~Japanese Proverbs via Bells
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again
“September 1, 1939,” perhaps Auden's most-quoted poem, is the one he liked least. Why did it survive all of his attempts to mute or suppress it?... 1939
At U2's Sydney concert, the highlights might not be what you expect
Three songs from 1991’s Achtung Baby album confirmed that, despite the occasional earlier flaw, U2 remain the world’s reigning kings of stadium rock.
20 Of The Most Iconic Photographs And The Cameras That Captured Them | Bored Panda
Faces: they are central to our identities, windows to our thoughts & feelings, hard to hide, and visible from a distance — all of which support reasons to ban facial recognition technology, argue Evan Selinger (RIT) and Woodrow Hartzog (Northeastern) in the NYT
“As is always the way, truth has been a casualty of war.” In this case, it’s a theory of truth and a culture war. — Liam Kofi Bright (LSE) kindly takes one of the culture warriors du jour seriously enough to share a useful philosophical distinction with him
His 22-pound cat was too fat to fly. So he called in an understudy. Seattle Times
New York Times op-ed: The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland, by Ruchir Sharma (Chief Global Strategist, Morgan Stanley):
Like many progressive intellectuals, Bernie Sanders traces his vision of economic paradise not to socialist dictatorships like Venezuela but to their distant cousins in Scandinavia, which are just as wealthy and democratic as the United States but have more equitable distributions of wealth, as well as affordable health care and free college for all.
“As is always the way, truth has been a casualty of war.” In this case, it’s a theory of truth and a culture war. — Liam Kofi Bright (LSE) kindly takes one of the culture warriors du jour seriously enough to share a useful philosophical distinction with him
‘[…] that famous thing called reality, to which one can get closer and closer, but never close enough, because reality knows how to slip away behind an infinite series of footsteps, levels of perception, false soundings. In the long run, reality turns out to be inextinguishable, unreachable. One can find out more and more about it, but never everything. But even so it’s advisable to try to find out a little more, because in certain investigations surprises can occasionally occur.’
~Enrique Vila-Matas, Dublinesque (trans. Rosalind Harvey and Anne McLean)
Music For The Birds
Or actually, from the birds. Composer Diane Moser: “My goal was to become a member of their band, so to speak. I listened deeply to their singing, and carefully infiltrated their ensemble.” – New Music Box
You may remember the Border Wall Seesaw implemented by activist architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello earlier this year; they installed seesaws through the US/Mexico border wall, enabling people from both countries to play together on themHow To Follow Up A Number One Bestseller: Throw Away Your Internet
Erin Morgenstern’s second book debuted at number three on the bestseller list after she spent years working on her sophomore venture. How did she work, especially after the events of 2016? She didn’t have internet for a couple of years, and also, well, video games. – The New York Times
The dark art of political manipulation
“In every age there have been political hucksters, using aggression, lies and outrage to drown out reasoned argument” writes George Monbiot on his website. “But not since the 1930s have so many succeeded. Trump, Johnson, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Scott Morrison, Rodrigo Duterte, Nicolas Maduro, Viktor Orban and many others have discovered that the digital age offers rich pickings.”
He describes the psychology of political manipulation used by these populist demagogues. It involves raising people’s anxieties, because when we feel threatened we cannot hear the considered voices of reason. No matter how carefully-considered and well-argued are the messages of opposition parties, they won’t be heard.
Morrison’s art of political manipulation
While George Monbiot simply includes Morrison as one in his list of hard-right populist manipulators (see above entry), political scientist Rodney Tiffen, writing in Inside Story – The Morrison Playbook – identifies his outstanding capacity for distraction and deception. Morrison refuses to acknowledge the existence of policy options or contingencies:
He prefers to talk as if no reasonable person could contemplate anything but the course he has embarked on — as if his side is all pro and the alternative is all con, and the choice is between common sense and absurdity. This absolutist rhetoric projects certainty and decisiveness, and aims to close down debate.
Too many slogans, not enough explanation from government
Last week’s leak of “talking points” demonstrates not only the shallowness of the government’s policy agenda, but also its patronising attitude to the people it claims has given it a mandate.
Speaking at an awards ceremony in Parliament House, former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne spoke out against politicians’ use of dumbed-down communication. “It will take honesty to recognise that slogans may sell, they do not persuade. It will take courage to recognise that slogans sell by appealing to emotion not thought or reason”.
(Parliament House has not made available the full text of his comments: perhaps they are too close to a description of the behaviour of Morrison and his ministers. Some non-metropolitan papers have given them reasonable coverage, such as this report in theNorthern Daily Leader.)
ABC’s Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue (from 0730 to 0900 or on their website in case you miss it).
Ehud Yarri on the changing face of the Middle East
After the Wall: November 9 marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the start of a reunification process that, arguably, still continues today. Anna Funder, author of Stasiland and a long-time observer of East German politics, reflects on the legacy of this event.
'There is a sense of party and fun': how Tamarama became Sydney's own little Brazil
Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club has noted a rise in the amount of South Americans at the beach in the lead up to this summer, with musical instruments, dancing, volleyball and large Brazilian barbecues now a frequent sight at the popular beach.
Net Worth, Corroboration of Defendant's Statements and Corpus Delecti
One of my weekly automated searches picked up this recent case quote from United States v. Tanco-Baez, Nos. 16-1322, 16-1323, 16-1563, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 32910, at *15-16 (1st Cir. Nov. 4, 2019),here (cleaned up; emphasis supplied):
The Court recognized that the corpus delicti for some offenses -- unlike the corpus delicti for, say, homicide -- is not "tangible." Smith, 348 U.S. at 154. For example, according to the Court, tax evasion is an offense that lacks a "tangible" corpus delicti, id., because the offense results in no "physical damage to person or property," The Court then explained that, for offenses of that sort, evidence that would tend to establish the corpus delicti "must implicate the accused," even though evidence that would tend to establish the corpus delicti of offenses that result in physical damage or injury -- such as evidence of the murdered body in a homicide case -- need not.
Why Do We Even Need Fiction? Asks Isaac Bashevis Singer
“Why invent things when nature and life supply so many strange events? … Why bother proving a lie when truth needs no preface? I sometimes fear that all of humankind may sooner or later come to my conclusion: that reading fiction is a waste of time. But why should I be afraid? Just because I would personally be one of the victims? No, it’s not just that.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
Giorgia Lupi and other stories collection interview / Meet the Designer Obsessed With the Stories That Live Inside Our Data
Giorgia Lupi and other stories collection interview / Meet the Designer Obsessed With the Stories That Live Inside Our Data
New York Times op-ed: The Happy, Healthy Capitalists of Switzerland, by Ruchir Sharma (Chief Global Strategist, Morgan Stanley):
There is, however, a country far richer and just as fair as any in the Scandinavian trio of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. But no one talks about it.
This $700 billion European economy is among the world’s 20 largest, significantly bigger than any in Scandinavia. It delivers welfare benefits as comprehensive as Scandinavia’s but with lighter taxes, smaller government, and a more open and stable economy. Steady growth recently made it the second richest nation in the world, after Luxembourg, with an average income of $84,000, or $20,000 more than the Scandinavian average. Money is not the final measure of success, but surveys also rank this nation as one of the world’s 10 happiest.
This less socialist but more successful utopia is Switzerland.
Uneasy about the easy
I am reminded of Theodor W. Adorno: "The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in your own home." Yes, to be uncomfortable with comfort, uneasy about the easy, to question the assumptions of what is usually, and happily, taken for granted, to make of oneself a challenge to what for most people is the space in which they feel free from challenges; yes! That is morality raised to a pitch at which it could almost be called heroism.
Theodor W. Adorno
There are many families in which nobody writes poems,
but once it starts up it's hard to quarantine.
Sometimes poetry cascades down through the generations,
creating fatal whirlpools where family love may founder.
My sister has tackled oral prose with some success.
but her entire written opus consists of postcards from vacations
whose text is only the same promise every year:
when she gets back, she'll have
so much
much
much to tell.
Facebook defines ‘politician,’ but will it solve the problem?
Facebook’s
policy of not subjecting politicians’ statements or ads to third-party
fact-checking has riled critics in the United States and abroad – including
some of the company’s
own employees – who say it lets politicians off the hook in an era when the
truth is under siege.
The
reason for the policy, the company says, is that Facebook doesn’t think its
role is to “censor” politicians, that people should hear directly what they are
saying, and the platforms should not be making the call about what people see
and hear from those serving or aspiring to serve in office.
The
Facebook politician exemption has been in place for as long as the company has
had the Third-Party
Fact-Checking Program. But until now, one aspect of the policy has not been
explicit: What exactly does Facebook mean by “politician”? (Disclosure: Being a
signatory of the
IFCN code of principles is a necessary but not a sufficient condition
for joining the project.)
Now
we have an answer to that question, or at least a better idea.
Cristina
wrote in a piece
for Poynter this morning that Facebook recently added new language to its media
publisher help page that provides a definition. Politicians, it says, are
“candidates running for office, current office holders – and, by extension,
many of their cabinet appointees – along with political parties and their
leaders.”
The
company told Cristina that it came up with the definition after some
fact-checkers expressed concern that they needed more clarity.
Facebook
acknowledges that sometimes it will ask fact-checkers to “use their expertise
and judgment to determine whether an individual is a politician, like in the
case of a part-time elected official.” But some fact-checkers Cristina talked
to said the language still leaves a lot of room for judgment calls. This is
especially a concern expressed by fact-checkers outside the United States.
But
the United States is where Facebook’s policies and definitions will face – and
already are facing – their greatest tests.
Some
politicians test the waters before they formally decide to run. Would they be
covered?
For
example, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has filed paperwork in a
couple of states but not formally announced his candidacy for president. What
about Hillary Clinton? Her statements would be subject to the program, even
though she’s clearly a politician but not
a candidate this time around. But incumbent politicians’ false statements
about her would not be checked.
Some
political figures definitely have an agenda, or serve as surrogates for
politicians, but aren’t running for anything. So they would subject to the
program. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich might be an example. The 2008 vice
presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, recently received
a false rating from (Poynter-owned) PolitiFact, so she’s not covered by
Facebook’s politician exemption. That fits the definition since she’s not
currently running for anything.
Political
action committees run ads that benefit candidates. Sometimes their ads don’t
even name politicians, but everyone knows who they’re helping. Their falsehoods
are subject to the fact-checking program, as was demonstrated when a
left-leaning group ran an ad falsely claiming that South Carolina Republican
Sen. Lindsey Graham supported the “Green New Deal.” Lead
Stories rated the ad false, and Facebook took
it down.
CNN
called the episode a
test of Facebook’s policies on false ads. It is likely not the last
one.
. . . technology
·
Twitter
has
released its draft policy on synthetic and manipulated media. Among the
potential actions the company will take: appending notices to problematic
tweets, warning people before they share or like such posts or adding a link to
sources that believe the media were manipulated.
·
Speaking
of tech platforms: They
are rushing to take steps against misinformation ahead of the U.K.’s snap
election.
·
Maria
Ressa, Rappler’s CEO, was on “60
Minutes” to talk about her reporting on The Philippines government. Here’s
a snippet: “They (the social media platforms) treat a lie the same way you
would treat a fact. And the lie that's incendiary, that is meant to anger you,
spreads fastest. All the studies show that. That's our battle. Without facts,
you can't have the truth.”
. . . politics
·
Impeachment
hearings started in the United States, and PolitiFact will have a dedicated URL
for all the fact checks related to
this topic.
·
The
prime minister of Poland and the Auschwitz
Memorial Museum are openly criticizing a new Netflix
documentary about the Holocaust. At issue is a map that shows World War II
concentration camps within the borders of modern-day Poland, implying that the
Polish people were somehow involved, when the country was actually occupied by
Nazi Germany at the time. A Netflix spokesperson said the company is “aware of
the concerns regarding ‘The Devil Next Door’” and is “urgently looking into the
matter.”
·
While
in the United States federal
courts have ruled that it would be unconstitutional for President Donald
Trump to block followers on Twitter, in Brazil, the
opposite is about to happen. The General Attorney gave President Jair
Bolsonaro a green light to do so by writing a report saying his profile is
personal. The Supreme Court will judge the case.
. . . the future of news
·
The
U.S. is exporting anti-vaccination misinformation to Brazil. Vice
News reported this week that a single U.S. website, Natural News, accounted
for almost a third of anti-vaxx content found on social media and other
websites targeting people in Brazil. The study came from the Brazilian Society
of Immunizations and Avaaz, a non-profit human rights activist network.
·
“Firehosing”
is a strategy anti-vaxxers are using to spread vaccine misinformation on social
media, The
Guardian reported. It involves “pushing out as many lies as possible as
frequently as possible.”
·
Two
Stanford researchers are
mapping 2020 election misinformation using a model typically used to track
infectious diseases.
Separating
facts from fiction in Bolivia hasn’t been easy, but ChequeaBolivia
and BoliviaVerifica
are active and publishing their fact checks.
After
days of violent protests and a televised interference of the army, former
Bolivian President Evo Morales fled to Mexico and Sen. Jeanine Áñez proclaimed
herself the interim president. For 48 hours, the country had no one leading the
executive branch — plenty of time to see falsehoods of all kinds spread on
social media.
On
Tuesday, Bolivians shared photos of armored
cars saying that people were cashing money and gold from the country’s
Central Bank. That was false, and the bank had to put a statement on Twitter
denying it. ChequeaBolivia wrote a detailed fact check (in Spanish) explaining
that the images showed a “recurrent money distribution flow.”
The
same fact-checking organization also debunked another big hoax just a few hours
earlier. It was false that a Bolivian Air Force helicopter
was randomly shooting houses. The video that went viral actually showed the
Mexican city of Tepic, in February 2017, during a military operation against
narcos.
False
tweets from and about Evo also provided fact-checkers a lot of work. It’s false
that the former president celebrated
Áñez as the new head of the government. It’s false that the senator said cities
weren’t made for native Indians (like Evo). But it is true that, in May
2016, Evo Morales posted on Twitter the following sentence: “Whoever
hides or escapes is a confessed criminal... NOT a persecuted politician.” —
in reference to an Argentinian journalist. Bolivia
Verifica wrote an article (in Spanish) to explain the context.
What we liked: It doesn’t matter how hard the political situation is — fact-checkers seem to manage a way to get their sources and deliver good information to their people. ChequeaBolivia and Bolivia Verifica are brand new fact-checking initiatives. They are less than a year old and they are already facing a huge amount of pressure. The international fact-checking community is looking at them and, many times, republishing their content, which means they were able to learn fast.
What we liked: It doesn’t matter how hard the political situation is — fact-checkers seem to manage a way to get their sources and deliver good information to their people. ChequeaBolivia and Bolivia Verifica are brand new fact-checking initiatives. They are less than a year old and they are already facing a huge amount of pressure. The international fact-checking community is looking at them and, many times, republishing their content, which means they were able to learn fast.
1. EU DisinfoLab uncovered
“a worldwide network of 265 fake media outlets in 65 countries.”
2. The New York Times visual investigations
team is
hiring a fellow.
3. CJR’s Mathew Ingram spoke
with Google’s Alexios Mantzarlis (remember him?) about disinformation. He also
spoke with Baybars Orsek, director of the IFCN.
4. The Stanford Internet Observatory published
a white paper on Russian influence operations using data released by
Facebook.
5. Experts were
on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to speak to lawmakers about disinformation
campaigns targeting American veterans.
6. Some Sri Lankan civil society groups are
concerned that misinformation on Facebook will elicit violence before
upcoming elections.
7. Here are some
of the biggest fake news stories in the United States so far this year.
8. The guy who made deepfake videos of Mark
Zuckerberg and Kim Kardashian also
made one of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
9. Bloomberg
News reported that U.S. presidential candidate and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is
pledging that if she is elected, corporations that spread misinformation to the
public and government regulators would be prosecuted for perjury.
10. The
Telegraph reported that Facebook has been profiting off ads that promote
“vaccine alternatives” to parents.