forthwritten

Have had a relatively productive couple of days. The other day I went to a careers thing and afterwards networked like a good little postgraduate. This basically meant sitting around in Mooch with a couple of other postgraduates, being cynical and eating chips.

Yesterday I corrected 10,999 words of early twentieth century court cases. I did learn what a "long pull" was though - giving someone more than an Imperial measure of beer. I still don't exactly understand why getting a pint and a gill of beer rather than just a pint is a problem. Have concluded that I am not cut out to be a lawyer.

Anyway, links!

Naomi Klein on how corporate branding has taken over America

Bit of a messy article and I'm not quite sure if the links she makes work for me, but I don't disagree with her conclusion:

What the election and the global embrace of Obama's brand proved decisively is that there is a tremendous appetite for progressive change – that many, many people do not want markets opened at gunpoint, are repelled by torture, believe passionately in civil liberties, want corporations out of politics, see global warming as the fight of our time, and very much want to be part of a political project larger than themselves.

Those kinds of transformative goals are only ever achieved when independent social movements build the ­numbers and the organisational power to make muscular demands of their elites. Obama won office by ­capitalising on our profound nostalgia for those kinds of social movements. But it was only an echo, a memory. The task ahead is to build movements that are – to borrow an old Coke slogan – the real thing.

Through that article, I found out about Absolut No Label, in which a brand of vodka

challenge[s] labels and prejudice about sexual identity. There are too many labels associated with the LGBT-community and with this initiative we want to find a way around them. We have launched a naked bottle with no label and no logo, to manifest the idea that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters

I don't know, I just feel quite weird about a big brand hosting those kind of discussions, and it's hard not to see this as a clever marketing ploy to seem cool and edgy (and, of course, lure in the pink pound). I think I still distrust brands who try these sort of publicity stunts - I'm always wondering why they're doing it, what's in it for them.

If Haiti is to 'build back better' and help not hinder Haiti both discuss how to help Haiti. The Red Cross blog discusses how unwanted donations can be both indirectly and directly life-threatening:

First let me debunk a couple of myths, starting with the principle that “anything is better than nothing”. Trust me, it’s not. Relieving suffering should be guided solely by need and not what people have to donate. Humanitarian aid should also ‘do no harm’. Quite a lot of harm is done when unwanted and unneeded fresh food items rot in piles at the airports and seaports, stopping medicines and blankets getting through.

Why I Think RaceFail Was The Bestest Thing Evar for SFF

The way I see it, RaceFail was the big thaw for the SFF field. Fans of color, and white fans who were tired of the old ways, literally heated things up with an outpouring of long-pent rage. That fury was utterly necessary, because it shocked the whole genre enough to make it pay attention. Without that, SFF would have remained resistant — frozen — against such radical ideas as why are all these futuristic stories full of white people, when they’re already a minority on the planet now? and y’know, maybe erasing the brown people from your fantasy continent, or making them allegorical orcs, is a bad idea.

She Pop: Madonna Is Your Dorm Room Poster, And Further Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

When Madonna takes on Catholicism and Christianity, she's subversive in a way that betrays an understanding you can only get by growing up Catholic and/or in a culture where Christianity is privileged. When she takes on "Eastern spirituality" (huh? There's only one of those now?) it's less about commenting on it than claiming it for herself, whether or not she understands it at all. And she doesn't, apparently, so it winds up an offensive mess.

Kind of wish I'd been able to articulate this when Ray of Light was released; it's not that I think it's wrong to comment on religions, it's just that you tend to have to be intimately familiar with them to say something interesting.

Finally, Airbrushed for change makes me laugh. A lot. My gang of reprobates have designs on Tory posters...

Ads by anti gay marriage organisations have appeared on LiveJournal. There is more at this post in unfunnybusiness and fairestcat has more analysis of why you should care even if you don't personally see ads. And, of course, an alternative view of LJ's role in it. LJ is taking prompt action to get this ad off.

It was Blogging Against Disablism Day yesterday. trouble has two round-ups (set 1, set 2) and a and a post about disability in Torchwood. I also liked lindra's post about deafness and intersectionality and aedh's post about why "I don't think of you as disabled" means denying hir experience.

Going on about Dreamwidth/LiveJournal: this is a really detailed guide to LJ history and controversies and I like liv's "why Dreamwidth?" post. Personally, I'll be reading my friendslist on LJ but I'd rather direct comments to my DW account so they're all in one place.

Anyway, yesterday was French Paul's French night, then a group of us went into town and ended up in Popworld. What happens in Popworld stays in Popworld, but why oh why have I not yet learnt that red wine and Corona is a horrible combination? Today I have been enthusiastically aided in procrastination by the chaplaincy and had some good conversations with people (I thought one of them was a nice boy; turns out he's heard of encyclopaedia dramatica) including reminiscing about the internet during dial-up. I have also been consuming epic amounts of caffeine and have a small fanclub in the chaplaincy because I can work the coffee machine (seriously people - water, filter, ground coffee, it's not hard but your adoration and blatant caffeine addiction is endearing).

Also, I have two Dreamwidth invites. I'll need an email address so I can send it; if you'd rather pm/email me with your email address that's cool. I'd rather give codes to people who'd like to use the service.