as though he weren't a person. |
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| Grumble grumble |
[Dec. 2nd, 2008|02:39 pm] |
From a column in the Chicago Sun-Times:
"The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, now 73, is believed to be the reincarnation of the Buddha. But he is not a god."
Probably because I'm dating a Tibetan Buddhist, it really bugs me when the media messes this up. He is not considered a reincarnation of the Buddha! He's considered a reincarnation of a Bodhisatva! The difference? A Buddha is enlightened, and a Bodhisatva is attempting to become enlightened... which is something that we can all say for ourselves, in one way or another, no? |
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| Music request |
[Aug. 13th, 2008|09:16 pm] |
Anybody have "I Fought the Law?" I'd prefer The Clash, but I'll settle for Green Day.
Thanks! |
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| Opinion request |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|10:26 am] |
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The Supreme Court just rejected the death penalty for child rape; Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said that the punishment was disproportionate. Do you agree or disagree? Why? |
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| I am certainly pro-choice... but I don't like this. |
[Apr. 17th, 2008|03:59 pm] |
The following is pasted from the Yale University student newspaper. I will provide a link, but please read the plain text in this entry instead if possible; their site is complaining about bandwidth issues and I'd like to be a small part of the solution.
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URL:http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24513
For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse
Martine Powers
Staff Reporter
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008
Art major Aliza Shvarts '08 wants to make a statement.
Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.
The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts' project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock . saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.
But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for "shock value."
"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts said. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."
The "fabricators," or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.
Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself.
Art major Juan Castillo '08 said that although he was intrigued by the creativity and beauty of her senior project, not everyone was as thrilled as he was by the concept and the means by which she attained the result.
"I really loved the idea of this project, but a lot other people didn't," Castillo said. "I think that most people were very resistant to thinking about what the project was really about. [The senior-art-project forum] stopped being a conversation on the work itself."
Although Shvarts said she does not remember the class being quite as hostile as Castillo described, she said she believes it is the nature of her piece to "provoke inquiry."
"I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts said. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."
The display of Schvarts' project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts' self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.
Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said. Similar videos will be projected onto the walls of the room.
School of Art lecturer Pia Lindman, Schvarts' senior-project advisor, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Few people outside of Yale's undergraduate art department have heard about Shvarts' exhibition. Members of two campus abortion-activist groups . Choose Life at Yale, a pro-life group, and the Reproductive Rights Action League of Yale, a pro-choice group . said they were not previously aware of Schvarts' project.
Alice Buttrick '10, an officer of RALY, said the group was in no way involved with the art exhibition and had no official opinion on the matter.
Sara Rahman '09 said, in her opinion, Shvarts is abusing her constitutional right to do what she chooses with her body.
"[Shvarts' exhibit] turns what is a serious decision for women into an absurdism," Rahman said. "It discounts the gravity of the situation that is abortion."
CLAY member Jonathan Serrato '09 said he does not think CLAY has an official response to Schvarts' exhibition. But personally, Serrato said he found the concept of the senior art project "surprising" and unethical.
"I feel that she's manipulating life for the benefit of her art, and I definitely don't support it," Serrato said. "I think it's morally wrong."
Shvarts emphasized that she is not ashamed of her exhibition, and she has become increasingly comfortable discussing her miscarriage experiences with her peers.
"It was a private and personal endeavor, but also a transparent one for the most part," Shvarts said. "This isn't something I've been hiding."
The official reception for the Undergraduate Senior Art Show will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 25. The exhibition will be on public display from April 22 to May 1. The art exhibition is set to premiere alongside the projects of other art seniors this Tuesday, April 22 at the gallery of Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall on Chapel Street. |
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| Happy dance time |
[Aug. 16th, 2007|06:52 pm] |
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I learned stick shift! Got it down on the second try! Wahoo! |
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| Confessions of a history major |
[Aug. 11th, 2007|11:51 pm] |
Here is why I don't take anthropology classes at Earlham anymore. It's also a blast from the past - pasted from August 8, 2005's LJ entry...
"The formulation is sharp and important: to penetrate the veil while retaining its hallucinatory quality. It evokes and combines a twofold movement of interpretation in a combined action of reduction and revelation - the hermenautics of suspicion and of revelation in an act of mythic subversion inspired by the mythology of imperialism itself."
(The author is Michael Taussig. Xavid, show this to Patty if possible. And tell me how she reacts.) |
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| Life on the edge, circa 1820 |
[Aug. 9th, 2007|01:23 pm] |
Hale Farm lost power today - it happened before I got there. So nothing was working, of course - water, my boiler, so my wax was going to be a block. They had us set up lanterns, which resulted in me teaching someone how to use a lighter. Yes, me. Good old no smoking, no drinking, no excitement except the occasional slap in the face Dan, teaching someone how to use a lighter. Oooh! Who'd have thunk it?
And then they sent us home.
And I have tomorrow off.
Whoopie! |
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| Hello Humiliation! (Article pasted from the New York Times) |
[Aug. 7th, 2007|11:17 am] |
To Punish Thai Police, a Hello Kitty Armband
By SETH MYDANS
Published: August 7, 2007
BANGKOK, Aug. 7 — It is the pink armband of shame for wayward police officers, as cute as can be with a Hello Kitty face and a pair of linked hearts.
No matter how many ribbons for valor a Thai officer may wear, if he parks in the wrong place, or shows up late for work, or is seen dropping a bit of litter on the sidewalk, he can be ordered to wear the insignia.
“Simple warnings no longer work,” said Pongpat Chayaphan, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, who instituted the new humiliation this week.
“This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” he said. “Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps.”
Ten of the armbands have been prepared, but so far none have actually been issued, according to an officer who declined to give his name while discussing this sensitive topic.
“After this policy came out, the police are scared,” the officer said. “It will be very embarrassing to walk around with Hello Kitty on your arm.” It is a step down from the Crime Suppression Division’s official motto: “When you have no one to turn to, come to us.”
Mr. Pongpat, who has trained with the American Secret Service and the Canadian police, was promoted to head the division three months ago and says he wants to modernize his force, “even though we lack the highest technology, equipment and mind-set.”
An aide, Maj. Weeraprach Wonrat, said the chief was a believer in behavioral science and in the “broken window theory,” which holds that small changes can have large effects.
Pink armbands for misdemeanors are a start. Stronger measures could be next for corruption and extrajudicial killings.
An early experiment using armbands was not encouraging. Mr. Pongpat first tried using plaid ones. But instead of feeling shame, Major Weeraprach said, the officers took them home as souvenirs. The force still has only one of the ten it originally issued.
After that misfire, police commanders met again to consider strategy, he said, and agreed that Hello Kitty might work where tartan had failed.
So far, he said, there is no fallback plan. The department has not yet decided what punishment to impose if officers make off with their pink armbands as well. |
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| Random musing |
[Jul. 27th, 2007|06:15 pm] |
A quote from the New York Times concerning the dogfighting scandal of NFL footballer Michael Vick and the loss of the man's Nike endorsement contract:
''Nike is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick, and we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent,'' Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer said in a statement.
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I'm a meat-eater, I'll readily admit it... but Nike has no grounds here... their shoes are made of leather! What gives? Not to mention their sweatshops... ugh. |
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| You must all read this. Pasted from CNN. |
[Jul. 20th, 2007|12:38 am] |
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Wednesday evening overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The 357-72 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting. The outcome was never in doubt, unlike a fight two years ago when Republicans tried but failed to slash public broadcasting subsidies. The move to kill subsidies for the CPB, which make up about 15 percent of its budget, was launched by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado. "Taxpayers are being asked to pay more in taxes because Congress is not willing to make hard choices and balance our spending with our income," Lamborn said.
Congress created the corporation in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. The CPB distributes federal subsidies to PBS, National Public Radio and hundreds of public radio and television stations. "It is providing a voice for America, a noncommercial, independent voice that is sadly lacking. It isn't available any place else in the million channels on our cable networks," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon. The vote came as the House for a second day debated a huge spending bill funding job training, education and health programs. The underlying bill provides about $152 billion next year for programs whose budgets are set at lawmakers' discretion each year. Among the largest increases is $2.2 billion to finance an increase of $260 in the maximum Pell Grant for college students. |
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