Race Words and Nationalities

I caught a really neat post over at language log today. Turns out, the term "darkies" is not offensive to South African blacks. They often use it to refer to themselves and are not offended by it. Well, when some South African blacks started using "darkies" on twitter things got a little messy and feeling were hurt. Kinda cool how this global interweb is allowing us to learn about each other while we insult each other.

Anyway, in an earlier post, I featured a video about the black middle class. These things interest me. The stereotype of what it means to be black can easily be broken by recognizing that being black can mean so many different things.

Where I live in DC, there are a lot of east African immigrants - many 1st generation from Ethiopian, Somalia and Kenya. Their English is fine but accented and they all speak languages that I don't recognize. I am constantly fascinated watching the interactions between these people and the black people who have grown up in DC. There's a strange mix of familiarity and awkwardness through a lot of these interactions like if you met a relative from another country that you've never met before.

This is the exact reason that I don't use the term African American. This term really washes over the differences in experience between an Ethiopian immigrant from an upper middle class background whose first language Amharic and an working class American who is black. Most Americans that are "African American" have about as much to do with Africa as I do (which is to say very little). As I understand race in this country, it is not about culture or heritage or genetics it is about the color of your skin and to a much lesser extent the way you talk and the way you dress. I'm pretty sure that race is skin deep. Of course, what you do with your race, how you incorporate it into your identity is much more complex.

Think for a minute about Barack Obama. Here's a guy whose mother was a white lady from Kansas and his biological father was a black man from Kenya. He was born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia by his mother and his step father, an Indonesian man. He went to high school in LA and college in New York City then law school in Boston and a political career in Chicago. Now, why the hell is this guy African American? Is it because his father, whom he only met once in his life was from Kenya? Yeah. That makes sense.

The Universe on a Snowy Day

Carl Sagan is my new hero.

Consent

Leave it to Dan Savage to find this guy:
(Warning, this video contains Dan Savage and the types of things that he usually talks about)

This is the best counter to anyone who thinks that homosexuality is a gateway to bestiality - a man who has regular sex with a horse and also happens to be appalled by the thought of being gay.

Lessons on Hearing Questions

The differences between being a Republican and a Democrat in Congress seems to be that fine line between being simple and being stupid. I would say that as a general rule, Republicans misrepresent complex issues by over simplifying while Democrats grasp issues better but fail to communicate or address them properly because of stupidity.

Case in point, here is Rep. Alan Greyson (as previously seen on this blog) doing his best to catch Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott Alvarez in a gotcha statement (Spoiler! he fails miserably.)

Ok. I know that Greyson has become a kind of progressive internet hero for his willingness to ask "tough questions." I will also agree with the broad idea of questioning the role of the Fed and its goals with regard to the US economy. Still, Greyson stumbles over his own incompetence when he first assumes that attorney client privilege has any bearing on Alvarez's role as legal council and then when accuses the Fed of "market manipulation," a term that has specific legal implications that Greyson seems to know nothing about. Alvarez is absolutely on the money when he states that questions about market manipulation are over broad. Generalized charges of manipulation are the equivalent to accusing the NIH of causing disease or the Pentagon of murdering people. These charges are so broad that they almost have to be true when applied to such large institutions with broad mandates. What Greyson really should be doing is asking about the effects or outcomes that specific policies are designed to have.

In contrast, here's Sen Al Franken asking some pointed questions of Mark de Bernardo regarding the alleged sexual assault of Jamie Leigh Jones. Is Franken grandstanding? Probably. But, at least he knows what he's doing.

UPDATE!

Greyson redeems himself in my eyes with this.

What a Four Dollar Haterade Tastes Like

Next Tarantino Movie An Homage To Beloved Tarantino Movies Of Director's Youth

I seem to have built up an admittedly accurate reputation as a Tarantino hater. I not exactly sure where it came from but it may have something to do with my proclivity to engage in awkward extended and pseudo-intellectual polemics at the mere mention of the self absorbed director. Unfortunately, I am forced to accept that this tendency is best described as “Tarantinoesque.”

Haiku 1

the smell of salt on
the wind; it longs to be with
the sea once again

Blame China

I always knew that China was responsible for all the trouble Iraq.



Seriously, China. Why do you have to be so evil?

As the Crow Flies

Here's the survey of the day:


What do you think of Sheryl Crow?

Do you give her the thumbs up, the thumbs down, the thumbs sideways, the no thumbs dues to and industrial accident or inbreeding?

Is she a talented singer/songwriter or a pretty face with a guitar? The voice of a generation or a voice like an electric generator? A rock and roll goddess or a tight bodice with a head full of rocks?

We here at TBH want your opinion... and by we I mean me. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of you whom I know are into music.

Before the Truffle Shuffle

So in response to Unbeatable's water shortage post below I tried to find the video of Chunk from the Goonies when he finds the water cooler..."WATER!!!" Followed by Chunk putting his fat mouth under the faucet and water spraying all over his face. Well I couldn't find that particular clip, but instead found the most ridiculous 80s music video EVER. This video has Recon's fingerprints all over it, but hopefully he hasnt seen it so I can make his day. POW!



via http://www.youtube.com/user/adamv2

Water in Israel

Water is an essential and limited resource that could easily create a global crisis in the near future. Major states put a great deal of effort into securing access to water. The issue of access to water has been one of the most important yet least reported stumbling block to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.