“Every generation leaves behind a legacy. What that legacy will be is determined by the people of that generation. What legacy do you want to leave behind?”
― John Lewis, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America
Another week, another round of White House staff shakeups, another batch of violence to confront as a society, another round of nationwide protests…you know. The usual. I’m actually following the news with a lot of hope this week because in spite of a lot of really, really bad news, I believe that engagement and knowledge are the sunlight cures for cultural infection.
A bit over a year ago, the Women’s March happened, millions participated. Later that same year, courageous reporting and a refusal to allow our attention be turned from it exposed corrupt systems across industries that had enabled powerful men to prey on women. This year young people are marching against a culture of violence. What changes will we see this year as a result?
Here are your links, kittens, share your favorite posts and stories of the week in the comments!
Incredible lede from the @AP re #MarchForOurLives. // h/t @PhilipinDC pic.twitter.com/yoHiHbNyaR
— Paul Blake (@PaulNBlake) March 24, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
OF COURSE after I scheduled last week’s post, this incredible dump of reporting about Cambridge Analytica dropped across a number of platforms. The whistleblower speaks. How they did it. 50 million profiles harvested and weaponized. “If you want to fundamentally change society, you first have to break it.” On Sunday, further reporting on this in the UK was teased leaving both CA and Facebook scrambling. I’ll be updating this as the week goes on I’M SURE.
Channel 4 reports: here’s the full series.
But how significant is this story, really? This episode of On The Media delves into how useful this kind of data harvesting really is, and how this is not a new problem so much as an ongoing conversation with technology and the role of agency in the tech/human experience.
Lest you think this is just about a single social media platform…
And while we’re ranting, Instagram! Get it together!
Reddit, you’re not getting off light either.
Okay, time for a palette cleanser with National Puppy Day.
Victoria Beckham is doing more cosmetics, and I just need to hand her my wallet now…
One of the best stories I found on the internet this week! May we all be blessed with such hype teams in our lives.
A gorgeous long read on the complexity of language through an unexpected object.
This week in Mormon news…a disheartening but (to me) unsurprising story of ecclesiastical abuse. There is complexity here because it seems the video in this story was leaked without the victim’s consent, and the LDS church thus far has responded with a piss poor manner from a PR point of view. I’m sorry to say that I’m personally positive there are plenty more stories like this to be told within the LDS community and a whole culture change is needed to address the circumstances that make this sort of abuse all too possible. Women did come forward about this man, it seems, and were simply not believed at the time. It’s been fascinating to see the knee jerk reaction towards trying to discredit this woman (at time of writing, she’s been accused of all kinds of a checkered past by believers who are quick to tribal defense as a group). Especially given that regardless of her personal convictions and life choices…the guy confessing to the crimes in question on camera.
Utah, whenever I almost give up on you, you do something right.
I. Want. This. Jumper.
I love everything about this woman and want to be her friend.
Another awful story of a POC losing their life to police. Meanwhile the latest in a long ling of white male domestic terrorists who became a serial bomber and blew himself up to avoid arrest this week is being described in some corners of the press as a “challenged young man. His victims were a rising young student and a devoted father. Another toxic male shooter was referred to as a “lovesick teen.” His victim was taken off life support this week. Society is broken. Here’s a GoFundMe set up for Mr. Clark’s family if you are so inclined. I haven’t seen confirmed donation pages for Mr. Mason’s or family but I will update the post when I do.
Cannot wait to read this memoir.
Small Dog Syndrome 