In My Language: An Alternative View of Autism

This is an amazing video. Made by a woman with severe autism, it questions the very foundations of the understanding of this "disease." In fact she questions whether it should be considered a disease at all. She is part of a group of autistic persons who question the standard diagnosis. They are aided by new communication technologies, new media and the internet, and it is doubtful whether, before these innovations were available, anyone would have had any clue that they were able to communicate intelligently (that is intelligently according to our interpretation) at all. Amanda would probably say, and I hesitate to put words in her mouth because she's fully capable of saying what she means, no one would have known she could communicate in our language or mode of communication.

She is at the center of a controversy over how intelligence should be measured in autistic persons, and in that way, possibly just what it means to be intelligent. An article in Wired magazine discusses the competing methodologies and theories for measuring intelligence in people with autism. I find two aspects of Amanda's story intriguing. First as mentioned briefly above, that this technology has made it possible for her to express something people like her have been unable to express. And as importantly that new media has become the vehicle for a nascent liberation movement among people like Amanda. A way for them to express the idea that their way of communicating and interacting with the world is as legitimate as ours and not an aberration to be cured.

Also I find intriguing an aspect that I have not yet seen discussed in relation to her in my half an hours worth of googling the topic, that is whether it has significance in regard to other modes of human perception. Whether you want to refer to those modes as mystic, altered states of consciousness, or alternative means of perception. Could it have any relationship to states of consciousness reported in mystics, medicine men, and shaman around the world? Could it have any significance in regard to psychedelic drug states? It is certainly another way of seeing the world. Autism may not have any relation to those states at all, and I may be talking out my keister here. But I think at least the question is a valid one and something to be explored. Perhaps. Maybe.

Anyway, Amanda has a "non-site" here, expressing her frustration with the number and types of inquiries she's been getting since she became famous. And she became famous via Youtube. She was also interviewed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN.

Wal-Mart Relents in Law Suit Against Disabled Worker

This is a follow-up to this post. I'd like to give Wal-Mart credit. They deserve at least some. They didn't have to do this. But there's some things you shouldn't have to be forced to do. And when you are forced to do them, you could admit to being just a little bit of a jerk. In their case, a corporate bureaucracy of jerks. Not everyone in the company, but the ones making the important decisions. Nobody's perfect. Least of all me. I am, have been, and probably at some point in the future will be a jerk. I admit it. They should too.

Oh No He Did'N!

Did Lou almost call a black woman, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice no less, a cotton picker? Lou Dobbs is trying to put the Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, and Colbert Report out of business by becoming his own satire of himself. Rendering them redundant. In the middle of bloviating about being afraid of addressing the issue of race because you may be accused of saying something insensitive, he almost said something insensitive.

And I used to think Olbermann was only half serious when he called people like Rush Limbaugh and his ilk comedians. And whether they write this stuff themselves, or it's improv, if they are doing this for laughs then it is absolute comic genius. Found this posted on Daily Kos. And one of he comedians there, Deoliver47 posted the video below in the comments. Interesting mash up if you play them both at the same time.

Update: What Press Won't Show that Wright Said

I also posted on Daily Kos and got some comments there about Wright's quoting from, or paraphrasing of, Ambassador Ed Peck. No one has been able to find the actual appearance on Fox that Reverend Wright claims to quote. So there is some dispute that as to whether the words are actually Peck's. I still feel that the sound bite does not reflect Wright's intended meaning. It doesn't come close. The most salient comment I got there was this one:

Simple answer: the truth doesn't sell ads.
Scandal does. Plus, a 5 second sound-bite is easier to put on air than 5 minutes of a sermon.

by skrekk on Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 05:40:23 PM PDT

Sound bite journalism doesn't serve the public at all. It gives us half truths and stirs up controversy that does not help us solve problems. In fact it creates problems. This kind of journalism serves the corporate media, whose motivation is profit, not truth. It creates controversy and spectacle that they can use to draw our attention and while we're there, try to sell us something. Not that selling something in and of itself is bad. We have ads here. But when it comes at the expense of truth and when spectacle is disguised as news in order to do so, it is a corruption of the purpose of the media.

I think corporate media is a more appropriate name for the MSM precisely for those reasons. It's a more accurate reflection of their real purpose and the reason they often fail to serve the public good they purport to serve.

-Fight the powers.

What the Press Won't Show You That Reverend Wright Said

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone when I'm watching TV and I see the media version of what's happening in the world and I see a completely contradictory version of it somewhere else. Or, metaphorically, like Charlton Heston must have felt at the end of the movie Soylent Green when he finally realizes that soylent green is made from people. It's not that I trust the media so unquestioningly that I can't wrap my brain around the fact that their version of what is real is so far from what actually is real, but that I just can't believe that it would be possible to have any remaining shred of credibility or status among the people of this country if you got something so absolutely, incredible wrong so many times. Even if you give people very little credit for paying attention to or caring about what's going on. Or even if you think they are not very smart. It still doesn't make sense.

Just how is it possible that you keep your status as the supposed watchdogs of government, and reliable sources of information from around the world? How can you not be laughed at when you call yourselves, The Most Trusted Name in News, or The Place for Politics, or the best political team on television, or whatever else the various marketing departments dream up for their news organizations? When I watch the in context versions of the sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright and contrast them to the endless loops we've been seeing on the networks and cable TV news shows for weeks, they leave me with two views of supposed reality that just do not jibe.

Last night I heard commentators on CNN and MSNBC still speaking as if they had no idea that the loop they play of Wrights comments on 9/11 are in fact a quotation and not his own words. That to me seems like a relevant fact. Even the people I trust to tell me much more of the truth than the the networks generally do, people like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, are repeating the same mainstream media narrative. And if we extend the conversation to what's happening in the blogosphere, I have not heard Arianna Huffington (though I'm behind reading her posts) put this into perspective. Arguably one of, if not the biggest story of recent weeks, and only one show in the mainstream media has taken the time to actually listen to one of Wrights full sermons and put what was said in perspective. It was CNN's Rich Sanchez and he did a very poor job of it. He continually tried to move the focus back to the prevailing mainstream media narrative of Wright and Trinity United as wild-eyed angry black militants that should scare the crap out of the average American.

This story could have potentially derailed the chances of the only viable African-American candidate for president, ever. Yet no one who calls themselves a journalist took any time to look beyond the surface of 10 and 20 second sound bites. It took Trinity United itself to start their own Youtube channel and blog to start to get the truth out to people. And one of the great ironies of the whole story is that it may bring the church more serious attention than it would have ever gotten even if Obama does become president. I am not a religious person at all and that is not the relevant part of the story to me, but it is interesting.

One personal, but relevant irony for me is that I found the story in context by going to Wikipedia. Yes, Wikipedia, the icon for unreliable information in the mainstream media was where I found that the media was still not correctly attributing the statements made by Wright on 9/11. That they had still not said that Wright was "[Paraphrasing] Edward Peck, former U.S. Chief of Mission in Iraq, former deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism under the Reagan Administration and former U.S. Ambassador to a number of countries." Wikipedia was my source for accurate information that the mainstream press had gotten wrong over and over again.

And to me that is the real story here. That through this very medium, through new new media, the people, both those misrepresented directly and those to whom the truth was misrepresented, have redress. From the editors of Wikipedia who have no motivation except to provide reliable information to people for free. Yes it is vulnerable to corruption, but it is self correcting and those who call it unreliable are no more reliable. And from the people at Trinity United who are just like you and me. Who saw their pastor misrepresented in the media and decided to become their own media and put their own story out so that people could make up their minds based on more than 20 seconds of sound out of entire career.

The career of a man who was a US Marine and served in the US Navy as a hospital Corpsman and who has a commendation from same for treating President Lyndon Johnson when he was hospitalized. The career of a man who traveled to Libya as part of an contingent which included Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan to free United States Navy pilot Lt. Robert Goodman, whose fighter jet had been shot down over Lebanon. And to bring that soldier held prisoner by a terrorist back home to America. I got that from Wikipedia too.

Maybe it is not that the people don't care, or pay attention when our news and view of the world is reduced to the 20 second sound bite, or that they aren't smart enough to understand it when it's not, but that they felt little power to do anything about it. Through new media they are starting to take back that power and the mainstream media should be paying attention. We the people are not only the government, we are the media too.

Please take the time to comment on this post, whether you agree or disagree. And please take time to pass it on to people who may not have seen Reverend Wright's comments in context. And finally, take time to write the mainstream media, whoever you get your news from and let them know that you are paying attention.

See update here.

-Fight the powers.

Mississippi Primary: Obama is the Projected Winner

The polls have closed in Mississippi, and Barack Obama is is the projected winner according to CNN and MSNBC.

CNN: Congolese Woman's Silent Scream is Heard

This story on CNN highlights the plight of women in the Congo on International Women's Day. Honorata Kizende's story is hard to hear, but it is one that must be heard. It's the story of hundreds of thousands of women in the Congo who have suffered gang rape and sexual slavery at the hands of soldiers fighting in a brutal civil war. According to the story, "An estimated 5.4 million people have died in Congo since 1998."

Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, speaks eloquently about not only the pain Kizende suffered at the hands of those soldiers, but the greater pain of not being heard.

Kizende, 55, is a spokeswoman for Women for Women International, a 16-year-old group that helps rebuild the lives of women victimized by violent conflict in countries such as Kosovo, Iraq and Colombia.

The group was founded by Zainab Salbi, a 38-year-old Iraqi-American who knows something about brutality. She grew up under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, where people who spoke out were often murdered.

"My image of the Congolese women is that of a scream," Salbi said. "But there is no sound coming from the scream because the world is not hearing it."

That's because the victims are women, she said.

Too often humanitarian crises on the African continent are all but ignored by the US, the UN and the International Community. There's a story or two on the news, there are words and resolutions, but very little action. Very few troops or resources are committed to end the violence. They simply do not get the same kind of attention that this kind of crisis would if it occurred in Europe or the Middle East or some place considered "strategically" important. That this many people can die, that this many women can be raped and victimized without a hue and cry and demand for action from the world is truly tragic.

Wyoming Caucus Results: Obama Wins

Interesting fact I just heard while listening to CNN's coverage of the caucus: Part of Wyoming's caucus rules require equal gender representation for delegates. An equal number of men and women. It was the first state the Women's Suffrage Movement emerged from, and was the first state to elect a woman governor according to Jessica Yellin on CNN. This relates in a to my next post.

Texas Primary Election: John McCain Projected Winner for Republicans, Clinton Wins Texas

CNN and MSNBC are projecting John McCain the winner of the Texas Republican Primary. The Democratic side is too close to call so far. It is now projected that John McCain will be the Republican nominee. McCain now has enough delegates to push him over the top. He will be endorsed tomorrow at the White House by President Bush. Now that's an endorsement you want. I can see Democratic campaign ads already.

Update:
Hillary Clinton wins a close Texas primary.

Rhode Island Primary Election: John McCain Projected Winner, Hillary Clinton Dems Winner

CNN and MSNBC are both projecting John McCain the winner on the Republican side in Rhode Island. Hillary Clinton is the projected winner on the Democratic side.

Ohio Primary Election: Clinton Wins Ohio, McCain Wins on GOP Side

MSNBC and CNN project John McCain the winner in the Republican primary. The Ohio Democratic race is so far too close to call.

Update:
According to MSNBC a judge has ordered the polls to remain open in Sandusky County Ohio until 9pm because of a lack of ballots. The Obama campaign has asked that the polls remain open in two other counties.

Update:
From the Daily Kos. The Obama campaign has convinced a judge in Cuyahoga County to keep 20 precincts that ran out of ballots open until 9 p.m. So those previously closed polls are being re-opened.

Update:
Hillary Clinton is now being projected the winner of the Ohio primary on the Democratic side.

Vermont Primary Election: Barack Obama, John McCain Winners

Both CNN and MSNBC have projected Barack Obama the winner on the Democratic side in Vermont. John McCain is the projected Republican primary winner. More info to come as election night coverage continues.

Democracy is a Scary Thing

First I have to apologize for some of the editorial commentary in the titles of this video. It was the best Youtube video I could find of this clip and I didn't record the show myself so I couldn't put my own clip up. Last week I put up the second of a couple clips of an informed voter. The first one I titled, An Informed Voter is a Beautiful Thing. The scary, but absolutely necessary thing about Democracy is that everyone gets a vote, informed or not. It shouldn't be any other way, of course, but it's one of the tricky things about democracy.

Last week on the death of William F. Buckley, Keith Olbermann reminded us that Buckley once said that the uneducated shouldn't be allowed to vote. But a democracy that doesn't allow all to participate is not a real democracy. The challenge of our system of government is to find ways to engage voters in the process and to encourage people to be informed. Some may look at a voter like the one in the CBS clip and blame him for what's wrong with our system. Obviously he bears some responsibility for being informed as a voter, but the responsibility as a whole lies with all of us and with the system as a whole. I think if anything can be blamed it's an attitude. And I lay at least some of that blame on CNN.

Ok, I'm not blaming them alone, but something I call the CNN mentality. The kind of fast food, consumerist, couch potato attitude we have, as Americans, about being informed. That we can sit on our ample arses, and I include my own ample arse along with the rest of them, and believe that we can be informed. That is that someone can inform us, and all we have to do is consume it. Being informed is an active proposition. Like getting in shape, or eating healthy. You have to do something yourself in order to get your body in shape, no one can do it for you and it is the same with the mind. And you have to do it constantly, it's not something you accomplish and are finished.

The essential element of being informed is critical thinking. That we examine everything that is presented to us with a critical eye. That we question it. That we check sources and compare them with other sources. That we make sure the things we are being fed through the media make sense. I call it the CNN mentality because of their tagline which epitomizes the mindset. You don't hear it so much these days during this election season. It has largely been replaced with "the best political team on television" which I paraphrase as the best political team in show business. But their regular tag line is, or at least was, "the most trusted name in news."

What does that tell us? To sit back on our couch and relax as this trusted name tell us what's going on in the world. It's easy to be informed. Let CNN do it for us. Just pick up the remote. It is the equivalent of those scam diets that tell you that you can loose weight but you can eat what you want and you don't have to change your habits. BS. I know because I am spending way too much time sitting here doing this. The tendency then is not to think and not to question.

They have the avuncular Wolf Blitzer in the mold of the icon Walter Kronkite. Someone who is easy to listen to and easy to trust. But this my friends is the fast food of being informed. And we are all so busy and have to make a living and there are so many sources out there, many of them full of misinformation, that it's easy to grab that quick and easy McNews. We all do it. I am guilty as any.

But we all have to push ourselves to go a little further. Don't do it all at once. It's just like exercising. You can't run a marathon the first day. You don't want to get a brain cramp. Start small. Question something you hear. Find another source. Get your google and Wikipedia on. One further word of advice. People, if cable news is the SuperSize meal of being informed, email forwards are the twinkies. The are sweet, easy to consume, and addictive. But they will make you a mental lard ass. If you question everything you get on cable news, or anywhere else, doubly question anything that comes in an email forward. What's the source? Does it make sense? Check it against other sources.

Our democracy can only be as strong as the voters who participate in it. Uninformed voters make a weak democracy. Informed voters are mentally strong and therefore of necessity, make our democracy stronger. BTW, the entire video of the 60 Minutes video above is here. You can watch it online.

A Note on CBS Video:
I could have embedded the video it here, but there's one problem. And that's that CBS has such a convoluted scheme of protecting their video from download that it won't show up if you're using Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) as your browser. That's a problem because almost 30 percent of users have IE7 and I don't know if it will show up in IE6 or IE5. Amateurs at video like CBS should let their videos go on Youtube and forget about it. Instead they have geeks come up with a scheme that eliminates a good portion of the browsers on the market. Probably a sign of their commitment to allowing people to embed their videos on blogs and web sites in the first place. Ok I shouldn't blame it all in CBS. It's at least half Microsoft's fault. After all, it works in Firefox.

-Fight the powers.

Trending Away from Microtrends

An interesting and ironic analysis of why Barack Obama is winning by Arianna Huffington at Huffington Post. If you're tired of poll after poll, and coverage of tit-for-tat bickering between the candidates, and the other useless information you get from the best political team on television, or as I've just this moment decided to start calling them, the best political team in show business, and the rest of the MSM (of course except for the man Keith Olbermann), and want to read something that won't reduce your IQ by 5 points, check out her post.

Harassing Smiley's Momma for Dis of Obama

Talk show host Tavis Smiley is getting some heat for criticizing Barack Obama for not attending the State of the Black Union Forum in New Orleans this year. From an article posted on CNN's site Smiley says:

"I have family in Indianapolis. They are harassing my momma, harassing my brother. It's getting to be crazy."

The story is here on CNN. Briefly it states:

In a letter to Smiley earlier this month, Obama commended the forum for addressing important issues, but explained he needed to focus on his presidential run ahead of the critical March 4 primaries....

.... Smiley has been vocal about his disapproval of Obama's decision.

"I think it's a missed opportunity on Mr. Obama's part," Smiley told CNN. "Now, I am not interested in demonizing him for his choice, but I do disagree with it."

But Smiley's criticism has also prompted many people to come to Obama's defense. The talk show host told The Washington Post he has been inundated with angry e-mails and even death threats.

It's kind of crazy for people to threaten the man with death for criticizing Barack Obama. That's a little bit scary. People who would do something like that are probably a bit unhinged in the first place. It might be time for Barack Obama to ask people to give Tavis a break before things get out of hand.

As an aside I have to say that although conferences like this are absolutely valuable, no doubt necessary, I think the name is a bit unfortunate. It can be construed as meaning black people have a separate union as opposed to being part of the union we are all a part of, the United States of America. I know it doesn't mean that, but it's a matter of perception and it sounds separatist in a way that a name like, the State of Black People in the Union, though definitely not as catchy and not a name I'm recommending, but I put forth as a contrast to illustrate my point, does not. It seems to me that we fought long and hard not to be separate and symbols like these and the Black National Anthem, put forth a perception that belie those struggles.

Clinton - Obama Debate from Austin Texas

I don't know why I ever watch the after debate analysis. It's like those people watched something completely different than I did. I guess so much of it is subjective and probably has to do with who you support up front. I don't think it was a knock out for anyone, but I think Barack Obama clearly won on points. I was following the threads during the debate on Daily Kos, and I think most people there thought Barack won.

The video above was one of the better exchanges for Barack Obama. The video below is of the end of the debate and was by far Hillary Clinton's best moment. It was a moving and warm finish for her and received a standing ovation from the audience, but it also seemed to express a note of conciliation and resignation. Most of the on-air pundits on CNN and MSNBC are saying she won on the strength of that finish. I don't think it's the case at all. I think it practically conceded defeat. It's ironically being described as valedictory by the pundits, some of the same ones who are saying she won.

I think the race is nearly over. The fat lady isn't singing, but she's warming up in the wings. Finally hearing one pundit, Jonathan Alter on Chris Matthew's Hardball, who got it right and said that Barack won the debate.