Diversity != Equality
Posted on August 28th, 2009 at 4:13 pm by Steve

Walter Benn Michaels writes a trenchant analysis of race, racism, class, and classism in the London Review of Books. For those of you who won’t read the whole thing (but please, do!), an excerpt follows below. I take one of his chief points to be the contention that our attempt to address racism, sexism, and homophobia distract us from the crucial need to focus on economic injustice and inequality in our society.

[I]t would be a mistake to think that because the US is a less racist, sexist and homophobic society, it is a more equal society. In fact, in certain crucial ways it is more unequal than it was 40 years ago… [E]ven if we succeeded completely in eliminating the effects of racism and sexism, we would not thereby have made any progress towards economic equality. A society in which white people were proportionately represented in the bottom quintile (and black people proportionately represented in the top quintile) would not be more equal; it would be exactly as unequal. It would not be more just; it would be proportionately unjust.

An obvious question, then, is how we are to understand the fact that we’ve made so much progress in some areas while going backwards in others. And an almost equally obvious answer is that the areas in which we’ve made progress have been those which are in fundamental accord with the deepest values of neoliberalism, and the one where we haven’t isn’t. We can put the point more directly by observing that increasing tolerance of economic inequality and increasing intolerance of racism, sexism and homophobia – of discrimination as such – are fundamental characteristics of neoliberalism. Hence the extraordinary advances in the battle against discrimination, and hence also its limits as a contribution to any left-wing politics. The increased inequalities of neoliberalism were not caused by racism and sexism and won’t be cured by – they aren’t even addressed by – anti-racism or anti-sexism.

My point is not that anti-racism and anti-sexism are not good things. It is rather that they currently have nothing to do with left-wing politics, and that, insofar as they function as a substitute for it, can be a bad thing. American universities are exemplary here: they are less racist and sexist than they were 40 years ago and at the same time more elitist. The one serves as an alibi for the other: when you ask them for more equality, what they give you is more diversity. The neoliberal heart leaps up at the sound of glass ceilings shattering and at the sight of doctors, lawyers and professors of colour taking their place in the upper middle class. Whence the many corporations which pursue diversity almost as enthusiastically as they pursue profits, and proclaim over and over again not only that the two are compatible but that they have a causal connection – that diversity is good for business. But a diversified elite is not made any the less elite by its diversity and, as a response to the demand for equality, far from being left-wing politics, it is right-wing politics.

The Gateway Website
Posted on August 25th, 2009 at 6:47 pm by dr.hoo

Earl - The Druggie Eyeball
I know you’re all curious about the effects of drugs. Here’s a totally realistic simulation…

NOTE: Do NOT consume any drugs before viewing this website.

SF = CandyLand ?!
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 11:17 pm by Steve

Apparently, Lombard Street was turned into CandyLand for a day.

Typedia!
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 11:07 pm by Steve

Looks interesting.

LOLfrankz!
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 10:58 pm by Steve

What’s this?

A woman at Congressman Barney Frank’s Town Hall forum on health care reform referred to President Obama’s “Nazi plan” and asked Frank why he supported this “Nazi plan.” In his response, he snapped, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.”

See it below on Larry King Live:

This One’s for Josh
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 10:51 pm by Steve

Yes, that’s Will Smith playing NES, circa ten million years ago.

“Excuse me stewardess; I speak JiveHebrew”
Posted on August 24th, 2009 at 10:38 pm by Steve

I’m looking for smart-alecky remarks on this video, which is apparently a group of rabbis on a charter flight above Israel, blowing and chanting in an attempt to ward off the Swine Flu, which they refer to as the H1N1 flu because pigs are unclean. Maybe something like, “In the unlikely event of a pandemic, shofars will drop from the panel above your head. Place the shofar in your mouth and continue to pray normally.”

I’m sure you can do better.

(BTW – I love the guy in 3C who’s sitting there reading quietly.)

Nice Work If You Can Get It
Posted on August 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm by Steve

Rate that banks pay the Federal Reserve to borrow money for up to 90 days, “No Questions Asked”: 0.5%.

Rate that banks pay depositors for regular savings accounts: 0.05%.

Rate that banks charge borrowers for borrowing money with many “questions asked”: 5.25%.

Nice work, if you can get it.

P. K. Winsome
Posted on August 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 am by Steve

Who but Tim Meadows could conclude a routine by saying of Adolf Hitler, “See? It turns out he wasn’t such a bad guy after all!”? (Comes around the 7:10 mark in the video below.)

SF Crimespotting Is Now Live
Posted on August 20th, 2009 at 11:36 am by Steve

I’m a huge fan of Stamen Design out of San Francisco. One of the things they excel at is data-driven map presentations. And SF Crimespotting (pictured above) is a terrific example thereof!

I do a lot of map-based presentation, and I’ve leaned heavily on their work in the past (particularly their open-source project ModestMaps).

For those of you in the East Bay, you might also check out their original work in this genre, Oakland Crimespotting.

Stay safe!

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