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POPSDangers of "Group Think" Evident in March to War These are characteristics of most all groups, especially highly charged political parties which are easily recognized here. Note the silence of individuals plays a key role in conformity. Speak up! Collective Rationalization reminds me of the "group think" that led America to war against Iraq (per the neoconservatives preconceived plans), even though it did not harbor terrorists or attack the U.S., just because Bush and Cheney, after 9/11, said so. This same "group think" is within the entire story of 9/11 and the Collective Rationalization for a continued "war on terrorism" to invade other countries at will. GROUP THINK MUST BE CHALLENGED TO PREVENT UNJUST WARS. Number 8 (did not have room to clip) is here: Mindguards: Some members appoint themselves to the role of protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency.
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POPSBrits Value Sex And In-Laws Okaaay... if the Brits are not uptight and there's a market for it, then why no plans for a service for homosexuals? Especially if they're looking for new market opportunities? Hmm. Naaah, Brits are uptight. Study or not. *LOL* ;)
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POPSTo make a king Binyavanga Wainaina's excellent commentary on how we in Africa stereotype ourselves, turn our leaders into kings, and then act all surprised when it results in violence. It's worth reading the full article.
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POPSWhat I Like About Palin by David Warren The Ottawa Citizen I cannot think of better illustrations of the way women and blacks are reduced to stereotype by the American media, and all the other institutions of "political correctness." We see the same thing up here in Canada, with respect to women and our "visible minorities." They must not deviate from a script in which every female role model is a feminist and abortion enthusiast, every "visible" the heroic victim of oppression, demanding societal compensation. How better to cripple the individual aspirations of women and minorities? To them, the stark facts of Ms. Palin's reaction to a Down's syndrome pregnancy, and to her daughter's unseasonable one, shines as day to night against Mr. Obama's, "If my daughter makes a mistake, I don't want her punished with a baby." But there is good news, which comes through Sarah Palin herself, who, from what I can see, is ready for the trial-by-ordeal.
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POPS Has Governor Palin Shifted The Feminist Model?
She introduced her children, especially little Trig, the one with Down's syndrome. She was displaying a mother's unconditional love, as opposed to the conditional love that insists on a "wanted" child. She did these things unapologetically, quite unafraid of seeming to be a normal, healthy sexist female: one who knows what it is to be a woman and enjoys it. The early feminists were radicals inspired by Simone de Beauvoir, who thought it necessary to show that all sex differences were bourgeois conventions or stereotypes. Simone de Beauvoir had her guy in Jean-Paul Sartre, a high-strung couple if ever there was one. Somehow the Palins make a better model for American women--for all women. In truth some sort of feminism was necessary, but the one we had needs a major correction. Harvey Mansfield is professor of government at Harvard and a member of the Hoover Institution's Taskforce on Virtue and Liberty. He is the author, most recently, of Manliness.
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POPSEU takes shot at gender stereotypes It's about time. Now the modeling industry needs to throw off the slavish idea that women need to be freakishly thin to be attractive. We need to instill in our children, especially girls, that intelligence is admirable and subjugation is slavery.
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POPS "Dudes, It's the 21st century Evolve! girl can be smart & sexy, science-y & sleek" ;-) "When physicist Lisa Randall posed for Vogue a couple of years ago, there were all sorts of outrageous criticisms of how she was playing into appearance-obsessed stereotypes and hurting the image of women in physics, blah, blah, blah. No one stopped to marvel at how incredible it was that Vogue -- which reaches millions of women around the globe each month who would never, in a million years, pick up a book or article about science -- chose to feature a woman scientist in its pages at all. If even a fraction of those millions of readers worldwide had their perceptions of female scientists changed for the better, huzzah! "
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POPSSorry FOX, We Won't Let You Trash Michelle Obama You're not going to believe what FOX is up to now—we could hardly believe it ourselves. Not only are they smearing Michelle Obama with racist stereotypes, but then they offer a feeble apology that they believe gives them the right to slander her again. That's what happened when FOX called Michelle and Barack Obama's fist bump a "terrorist fist jab," apologized, and then less than a week later referred to Michelle Obama as Barack's "Baby Mama."
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POPS"Tropic Thunder" Comedy Mocks Hollywood And Movie-Makers To save the movie, director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) decides to shoot it documentary-style, with his actors improvising in the jungle. But that idea also goes awry, and the gun-toting actors find themselves up against a drug lord and his minions' real guns. The premise is amusing, though the actual plotting doesn't always make sense, especially when the actors have to face the real-life villains. And as it goes along, the pleasure is not so much from character development as a series of set pieces, such as African-American Chino's view of Lazarus' vision of an African-American, or Grossman's attempts at crisis management. Indeed, Cruise may be the funniest thing in the movie, although he gets competition, notably from Downey and from Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky, the non-star in the acting ensemble. And movie buffs will have fun picking up on the allusions to other films, especially Apocalypse Now. http://www.tropicthunder.com/home.html
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POPSPolitical Correctness Is Going Overbaord
People in this country have gotten way too focused on being politically correct. It seems like everyone is on the lookout for something someone has done that could potentially be taken as insensitive of a particular individual or group. I have a sister who is mentally retarded and am gay so the word "retard" and dealing with stereotypes is nothing new to me. I have to say, taking offense to something like this should completely revolve around context. If I were out with my sister and someone started pointing, laughing, and calling her a retard, OBVIOUSLY I'd have a problem with it. Same as if someone came up to me and started pointing, calling me a faggot. A satirical movie or a show like Will and Grace displaying stereotypes is nothing to get offended about. It's a movie. If you think it perpetuates stereotypes, you're also probably someone who feels movies and TV should be educating your children on life. We need to get over ourselves and not be so uptight about these t
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POPSHalf of overweight US adults are heart-healthy We have this idea that fat=unhealthy, unhealthy=fat, thin=healthy, and healthy=thin. However, more and more research seems to indicate that this simply isn't true. It's not about your size or your shape, it's about your fitness. Can you do what you need to do on a daily basis with ease? Can you climb a flight of stairs or run a block for the bus without getting winded? Can you play tag with a couple of six-year-olds without passing out from overexertion? Can you carry your groceries home without needing to set them down several times? Get fit. Get strong. Get active. And tell anyone who still believes in "shaming the fatties into losing weight" to go jump in a lake.
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POPSBuilding bridges between Jews and Latino Pentecostals In L.A., a Jewish group has been mounting outreach efforts to Latino Pentecostal congregations and organizations, including a Spanish-language 'Essence of Judaism" course. The piece suggests the outreach has been pretty successful.
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POPSCritical Neuroscience: popularisation and ideology Good to see that scientists themselves are raising concerns to do with the mishmash of mass media titbits about neuroscience that act ideologically to reinforce dominant social ideas pertaining to power, human nature and the political economy.
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POPSQueen Rania on YouTube A followup on my earlier clip on her - I'm fascinated. An honest attempt from Royalty to spare time to clear the air about Islam - worth a look. "Queen Rania wants you to join in this conversation to bring down stereotypes and build bridges between our virtual East-West communities."
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POPSGirls Score Just as Well as Boys in Math Tests My daughter used to complain that her high school math teacher would often call on a boy to answer a question than call on her when she had her hand raised in class. She knew nothing of the stereotype that females are not as good as males in math. She lived it. Follow the link and read the entire article for further interesting findings.
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POPSPride and Progress: How Far America Has Come In The Last 40 Years food for thought from Jonah Lehrer a bit more: "Over time, these conscious limits on language helped re-engineer our unconscious beliefs, allowing people to slowly purge themselves of obsolete stereotypes. (We tend to think of the unconscious as the domineering elephant of the mind, but sometimes the feeble rider manages to steer the beast in the right direction.) Of course, the unconscious remains a murky and biased place, but I think white Americans have shown that it can be amended, that simply altering the ways in which we refer to people can, over time, change what we secretly think of people."
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