And they say there's nothing good on TV...
[NSFW] ? Concrete TV -- bringing you an audiovisual mashup of pornography, drugs, violence, rock'n'roll, the 1980's, and humor** -- via NYC Public Access Channel 67, Friday nights at 1:30 AM.
Karaoke Rage
"After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué?s self-assuredness and [...] belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra?s version of ?My Way.? ?I used to like ?My Way,? but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,? he said. ?You can get killed." ?My Way? has reportedly generated so many outbursts of hostility that some bars in the Philippines now do not offer it on the karaoke menu. Is there something inherently provocative about "My Way" (YouTube link) that inspires violence among karaoke enthusiasts? Sources quoted in the NYT link suggest that the song's "'triumphalist' nature might contribute to [...] violence" as its "lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you?re somebody when you?re really nobody." Or is "karaoke rage" a predictable consequence of the fact that karaoke bars may bring together several socially combustible elements? Elsewhere in the world, karaoke song selections as varied as Dio's "Holy Diver" and John Denver's "Country Roads" have been implicated in rage-related crimes.
Buckfast Tonic Wine
One person?s helpful mood improver, though, is another?s worryingly effective stimulant. "The drink is 15 percent alcohol by volume, a bit stronger than most wines. Also, each 750 milliliter bottle contains as much caffeine as eight cans of Coke." Scottish authorities are trying to reduce alcoholism in the country, but consumers still love their Buckfast, which has been linked to violent behavior by some, and dismissed as merely a scapegoat by others. "'It goes straight to your head,' he said, 'but it?s not my cup of tea.' (Mr. Rooney noted that his cup of tea is half a bottle of vodka a night.)"
The Regime Reels
Kosoof?Arash Ashoorinia's Photography —including today's Ashura protests in Iran. The protests in Iran today on the Islamic holy Day of Ashura have been significant and violent, with multiple deaths reported including the nephew of opposition leader Mir-Hussein Moussavi. There are several sites live-blogging the events: Enduring America NY Times The Lede Iran News Now — [twitter feed] The Daily Nite Owl And video compilations: [some videos and images display brutal violence] Tehran Bureau Enduring America Opposition group Jaras Please note all sites are very busy today and may be slow to load.
?Of course there will be more Sodinis?there will be many more?
Point: At the end of October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, members of the men?s movement group RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting [2]) gathered on the steps of Congress to lobby against what they say are the suppressed truths about domestic violence: that false allegations are rampant, that a feminist-run court system fraudulently separates innocent fathers from children, that battered women?s shelters are running a racket that funnels federal dollars to feminists, that domestic-violence laws give cover to cagey mail-order brides seeking Green Cards, and finally, that men are victims of an unrecognized epidemic of violence at the hands of abusive wives." Counterpoint: Whatever minor successes men's groups may have achieved, the reality is that public policy on domestic violence in the U.S. is heavily dominated by feminist advocacy groups. For the most part, these groups embrace a rigid orthodoxy that treats domestic violence as male terrorism against women, rooted in patriarchal power and intended to enforce it. They also have a record of making grotesquely exaggerated, thoroughly debunked claims about an epidemic of violence against women--for instance, that battering causes more hospital visits by women every year than car accidents, muggings and cancer combined.
It's about improving the lives not only of women, but of men
Video discussion on being a man with, and The Seven P's of Men's Violence by, Michael Kaufman, International Director of the White Ribbon Campaign. Feminism Brings Benefits to All -- Men Included. Rethinking privilege?
Getting burned by packing heat
Does carrying a gun protect you from physical harm? Research by epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggests that carrying a gun makes one 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault, than someone not possessing a gun. Resisting increases one's odds of suffering harm even greater. "On average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. Although successful defensive gun uses are possible and do occur each year, the probability of success may be low for civilian gun users in urban areas."
Misdirection
"What do you get when you combine the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the first black president? A surge of white racial resentment, loosely disguised as a populist revolt."
"In my next conscious moment, I was dimly aware that I was facedown on the pavement. There was blood in my mouth."
"A Mugging on Lake Street" : John Conroy -- author and former staff writer of the Chicago Reader best known for his articles on police torture finds himself a victim of a "senseless" crime and is forced by circumstance to examine his own opinions about race, hate crimes, and violence. (last link is referenced in original article)
Debt, slavery, and violence in history
Debt: The first five thousand years. Anarchist anthropologist David Graeber (previously) writes about "debt and debt money in human history" in Eurozine. Lots of thought-provoking stuff here; I'll put a sample in the extended description. (Via wood s lot.) Commodity money, particularly in the form of gold and silver, is distinguished from credit money most of all by one spectacular feature: it can be stolen. Since an ingot of gold or silver is an object without a pedigree, throughout much of history bullion has served the same role as the contemporary drug dealer's suitcase full of dollar bills, as an object without a history that will be accepted in exchange for other valuables just about anywhere, with no questions asked. As a result, one can see the last 5 000 years of human history as the history of a kind of alternation. Credit systems seem to arise, and to become dominant, in periods of relative social peace, across networks of trust, whether created by states or, in most periods, transnational institutions, whilst precious metals replace them in periods characterised by widespread plunder. Predatory lending systems certainly exist at every period, but they seem to have had the most damaging effects in periods when money was most easily convertible into cash.
Occupy, not gentrify
The National Coalition for the Homeless announces that anti-homeless attacks are up, while Maryland becomes the first state to expand hate crimes legislation to include attacks on the homeless. Meanwhile, new DHS restrictions in New York close drop-in shelters and up restrictions for faith-based homeless shelters, while New-York based advocacy group Picture the Homeless take over a vacant J.P. Morgan lot to protest rising vacancies in the face of the housing crisis
Bolaño and the Ghosts of Ciuduad Juárez
Alone Among the Ghosts is an essay from The Nation by Marcela Valdez about Roberto Bolaño's 2666. She interviews journalist Sergio González Rodríguez, who has written extensively about the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez which is the black hole Bolaño's novel orbits around. The journalist was Bolaño's correspondent and main source of information about the femicides. The best English language article about the epidemic of violence in Ciudad Juárez I have read is Max Blumenthal's 2002 Salon article. The website No Angel Came is a good resource for more info on the subject, including a continually updated section with links to articles about the killings. The site's most arresting section is the list of every woman killed in Ciudad Juárez from 1993 to 2006. The epidemic of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez continues.
No end in sight
It's shocking enough that 90 people have been killed in mass shootings in the US in the past 2 years. But it's even more shocking that 44 of those deaths have occurred within the month since March 10, 2009, when Michael McClendon touched off a firestorm of violence that ended with the deaths of 10 people in rural Alabama. This has been a month of grave infamy in the United States. Since the McClendon incident: Lovell Mixton kills 4 Oakland police officers during a traffic stop on March 21 (this event is not without its controversies). Mixton was killed by a SWAT team. Eight days later in Santa Clara, CA, on March 29, Yahoo! engineer Devan Kalathat opened fire on his two children and three other family members before turning the gun on himself. His wife survived with injuries. The same day, across the country in Carthage, NC, embittered husband Robert Stewart created a bloodbath at his estranged wife's place of business, a nursing home, slaying 8 people before being fatally shot by a police officer. Surely everyone has heard of the April 3 tragedy in Binghamton, NY, in which 13 people were brutally murdered by gunfire after suspect Jiverly Wong blocked the back door of the American Civic Association with a car, then entered the building with guns blazing. The suspect is believed to be among the dead, the victim of an apparent suicide. Just a day later, 23-year old Richard Poplawski ambushed 3 Pittsburgh, PA police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call to his home, killing them all. Two other officers were wounded during the firefight, in which over 100 rounds were exchanged. The suspect, who was worried about an impending "Obama gun ban", was captured by SWAT teams and remains in custody, the only shooter on the timeline to have survived the horrific tragedies they created. --- As a vicious wave of horrific gun violence sweeps the nation, a shocked populace wonders if this explosion of violence is the result of the global economic malaise-- but why, then, is this a uniquely American phenomenon? Perhaps it's because we have 5% of the world's population, but 35-50% of its citizen-owned firearms.
"The monster inside my son": Autism + Violence
"The monster inside my son" A moving testimonial of a mother's struggle w/ her son's autism and violence. [SALON]
No Nonsense Self-Defense
No Nonsense Self Defense is a website that features many great essays about violence and self-defense, including ?High Risk Behavior And Knowing Where You Are,??Are Martial Arts Self-Defense?,??The Best Way to Get Attacked,??The Economy And Stress Violence,?and ?Who's Going To Rob You?." But my absolute favorite section is "Psychology and Survival." If I can convince you to read only one of these links, please let it be that last one.
Not real women, mercifully?
A Real Doll "doctor" gives an interview, describing the art of patching up the dolls and questioning their treatment by their owners.
Sombody Deserves a Break Today
Be a hero on your own time (VIDEO) When McDonald's employee Nigel Haskett interceded to stop a man who was beating a woman in the restaurant, the assailant went outside, retrieved a gun from his car and shot Haskett ? ?multiple times,? as the employee stood at the door to keep the assailant from re-entering the restaurant. $300,000 in medical bills later, McDonald's insurance says no dice: "we have denied this claim in its entirety as it is our opinion that Mr. Haskett's injuries did not arise out of or within the course and scope of his employment."
I'm going to check my Facebook page... wait, what was I doing again?
Dr. Aric Sigman has told us that TV is literally killing us, that it makes children pregnant, that Batman makes our kids violent and that multitasking ruins children's attention span. Now he says that social networking can cause cancer, strokes, and dementia. (PDF of press release)
Rape as a War Crime Against Your Own
Iraq: "A woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has confessed to organising their rapes so she could later convince them that martyrdom was the only way to escape the shame." Algeria: "Evil al-Qaeda chiefs are raping young male converts to shame them into becoming suicide bombers, it emerged yesterday. "
Is [Israel + Palestine=Isratine] > [Israel / Palestine]?
Israel + Palestine = Isratine? Or so it should be, Libyan leader Qaddafi argues, promoting the one-state solution. While he is not the first to raise the one-state solution, it is a bold proposal, particularly so soon after the widely-condemned Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
The Chuck E. Cheese Ouroboros
In 1977, Nolan Bushnell allowed Gene Landrum to bring Chuck E. Cheese [yt] to life as a family-friendly access point to Atari games. This, perhaps, explains the pizza. During a search for a unique attraction, Bushnell offended Aaron Fletcher. They then lost a potential major investor, Bob Brock, who was more impressed by Fechter's animatronic wizardry - or put off by the mascot: a giant rat [yt]. Brock instead created the competition, Showbiz Pizza Place*, which would soon surpass and absorb Chuck E. Cheese...by uniformly converting into CEC restaurants or closing completely. The ascendancy of the rat [.pdf] hasn't been without challenges and scandals, though. The effects of alcohol on adults and the child-filled environment have proven to be a contentious combination [nws; yt], leading to some changes and criticism**. While the germ issue may be overblown, it's true that the toys aren't the safest. Skeeball might lead to video poker. Chuck might be pro-military. The food [yt; 1:03] isn't the healthiest. And, most worrisomely, their Child Check program doesn't always work. Probably no killer gnats, though. And at least the condoms are unused. Despite bitter [nws], sometimes even frothing [nws], post-childhood assessments [nws] by the disillusioned and jaded, CEC/SPP [yt] speculation, collecting, monetisation, and inspiration*** abound. Some wonder [nws] if there's anything in it for the legendarily* disaffected [yt], long-suffering [yt] employees...beyond the shenanigans of their infamous, self-important, clueless and sometimes plain ol' famous patrons. Selling tokens to the nostalgic, maybe? It's surely not Chuck. Maybe General Tommy Franks (yes, that one) can turn it around. How the rat will come off in Leonardo DiCaprio's upcoming film is uncertain, but it looks like Gene will be just fine, regardless. [previously: *SPP/RAE post; **WSJ CEC violence article; ***Aaron Fletcher & Chris Thrash (update); Clapton @ CEC; shifting demographics?]
An Eye for an Eye: Justice or Injustice, Poetic or Barbaric?
"At an age at which I should be putting on a wedding dress, I am asking for someone's eyes to be dripped with acid," Four years ago, a spurned suitor poured a bucket of sulfuric acid over [Ameneh Bahrami's] head, leaving her blind and disfigured. Late last month, an Iranian court ordered that five drops of the same chemical be placed in each of her attacker's eyes, acceding to Bahrami's demand that he be punished according to a principle in Islamic jurisprudence that allows a victim to seek retribution for a crime. The sentence has not yet been carried out. If you're not familiar with acid attacks against women, you can start with Wikipedia. Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims (usually at their faces), burning them, damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body. These attacks are common in Cambodia, Afganistan, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other Asian countries.Acid attacks are being used in Afghanistan against women and girls to as part of an effort to oppress them. Specifically, girls who attend school are being targeted to prevent them from getting an education. In India, Haseena Hussain, the victim of an acid attack, now works with the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW). In Pakistan, a cosmetics company is trying to help women who are the victims of arson and acid attacks. Nicholas Kristof wrote an article about acid attacks last month, "Terrorism That?s Personal" which discusses a Pakistani organization, the Progressive Women's Association: Fighting Against the Horror of Violence Against Women working to stop this sort of violence and an effort being made by the US Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act. [Previously on Metafilter, the story of Tat Marina a model/karaoke star who was the victim of a December 1999 acid attack in Cambodia.]
Love, Rockabilly Style
How to best show your love if you're a rockabilly singer in the 50's? First, claim you might cry. Or die. Or commit suicide. If that doesn't work, you can threaten her vaguely, threaten her with a baseball bat, or even threaten her with death. Oh, you're female? Try the gun/sex metaphor (NSFW images) or just go hog wild and claim you'll blow his head off with nitro. Touched on previously. Can't be bothered with multiple YouTube links? Here are the songs and pertinent lyrics in order: Everly Brothers, Bye Bye Love: "Bye bye, happiness // Hello, loneliness // I think I'm a-gonna cry." Elvis Presley, Heartbreak Hotel: "I get so lonely I could die." Johnny Burnette Trio, Sweet Love on My Mind: "The river looks cold and the bottom is a long way down // If you're really leavin' baby that's where I'm gonna be found // When the mailman comes in the mornin', there's a note upon my door // Bring my mail to the bottom of the river I don't live here no more." Eddie Cochran, Mean When I'm Mad: "I need your lovin' and I need it bad // Watch it now baby if you make me mad... But don't resist me, a-baby // 'Cause I'm mighty, mighty mean when I'm mad." Big Joe Turner, Honey Hush: "Come in here woman, stop all that yackety yack // Don't make me nervous, 'cause I'm holdin' a baseball bat." (It's not rockabilly but it has been covered by several rockabilly bands including Johnny Burnette.) Elvis Presley, Baby Let's Play House: "I'd rather see you dead, little girl // Than to be with another man." Janis Martin, Bang Bang: "Cock your pistol and rooty-toot-toot // Bang-bang-bang, bang-bang-bang (etc)." Wanda Jackson, Fujiyama Mama: "Well you can talk about me, say that I'm mean // I'll blow your head off baby with nitroglycerine."
"...a liberal who's been mugged..."
A discussion about "white fear" and "black crime" Late one night last summer, on 17th and Euclid in Washington, DC, white liberal blogger Brian Beutler was shot three times by a young black man who asked him to hand over his cell phone. (He's fine now, mostly, although he doesn't have a spleen anymore.) Subsequent discussions on various blogs focused on gun control, crime, and gentrification in DC. In a post shortly after the event, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote: For the first time in my life, I have some sense of what the white guy who is ignorant of all things about black people is thinking when he drives through certain parts of town and rolls up his window. Today, Coates and Beutler chatted on Bloggingheads.
"Domestic" violence comes to work
Domestic violence comes to work, whether executives realize it or not. Instead of firing employees who are abusers? targets, some corporations in the US and elsewhere have instituted formal policies and programs to mitigate the impact of domestic violence, or Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), on workplaces. Initiatives aim to inform employees about what constitutes domestic violence and let them feel safe about disclosing abuse (from the previous link, a poster addressing male victims [pdf]; poster highlighting controlling aspects of abuse [6 Mb pdf and trigger warning]), relieve pressure on co-workers to surreptitiously cover for lost productivity by abusers as well as abusees, and provide relocations, safety measures, and support. Previously (1, 2, 3, 4). Statistics and General Information National Domestic Violence Hotline (US) Workplace statistics from the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) American Bar Association statistics on IPV generally, including differentiations by demographic group Domestic Violence Factoids from the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) National Clearinghouse on Family Violence (NCFV, Government of Canada site) has links, mainly Canadian and American, for different demographic groups Male Victims NCFV: Intimate Partner Abuse Against Men Aardvark: Abused Men GLBT (US) Gay Men?s Domestic Violence Project: Survivor Stories YouthResource: Myths and Facts: Lesbian Battering National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Map of Domestic Violence Laws in the US as of 02/2005 Gender Symmetry in Domestic Violence? USDOJ: Does Intimate Partner Violence Show Gender Symmetry? Richard J. Gelles, Domestic Violence: Not An Even Playing Field