Facebook Friday Favorites
My facebook friends have AWESUM posts. I limit myself to under ten, that way I choose only the best to maximize your entertainment, political ire, and/or your general amazement.
1. The Coffee Party — One of the most exciting things this month is the explosion of the Coffee Party as a counter to the Tea Party.
2. Heads Up: Prayer Warriors and Sarah Palin are Organizing Spiritual Warfare to Take Over America — This is simultaneously amusing and disturbing. In the documentary Jesus Camp, camp leaders wanted to train Christian children for the Army of God, just like Islamic children are trained. Ted Haggard, the disgraced preacher who was a key figure in Jesus Camp, was central to organizing the spiritual warfare movement. It’s amusing to think that this movement is praying to rid battleground cities of their demons. But then..it isn’t so funny after all.
3. Hostage: A Love Story — Very funny video starring Zachary Quinto who takes a woman hostage and then marries her.
4. Why we need to have empathy for Tea Party lunatics – A psychologist’s explanation for the Tea Party. He talks about how legitimate feelings turn into paranoia which the right wing demagogues exploit:
The “problem” is that Tea Party activists move from legitimate feelings and normal longings to paranoid political positions that are dangerous and cruel. But because these positions serve an important psychological function, because they resolve an emotional dilemma, they can’t be changed by rational argument.
5. The Orangutan and the Hound — This is a lovely story about the friendship between an Orangutan and a dog. I LOVED this video. It reminded me so much of Donna Haraway’s work, since she’s written about primates and dogs and kinship. This video is like the merging of so much of what she’s written.
6. The Opportunity of Adversity — An amazing video of Aimee Mullins’ presentation at TED. Mullins is an amputee who’s made a name for herself as a model, athlete, and inspirational speaker. Her talk addresses how the idea that she’s “overcoming adversity” diminishes her. It’s a great illustration of the power of language and our stereotypes about people with “disabilities.” I intend to use it in class next semester when we discuss language. I surfed over to the TED site to learn more about the presentation and I found one of the comments interesting: Mullins wouldn’t be as effective if she weren’t pretty.
7. 5 creepy ways video games are trying to get you addicted — A fascinating look at the Skinnerian logic behind video games.
8. Pentagon Strike — Anyone interested in either visual rhetoric or paranoid style should visit this site produced by the Truthers at Sign of the Times. It’s a sort of paranoia that is transparent of itself.
9. Enlightened sexism — An excerpt from Susan J. Douglas book. The book’s subtitle is: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work is Done. The book is now on my TBR list.
10. Where the Hell is Matt — This is the site of that crazy guy who dances around the world. I wish I could be adventurous enough to do that. Or just to dance around my living room.
And here’s a little lagniappe:
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