While the “campus liberals are fascist” debates rage on, a Wisconsin high school is now banning discussion of privilege because a student-led workshop on Martin Luther King Day made certain white families uncomfortable. The principal has apparently been forced to resign.
The timing of the board’s edict, just weeks before the February resignation of Principal Joseph Moylan, has fueled speculation that Moylan was pushed out in part for allowing the student-led exercise during the assembly Jan. 15.
Moderators, please stand up
The New Yorker investigated social media moderation and toxicity, but found that Facebook and Twitter really didn’t want to show their inner workings. Only Reddit was willing to really open up. The resulting article is perhaps the funniest thing you will ever read about death threats, revenge porn, Nazis, and conspiracy theories. Describing a new rule banning revenge porn: “This rule is stupid and suppresses our rights,” u/penisfuckermcgee commented.
Reddit is not known for being the best part of the internet, but in many cases it’s one of the best. If you remember Usenet from the pre-browser Internet, you’ll recognize Reddit: Self-organizing, self-moderating messageboards and comments, sometimes horrific and often absolutely brilliant.
Every subreddit is devoted to a specific kind of content, ranging from vital to trivial: r/News, r/Politics, r/Trees (for marijuana enthusiasts), r/MarijuanaEnthusiasts (for tree enthusiasts), r/MildlyInteresting (“for photos that are, you know, mildly interesting”).
Can you get excellent information and find a community willing to share your interest in labor law, plumbing, Filipino cooking, photography, gardening, nail polish, high-quality shoes, personal finance, your town’s local events, model trains, mental illness, endometriosis, gender transition or life after leaving your church? Absolutely. Can you also find a hive of scum and villany? Oh hell yes.
In addition to funny, the article is truly insightful and shows us how tech giants are struggling to deal with human nature that can’t really be broken down into universal rules and clear bright lines.
“Does free speech mean literally anyone can say anything at any time?” Tidwell continued. “Or is it actually more conducive to the free exchange of ideas if we create a platform where women and people of color can say what they want without thousands of people screaming, ‘Fuck you, light yourself on fire, I know where you live’? If your entire answer to that very difficult question is ‘Free speech,’ then, I’m sorry, that tells me that you’re not really paying attention.”
You’re not helping, traditional media
Vox has an in-depth rundown of the failures of the NYT opinion section: They think they’re aiming for “diversity of opinion” but have failed to represent any Asian or Latinx voices, or any actual leftists. Just as bad, their “conservative” voices don’t convey the racist dumpster fire that is the actual reality of the Republican party. You’d get a better idea of the reality of conservatism over at /r/The_Donald (The previous article warned you not to click on that…)
ACAB, Philly Edition
The original charge was brought by a police squad widely known for faking arrests (and robbing drug dealers with falsified warrants, and the blatant armed robbery of a string of bodegas). The arresting officer is on a leaked list of cops that prosecutors will not trust to testify under oath. Thousands of the squad’s convictions have been reversed, but not this one. The suspect served a few years for it, and was released on probation.
Every time it’s almost done, he winds up somehow locked up again, thanks to a judge who seems to have taken a particular interest in his case. Every time he releases an album she bars him from traveling to support it. At one point she asked him and his girlfriend to sing an R&B song for her in her chambers, and got angry when he refused. She has repeatedly criticized his decision to fire an exploitative mobbed-up manager with local ties and switch to a national management company that seems less corrupt.
The latest twist: a misdemeanor ticket, later dropped, for riding an off-road dirt bike on a city street. The District Attorney and his parole officer both said the infraction didn’t merit jail time, but the judge overruled them. He’s locked up for another 2-4 years.
Rapper Meek Mill has been in and out of prison since 2009, and it’s not clear he’s actually guilty of anything at all.
(Soundtrack: Amen, the song that got him a public scolding from his neighborhood minister for using church music in a decidedly profane manner).
Pithy
Gin & Tacos: “Remember the final years of the USSR, when everyone in charge was 75, politics became sclerotic and incapable of action, and the government was little more than an unsustainably expensive army and a pension plan? Thank god we’re not like that.”
Tell the writers that this thriller is not at all realistic
White nationalist mosque-bombing suspect is contractor with bid on border wall.
White nationalist party collapses in love triangle and fist-fight among leadership.
White nationalist mass murderer’s kid sister arrested after bringing drugs and weapons to an anti-gun protest at her school, making racist statements about it on Snapchat.
I refuse to joke about Vanessa Trump bc it’s NEVER funny when a couple files for an uncontested quick divorce, one where assets can be swiftly transferred, on the same day an independent special counsel subpoenas their family business. People, this could happen to you someday.
John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) March 16, 2018
Cultivating joy
A dude dressed as Disney’s Elsa helped get a police truck out of a snowbank. (Or do we get angry because why’s Queen Elsa selling us out to the cops?)
Dog trained as office courier.
Literal cat in literal hat.
This cat is not pleased by his guest.
Secretly Ironic 
