Hiatus

I have been on something of an informal hiatus here for the past month. Actually, I have thought seriously of closing up shop. I've felt that the blog - at least done right - is too time consuming. But I have decided not to do so. And during the time off I've collected a bunch of links to comment on. So, the hiatus is over.
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PS: Stan B - thanks for noticing!

Erik Loomis and Free Speech on Campus

I generally do not write here much about happenings at the University of Rochester where I work. On occasion I complain about labor relations on campus. More often, I've offered my views on this or that episode of "controversial" speech. I tend to be libertarian about the right of people to speak on campus, figuring that the best response to remarks that are wrongheaded, silly, offensive or whatever is to talk back.

Having said that, I want to call your attention to a brewing controversy at the University of Rhode Island. Erik Loomis, an historian and blogger, has generated a fracas over intemperate remarks he made about Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, following the Newtown massacre last week. I do not know Loomis personally. I do know that even though LaPierre is a despicable excuse for a human being neither Erik Loomis nor I literally wish him dead. That said, the pathetic right wing attacks on Loomis - including calls that URI fire him - seem to be growing.  Anything to divert attention from the fact that a kid took guns and shot 27 innocent people to death last week. Over at Crooked Timber a move has emerged to speak in Loomis's defense. I urge you to sign on in support.

What is up at The Photography Post?

The first time it happened I figured there must be some sort of technical snafu. That was when the image I've lifted above appeared on The Photography Post which runs a live feed from my blog. In that instance, the white on gray replaced the image from this post. That was several days ago. Today, I opened this post with the same image and .... surprise, it was replaced on the live feed with the same white on gray. Coincidence? Given that, to the best of my knowledge, this has not happened with any earlier posts, I suspect not. What's with that?
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Update: As the comments make clear, my initial suspicions were correct. This was simply a technical problem. The simplest explanation is pretty often actually the correct one. My apologies.

Surprise? Right Wing Bloggers are Rigid and Insular

Conservatives are psychologically challenged - there is considerable research supporting that position [1] [2] [3]. So when I read at The Nation about new research suggesting that, relative to its liberal counterpart, the conservative blogosphere is especially inbred and insulated politically and inflexible and hierarchical in technical terms, I am inclined to attribute that to the psychological characteristics that lead people to be conservatives in the first place. The authors of the study are simply too PC to say so.

Fame (again, or more, or something)

A short while ago I was pleased to note here that I'd gotten a mention in a column on "Photography Blogs" over at the "Camera Club" blog at The Guardian. Well today I have received still further acknowledgment in SOURCE Photographic Review. I am the first suspect in their column "Ten Photography Related Blogs You Should Read." You can find the column here. This is an honor for me. Really. I thank Stephen Hull for asking me to take part and I look forward to seeing which other blogs he will include on the list, which will happen every few days for the next while.

Mapping Visitors

According to the folks at Clustrmap, I've had 126,916 visitors over the past year. My 'fiscal year' runs from July 28th because that is the date I added the Clustrmap counter a few years back. In any case, tomorrow I should begin accumulating a new set of red dots. Today I get the chance to thank all those who've stopped by. Thanks!

Blogo-Iran

My friend Susan pointed out this interesting report in The Wall Street Journal about the shifting composition of the blog-o-sphere (a term I find quite infelicitous) in Iran. With all the rapture about how the opposition has used blogs and other new communication media to mobilize, it is important to remember the other uses to which political actors - say a repressive regime and its minions - can put the same technology.

Fame

I've been keeping this blog since late September 2005. It has been fun, interesting (to me, at least) and a source of sanity amidst some really difficult times. I appreciate the visitors and (nearly all) of those who leave comments, but never really thought of anything like recognition. This post on the "Camera Club" blog over at The Guardian site recommends my blog. Thanks Guy! I would add that the company is quite good. It is quite nice to be included on the list.

'Tis the Season ...

From The Last Days of W © Alec Soth

Over at Zoom-in Online, Sophia Betz has written this perceptive post on her "Favorite Photo Books of the Political Season." Among Sophia's list is a new offering from the wonderful Alec Soth. I've not seen the book but am confident Sophia is right to describe it as " satirical, tragic, and joyful all at once." I'm off to littlebrownmushroom.com to order a copy.

Hossein Derakhshan

This from The Guardian: "A prominent Iranian blogger has been arrested in Tehran and accused of spying for Israel after visiting the country with the aim of being 'a bridge between Iranian and Israeli people.'" The blogger, Hossein Derakhshan, who is now a Canadian citizen traveling on a Canadian passport, has allegedly confessed to espionage. Maybe. But I have severe doubts that he did so without the persuasive assistance of the Iranian authorities. You can read the entire Guardian report here.

Another Year's Worth of Red Dots

Today should be the day when my ClustrMap clears and I have to start accumulating new red dots. I hate to lose a whole year's worth though. So I am saving the old map here.

Local Event:: RIT Conference ~ Visual Communication: Rhetorics And Technology

Starting today folks in the Rochester area can attend the William A. Kern Conference Visual Communication: Rhetorics And Technology. You can find the schedule here. I am delighted to have been included on this panel tomorrow afternoon:

1:30-3:00 Plenary Session IV

MASTER PANEL: "Blogging Visual Politics,"

This master panel of visual rhetoric scholar/bloggers, explores the blog as a compelling public forum for visual engagement and political critique. Presenters and their blog sites are below:

Chair, Cara Finnegan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (http://caraf.blogs.com/caraf/)

John Lucaites, Indiana University and Robert Hariman, Northwestern University. (http://www.nocaptionneeded.com/)

Jim Johnson, University of Rochester.
(http://politicstheoryphotography.blogspot.com/ )

Michael Shaw. (http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/)

Comparisons

Today The New York Times is running this profile of Arianna Huffington, the brains behind The Huffington Post. The profile focuses on the incredible success of The Post in terms of readership numbers and on the process by which it is morphing from blog into an on-line newspaper. The irritating thing about the story is that The Times reporter offers, without comment, a comparison between Huffington and Matt Drudge. You know, Matt is the conservative counterpart to Arianna's liberalism. Unfortunately, the reporter missed the relevant comparison which has to do with journalistic and intellectual integrity. Drudge, a bullshitter and pompous poser (right), is bereft of such qualities while Huffington has them. That is a distinction with a difference. Why can't The Times ever get these things right? Why do they bend over to lend credibility to conservatives who don't deserve to be taken seriously?
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Photo Credit: Evan Agostini/Getty Images

P.S: (Added later that same day) In a comment on this post Scott Brauer called my attention to this essay by Eric Alterman in The New Yorker that also discusses The Huffington Post as an emergent alternative to standard newspapers. It is a nice essay. Thanks Scott! I will say that I do not find Alterman's discussion of Lippmann & Dewey entirely persuasive, he does raise a whole set of interesting issues.

Saudis Confirm Detention of Blogger

This story is from The New York Times:

Saudis Confirm Detention of Blogger
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: January 2, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — An outspoken Saudi blogger is being held for “purposes of interrogation,” the Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed Tuesday.

Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman reached by telephone, said the blogger, Fouah al-Farhan, was “being questioned about specific violations of nonsecurity laws.” Mr. Farhan’s blog, which discusses social issues, had become one of the most widely read in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Farhan, 32, of Jidda, was arrested Dec. 10 at his office, local news sources reported. Two weeks before his arrest, he wrote a letter to friends warning them that it was imminent.

“I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate me,” read the letter, which is now posted in English and Arabic on Mr. Farhan’s blog.

Since his arrest, friends have continued to post entries on his Web log (www.alfarhan.org) on his behalf under a banner that reads “Free Fouad” and features his picture.

“The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia, and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue,” the letter continued, saying that Mr. Farhan had been asked to sign a statement of apology.

“I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that,” he wrote. “An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is a liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?”

Ahmad al-Omran, a blogger and a friend of Mr. Farhan, said that Mr. Farhan had been the first Saudi blogger to be detained by state security. The arrest created widespread anxiety among other Saudi bloggers and advocates, he said.

“An incident like this has its effect,” Mr. Omran said by telephone. “It’s intimidating to think you might be arrested for something on your blog. On the other hand, this means that these voices on the blogosphere are being heard. But it’s really sad that a blogger who is writing about important issues out in the open would get arrested, while there are extremists who call for violence and hate, and the government is not doing much.”

Mr. Omran said Mr. Farhan was one of the first Saudi bloggers to post items in Arabic and to use his real name. At the top of Mr. Farhan’s blog is a call in Arabic for “freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and the other lost Islamic values.”

The Interior Ministry would not say specifically why Mr. Farhan had been arrested.

“The violation is not a security matter,” General Turki said. “He is not being jailed. He is being questioned, and I don’t believe he will remain in detention long. They will get the information that they need from him and then they will let him go.”

The Saudis, of course, are U.S. clients. They also produced many of the al-Quaeda terrorists we might actually be pursuing if we were not tragically wasting our time in Iraq. They also are notorious violators of human rights. No doubt BushCo will be speaking up on any minute now, objecting to the fact that the Saudis are holding this man without charge! You can find the English language version of his blog page here.

Blog Civility & 'Free Speech'

This article from today's New York Times on efforts to develop codes of conduct for blog posts and comments seems germane; not only have I been haunted by a rude, obtuse, anonymous commenter, but I've also seen incredibly gracious and civil behavior on the part of other commenters who are reflective and insightful. (See, for example, the comment thread on this post.)

I guess I do not see the problem of deleting comments from those who behave badly. Sure there are free speech issues - and deleting comments simply because they disagree with a post seems out of bounds. But, moderating posts, or precluding them altogether (hence pre-empting inane or profane as well as smart and relevant comments) both are possible and hardly an infringement on any one's rights. So why is eliminating a numbskull comment - say a rant in which the "speaker" calls you a 'dumb fucking cunt,' or offers some similarly articulate utterance seen as an infringement? It hardly seems like "censorship" to either pre-empt or delete such comments - the only difference is temporal.

I have no obligation to tolerate on this blog name calling and profanity aimed at myself or other commenters by folks who cannot behave like adults. If someone came to my house and started berating me or other guests, I'd ask them to shut up or leave. Is the presence of commenters on a blog any different? One might argue that my house is private and the blog public. But that is far too coarse a distinction, since I do not allow anyone to edit my posts or add items to the archive or sidebar. And, again, I can moderate comments or prevent them altogether. In fact, the blog (not just this one, but any blog), like my house, would not exist (as a forum for interaction) if I didn't maintain it. So, the publicity argument seem not just specious to me but one that could easily be turned around to justify my eliminating obnoxious comments. A commenter is free not to visit my blog if she finds it irritating. But given that she can find my URL I cannot "hide"; and so, unless I moderate or prevent comments, I am susceptible to all sorts of inanity and profanity. Given that I'm a 'sitting duck,' am I obliged to tolerate literally anything anyone wants to say? No.

Finally free speech arguments also have to (and legally, at least, do) account for consequences. And among these surely are the conflicts that arises due to utterances I or a commentator might make. Here it is important to resist the sort of "libertarian" defenses of speech rights that are nearly unquestioned in the US. Here is Owen Fiss from Yale Law School on this point:

“The libertarian view - that the First Amendment is a protection of self-expression - makes its appeal to the individualistic ethos that so dominates our popular and political culture. Free speech is seen as analogous to religious liberty, which is also protected by the First Amendment. Yet this theory is unable to explain why the interests of speakers should take priority over the interests of those individuals who are discussed in the speech, or who must listen to the speech when those two sets of interests conflict. Nor is it able to explain why the right of free speech should extend to many institutions and organizations - CBS, NAACP, ACLU, First National Bank of Boston, Pacific Gas & Electric, Turner Broadcasting System, VFW - that are routinely protected under the First Amendment, despite the fact that they do not directly represent the individual interest in self expression” (The Irony of Free Speech, 1996).

Again, no one is compelled to read this blog; similarly no one should be compelled to read inanities and profanities just because someone feels like "expressing" themselves.

Bridging Differences

A friend sent me a link to this blog hosted by Education Week; it is called "Bridging Differences" and is written by Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch in a back-and-forth, conversaitonal format. Both of these women are smart and articulate and both have strong, insightful views on educational policy. My own politics tend to run more along the lines that Meier articulates. (Although it is very interesting to see how the two converge on the issue of strong support for teachers unions! [1] [2] ... And it is interesting too that they see this in no small measure as a matter of gender politics.) That said, having read this for a bit, it seems like an excellent forum for exploring alternatives in education and the politics that surrounds it. Moreover, given the extent to which the blog world is dominated by men, it is nice to find another written exclusively by women.