Category: Rights and Wrongs

Digital Ethics and Moral Theory Explained

This article by Per Axbom is an introduction to digital ethics. It gives me a structure to consider when trying, for instance, to explain why I think a particular feature should or should not be incorporated into the application I’m working on.

Remedying Racial Inequity

There is a lot to think about in this video lecture by David C. Wilson, Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy from Robert Reich’s Wealth and Poverty class at U.C. Berkeley. It’s about the science behind racial resentment and justice. It surprised me by alluding to psychological similarities between people who want to keep our structurally racist systems and people to want to get rid of them – both appeal to a sense of fairness but with very different results.

Book Bans and Fascism

With all the news about banning books — Maus and Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project, etc. — it’s hard to keep an even keel. This is a useful outcome… for fascists and white supremacists. But it’s also a sign of their weakness. Read Dr. Lisa Corrigan’s explanation.

Is Freedom White? | Boston Review

My first impression on reading the title of this article, Is Freedom White, was puzzlement. How could a concept like freedom be associated with whiteness?

Intrigued, I read it and I urge you to read it, too. I learned that what I mean when I use the word “freedom” is subtly but significantly different from what some other people mean.

For me, at the simplest level, freedom is the ability to do what I want to do. But there’s a context that goes along with that: If I’m free to do something then all others are also free to do that thing, too. If I can do something that others aren’t allowed to do or are otherwise constrained from doing it then it’s my privilege, not my freedom.

Contrarywise, some people feel that if they can’t do something – even if it results in the oppression of other people – then their freedom is being denied and they are being oppressed.

This is where the “White” definition of freedom starts. It’s a sense of entitlement unconstrained by it’s deleterious effects on others. And, of course, this isn’t restricted to racialized oppression.

This has me wondering, though, if my definition of freedom isn’t more of a ideal. Maybe it’s a lofty though ultimately unattainable goal. Maybe we can’t have it in its purest form. We struggle toward freedom rather than reside in a state of freedom.

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

Attributed to Willa Watson (though she’s reluctant to accept sole credit for it)

I’m going to have to revisit this article occasionally.

Decolonization, A Guidebook For Settlers Living On Stolen Land

By Tanya Rodriguez, Medium I learned something yesterday…. When I share with a white person they can not decolonize on stolen land they get really really fragile and pissed that yet again, another brown azz takes away their new shiny thing… Decolonization. The process of decolonization is a violent, brutal, and involuntary act. It costs […]

Decolonization, A Guidebook For Settlers Living On Stolen Land

I expect this article to be something that a) I need to read (and likely re-read), and b) will make me uncomfortable.

Notes on fake decolonization

Things I need to learn more about…

Photo by Mohd Aram on Unsplash What counts as “authentic” decolonization as the term takes over our social media and influencer bubbles? And how we can sharpen our activism. By Bhakti Shringarpure, Africa Is A Country Decolonization has taken over our social media timelines with a vengeance. With hundreds of thousands of “decolonize” hashtags, several […]

Notes on fake decolonization