CBC Day 6 – Medievalism and Nazis
I spoke to Canadian Broadcasting about Nazis and medievalism. There’s a text article. And the actual interview segment.
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Tolkien and White Supremacy
New! A conversation with Helen Young about medieval studies, colonialism, fantasy, and white supremacy. ME: Was Tolkien explicitly a racist, or more just a “man of his time?” HY: Tolkien is often quoted as having condemned “that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler” in a 1941 letter to his son Michael. But the reason he gives…
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Patrick Harmon – #CultOfCompliance
There is no de-escalation training that can build better policing. There is no video monitoring that can hold police accountable. So long as cops can say, “I was afraid,” even when video evidence shows that they are lying, they are legally entitled to commit murder. Patrick Harmon, a black man with, according to his sister,…
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Gun Control and Healthcare
The GOP plan is to blame mental illness instead of guns for gun violence … while doing everything to end access to mental healthcare. I wrote for CNN. On Tuesday morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan made his first remarks about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. He said nothing about guns, but traded easily in…
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Stephen Gayle: Black, Disabled, Dead in Custody
#StephenGayle had nerve pain. Caused his legs to kick. So they put him in shackles. #CultOfCompliance /7 — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) September 30, 2017 This story, amidst so much horror, has not gotten widespread coverage outside the disability rights world. Temple officers responded to a disturbance complaint around 7:30 p.m. Thursday near an apartment complex….
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Disaster Studies – There are No Natural Disasters
I talked to Jacob Remes about Critical Disaster Studies, Hurricane Maria, Imperialism, Trump, and more. New at Pacific Standard: “At the heart [of the field] is a saying that became common in the 1970s: There’s no such thing as a natural disaster. There are hazards, some of which are natural (earthquakes, tornadoes, river floods) and…
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STOP POLITICIZING MY SON
NEW AT PACIFIC STANDARD: Ohio uses Down syndrome to attack reproductive rights. Ohio Republicans are the latest group to seize on Down syndrome as a wedge issue in the fight against reproductive choice. Senate Bill 164 would make it a felony for doctors to knowingly perform an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome….
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Viking Re-enactors Against Racism
Vikingar mot nazism är nog mina favoritantinazister pic.twitter.com/EGFaJL92FG — Glenn Bördig (@Felippenegro) September 30, 2017 “Vikingar mot nazism är nog mina favoritantinazister” = Vikings against Nazism are probably my favorite anti-Nazis Image Description: A man in a Viking costume (chainmail, shield, helmet) with Swedish on his shield, translating to “Vikings against inappropriate use of runic…
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Humanities and Trump
In Catapult, Kristen Cardozo writes about the written word in the Age of Trump. Some might say that studying the humanities in the twenty-first century was already a questionable choice before 2016 brought with it the vivid sight of a dystopian future running headlong to embrace us. The future is STEM, we were told. To…
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Save the ADA!
The Americans with Disabilities Act is under attack. I co-wrote a piece for the Washington Post about H.R. 620. It’s serious. It has lots of co-sponsors. And it’s got to be stopped. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 is perhaps the most wide-ranging civil rights act in the world. After decades of political struggle by…