Best Shot (163) ~ Desmond Muckian
Labels: Best Shots
“What we need is a critique of visual culture that is alert to the power of images for good and evil and that is capable of discriminating the variety and historical specificity of their uses.” - W.J.T. Mitchell. Picture Theory (1994).
Labels: New Films
Labels: AI, Human Rights
Labels: Our Criminals
Labels: Legal, Richard Rorty
Labels: Best Shots
She seeks to blend politics and art to empower immigrants through English classes, legal help and impromptu performances. She has held workshops to write slogans — like “I am today what your grandparents were yesterday” — that she plans to print on bumper stickers and T-shirts. And she intends to live like her working-class Latino neighbors; she has vowed not to tap her credit cards, personal bank account or assistants in Italy and Cuba.
“I don’t want to hear things in the office — I want to live them,” said Ms. Bruguera, 43, who is from Cuba but spent the last year in Paris. “I want to have the anxiety.”
She added, “Those are things I have to feel on my skin.”
She has already learned a thing or two. After finding her apartment and roommates in January through a flier on the street, she was surprised that the local gym did not offer yoga. The apartment had no heat through the winter, and her minimum-wage salary, which she wrote into the project description, offers little leeway.
“One week I saved $8,” she said, standing in her spartan bedroom, which can barely fit the dresser she found on the street.
Her roommates, especially an out-of-work Ecuadorean laborer, do not know what to make of her. “I explained to them four times what I’m doing already,” she said. “They don’t get it. They’re not very excited.”
But people have begun trickling into the storefront. They ask for English classes, jobs and legal help — services outside her training. “They don’t want any art at all,” Ms. Bruguera said. They want “very concrete and mundane things,” she said. “This is what their life is.”
Poor thing. No convenient yoga studio. What else will she spend her surplus eight bucks on? And, to think, poor immigrants want mundane things like legal aid and jobs! Who would have thought that? Who would've thought that actual anxiety might come from actually living close to the edge without the safety net? I find Bruguera's desire to vicariously experience the anxiety poor working people live on a daily and non-optional basis repugnant. Of course, she won't give a hoot about what I or anyone else thinks. Can she fathom, though, why her roommates and neighbors may not feel terribly excited by the prospect of being choreographed for her project?
Labels: Bruguera, Creative Time
Labels: Data Graphics, deficits, oligarchy, political economy, politics
Labels: C. Wright Mills, JR, NYC, Public Space
Labels: Democrats, Obama, political economy, politics, Republicans
"I started philosophy looking for answers. But along the way I came to prize exploring the questions. Progress in philosophy consists, I think, in a clearer delineation of the conceptual options, not in reaching determinate conclusions." ~ K. Anthony AppiahWhy repeat this? Because it seems pretty smart. I work in a department that thinks social inquiry generates "determinate conclusions". There is little evidence that it does and a lot of reason to think that what we are best able to do is generate clearer understandings of our possibilities.
Labels: philosophy, portraits, Steve Pyke
Labels: Obituaries, photojournalism, War
Labels: Kimimasa Mayama
Labels: Cornel West, Obama, politics, race
Labels: Chicago, Chris Jordan, David Shalliol
Labels: Obituaries
Worse still, as Jack & I point out here, the economists neglect how their own models of technocratic rule (the modern day form Platonic guardians would take) in fact highlight the inevitability of distributive politics and the ubiquitous opportunity for corruption. If politics is unavoidable, democratic politics is indeed what we need.Well-functioning markets are always embedded within broader mechanisms of collective governance. That is why the world’s wealthier economies, those with the most productive market systems, also have large public sectors.
Once we recognize that markets require rules, we must next ask who writes those rules. Economists who denigrate the value of democracy sometimes talk as if the alternative to democratic governance is decision-making by high-minded Platonic philosopher-kings – ideally economists!
But this scenario is neither relevant nor desirable. For one thing, the lower the political system’s transparency, representativeness, and accountability, the more likely it is that special interests will hijack the rules. Of course, democracies can be captured too. But they are still our best safeguard against arbitrary rule.
Labels: democracy, economists, political economy, Political Theory, Rodrik
Why is the overall quality of undergraduate learning so poor?
While some colleges are starved for resources, for many others it’s not for lack of money. Even at those colleges where for the past several decades tuition has far outpaced the rate of inflation, students are taught by fewer full-time tenured faculty members while being looked after by a greatly expanded number of counselors who serve an array of social and personal needs. At the same time, many schools are investing in deluxe dormitory rooms, elaborate student centers and expensive gyms. Simply put: academic investments are a lower priority.
The situation reflects a larger cultural change in the relationship between students and colleges. The authority of educators has diminished, and students are increasingly thought of, by themselves and their colleges, as “clients” or “consumers.” When 18-year-olds are emboldened to see themselves in this manner, many look for ways to attain an educational credential effortlessly and comfortably. And they are catered to accordingly. The customer is always rightThe proliferation of counselors and student affairs staff working for Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans, other Sub-Deans and so forth places all sorts of upward pressure on college budgets. All that re-enforces the consumption mentality that shows up in my classroom all too often. And that rarely is the source of complaints by critics of higher education.
Labels: Education
Labels: Censorship, Independent Purveyors of Books and Music, magazine covers
Q: What are the things you find most beautiful in science?
Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics.
Labels: economists, Pragmatism, Putnam, science, social science
Labels: Ai Weiwei, China, dissent, Human Rights, Kapoor, Music, politics, Vijay Iyer
Labels: Legal, Rights of Photographers
"Knight and Johnson have written an essential volume for scholars, public officials, and citizens living in the contemporary era. They stress that democracy does not just work by itself. No single design enables every democracy to generate fair and effective outcomes given the vast diversity of circumstances around the world. Knight and Johnson examine factors that increase the likelihood that democratic systems can be effective."- Elinor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics
"Knight and Johnson have provided us with an excellent extension of Dewey's idea that democracy and experimentalism walk hand in hand. They put forward a pragmatist or epistemic justification of democracy, arguing that democratic decision making delivers the best answers, and they show us what legal, economic, and political institutions are conducive to getting those good answers. Anyone interested in deliberative democracy will do well to read this book."- Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto
"This is a very important book that has the potential to become a classic. Highly ambitious, it provides a compelling, realistic, and genuinely original way of thinking about democracy. Even if democracy cannot transform interests or produce harmony, Knight and Johnson argue, it has crucial pragmatic benefits that cannot be reproduced by any other forms of social organization, whether markets, courts, or bureaucracies." - Henry Farrell, George Washington University
"This is a major book. It represents a significant advance in democratic theory, contributing to both political economy and political theory approaches to democracy. It addresses fundamental questions of institutional choice and the justification and possibilities of the institutions we establish. In the process it also illuminates when decentralized decision-making is possible and normatively appropriate. Furthermore, it resuscitates John Dewey as a key analyst of democracy, making pragmatism relevant again for contemporary democratic theory." - Margaret Levi, University of Washington and University of SydneyThe book is being published jointly by Princeton University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation. Information here.
Labels: New Books, Political Theory, Pragmatism, social science, The Priority of Democracy
Labels: Symbolic Politics
Labels: magazine covers, oligarchy, political economy, Richard Rorty, Stiglitz
Labels: photojournalism
Labels: Best Shots
INSKEEP: In a few seconds, Mr. Brennan, why haven't you released photos of Osama bin Laden?Ghosts walk among us. Not everyone wishes to acknowledge them. No one agrees what they might do. And everyone seems worried about how others might respond to them.Mr. BRENNAN: We are in the process of releasing a lot of information to the American public. We want to do it in a thoughtful manner.
INSKEEP: But why not photos?
Mr. BRENNAN: We are considering, at this point, releasing additional information, but that is a decision to be determined.
INSKEEP: So you may release photos, but not yet.
Mr. BRENNAN: So we may release photos, yes.
INSKEEP: What would prompt you to do that?
Mr. BRENNAN: There is not a question at this point, I think, in anybody's mind that bin Laden is dead. And so I know that there are some people who are interested in having visual proof. This is something that we're taking into account, but what we don't want to do is to release anything that might be either misunderstood or that would cause other problems.
INSKEEP: OK.
MR. BRENNAN: We are looking at these decisions and we'll make the right decisions.
INSKEEP: Mr. Brennan, thanks very much for your time.
Mr. BRENNAN: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: John Brennan is assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism, part of the team that made decisions that led to the death of Osama Bin Laden. . . . It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
3:29 P.M. U.S. Has 'Gruesome Photograph' of Bin Laden's Body
Pressed by reporters to explain why no photographs or video of Osama bin Laden's body have been released yet, the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said Tuesday afternoon, "It's fair to say that it is a gruesome photograph.
Mr. Carney also said: I'll be candid that there are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of Osama bin Laden and in the aftermath of this firefight. And we're making an evaluation about the need to do that because of the sensitivities involved. And we do– we review this information and make this decision with the same calculation as we do so many things, which is what, you know, what we're trying to accomplish, and does it serve or in any way harm our interests. And that is not just domestic, but globally.
[i] A News report from "All things Considered" here;
[ii] A plea to withhold the photograph from Phillip Gourevitch at The New Yorker here.
Labels: Symbolic Politics
"Different people can invoke corpses as symbols, thinking these corpses mean the same thing to all present, whereas in fact they may mean different things to each. All that is shared is everyone's recognition of this dead person as someone important. In other words, what gives a dead bofy symbolic effectiveness in politics is precisely its ambiguity, its capacity to evoke a variety of understandings. [. . .] This, it seems to me, is the mark of a good political symbol: it has legitimating effects not because everyone agrees on its meaning but because it compels interest despite (because of?) divergent views of what it means." - Katherine VerderyI have written posts here several times in the past that refer to a terrific book by anthropologist Katherine Verdery called The Political Lives of Dead Bodies (Columbia UP, 1999). Verdery wrote insightfully about the symbolic politics trailing in the wake of the collapse of communism. Today, the news again is fraught with the discussions of the political actions and interactions with and among the dead. Here is a passage from Obama's announcement last night:
Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.The last phrase (stress supplied) struck me immediately. It raised the issue of how the U.S. military would proceed, having now assumed custody of a corpse. And that has become a theme in news coverage today. For instance, this report on Obama's speech at The New York Times quotes some of that passage and follow immediately with this remark:
Muslim tradition requires burial within 24 hours, but by doing it at sea, American authorities presumably were trying to avoid creating a shrine for his followers.So, the speculation goes, American political and military officials are concerned to subvert Bin Laden's ability to coordinate and mobilize followers from the grave. And they are not alone. It seems that those ruling his own country of origin - Saudi Arabia - had similar concerns. Consider this passage from a Wall Street Journal report that takes up where The Times leaves off:
Mr. Bin Laden's body was buried at sea, in order to be in accordance with Islamic tradition that burial take place within 24 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Saudis declined a U.S. offer to take the body, this person said.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered outside the White House—and at Ground Zero in New York City, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood—to mark the moment. Frank Cantwell, a 64-year-old operating engineer at the construction site there, said there were only a few people present when the news first broke. "It's long overdue," he said. "You can sort of hear the silent cheers of 3,000 ghosts."
Unsurprisingly, Bin Laden and his legacy are contested and his demise certainly will be invested by different people with very different sorts of significance. Even our own dead - those "ghosts" mentioned in the WSG report - are taking part in the conflict of interpretations. Another thing that comes clear in both news reports is the urgency to comply with Islamic prescriptions on proper burial. Can there be any doubt that this was part of the mission as planned in advance? We must interact with dead bodies in specific ways and others expect us to do so. We, therefore, act in anticipation of those expectations. After all, as Obama was at pains to make clear last night:
The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.In thinking about all of that, one set of images came immediately to mind. It is of Bolivian military personnel displaying the body of Che Guevara soon after they had captured and executed him.Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad.
As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam.
Labels: Symbolic Politics
Labels: Ai Weiwei, Artists as Critics, China, dissent, graffiti, politics, projections, walls
“If this means there is one less death in the future, then I’m glad for that.
. . . But I just can’t find it in me to be glad one more person is dead,
even if it is Osama bin Laden.”
~ Harry Waizer, a World Trade Center survivor (here).A crowd celebrated outside the White House on Sunday.
Photograph: Doug Mills/ New York Times.
I have to agree with Mr. Waizer's deep ambivalence. I simply cannot find it in me to share in the glee and chanting and jubilation.
Labels: terrorism
Labels: Deutsche Börse, O'Hagan, Prizes