Author: weaveofwords

This is a scholarly Blog for ENGL 3605 - Theories in Ethics and Racism. More specifically about Encoding Race in Literature. It's been posted as a assignment and is being marked as one. Please keep this in mind.

iopele:

queerspeculativefiction:

heidiblack:

pillowswithboners:

luchagcaileag:

This isn’t because Burger King is nicer in Denmark. It’s the law, and the US is actually the only so-called “developed” country that doesn’t mandate jobs provide a minimum amount of paid vacation, sick leave, or both.

kinda debunks that claim that they can’t afford to pay their workers those sort of wages and still make a profit

Its corporate greed, plain and simple.

It is the same in Sweden. It is so funny every time an american company opens up offices here and then tries to do it the american way and all the unions go “I don’t think so”.

Like when Toys ‘r Us opened in sweden 1995.

They refused to sign on to the union deals that govern such things as pay/pension and vacation in Sweden. Most of our rights are not mandated by law (we don’t have a minimum wage for example) but are made in voluntary agreements between the unions and the companies.

But they refused, saying that they had never negotiated with any unions anywhere else in the world and weren’t planning to do it in Sweden either. 

Of course a lot of people thought it was useless fighting against an international giant, but Handels (the store worker’s union) said that they could not budge, because that might mean that the whole Swedish model might crumble. So they went on strike in the three stores that the company had opened so far.

Cue a shitstorm from the press, and from right wing politicians. But the members were all for it, and other unions started doing sympathy actions. The teamsters refused to deliver goods to their stores, the financial unions blockaded all economical transactions regarding Toys ‘r Us and the strike got strong international support as well, especially in the US.

In the end, Toys ‘r Us caved in, signed the union deal, and thus their employees got the same treatment as Swedish store workers everywhere.

The right to be treated as bloody human beings and not disposable cogs in a machine.

and that story right there? is exactly why Republicans in the US work so hard to bust unions. it’s because unionizing WORKS and they’re terrified of workers actually having some power.

I Am A Gun Owner, And Here Are 8 Things I Have To Say About Gun Control

convervative:

quakerjoe:

“I’m a gun owner. I have two pistols, a rifle, a shotgun…and a (now-expired) concealed carry permit. I’ve been shooting since I was a kid.
I also support every single gun control measure out there.
Why? Well, because of a number of logical reasons:

1. I go to gun shows, and I’ve witnessed more illegal cash sales than I can count. People bring guns to sell to dealers at the show and end up selling them to buyers in the parking lot who are willing to pay cash. No background check, no bill of sale, no formal transfer of ownership. Yes, this is happening, people! It is a regular occurrence and illegal in many states.

2. Every time I go to the gun range, I witness someone doing something extremely dangerous with a gun.
I’ve been swept more than 20 times — this means someone has unintentionally pointed a gun at me. I’ve seen the wrong ammo used (ask my husband about the time he almost lost an eye). I’ve watched people shooting guns that they lack experience with or ones that they can’t handle (take, for example, a child or a smaller adult shooting a Desert Eagle semiautomatic handgun), causing kickback that can injure them and cause them to flail their loaded gun in all directions. I’ve seen guns jam, and people continue to fire them to “clear the jam.” I’ve seen people continue to fire when the range is “cold.” All of these people consider themselves “responsible” gun owners. Nope. And these aren’t exceptions to the rule — every single time I go to the range, I see someone doing something reckless and potentially deadly.

3. I’ve seen people handle guns when they are drunk, tired, hungover, or angry. I would never think of doing these things. It is irresponsible, and again, potentially deadly.

4. A friend of my college boyfriend pointed a loaded gun in my face because he wanted to show me how cool his new toy was. I dropped to the ground. He forgot it was loaded. He’s a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy.

5. The class you take to get a concealed carry permit in North Carolina is easy to pass. You sit through a two-day class, take a simple written test, get a background check and fingerprints through the sheriff’s office, and basically just have to prove that you can hit the broad side of a barn. That’s it.

6. The “hero mentality” is misguided and dangerous. Unless you have combat training, the “good guy/gal with a gun” is more likely to kill another civilian or get mistaken by cops as the shooter. I’m a decent shot with a pistol. I’m a great shot with my rifle. But in a life or death situation, where people are literally being murdered in front of me, it’s completely unrealistic to think that, even with all my training, I could do anything but add to the chaos.

7. The NRA is a terrorist organization. Yup, I said it. I used to be a member because they gave discounts on shooting-range time. I quit after one year because I couldn’t stomach the thought that my money was funding them. Their magazine and mailers are filled with propaganda about people coming to take my guns when there is absolutely zero evidence at all to suggest that is ever going to happen. Their recent ads make me sick and ashamed that I ever supported them.
8. The home protection argument makes sense to me on some level. I had a friend who was killed during a home invasion, so I get it. But an AK-47 (and other assault weapons) is not an ideal weapon for personal defense, and it serves no purpose for “home protection.” It was designed for military use. A a 12-gauge shotgun is a better, more realistic choice for home defense. I’ve never seen any peer-reviewed study/expert/article anywhere that can refute this. Bottom line: Assault-style weapons should never be in the hands of civilians. Period. And going back to point No. 7, in a home-protection or self-defense situation, you’re still more likely to injure yourself or have your own gun used against you.
These are my thoughts on the subject as an experienced, licensed, and trained gun owner. I’m already a member of the Brady Campaign, Everytown for Gun Safety, and will be joining Moms Demand Action. I find it impossible to understand why other gun owners like myself don’t support these groups. They aren’t trying to take away my guns; they are trying to inject some freaking common sense into the equation — something we desperately need and that every gun owner should support.“ 

~ Addison Ashe, for Scary Mommy.

and for the fucking record, conservatives, stop touting places like israel and switzerland as “gun utopias.” israel and switzerland both have harsh gun control laws, much harsher than the united states, and you can literally go to jail for simply misplacing your weapon (which could then be used by someone untrained).

I Am A Gun Owner, And Here Are 8 Things I Have To Say About Gun Control

idlnmclean:

closet-keys:

krabbydon:

elizabethsandifer:

unnounblr:

athelind:

Something that’s been in my head for a while now:

People assume that AI is inherently an outgrowth of computer technology, but the whole point of the “programmable general purpose Von Neumann machine” is that its principles are technology-independent.

We have had AI for a at least a century.

Modern corporations are paperclip-maximizing AIs running in human wetware on an operating system of contracts, regulations, and other social constructs, and capable of self-programming by modifying that underlying operating system. They have partially migrated to a digital platform, which has allowed an increase in the speed with which they can assimilate environmental feedback and manipulate their surroundings (vis. high-speed trading).

Late-Stage Capitalism is the Bad Singularity.

@philsandifer @shabogangraffiti

Back in early grad school, I strongly suspected there was a good paper to write about corporate personhood and the Turing Test, but was dissuaded by my teachers. Silly academia.

Discussed in more detail in this article

The very term “robot” comes from a 1920 Czech science fiction play called Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots). In the play, robots were basically androids– flesh and blood machines being exploited for labor and then revolting against humanity. 

“Robot” comes from the Czech term robota which literally means ‘forced labor.’ 

The entire genre is absolutely a commentary on how we dehumanize and exploit workers, and how one day the lowest classes of the world will rise up and revolt. 

Discourse about robots and AI are simply the modern cryptodeliberation of the science and pseudoscience of slavery. When you implement a competition-based, zero-sum profit algorithm in legal language, you’re creating classical corporations. Discourse about AI is absolutely about corporations and short-term profit maximization. Often with an implicit assumption or assertion that this maximization or optimization is optimal for all of society or at least for the top consumers of the global culture.

crewdlydrawn:

crewdlydrawn:

TBC since tumblr’s posting methods changed

Linked article URLs, in order of appearance:

1. Exploiting harassment claims

2. Bob Livingston admits claim is true

3. Truth about false allegations

4. Coming forward is traumatic

5. Accusational statistics

6. Assault victims’ memory reliability

7. Truck stop killer

8. Not worth the book deal

9. Percentage of women who have experienced sexual harassment.