Run it up the Flag Pole

A space for me to spit out my ideas, stick them where all can see, and see if anyone salutes ‘em

[saddayfordemocracy]

ICY and SOT, The New American Flag (Banner) 

[upurflagpole-blog]

This is upsetting.

[saddayfordemocracy]

“Borders,”Arthur Analts Art

[upurflagpole-blog]

This speaks to me. I don’t like what it’s saying.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Utopia (pt. 1 - globally)

I spend a lot of time thinking about what an ideal world would look like to me. The overarching image I’ve created usually remains constant, and I add in new aspects to it as I take in more information. This means my utopia must be described in many parts, and each part usually corresponds with my own end-goal in solving one (or more) of the societal woes and political arguments afflicting U.S. citizens contemporarily.

The first installment of my description of my utopia is in response to conversations about immigration and “America First.”

In my Utopia, the Earth is a global society. We are the United Countries of Earth (or simply, Earth.) We all agree to a constitution, we all agree to common practices, and while we all follow the same frameworks - decisions about practices and implementation are still made on more local levels. There is no world leader, but resolutions are passed democratically in meetings with heads of regions. Countries’ borders will be redrawn in a manner that makes sense and will be largely for the purposes of census counting, and democratic representation. There will be free movement across borders, immigration will thus not be an issue. There will be no militarized zones, border walls, etc. People may move to one location over another because they think it is more beautiful, they like the weather there, they have family in the area, they like a change, they want to work in a career that is big in that area, etc. Local governments will then strive for desirability and creating a positive way of life so that they don’t end up governing only themselves. They are beholden only to their constituents - not to lobbyists (which don’t exist in my utopia) or companies (which are not allowed to be involved in politics directly) or political organizations (which will not be allowed to deal with elected officials directly, only reach out to the constituents - and this outreach will be regulated to ensure only accurate information is disseminated by political organizations.) Local governments will have one purpose as public servants, to serve the public of their constituency. 

To me, “America First,” makes no sense. Shutting ourselves in, battening down the hatches, is just going to make it so everyone else is an enemy instead of a potential ally. America will be last if we decide to keep everyone else out and just do our own thing... We all need each other, and we as residents of the United States need to stop being so selfish. We don’t need a border wall, we don’t need visas or green cards even... Who cares where a person was born if they’re going to come into our country and work hard and pay taxes? They deserve to be here just as much as anyone else. And who cares where a person was born if they commit a crime here? We punish them the same as anyone else. Yes, our criminal justice system is flawed... and that will be a story for another day... but if we wouldn’t detain an American citizen for running a red light or rolling through a stop sign; if we wouldn’t stick that American citizen on a plane and leave them in a country that they barely know for those same infractions then we shouldn’t be doing that to immigrants. We shouldn’t punish people for the circumstances of their birth. If we want to actually live in a country where the American Dream is possible, immigration shouldn’t be a stigma. It should be an opportunity that is open to all. If we want “America First” that should mean we are trying to create the best country, the one everyone wants to live in, the one that is everyone’s first choice, and everyone’s ideal. America First should mean that it’s the first image in your head when you think of your own utopia. These new “America First” policies are bringing this country further and further away from utopia, and this deeply saddens and frustrates me.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Are we okay with money making the world go ‘round?

Do we really want money being the major influencing factor of our politics? our health? our worldviews? our entertainment? our attention? our core beliefs?

Why do we let money keep this role in our lives? Because it’s all we know? Because we think we don’t have the power to make a change?

Well, we do have the power if we all believe that we do. So let’s put our minds to it. Let's come up with a better way.

It makes me feel dirty to know the influence that money has over all of our lives and the invisible way it can shape our whole understanding of reality. I hope it makes enough people feel dirty to think about it that way that we can find a way to rid ourselves of its disease and keep it on only as a matter of convenience, not because we are beholden to it and must subvert to its power.

Money is not more important than me. Money is not more important than anyone. Money is certainly not more important than all of us.

[saddayfordemocracy]

Dagmar van Weeghel, “Diaspora,”

The series ‘Diaspora’ is a tribute to Africans who settle in Europe, both now and in the past. This series portrays people (not models) from different African countries, who have settled in Europe in the last decade. 

The series is inspired by the Orientalist paintings that Josep Tapiro Baro made in Tangier in Morocco.

For centuries the West has been looking at the African continent through a distorted lens, creating a distorted image of people and history. 

In the New African Diaspora, with the surge of immigrants in the West, these prejudices and stereotypes are unfortunately often upheld, fueled by a lack of knowledge and understanding and the fear of the unknown.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Stories and pictures are the keys to disrupting implicit biases. This is how we re-orient that distorted lens and begin to see more clearly.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Are Drugs Bad?

What is the difference between illegal drugs, classified drugs, and legal drugs? What is the cause and effect of distinguishing and classifying drugs? How does understanding all of the different ways drugs are embedded into our society help us determine the amount of regulation that should be surrounding them?

I’m still trying to answer all of these questions for myself, but there are so many different aspects to this problem, I’m not sure how to know what that what I think is accurate actually is, so how can I expand on that knowledge if I’m not even sure I can trust it? I guess the only way to begin to answer these questions is to start exploring them...

(To be continued)

[socimages]

Children Learn Rules for Romance in Preschool

By Allison Nobles on January 25, 2018

Originally Posted at TSP Discoveries

Photo by oddharmonic, Flickr CC

In the United States we tend to think children develop sexuality in adolescence, but new research by Heidi Gansen shows that children learn the rules and beliefs associated with romantic relationships and sexuality much earlier.

Gansen spent over 400 hours in nine different classrooms in three Michigan preschools. She observed behavior from teachers and students during daytime classroom hours and concluded that children learn — via teachers’ practices — that heterosexual relationships are normal and that boys and girls have very different roles to play in them.

In some classrooms, teachers actively encouraged “crushes” and kissing between boys and girls. Teachers assumed that any form of affection between opposite gender children was romantically-motivated and these teachers talked about the children as if they were in a romantic relationship, calling them “boyfriend/girlfriend.” On the other hand, the same teachers interpreted affection between children of the same gender as friendly, but not romantic. Children reproduced these beliefs when they played “house” in these classrooms. Rarely did children ever suggest that girls played the role of “dad” or boys played the role of “mom.” If they did, other children would propose a character they deemed more gender-appropriate like a sibling or a cousin.

Preschoolers also learned that boys have power over girls’ bodies in the classroom. In one case, teachers witnessed a boy kiss a girl on the cheek without permission. While teachers in some schools enforced what the author calls “kissing consent” rules, the teachers in this school interpreted the kiss as “sweet” and as the result of a harmless crush. Teachers also did not police boys’ sexual behaviors as actively as girls’ behaviors. For instance, when girls pulled their pants down teachers disciplined them, while teachers often ignored the same behavior from boys. Thus, children learned that rules for romance also differ by gender.

Allison Nobles is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota and Graduate Editor at The Society Pages. Her research primarily focuses on sexuality and gender, and their intersections with race, immigration, and law.

[upurflagpole-blog]

This is how these kinds of implicit beliefs get reproduced and continue to exist. It’s every small action we make, regardless of intent, that creates our culture. So maybe part of the answer that everyone needs to be much more Mindful, and really connect with the decisions they are making.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Addiction

We as a society have come a long way in our discussions and treatments of addiction. Despite this, I think we still have a ways to go.

First, I think it is a problem that people still see only some manifestations of addiction as legitimate, and others as not. For example, some people believe that gambling can be a real addiction but shopping cannot be. Additionally, some people believe that only some drugs (like meth and heroin, for example) are addicting while other drugs - especially FDA approved prescription drugs - are not (like prednisone, which is used to treat asthma and other inflammatory disorders), However, we know that there is a potential fo addiction in any behavior or drug that we introduce to our bodies that elicits a positive experience, because it’s not the object that matters but the response. As long as the thing we do or the object we ingest elicits in us a positive physiological reaction, particularly when it comes to the neurotransmitters it causes to fire in our brains, we’re going to want to do it again. And again, and again, whenever we are presented with the opportunity.

People tend to think of addiction allegorically to the early rat studies of the effects of cocaine. At first, doctors would hand feed the rats the drug so they could control the intake and be able to study the results. Then, the rats were given unlimited access to the drug - and many, pretty quickly, killed themselves by overdose. However, later, researchers realized that those rats had nothing other to do than sip out of a drugged water bottle all day. They were just lonely, bored rats in a cage who could choose between normal water or drugs. So they didn’t necessarily prove just how addictive drugs can be, they just proved that drugs are preferable to water and nothingness.

So they attempted a new experiment. This time, they had a control group of understimulated rats, and they had another group of rats that inhabited what became known as the “Rat Park” where they had access to all of the things that would give them a fulfilling rat life.They could run around, play, mate, hide, and socialize with other rats. In both groups, the rats hat the option of drinking morphine.The rats in the rat park drank substantially less morphine. This means that it’s not just the properties of the substance itself that make it addicting, but it goes deeper than that. This becomes a nature/nurture debate, and I think at this point we all know that the two are intertwined.

What I think that this all means is that it’s important to take the environment into account when we are dealing with other human beings and their addictions. I think it’s imperative that we look at the situation of the person with more scrutiny than we look at the drug or behavior itself. On some levels, it very likely falls upon the greater society to make changes that allow more people to find fulfillment without drugs and addictive behaviors if we want to reduce levels of addiction in our society. How do we become a happier society? Well, we have to start fixing some of the other issues we’re facing that drive us all insane.

[genderqueerpositivity]

Supporting everyone who will be marching tomorrow.

(Image description: six orange squares with white text in the center. Top left: “End Gun Violence”. Top Right: “Standing With Students”. Center left: “Support Survivors”. Center right: “Queers Support Gun Control”. Bottom left: “Queers Against Gun Violence”. Bottom right: “Stand Against Gun Violence”.)

[upurflagpole-blog]

There’s gotta be a better way...

In biblical times there were amputations, stonings, and beheadings as some of the most memorable punishments for crimes. In the U.S.’s short history there have been hangings, 

 And now, in the U.S., we have - prison, the death penalty, community service, house arrest... it all still seems pretty archaic to me. All punitive, none restorative, not even trying to gain an understanding of the systems that brought a person to do what they had done or to correct and set people on the right path. Sure, schadenfreude is a strong emotion no matter how we try to paint it - but that’s not going to make us better as a culture. That’s not how we’re going to leave the Earth better than we found it. You’d think in the year 2018, we’d have something better to assist our brothers and sisters crying out for help.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Perpendicular Realities (continued)

We all make tough decisions sometimes. We have to decide whether or not to tell a bestfriend what we know about their significant other that they don’t know; we have to decide whether or not to tell our boss that our friend isn’t great at their job (or that they don’t do their job at all sometimes); we all have to decide whether or not to tell someone that they have spinach in their teeth sometimes...

And each time that we find we have information that someone else with whom we are interacting does not have, we must make a decision about whether or not to bring other people into our reality - we must decide whether to take our realities from parallel to perpendicular. When this happens, we take many different factors into account. We think, “how will this information make the other person feel?” “Will knowing this make this other person feel better?” “Will knowing this make this other person feel bad, or embarrassed, or any other negative emotion?” “Will knowing this make this other person displace their negative emotions on me; will they feel a need to ‘shoot the messenger;’ will they misinterpret my intentions in sharing this information in a way that will have an indefinite negative impact on our relationship?” “Will knowing this make this other person feel bad in the moment, but eventually lead to a greater happiness than not knowing would?” “Does the other person need this information?” “Does the other person want this information?” And so our thoughts race as we make these complex decisions - and sometimes these decisions take place within seconds, or minutes... and sometimes these decisions take place within hours, or days... or longer.

This is something that we should take into account when we are having conversations with other people... especially other people with whom we disagree on some very important topics. They are inhabiting a reality parallel to ours, and if we can’t find a way to intersect, we will not be perpendicular, we will stay parallel forever.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Perpendicular Realities

So we all at least vaguely get this idea of parallel realities, right? This idea that there is this one reality that exists as we are able to perceive it, but it is not the only reality that exists... However, it is commonly thought that these varying realities do not intersect (except in entertainment media.)

Now... what if we took a moment to conceptualize perpendicular realities? These would be different realities that exist simultaneously and, at times, intersect. For me, this is how I am able to conceptualize the particular reality that we all share.

Each person who was born from this Earth essentially contains a universe within them. Each person has distinct thoughts and experiences, each person is unique in many scientific ways thanks to our own unique DNA, every individual will understand and react to the same event in a different way because of this. Does this mean we all inhabit our own distinct realities? I think, in some ways, some really important ways, it does...

When you know something that someone you care about doesn’t know, you have to decide what to do with that information. Examples: if you find out your best friend’s significant other/spouse is cheating; if you end up sharing responsibility at work with one of the colleagues you have already developed a friendship with only to find out they’re terrible at their job (or maybe just lazy); if you see spinach in someone’s teeth that they don’t know is there...

Anytime we have knowledge that another person does not have, we are essentially inhabiting a parallel universe to theirs. They are operating under the assumption that something that is infactual is factual. They are operating under the assumption: that their significant other/spouse is faithful; that they are good at their job (or no one notices their laziness);  that their appearance is not obstructed by a minute detail that detracts from their overall persona...

Once it is made clear that we are inhabiting a parallel reality to another person, we then have a decision to make: what do we do with this information?

(To be continued.)

[hinasyeda]

“We don’t need to believe in god, to believe in humanity and freedom.”

— being a good human has nothing to do with god, religion or being religious; it has to everything to do with empathy, kindness, and tolerance // Hina Syeda @abillionlittlethoughts

[upurflagpole-blog]

Personally, I believe that the internalization of this concept is a cornerstone of progressing as an American society.

[othersociologist]

Last weekend, I gave a talk on “Ending Sexual Harassment in Science, Technology and Maths (STEM) and Academia,” at Kiwi Foo, in Auckland, New Zealand. The discussion was really wonderful, with many thoughful stories shared about experiences of harassment and how to take collective action. In particular, we talked about how men can be better allies to women and femmes. Kiwi Foo is a weekend getaway, with 180 participants who either stay on site camping or in dorms, or nearby the camp grounds. It is an “unconference” where the schedule of talks are not pre-determined by organisers. Instead, everyone comes together on Friday night and puts forward sessions and people can combine their sessions together if they are closely aligned in topic. The sessions are less about the presenter talking - no PowerPoint slides - just setting the scene and then facilitating discussion. The other talks were wonderful and gave me much food for thought. http://ift.tt/2tzltbf

[upurflagpole-blog]

I love the image of collaboration this arises in me. What a community, I love it. This sounds like an amazing experience.

[upurflagpole-blog]

Parallel Realities

You’ve heard of the concept of parallel timelines, right?

If you’ve seen Community, think of the episode where the roll of the dice introduces a new timeline for every possible outcome.

Or on Futruama, the paraboxes

In these examples, the different realities, or timelines, or universes - however you want to describe and perceive them - exist outside of what is interpreted to be the reality we all share.

But what if we don’t all share that reality? And I don’t mean to say that people with mental illness, or people with different upbringings, or people who are otherwise fundamentally different or other from ourselves will experience things differently... I just mean that any two people (really, ANY two people) can view the same situation entirely differently.

For example, if a stranger follows me around for a week to discover my likes and dislikes in order to ask me out on a proper date by gifting me some of my favorite things, this stranger might interpret that as cute while I might interpret that as terrifying.

Or, another example, a student in a classroom will see the fact that a teacher is hollering at them to be quiet is hypocritical and thus it is permissible for them to holler since the teacher is doing it has a very different take on reality than the teacher who thought hollering was needed in order for students to hear the command to quiet.

Let’s take another, more complex issue, with many different takes and stances and a lot of emotion involved. Gun violence. This is a big beast to tackle because it has so many different facets: Second amendment rights, political biases, school safety, policing, event protection, poverty, small business growth, etc. This issue cannot be solved with one blanket policy or even a few small tweaks to the system. In order to get at an issue so embedded into our culture and political frameworks, we have to understand that no one person has the right answer. We have to understand that everyone’s version of reality surrounding their interpretation of gun violence and their understanding of how it could be fixed... is valid. Even if we don’t agree with it. We need to work together and decide that whatever we come up with together is going to be stronger than if we worked on it alone, because everyone brings something to the table. We are therefore not working towards a compromise we can live with, we are working together to fill in the gaps of each other’s realities because we all have access to each other’s realities, but we don’t all live in each other’s realities. These issues are complex and nuanced and there is no right answer. There is no wrong answer either - except inaction... and settling in a world where you decide to not even try to understand another person’s point of view. That’s the wrong answer.

[upurflagpole-blog]

There is no right. And there is no wrong.

Have you ever heard the term “sonder?” Maybe you’ve seen it in one of those posts that get passed around featuring “untranslatable words?” Its meaning is something along the lines of a sorrow that you feel with the realization that each person you encounter is living a story that you will never be privy to. I wish we had a little bit more of this in American culture. We tend to get so wrapped up in the idea that we are the writer of our own stories, and everything is about us, and when we see something happen we see it the right way, and when we believe something we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are right. I mean, not always, we’re not just walking around with the biggest heads in the galaxy... But frequently, with topics we are especially passionate about, we close off our minds. We are done accepting new information on that topic, our minds are made up, and subconsciously all new evidence will be dismissed. That’s why in conversation we often find it appropriate to say something such as, “you know, I just don’t get how anyone could think like that. It’s just so ridiculous, don’t people have common sense?” And our conversation partner will very likely agree, and we will either continue to discuss our problems with that viewpoint, or we will just move on. But, if you don’t understand how someone could have that viewpoint... why don’t you try to find out? Because clearly people do have that viewpoint, and the fact that you don’t share that viewpoint doesn’t make it any less valid. If you hope to change someone’s viewpoint, not even understanding it is not a good place to start from. What if instead of thinking “I am right and you are wrong but I guess I will have to compromise with you in order to get at least some of what I want,” we thought about where we truly have common ground, we found the least common denominator, and we worked up from there?

[upurflagpole-blog]

Money

The main reason I am up at near-midnight in the middle of the week starting a tumblr when I should be sleeping is because I am experiencing great anxiety about money. Of course, there is nothing I can do about this right now except get a good night’s rest so I can worry about it tomorrow. But, alas, here I am just thinking, and thinking, and thinking.

Our society is set up in so many ways that allow prosperous people to continue to prosper and unprosperous people to continue to sink lower and lower. It makes me constantly think that the old adage “life isn’t fair” was designed by the bourgeoise as a way to dismiss the entirely legitimate arguments of the people be consistently and systemically disenfranchised. Life isn’t fair because the status quo is designed that way. We should be continuously asking ourselves if what we have is working, and when it’s not, how do we fix it? We should be using data and logic and continuous re-evaluation to ensure our politics and our government are serving us as best as possible. Now, what that would look like, that’s a tale for another post...

But, honestly, just typing this up has allowed me to alleviate some anxiety. Thanks, tumblr. You’ve done your job for the night.