Frogs and Ravens

Healthy Frustration

If nothing else, the primary run between Clinton and Obama has, I believe, been useful for opening dialogs among progressives about sexism, racism, and other forms of embedded privilege.

I'm not going to deny that it has been ugly.  Some "progressive" sites have proven to be anything but, instead being rabid partisans defending their candidate against all comers, as if that candidate is the second coming.  The disconnect between the means and the stated ends of getting a "progressive" (which in this case gets reduced down to "not Bush" or "not the GOP") candidate in office is shocking and brutal.

Yet it also seems to me that I'm seeing something good emerge from the fray - at least on blogs like Shakesville.  What I am seeing is a massive cluesticking of progressives about the extent of their privilege, about where their blind spots lie, and so on.  I see men being startled to realize that, yes, they are feminists.  I see straight people learning to see homophobia - and learning to respect the experience and wisdom of their GLBT allies when those allies call out homophobia that these straight progressives don't see.  And I see white people learning to admit their privilege and racist blinkers, and to listen when people of color explain what they see.

I generally think I'm pretty good on the feminism thing, and on the GLBT issues, and with issues of classism, or ageism, or fat-phobia.  I am learning, however, that I have much farther to go in terms of racism, particularly the racism that is directed towards black men and women.

It's NOT the Technology, Stupid

Consider the following statements, and see if you can guess what might go in the blanks:

_____a_____ is encouraging people to be rude and selfish.

_____b_____ makes it possible for anonymous people to get away with being mean toward people they've never met.

Before _____c______ people only met each other through family networks and this sort of invasion of privacy didn't happen.

People who _____d______ have no sense of personal dignity and privacy.  They let just anyone into their lives.

Or consider these:

People who _____e______ should not be surprised when total strangers bother them.  What did they expect?

It is inevitable that if you ____f_____, bad things like are going to happen to you.  I know; they happened to me.

It's part of the nature of _____g_____ that things like anonymous attacks, rudeness, harassment, and invasion of privacy happen.  People who ______h_______ shouldn't complain; they knew this when they _____i______.

All people who ______j______ shouldn't be surprised when bad things happen; those sort of things are the point of ______k______, aren't they?

Ready for some answers?

#1 on Google Meme

Here's a new meme (generation string: The World's Fair --> Pharyngula -->  Creek Running North):  Find five search strings that return your blog as the number one hit.

Here are mine:

Frogs and ravens (or ravens and frogs, frogs ravens, ravens frogs, etc.)

Post-academic stress syndrome

Herb sweater

Dog-paddling upstream

The rushing of squirrel feet

Unread Books Meme

Pica offers up the following meme:

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users (as of yesterday). Bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand.

(It's sort of embarassing to realize how many of these works I haven't read, though I can console myself with the thought that when I do read a book, the vast majority of the time I finish it. I think it comes down to not being the sort of person who reads popularly acclaimed book-club books, and to not being interested in most of the classics; if I didn't read them in high school or college, I'm unlikely to have been interested in them on my own. And, of course, this list says little about how well I actually remember the books that I did read...)

Animeme

Well, I was contemplating writing another piece responding to Janisse Ray's essay (theme: the joys of being "in the choir") but then Chris Clarke tagged me with a meme (eyeroll) so I guess I'll do that instead (fetching groan).

(It's a pretty good one. jo(e), pica, you're up! And anyone else who'd like to do it!)

Photo Albums

If you haven't noticed them, look at the pictures in the first column. Each of them goes with a photo album. Click on the picture to see more.

I've recently added new ones, so please, do go check them out.

FYI

If you're a fan of Shakesville, the reason they're down right now is that they're fighting a massive denial-of-service attack. Wolfram is providing some tabs on it; the old Shakespeare's Sister site is another possible source of info.

Update: Mustang Bobby is also keeping us informed.

Expanding the Ecosystem

I am really enjoying the discussion we've been having about this new ecological, nonhierarchical mode! I hope that you will continue to leave your comments on the preceeding post - I am going to be away from the 'net for a few days, so my participation will be sporadic, but I don't want this conversation to die while I'm away.

To this end...

Thinking Blogger

I'm really flattered.  Two people have named me a Thinking Blogger this week!

Thank you, Jill and Christine!

Now, one of the things you have to do if nominated is list five bloggers who you consider "thinking bloggers," or, put another way, thoughtful bloggers who make you think.

Here are some that came to mind, in no particular order:

Beth of Cassandra Pages

Chris Clarke of Creek Running North

jo(e) of writing as jo(e)

Melissa McEwan of Shakesville (There are a lot of other great bloggers sharing this group blog with Melissa, btw.)

Lance Mannion of Lance Mannion

Twisty Faster of I Blame the Patriarchy

(Whoops.  That's six.  Oh well!)

Updated to add:  Christine made the very good point that, being nominated twice, I ought to be able to nominate 10 people, so I'm in fact four short.  So...

digby of Hullabaloo

butuki of Laughing Knees (he doesn't write frequently, but always well)

Nancy of Nancy Nall. com

Orion (this isn't a blog, or a blogger - but the writing and production values of this publication are so uniformly excellent that I can't recommend it highly enough)

Number 11:  who would YOU nominate, if you had the chance?  Feel free to add your own nominations in the comments!

(Thinking Blogger participation rules below the fold.)

Time Flying

It has now been four years since I first started blogging!