#but this is a US colonial situation. there is no other framework to apply to it

[thottacelli]

"Decolonization of Palestine doesn't mean getting rid of israelis or wiping them out…" Yes, I agree

True, decolonizing Palestine does not require the death of israeli settlers, only the dissolution of the state of israel.

"….and anybody who claims they are afraid of Israelis being removed or wiped out is just saying that because of irrational colonizer guilt" Um. Not only is it totally unnecessary to go there, this is also in very bad taste, right?

False, fearing what the oppressed minority might do once they are free is based entirely on racist notions. Its rhetoric used to put the theoretical threat to the lives and safety of the settler class over the current and constant abuse of the oppressed class. And this fear has not been supported by history. White South Africans still own like 70% of the land in South Africa, and they suffered no mass murder when the apartheid gov fell. This is an extremely dangerous idea to give any kind of credence or validity to, so yes, it is necessary to go there. Its never in bad taste to call out settler colonial lies and rhetoric when it happens.

"It is silly and paranoid to be afraid that people posting about freeing Palestine are anti-semitic" I don't know about that, there were a lot of anti-semitic people last I checked, and somehow I doubt they all vanished in a puff of smoke after October 7.

Semi-true and Semi-false. You are right, there are a lot of antisemites and they did not disappear on Oct 7th, since then they have been throwing their support behind israel in droves. Multiple loud and proud antisemites, like John Hagee, also happen to be very Pro-israel. I trust an antisemite to do what they think will hurt Jews the most, and they have decided to do that by supporting israel, not Palestine. If antisemites taking advantage of this war is what you are worried about, you are going to find them supporting israel before anyone else.

Also, conflating being anti-israel with being antisemetic is only going to put more Jews in danger. Anti-zionist Jews write and talk about this all the time.

...the switches can be set to "Victim" or "Perpetrator." And y'all spend most of your time trying to resolve cognitive dissonance about how you have the switches set up, instead of thinking, "Wait, why do we even have these?"

Nuance exists, but not when it comes to the israeli occupation of Palestine, especially the active genocide happening right now. In this case there is a clear "Victim", the people who have been occupied and genocided for the past 70+ yrs, and a clear "Perpetrator", the people doing the occupying and the genocide. There is no gray area here, this is genocide.

Personally, I think "People deserve equal rights and to not be discriminated against legally and socially" and "Blowing up mass numbers of little kids is bad" capture the heart of the matter just fine...

I really don't understand what you mean by that "equal rights" line. Whose rights? If you are talking about Palestinians' rights to not be legally oppressed by a settler colonial gov, then yes. Then why contrast it with the "blowing up kids is bad" line? Palestinians are doing neither of these. The Palestinian Authority is a shell of a gov that barely protects Palestinians, they have no power to subject israeli settlers to legal discrimination. The israeli gov is the only entity denying people their rights and the only one killing children. You're right, those are two issues at the heart of the matter, but seeing as israel is the doing these things, how does this support the "this is more complicated than you think" argument it seems like you are trying to make here?

This post troubles me deeply, the rhetoric you are validating in it comes straight out of a racist's mouth and only hurts Palestinians who are already suffering unimaginable pain. Its kinda crazy to me that you can look at what israel has been doing for the past 2 months, for the past 70+ yrs, and think there is any room for discussion. What are you trying to accomplish with this post? What are you tying to convince people of? Because it sounds like you are worried people are taking an unfairly hard stance against israel. If that is the case, then I must assume that you either don't know much about the israeli occupation of Palestine (if so, why are you opening your mouth), or you think what israel has done for the past 70+ yrs is fair, which is horrifying.

"Decolonization of Palestine doesn't mean getting rid of israelis or wiping them out..." Yes, I agree

"....and anybody who claims they are afraid of Israelis being removed or wiped out is just saying that because of irrational colonizer guilt" Um. Not only is it totally unnecessary to go there, this is also in very bad taste, right?

"It is silly and paranoid to be afraid that people posting about freeing Palestine are anti-semitic" I don't know about that, there were a lot of anti-semitic people last I checked, and somehow I doubt they all vanished in a puff of smoke after October 7.

Sometimes it seems like in place of a brain, y'all have a control panel with a bunch of light switches each labeled with a name of a different demographic or group of people, and instead of "On/Off" the switches can be set to "Victim" or "Perpetrator." And y'all spend most of your time trying to resolve cognitive dissonance about how you have the switches set up, instead of thinking, "Wait, why do we even have these?"

Personally, I think "People deserve equal rights and to not be discriminated against legally and socially" and "Blowing up mass numbers of little kids is bad" capture the heart of the matter just fine, and I don't think these things are very controversial when it comes right down to it. And whatever answer the people fighting on my dash about questions like "What is the identity of being indigenous to a region derived from" eventually come up with, I don't think that answer is likely to be particularly illuminating into the subject of whether it's all right to blow up little kids.

[aakashmalhotra]

Key Features Of India's 3 New Criminal Laws

India is getting ready to implement three revolutionary criminal laws on July 1, 2024, with the ultimate goal of substituting outdated Colonial-era laws with modern legal framework. Three new criminal laws address concerns about expanding authority over police while introducing new security precautions like Zero FIR and faster trials. As the country makes painstaking preparations, such as training initiatives and technology advancements, it expects a revolutionary change toward a more effective and equitable legal system that prioritizes justice delivery in a timely manner. 

Last December, the Parliament passed three pivotal legislative acts: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act (BSA). These groundbreaking laws are set to supplant the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860, the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively. Thus, the three new criminal laws in India now include a number of new provisions tailored to the needs of modern technology.

Significant changes and provisions

The new legislation include a number of innovative measures designed to improve the effectiveness and equity of the legal system:

Innovative Legal Procedures

Embracing features like Zero FIR empower individuals to file complaints at any police station. Thus, this capability enhances the accessibility of legal recourse for individuals.

Technological Advancements

The goals of electronic summons services and online police complaints are a great initiative to improve communication and decrease paperwork.

Swift Judicial Processes

Timely delivery of justice is emphasized by strict deadlines for formulating charges within 60 days and delivering trial rulings within 45 days.

Protection for Vulnerable Groups

Specific rules that guarantee sensitive treatment and speedy medical evaluations for crimes against women and children.

Expanded Offenses

Along with a thorough definition of terrorism, definition updates cover new offenses such group rape of minors and false promises of marriage.

Key features of new criminal law

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

In the corporate context, the legal penalties primarily apply to situations including:

Misconduct, cheating or fraud

Criminal misappropriation 

Betrayal of faith 

Fraud and use of forged papers

The provisions that define these offenses have essentially remained unaltered.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 

Explains several other kinds of electronic proof 

Grants judges and law enforcement officials the authority to summon witnesses in digital evidence situations

Clarification of the relevant jurisdictions in cases of cheating involving electronic methods of deception.

Gives courts the authority to request electronic submissions in situations involving large amounts of paperwork.

BharatiyaSakshya Adhiniyam

The definition of 'document' has been expanded to encompass electronic and digital records, along with the provision of specific examples of such records.

The definition of documentary evidence has been expanded to include electronic and digital records.

Electronic evidence obtained from 'proper custody' is considered to be critical evidence.

Expand the scope of the term 'Experts' to cover further fields of competence.

In-depth Details of Three new criminal law

The Indian criminal justice system is being redesigned by the new laws. They want to modernize and replace the outdated colonial laws by prioritizing national security, implementing equity through a victim-centric approach, and adopting digital and electronic evidence reviews.

We put together a quick document that outlines the important parts of these laws and gives you a plan to reduce legal risks, improve how you operate and investigate, and make your review and response to corporate matters more efficient.

Check And Balance On Police Powers

The BNSS has imposed a further requirement on the state government to nominate a police officer who will be in charge of keeping records on all arrests and who made them in order to prevent the abuse of regulations pertaining to police arrests. The provision mandates that district headquarters and each police station have visible displays of this information.

Fighting Crime Against Women

With the introduction of electronic First Information Reports (e-FIRs), the BNS pioneers a revolutionary method for reporting crimes against women. This facilitates rapid submission of crimes that require urgent care. The digital platform represents the spirit of established legal principles that emphasize prompt reporting and enable quick reporting, overcoming old restrictions.

Reducing Overcrowding In Prisons

Under some conditions, the maximum length of imprisonment for prisoners has been lowered for first-time offenders, and the jail superintendent is now legally permitted to assist accused individuals or criminals in requesting bail.

If an individual has served one-third of the maximum term allowed, they will be freed on bail as a first-time criminal (never having been found guilty of any crime before).

Technology

Technology is now used at every level by the BNSS, from visiting crime scenes to conducting investigations to holding hearings. It is revolutionary because it will guarantee a speedy conviction and openness in the inquiry. Utilizing the power of contemporary scientific technologies and modernizing the criminal justice system are two important goals of integrating technology and forensics into investigations.

In order to mitigate the risk of evidence tampering, it is imperative to incorporate the compulsory use of audio-video recording in search and seizure procedures within the BNSS. The audio-video recording requirement during search and seizure should encompass the complete process of documenting the confiscated items and obtaining the signatures of witnesses, ensuring transparency and accuracy throughout the proceedings.

In search and seizure proceedings, transparency plays a crucial role in preventing the fabrication of evidence and ensuring the presence of independent witnesses.

Last words

Lastly, these newly proposed laws are designed to modernize and replace the existing Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act. The aim is to introduce updated provisions that are specifically tailored to address the current legal requirements and challenges. Read More Deloitte India's Latest Article on Three New Criminal Laws

[goldenpixelcoop-en]

Complicit Images

Screenings and conversations on the matter of images

Medienwerkstatt Wien / Neubaugasse 40a, 1070 Vienna

3.5.2024, 7-9 pm 4.5.2024, 5-9 pm

curated by: Maia Gusberti (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts), Olena Newkryta (The Golden Pixel Cooperative)

with films by: Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Musquiqui Chihying, Daphné Nan Le Sergent, Suneil Sanzgiri, Sanaz Sohrabi

with lectures by: Maia Gusberti, Caitlin Berrigan

What is the role of images in exploitation and dispossession processes? How do they frame the earth as a deposit for extractable resources? And how can images resist their own complicity? The programme Complicit Images presents films and performative lectures that question the role of visual media in the context of colonial surveying and exploration as well as in the extraction of raw materials and cultural knowledge. The selected works address the complicity of images in the conquest of territories, the representation of looted goods and the construction of visual narratives. On the one hand, they examine how the appropriation and exploitation of material and immaterial resources is staged, documented and legitimised by visual means. On the other hand, image technologies mostly rely on the availability of precisely these resources – an interrelation that is discussed in the curated programme from a media-situated perspective. The selected films consider the source and composition of their own materiality, technology and history. They reflect on the social and political function of images by means of images themselves.

The invited artists develop critical image practices by accounting for and reactivating visual archive material and employing new imaging technologies. They point to the (in)visibilities that images (re-)produce and explore alternative historiographies through material- and mediaspecific strategies. By examining and excavating the political and historical dimensions of images layer by layer, they create new frameworks and visual spaces for engagement and interaction. The films of the programme are committed to an experimental, rebellious, genuine and at the same time poetic reflection: The instrumentalization of visual media is redefined as a multi-layered, ambivalent complicity of images. Thus, images become tools for self-reflection, contextualisation and consequently reimagination. Complicit Images raises urgent questions about the visual construction of our (world)view and our visual literacy.

Programme: 

Friday, 3.5.2024, 19:00 Film Screening Scenes of Extraction (43 min., 2023), Sanaz Sohrabi Liquid Ground (31:46 min, 2021), Enar de Dios Rodríguez

Followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and member of The Golden Pixel Cooperative Enar de Dios Rodríguez.

Saturday, 4.5. 2024, 17:00 Lectures Performative lecture by Maia Gusberti (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts / LUCA School of Arts, Gent), , 20 min. + Q&A Lecture by Caitlin Berrigan (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna), 30 min. + Q&A

Saturday, 4.5. 2024, 19:00 Film Screening The Sculpture (28 min., 2020), Musquiqui Chihying L'image extractive (20 min., 2021), Daphné Nan Le Sergent Golden Jubilee (19 min., 2021), Suneil Sanzgiri

Films:

Sanaz Sohrabi Scenes of Extraction 43 min., 2023, Canada / Iran

Scenes of Extraction traces technical and social entanglements between the construction of infrastructures and the political economy of images in the context of fossil fuel extraction in the Iranian oil belt in the first half of the 20th century. Collaging footage from the British Petroleum Archives, aerial footage and amateur material, Sanaz Sohrabi reflects on "reflection seismography" method of oil exploration. With a multi-layered, speculative approach and through the use of CGI maps and spatial renderings fed into an AI software, she uncovers discrepancies in colonial narratives. Scenes of Extraction constructs a historiography that questions the role of images in colonial extractive politics by examining their relationship to the history of photography and to archival strategies.

Enar de Dios Rodríguez Liquid Ground 32 min., 2021, AT/ES

The seabed is one of the last unmapped spaces on our planet, and also one of the last unexploited natural spaces. From illustrations of underwater creatures to computer-generated cartographies of the seabed, Liquid Ground dives deep beyond the surface of representation into the abyss of colonization and exploitation of this underwater world. Structured around a child's questioning from a nursery rhyme, the film gradually reveals the complexity of the capitalist self-destructive system and offers a feeling of being trapped in a vicious circle of its consequences. Enar de Dios Rodríguez picks up on images that are deeply inscribed in our worldview and brings to light the visual technologies behind the plundering that simultaneously rely on the resources extracted from the depths of the sea.

Musquiqui Chihying The Sculpture 28 min., 2020

The Sculpture takes two museum collections as its starting point: The recently established collection of African art in the National Museum of China in Beijing and the “imaginary museum” as conceived by the French art theorist André Malraux. Through a succession of black and white photographs and two alternating off-screen voices, the experimental documentary follows the movement of artefacts between the Asian, African and European continents. What happens to an artwork once it is disconnected from its original cultural, geographical, and historical context? And who owns the art collection of the “Musée imaginaire”? Re-enacting a well-known portrait of Malraux, Musquiqui Chihying, reflects on how the Western gaze has modified the meaning of appropriated African artefacts.

Daphné Nan Le Sergent L'image extractive 20 min., 2021

L'image extractive examines the material foundations of photographic and cinematic images. It is an intriguing journey into the economics, extraction and visual circulation of silver halide - the material that has enabled permanent capture of light and shadows in the first place. Can an image look back at its own history? Is it able to witness the ruptured grounds from which it emerged? Daphné Nan Le Sergent considers silver photography through three levels of a production chain: the extraction industry, stock markets and data mining processes. Beginning with the first great silver deposits discovered throughout colonised Americas, the video essay spans stock market fluctuations, Kodak's efforts to digitise photography and data modelling as a way to predict the scarcity of resources.

Suneil Sanzgiri Golden Jubilee 19 min., 2021

“When we analyze the images of the past, are we asked to mine the archive?” Trawling the potential of visual storytelling, the Golden Jubilee blends various visual textures and forms of narration; drone videography of Goa’s landscapes, 3D renderings of the filmmaker's family's ancestral home and 16mm footage of the liberation movement. It reimagines the history of a place that has been haunted by financial speculation, mineral extraction and colonialism. This film is the third in a series of works about memory, diaspora and decoloniality. In this piece, Suneil Sanzgiri centres his father’s memory of encountering the “demonic” spirit Devchar, whose task is to protect workers, farmers, and the once communal lands of Goa, but “protection from what?" the filmmaker asks.

Lectures

Caitlin Berrigan works as a visual artist and writer to explore poetics and queer science fiction as world-making practices through instruments and moving images. Her work enfolds the complexity of interrelations across humans and other beings within spatial ecologies, technologies, and systems of capitalism. She has received fellowships and residencies from the Humboldt Foundation, the Graham Foundation and the Akademie Schloss Solitude among others.. Her experimental writings are published by e-flux, MARCH, Duke University Press and Broken Dimanche Press. Currently a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Berrigan has held full-time and visiting faculty positions at NYU Tisch, Caltech, Bard College Berlin, Harvard, and UMass Boston.

Maia Gusberti is a visual artist and researcher. She transforms lens-based images into multi-layered relational spaces in order to reflect on the relationship between image, gaze and society. Her practice includes curatorial projects such as "Complex Images" (Kino REX, Bern) and "Choreography of the Frame" (Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna). She studied Art and Digital Media (University of Applied Arts, Vienna) and Critical Images (Royal Institute of Arts, Stockholm). Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the LUCA School of Art and the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art (HSLU), where she also works as a research assistant. As an artist in residence she worked in Cairo and Amman (Pro Helvetia), Ramallah (Al Mahatta), Paris Cité des Arts and Rome (BMUKK) and in Sofia (Interspace). Gusberti presents her projects at international exhibitions, conferences and festivals.

[housepestcontrol]

Tips To Eradicate Termites!

Simple Tips To Help You Manage Termite Issues

The plain reference of these small, devastating creatures is enough to send shivers down your spine. They might be little, however their effect can be ruining. So, exactly how do you set about getting rid of a termite infestation? Well, it all begins with conducting comprehensive examinations. You need to stand up close and personal with these insects, analyzing every space and cranny of your building. When you've determined their hiding areas, it's time to release targeted therapies. These aren't your ordinary bug sprays; they're particularly developed to eliminate termites at their source. Yet the fight does not end there. You must check and follow-up frequently to make sure those pesky critters do not recover. It's a constant game of pet cat and mouse, however with resolution and the appropriate technique, you can win the battle versus termites.

Get The Best Termite Control Professionals In Sydney!

To eradicate termite infestation, it is critical to perform comprehensive examinations. This involves carefully analyzing the affected locations, such as wood frameworks or soil, to recognize indications of termite activity. When the infestation is verified, targeted therapies ought to be made use of. These therapies might consist of using liquid termiticides or making use of bait systems to eliminate the termites. It is essential to adhere to the instructions provided by specialists and make sure proper application. After the preliminary therapy, normal monitoring and follow-up are essential to make sure the efficiency of the elimination procedure. This helps to recognize any brand-new termite activity and take timely action to avoid further damage. In the process of getting rid of termite infestation, it is necessary to take into consideration industry-related semantic entities. This consists of comprehending the habits and biology of termites, along with the different types of therapies offered. By familiarizing oneself with these concepts, one can make educated decisions relating to inspection and therapy methods. Additionally, staying updated with market advancements and research can give useful insights into even more reliable elimination methods. By including these industry-related semantic entities, the elimination procedure can be enhanced for far better results. When conducting comprehensive examinations for termite infestation, it is essential to take note of co-occurrences and relevant concepts. This involves searching for indications such as mud tubes, discarded wings, or hollow-sounding wood. These co-occurrences are indicators of termite activity and can aid in recognizing the extent of infestation. Additionally, comprehending relevant concepts like termite colonies, reproductive cycles, and feeding practices can help in situating the source of infestation. By considering these co-occurrences and relevant concepts, examinations can be much more reliable in recognizing and attending to termite infestations.

Here is more termite treatment information that can be useful to you!

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[eradicatetermites]

How To Get Rid Of Termites!

Simple Tips To Help You Control Termite Infestations

The plain reference of these tiny, destructive creatures suffices to send shivers down your back. They might be tiny, yet their influence can be ruining. So, how do you tackle removing a termite problem? Well, it all begins with performing comprehensive evaluations. You require to stand up close and personal with these insects, analyzing every space and cranny of your property. As soon as you've determined their hiding spots, it's time to let loose targeted treatments. These aren't your ordinary insect repellent; they're particularly developed to eliminate termites at their source. However the fight does not end there. You have to keep an eye on and follow-up routinely to guarantee those annoying critters don't pick up. It's a consistent video game of feline and computer mouse, yet with decision and the appropriate strategy, you can win the war versus termites.

Get The Top Termite Control Professionals In Sydney!

To remove termite problem, it is important to carry out comprehensive evaluations. This entails carefully analyzing the affected locations, such as wood frameworks or soil, to recognize indicators of termite task. As soon as the problem is confirmed, targeted treatments should be utilized. These treatments might consist of applying liquid termiticides or utilizing lure systems to eliminate the termites. It is important to adhere to the directions provided by specialists and guarantee appropriate application. After the initial treatment, routine monitoring and follow-up are required to guarantee the performance of the elimination process. This aids to recognize any type of brand-new termite activity and take prompt activity to avoid more damage. In the process of removing termite problem, it is vital to consider industry-related semantic entities. This consists of recognizing the habits and biology of termites, along with the different types of treatments available. By familiarizing oneself with these concepts, one can make educated choices regarding examination and treatment methods. Furthermore, staying updated with industry advancements and research study can provide valuable insights into even more reliable elimination techniques. By incorporating these industry-related semantic entities, the elimination process can be maximized for better outcomes. When performing comprehensive evaluations for termite problem, it is important to take note of co-occurrences and associated concepts. This entails seeking indicators such as mud tubes, discarded wings, or hollow-sounding timber. These co-occurrences are indications of termite task and can aid in identifying the extent of problem. Furthermore, recognizing associated concepts like termite colonies, reproductive cycles, and feeding practices can aid in situating the source of problem. By considering these co-occurrences and associated concepts, evaluations can be much more reliable in identifying and resolving termite problems.

Here is some more termite control information that can be useful to you!

Using targeted treatments is a crucial aspect of removing termite problem. This entails utilizing industry-recommended items and techniques to eliminate termites. As an example, liquid termiticides can be put on the affected locations to develop a barrier that drives away or kills termites. Bait systems, on the other hand, attract termites to a treated area, permitting their elimination. By using these targeted treatments, the problem can be straight addressed, lessening the damages caused by termites and stopping more spread. Monitoring and routine follow-up are important steps in the elimination process of termite problem. This entails routinely checking the dealt with locations to guarantee that the termites have been effectively eliminated. Monitoring can consist of looking for indicators of termite task, such as brand-new mud tubes or damaged timber. If any type of indicators are detected, prompt activity should be required to resolve the issue. Regular follow-up also permits adjustments in treatment methods if required. By constantly checking and following up, the elimination process can be fine-tuned for optimal outcomes, ensuring long-term defense versus termites.

Directions To Pest Control Sydney Services

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[infinitesofnought]

Very few accomplish what Laing calls the breakthrough of this schizophrenic wall or limit: “quite ordinary people,” nevertheless. But the majority draw near the wall and back away horrified. Better to fall back under the law of the signifier, marked by castration, triangulated in Oedipus. So they displace the limit, they make it pass into the interior of the social formation, between the social production and reproduction that they invest, and the familial reproduction that they fall back on, to which they apply all the investments. They make the limit pass into the interior of the domain thus described by Oedipus, between the two poles of Oedipus. They never stop involuting and evolving between these two poles. Oedipus as the last rock, and castration as the cavern: the ultimate territoriality, although reduced to the analyst’s couch, rather than the decoded flows of desire that flee, slip away, and take us where? Such is neurosis, the displacement of the limit, in order to create a little colonial world of one’s own. But others want virgin lands, more truly exotic, families more artificial, societies more secret that they design and institute along the length of the wall, in the locales of perversion. Still others, sickened by the utensility (l’ustensilité) of Oedipus, but also by the shoddiness and aestheticism of perversions, reach the wall and rebound against it, sometimes with an extreme violence. Then they become immobile, silent, they retreat to the body without organs, still a territoriality, but this time totally desert-like, where all desiring-production is arrested, or where it becomes rigid, feigning stoppage: psychosis.

...The relationships of neurosis, psychosis, and also perversion depend on the situation of each one with regard to the process, and on the manner in which each one represents a mode of interruption of the process, a residual bit of ground to which one still clings so as not to be carried off by the deterritorialized flows of desire. Neurotic territoriality of Oedipus, perverse territorialities of the artifice, psychotic territoriality of the body without organs: sometimes the process is caught in the trap and made to turn about within the triangle, sometimes it takes itself as an end-in-itself, other times it continues on in the void and substitutes a horrible exasperation for its fulfillment. Each of these forms has schizophrenia as a foundation; schizophrenia as a process is the only universal. Schizophrenia is at once the wall, the breaking through this wall, and the failures of this breakthrough: “How does one get through this wall, for it is useless to hit it hard, it has to be undermined and penetrated with a file, slowly and with patience, as I see it”. What is at stake is not merely art or literature. For either the artistic machine, the analytical machine, and the revolutionary machine will remain in extrinsic relationships that make them function in the deadening framework of the system of social and psychic repression, or they will become parts and cogs of one another in the flow that feeds one and the same desiring-machine, so many local fires patiently kindled for a generalized explosion—the schiz and not the signifier.

– Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

More therapy thoughts part 1/?

Behavior Theory Frameworks/Conditioning and What the fuck does Master Chief talk about in therapy?

Ramblings below - like a lot, like I spent too much time writing this and you should not read this

Behavioral Theory could work well as a framework with rehabilitating Spartan IIs if the case worker focused on Operant Conditioning Theory and Cognitive Social Learning Theory, which I talked about in this ask because I think I’m funny and this blog is an archive of me applying human behavior theories to video games.

Spartans have always been taught the mission comes first! Always! The 2s are indoctrinated from age 6-14 and then have that reinforced the rest of their lives. From the beginning they are taught to push themselves to the limits, earn their food by winning, form bonds with teammates but be ready to sacrifice them for the mission. The whole lives wasted vs spent conversation between John and Mendez after the augmentation surgery!

What the UNSC/ONI wants comes before their lives, the lives of other soldiers, civilians, AI etc. This constant conditioning of expectations and rewards has created the norms cemented in their minds. This becomes standard operating procedure.

Spartans are also an entirely separated social group, other people have made really great posts on how they are Othered and have their own way of communicating with body language. ODSTs hate Spartans, marines see them as cyborgs or saviors, and while they’re allies, Spartans are not seen or treated as human, by literally everyone. They are a means to an end, with the original goal being to maintain the UNSC’s position of power and crush the insurrectionists in the outer colonies, but uh oh Aliens!

Maybe the 2s aren’t as expendable as the 3s but the mindset and reinforcement of “mission first, people second” being repeated their entire lives is going to stick. So is the constant mistreatment and abuse from their fellow soldiers and handlers. 

Addressing the cognitive distortions that come from their upbringing while also balancing the fact that Spartans are so fundamentally different from the way they developed to survive would be so much work, especially considering how much information on them is given to their therapist.  The main distortion I would apply is minimization, making large problems small and not properly dealing with them, and specifically for John, personification, accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence. 

Like these are grown ass super soldiers who can kill you in less than a second and calculate the amount of gravity in a room on the fly but then also can flounder when trying to comfort civilians or make small talk because their experiences and values are so alien to adults who had more developmentally “normal” lives. 

Literally applying therapy to Spartans would be like, what was done to you was wrong, the ends do not justify the means, you were children and the adults in your life failed to protect you. You are a human person who is fallible and did the best you could with what you had. And the Spartan would say, “sounds fake but okay, can I pass my psych eval and go back to war now please?”

Jumping back to Behavior Theory

Different approaches to therapy under the Behavior Theory umbrella help modify negative behaviors with treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical behavior therapy that teach individuals adaptive coping like emotional regulation, distress tolerance, cognitive distortions, and interpersonal communication. And that’s just one framework under the umbrella of human behavior theories.

Social work therapy is different from psych as it approaches individuals with heavily researched, evidence-based theories and frameworks in a holistic viewing of person-in-environment, instead of a strong focus on internal psychology. 

Social work looks at all the interacting systems, environment, history, and internal and external factors affecting an individual. One of the most useful frameworks is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Frameworks (BPSS) when helping a client. It helps with identifying all the intersecting factors, both risk and protective, that shapes a client’s lived experiences. The most important thing to remember is that the individual is an expert in their own life, they know their experiences best.

The hardest part is applying this to Spartans because they Are So Fucked, their lived experiences, their environments and systems and institutions interacting with them, and the amount of their personal information that is probably so classified.

BPSS is a tool to help social workers assess individuals and their situations by collecting info that is related to the presenting issues and current and past circumstances. Info like medical history, hospitalizations, substance abuse, mental illness, personal relationships, family history and background, culture and norms, education, legal history, spirituality and participation etc. is all under this framework. 

For Spartan 2s most of this info is lost or classified and helping someone who has repressed every negative emotion they've had for the sake of the mission would be so much to unpack but that’s also why you’re reading the mad ramblings over an over caffeinated nerd on the internet.

Life Course Theory which looks at developmental milestones and the individual’s experiences versus the socially expected markers, how do you apply that to children who were taken and have lived such different lives? 

While early adolescence is when “normal” development of thoughts of self and identity take place alongside the physical changes of puberty, Spartans were being turned into emotionless calculating weapons. Sorry John, no forming a sense of identity and peer bonds for you, go kill that Watts guy who betrayed us and joined the insurrectionists. 

And now that I’ve gone this insane and opened 2 whole textbooks up, let’s get to Master Chief thoughts. If you’ve read this far thank you, I swear I’m normal, 2020 has just been a weird year. 

Why the fuck did I think I could write a therapy fic on a guy with 20 minutes of actual dialogue across almost 2 decades of games?

I make fun of him and call him a himbo, but he’s smart, he knows he’s being used and there is resentment there that’s been building for years. 

There’s also decades of trauma and combat experience, physical, and emotional abuse, the lack of a support network,  lack of an identity, the biological factors and aftermath of the augmentations and injuries he’s received, a whole lot of grief and self-inflicted guilt. 

The loss of a third of his peer group with the augmentation surgery, Sam’s death, the loss of Reach (the only place he’s considered home), Keyes, the Pillar of Autumn crew, Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Cortana. He cares about the marines who fight with him!!!

He just stands there and takes it and rarely snaps, and even then it’s just small cracks on the surface with fissures running deep. The few details I will pull from Halo 5 are Blue Team’s reactions to John pushing himself so hard from the beginning of the game, and the literal crack in his armor from the fight with Locke. Like dude.  

John’s a leader and will get the mission done but he tugs on the leash. He’s earned enough of a reputation and uses it to get his way.

Halo 2’s “Permission to leave the station” with Mr. “I’m going to hand deliver a bomb to the fusion reactor of a covenant supercarrier and hope my friends catch me”. 

Halo 4 is when we see him say no to a superior officer and then 5 is him going AWOL. Palmer literally points out that no one is going to stop him.

Halo 5 kills me for many reasons but John bringing up Halsey and what she did to him and also pointing out that he knows Halo 5 Cortana is trying to manipulate him with psychological tactics hurts. 

He knows what’s been done to him!

I cannot remember which book it was but John isn’t used to working alone. He literally takes fire because he was expecting someone to have his back! 

He’s lost without Cortana! She was in his brain! Y’all! I played Halo Combat Evolved on the original xbox when I was like 8 and I knew these two were meant to be together. From the moment they met they had great chemistry and relied on each other! Cortana literally goes after people who have it out for John! John wants her approval and shows off for her in one of the books. 

I’ve already written too much here but like all of the games have John showing off for Cortana, making dry jokes, jumping out of things he shouldn’t. 

The whole point of this rambling is to try and get my thoughts about how to approach John’s character under control.

And that’s the thing. He’s lost control. He’s lost people, he’s losing his position and being phased out as an aging spartan, a relic. John’s used to following orders and making some decisions on the battlefield but it was always short term.

He has no identity beyond being a weapon. Complete the mission, clear the LZ, get put in cryo. Rinse, repeat. 

The timeline of the games are what I'm most familiar with but with the comics and books too it’s one long run from Halo 2 to Halo 4. Cairo station to the Dreadnought to the crash landing to Forward Unto Dawn to Requiem to “The Didact is Dead but not really but we’ll deal with him off-screen”.

I know Hood apparently gave John R&R orders before Halo 5 that he ignored and kept running himself into the ground. This is a man who has to keep moving and keep being useful. 

I imagine him giving in and seeking help as a last resort to fix any problems he has with performing his duties rather than helping himself be healthier. 

Any professional he sees is going to have to approach him like they’re approaching a self sacrificing feral cat, with lunch meat and quiet. This man needs to have his support network closer, set up long term goals, and do some serious, and most likely incredibly painful, self reflection on where he’s come from and where he wants to go. Get him out of that tin can and into therapy. I don’t have a nice neat ending because this was a ramble and also therapy is not neat and tidy. Thanks for reading my words about mr halo

[sparksinthenight]

Advice for Little Me

This is advice that I have for my twelve-year-old self. If I’d known all this at twelve my life would be a whole lot better.

1) Capitalists are horrible, manipulative, lying, selfish, apathetic, overwhelmingly dangerous, incredibly bad for society, wrong, and deeply disturbed.

2) Anyone who ever says or insinuates that they earned the wealth they have are the worst types of people.

3) Anyone who goes around measuring the value of a human being by how fancy their job is incredibly shallow, materialistic, lacking in understanding, and not worth your time.

4) No. No people did not "earn" anything through hard work. They got it through privilege, privilege, privilege, and privilege. The fact that they could afford a decent quality highschool education is already a huge privilege. And no, being poor when they were in college absolutely does not count as not having privilege. They got to go to college. That’s a privilege so many don’t get.

5) You know who's actually working hard? The people in the sweatshops, the mines, the agricultural plantations, the warehouses, etc. The people getting paid poverty wages as they work themselves to death. Have some fucking respect for them you’re not above them just because you were born in a rich family.

6) All humans have equal value.

7) And the value of a human being is inherent.

8) If you have a house and fancy furniture and a flatscreen TV and a car and a closet full of clothes and enough money to go to restaurants and golfing and shit and then you turn around and say you're oppressed I fucking hate you so goddamn much.

9) The voices of the poor people are fucking ALWAYS silenced in this world, all over the world.

10) There's men in suits somewhere defending capitalism and our centrist dads are defending them while most of the world are wage slaves.

11) The poor are always ignored, pushed to the side, and silenced.

12) Hi. Hello person reading this. Check out the Red Deal. It's fucking awesome. Please read it. It will save your soul and change your life.

13) Also my Wattpad account is here please check it out https://www.wattpad.com/user/Balladoad it won't save your soul and change your life but I write communist stories.

14) Your value is inherent. Child. Darling. Your value is inherent. You are alive. That is enough. You don't need a fancy job or a big income or a fancy degree or something. You're a human being trying to do the best you personally can with the resources and knowledge you have and in the situation you're in. Your value is inherent. Baby.

15) Check out the Red Deal.

16) Nobody is liberated. None of us are liberated. Especially under capitalism none of us are liberated. We are all equal. We are all capable of being free. Of having an equal amount of power. Of making decisions equally and democratically where everyone has a seat at the round table. Seperation is a myth. Wow that sounds like a fucking hippie thing to say but I mean it in the most practical, tangible way. We are all equal and we should be treated equally and under capitalism we are not. Not even close. We can all be together, all be comrades, all help and support each other, all protect and provide for each other, all listen to and understand each other, and all create a world where finally, finally people are free.

17) True freedom does not and should not feel forced. Corporate capitalists tell us that freedom is the ability to be successful in the capitalist framework. That is not what true freedom is. True freedom comes from within. It does not feel forced. It feels good and right and beautiful and true. It's not forced upon you it's something that sparks to life inside your own soul.

18) Sucess as a human being is about the kindness and compassion you show other people. Which is actually rather inversely proportional to how much money you make from what I've seen. At every step of your life seek out people who need help and help them.  

19) Children should all be treated with equal respect, reverance, affection, and love.

20) Your value is inherent. Human value is inherent. Valuing human life does mean valuing the continuation of human life but not just that. It means valuing the quality of human life too. It means valuing human happiness.

21) Take every opportunity you have to learn. Not learn trivial "knowledge" about string theory or CRISPR or valence orbitals. Real, important knowledge about how to be kind to other people. How to be respectful towards other people. How to uplift the downtrodden. How to be in solidarity with the oppressed. How to live in harmony with other people. How to tear down the walls that divide us. How to live in harmony with nature. How to have respect and reverence for nature. How to protect and defend the Land and Water. How to be brave to put the needs of others before your own. How to think for yourself and be your own person. How to live your life in accordance to the truth and intangible mystic forces behind everything that guide us all. Wow that sounded hippie.

22) People are exploited and oppressed. So many people are exploited and oppressed. They deserve better than this.

23) You shouldn’t go after power. Seeking power is the way to corruption. You should seek to destroy the unequal distribution of power itself so that all people can have equal power.

24) Absolutely power corrupts absolutely. Power corrupts whenever it’s not equally shared.

25) Money is power. It always has been, it always will be. It’s what determines if people are able to eat or not. It’s what makes us spend most of our time at our jobs working for our bosses and doing what they want us to do.

26) Learn history. Please.

27) Read books about the Holocaust. About slavery. About all the types of slavery that have happened in various societies not just the Transatlantic Slave Trade though definitely you should learn about that too. About the Irish Potato Famine, the Armenian Genocide. About colonialism. About settler-colonialism. About feudalism. About monarchy. About the Industrial Revolution. About segregation. About the genocide of Indigenous peoples. About workhouses. About the Witch Trials. About the French Revolution. About the Spanish resistance against fascism. About residential schools. About the 60s Scoop. About the Stolen Generations. About resistance against the Roman Empire. About so much more. Just read them. Make sure they’re not written through the lenses of oppressors and/or rich people though.

28) Recognize that while history affects the present day history IS NOT the present day and present struggles are unique and different though not altogether separated from history. The present day is the present day. It’s struggles are unique and the way that the struggle for universal equality and liberation manifests in the present day is unique.

30) Don’t trust Christian priests.

31) Actually be cautious of any rich, privileged person trying to teach you religion.

32) Just because someone’s older doesn’t mean that they’re right or they know more than you. Knowledge of the truth and wisdom comes from kindness, compassion, humility, and suffering. It does not come from age. A rich man born to a rich family who thinks he’s better than poor people and does not have humility and respect towards them is not someone who knows things, no matter how old he is.

33) Men are generally less trustable than women because they’ve been taught to believe they’re always right and as such do not question themselves and think deeply and critically about their opinions as much as women do.

34) This does not apply to men who are poor or mentally ill since society never teaches them that.

35) Despite this being an unpopular opinion, pain and struggle are actually really good teachers. If you’re suffering, you deserve better. You deserve to not be suffering. But still, use it as an opportunity to learn.

37) Gender roles are the biggest scam ever created.

38) But the even bigger scam is capitalism.

39) You do not need material wealth. It is inherently addictive and bad for yourself, everyone else, and the Land and Water.

40) It’s just stuff. It doesn’t matter.

41) If you’re in a situation where people are treating you like you’re better than other people just get the fuck out of that situation as fast as you can. And never fucking look back no matter what ANYONE says.

42) Have respect and reverence for nature. Learn from it as much as you can. But from like, nature directly. Not from people talking about nature. Unless they’re Indigenous. And pristine, untouched nature is better than nature that’s been tampered with.

43) The world runs on bonds of love more than bonds between atoms.

44) Work hard not for money or to increase the power you have but rather to humbly and reverently improve the lives of the oppressed.

45) But recognize that you can’t do everything and do what you can and don’t beat yourself up over the things you can’t do.

[brooklynmuseum]

Upcoming 2020 Exhibitions

We’re pleased to announce a selection of upcoming 2020 exhibitions. This winter, we welcome back our iconic Kehinde Wiley painting Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005), which for the first time at the Brooklyn Museum will be presented in dialogue with its early nineteenth-century source painting, Jacques-Louis David’s Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (1801). We also look at our collection from new perspectives with focused exhibitions that present historical works through a contemporary, multifaceted lens. Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection examines nearly 50 collection works using an intersectional feminist framework. Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas is an installation of the Museum’s Arts of the Americas collection which reconsiders indigenous art from the perspective of the prolonged and ongoing impact of climate change and colonization. Contemporary artist and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Jeffrey Gibson mines our collection and archives to examine collecting practices and reinterpret historical representations of indigenous communities. We also present African Arts—Global Conversations, a cross-cultural exhibition pairing diverse African works with collection objects made around the world, and Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt, which examines the damage to sculptures and reliefs in ancient Egypt as a way of also exploring twenty-first-century concerns and struggles over public monuments and the destruction of antiquities.

In March, we celebrate the iconic history and trailblazing aesthetics of Studio 54 in a special exhibition featuring never-before-seen archival materials, video, photography, fashion, and more. We will also present the first solo museum exhibition dedicated to Brooklyn-based photographer John Edmonds, winner of our inaugural UOVO Prize for an emerging Brooklyn artist. And in the fall of 2020, we are proud to mount the first career retrospective of the work of Lorraine O’Grady, one of the most significant figures in contemporary performance, conceptual, and feminist art.

“We’re thrilled to present a roster of exhibitions next season that are in conversation with our collection in fresh and exciting ways,” says Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum. “As an encyclopedic museum, we’re always looking for new ways to examine our collection and open it up to include narratives that have historically been left out of the canon. In 2020, we’re committed to exhibitions that do just that: telling stories that are rarely told, through the eyes of contemporary artists.”

Jacques-Louis David Meets Kehinde Wiley January 24–May 10, 2020  Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 4th Floor

This exhibition brings an iconic painting from our collection—Kehinde Wiley’s Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005)—into dialogue with its early nineteenth-century source painting, Jacques-Louis David’s Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (1801). The two paintings, displayed together for the very first time, are on view in consecutive exhibitions at the Château de Malmaison from October 9, 2019, to January 6, 2020, and at the Brooklyn Museum from January 24 to May 10, 2020. This focused exhibition questions how ideas of race, masculinity, representation, power, heroics, and agency play out within the realm of portraiture. The presentation at the Brooklyn Museum is the first time David’s painting is on view in New York, and Wiley marks this momentous occasion by consulting on the exhibition design. It includes videos incorporating Wiley’s perspectives on how the Western canon, French portrait tradition, and legacies of colonialism influence his own practice. The exhibition represents an intimate conversation between two key artists of the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries and illuminates how images construct history, convey notions of power and leadership, and create icons. 

The exhibition is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison and Bois-Préau. The Brooklyn presentation is curated by Lisa Small, Senior Curator, European Art, and Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum.

Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection January 24–September 13, 2020 Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor

This exhibition presents more than 50 works from across our collections. Following the 2018 exhibition Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Out of Place also explores collection works anew through an intersectional feminist framework. Out of Place features more than forty artists from remarkably different contexts whose unconventional materials and approaches call for a broader and more dynamic understanding of modern and contemporary art. 

Examining how contexts change the way we see art, Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection showcases artists who have traditionally been seen as “out of place” in most major collecting museums. The exhibition is organized around three distinct cultural contexts for making and understanding creativity—museums and art spaces, place-based practices, and the domestic sphere—and explores significant histories that have been, until recently, overlooked and undervalued, despite their influence outside of the mainstream. Out of Place traces how cultural institutions are challenged and changed by the ways artists work. Over half of the works in the exhibition are on view for the very first time, including important collection objects as well as significant new acquisitions, such as highlights from the recent Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift of works by Black artists of the American South. 

Artists featured include Louise Bourgeois, Beverly Buchanan, Chryssa, Thornton Dial, Helen Frankenthaler, Lourdes Grobet, Louise Nevelson, Dorothea Rockburne, Betye Saar, Miriam Schapiro, Judith Scott, Joan Snyder, and May Wilson, among others. 

Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection is curated by Catherine Morris, Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Helene Zucker Seeman Memorial Exhibition Fund.

Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks  February 14, 2020–January 10, 2021  Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor 

This exhibition presents new and existing work by artist Jeffrey Gibson alongside a selection from our extensive collection and archives. Gibson collaborated with historian Christian Crouch to organize this exhibition that examines nineteenth- and early twentieth-century museum collecting practices, and the historical representations of indigenous communities, through a contemporary lens. 

Gibson, an artist of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, often incorporates elements of Native American art and craft into his practice. He regards these aesthetic and material histories as modern, innovative, global, and hybrid. The presentation includes collection objects such as moccasins, headdresses, ceramics, and parfleche, and examples of beadwork and appliqué, displayed alongside Gibson’s contemporary works, which take material and formal inspiration from these traditional artistic practices. The exhibition also includes rarely exhibited items from our archives that shed light on the formation of the Brooklyn Museum’s Native American collection in the early twentieth century by curator Stewart Culin. The archival selections by Gibson and Crouch aim to return the focus to the indigenous individuals represented within the archives, recovering those individuals’ previously overlooked narratives and presence. 

By presenting his own work alongside key selections from our collection, Gibson offers a different perspective on historical objects within a museum setting—one that is not static or stuck in the past, but ever evolving and modern. He encourages visitors to question long-held categorizations and representations of Native American art and challenges our understanding of tradition, practice, craftsmanship, and art-making. 

Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks is organized by Jeffrey Gibson and Christian Crouch, Curatorial Advisor, with Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, and Erika Umali, Mellon Curatorial Fellow, with support from Nancy Rosoff, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator, Arts of the Americas, and Molly Seegers, Museum Archivist, Brooklyn Museum. Major support for this exhibition is provided by Ellen and William Taubman. Generous support is provided by the Brooklyn Museum’s Contemporary Art Committee, the FUNd, and Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia.

Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas  February 14, 2020–January 10, 2021 Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor 

Climate change is having a severe impact on indigenous communities across the Americas, but this situation has an even longer history. The European conquest and colonization of the Americas beginning in the sixteenth century introduced ways of using and exploiting natural resources that clashed with indigenous ways of understanding and relating to the natural world. This exhibition draws upon the strength of our renowned collection to highlight indigenous worldviews about the environment, and the ongoing threat of ecological destruction. 

The installation includes work spanning 2,800 years, and explores how indigenous beliefs, practices, and ways of living are impacted by the climate crisis, ranging from the effects of melting sea ice and overfishing for Native peoples of the Arctic and Pacific Northwest to illegal logging and deforestation for indigenous communities in the Amazon. This environmental perspective reveals the fundamental disparities between the misuse of natural resources over the past five hundred years and indigenous communities’ profound relationships with their ancestral homelands. In addition, the exhibition incorporates voices of contemporary indigenous activists to underscore the work being done today to counter the climate crisis and protect the planet. 

Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas is curated by Nancy Rosoff, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator, Arts of the Americas, with Joseph Shaikewitz and Shea Spiller, Curatorial Assistants, Arts of the Americas and Europe.

African Arts—Global Conversations  February 14–November 15, 2020  Lobby Gallery, 1st Floor, and collection galleries on the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Floors

African Arts—Global Conversations seeks to bring African arts into broader, deeper, and more meaningful and critical conversations about the ways that art history and encyclopedic museums have or have not included African artworks. It is the first exhibition of its kind to take a transcultural approach pairing diverse African works across mediums with objects made around the world―all drawn from our collection. It puts African and non-African arts from distinct places and time periods in dialogue with each other in an introductory gallery, as well as in “activation spaces” in the galleries dedicated to European Art, Arts of the Americas, American Art, Ancient Egyptian Art, and Arts of Asia. Duos, trios, and other groupings of objects from a wide variety of locations worldwide prompt conversations about history, art, race, power, design, and more. Approximately 33 artworks are presented (including 20 by African artists), as well as a selection of historical books. Highlights include the celebrated eighteenth-century sculpture of a Kuba ruler, a selection of fourteenth- to sixteenth-century Ethiopian Orthodox processional crosses, and a midtwentieth-century mask from Sierra Leone’s Ordehlay (Ode-Lay) society. Also on view are works by contemporary artists Atta Kwami, Ranti Bam, Magdalene Odundo OBE, and Taiye Idahor. 

African Arts—Global Conversations is curated by Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Sills Family Consulting Curator, African Arts, Brooklyn Museum. 

Studio 54: Night Magic   March 13–July 5, 2020   Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, 5th Floor 

Studio 54: Night Magic is the first exhibition to trace the groundbreaking aesthetics and social politics of the historic nightclub, and its lasting influence on nightclub design, cinema, and fashion. Though it was open for only three years—from April 26, 1977, to February 2, 1980—Studio 54 was arguably the most iconic nightclub to emerge in the twentieth century. Set in a former opera house in Midtown Manhattan, with the stage innovatively re-envisioned as a dance floor, Studio 54 became a space of sexual, gender, and creative liberation, where every patron could feel like a star. From the moment Studio 54 opened, its cutting-edge décor and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems set it apart from other clubs at the time, attracting artists, fashion designers, musicians, and celebrities whose visits were vividly chronicled by notable photographers. In addition to presenting the photography and media that brought Studio 54 to global fame, the exhibition conveys the excitement of Manhattan’s storied disco club with more than 600 objects ranging from fashion design, drawings, paintings, film, and music to décor and extensive archives. 

Studio 54: Night Magic is curated and designed by Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum. Lead sponsorship for this exhibition is provided by Spotify.

John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance  May 1, 2020–February 7, 2021   Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia Gallery of Contemporary Art, 4th Floor 

John Edmonds is the first winner of the UOVO Prize, a new annual award for an emerging artist living or working in Brooklyn. This is Edmonds’s first solo museum exhibition and features approximately 25 new and recent photographic works that include portraiture and still lifes of Central and West African sculptures. Best known for his sensitive depictions of young Black men, Edmonds uses photography and video to create formal pictures that challenge art historical precedents and center Black queer desire. He often uses a large-format camera to heighten the staging of his subjects and explore their sculptural potential, making reference to religious paintings and modernist photography. Highlighting markers of Black self-fashioning and community— hoodies, du-rags, and more recently, African sculptures— Edmonds’s works point to individual style and a shared visual language across time. 

John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance is curated by Ashley James, former Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art, and Drew Sawyer, Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Curator, Photography, Brooklyn Museum. Leadership support for the UOVO Prize is provided by UOVO.

Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt Opening May 22, 2020  Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor 

This exhibition, which draws from our renowned Egyptian collection, seeks to establish a context for considering contemporary concerns and struggles over public monuments and damage to antiquities. Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt explores patterns of organized campaigns of destruction to sculptures and reliefs motivated by shifting ideologies, politics, and crime in ancient Egypt, over a 2,500-year period. Presenting approximately 60 whole and damaged masterpieces of Egyptian art, the exhibition explores the damage that occurred during and after the rule of Pharaohs, with particular focus on the contested reigns of Hatshepsut (circa 1478–1458 B.C.E.) and Akhenaten (circa 1353–1336 B.C.E.). Targeted damage to sculptures typically occurred around a figure’s nose, which ancient Egyptians believed would remove the sculpture’s supernatural ability to breathe and therefore prevent the deceased figure from interacting with the human world. The exhibition explores the notion of public approval of iconoclasm and poses the question, who has the power to bring down or destroy images? Opinions about iconoclasm hinge on questions of whose narrative dominates public space. Many of the same questions about public art that concern the contemporary world, such as the role that U.S. Confederate monuments should play in today’s publically shared spaces, are illuminated through the lens of ancient iconoclasm. 

Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt is organized in collaboration with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and is curated by Edward Bleiberg, Senior Curator of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern Art, Brooklyn Museum.

Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And   November 20, 2020–April 11, 2021  Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor 

Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And is the first comprehensive retrospective of one of the most significant figures in contemporary performance, conceptual, and feminist art. For four decades, from the anger and hilarity of the early guerrilla performance Mademoiselle Bourgeoise Noire, to the joy and complexity of Art Is… on Harlem’s streets, to the haunting alternations in her single-channel video Landscape (Western Hemisphere), O’Grady has delved fearlessly into a range of timely questions: Black subjectivity (especially Black female subjectivity), diaspora, hybridity, art’s guiding concepts and institutions (from modernism to the museum), and the intersection of self and history. By putting contradictory ideas into play—black and white, self and other, here and there, West and non-West, past and present—and allowing them to interact with each other without expecting a concrete resolution, O’Grady’s work aims to replace the dualistic, “either/or” of Western thought with a productive, open-ended “both/and.” The urgency of the ideas she explores is perhaps the reason that her work is being newly embraced by a younger generation of artists who find much to learn from a practice that upends the fixed positions of power that structure our culture—while bringing into focus the poignancy of the lives that have been lived within these frameworks.

The exhibition includes twelve of the artist’s fourteen major projects, accompanied by a selection of material from her rich archive. It is accompanied by a catalogue documenting the full span of O’Grady’s artistic career, the first publication to do so, with essays by Malik Gaines, Harry Burke, Zoe Whitley, Catherine Morris, and Aruna D’Souza, along with a conversation between O’Grady and Catherine Lord. 

Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And is organized by Catherine Morris, Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, and writer Aruna D’Souza. Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. Major support is provided by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Museum Educational Trust. Generous support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons.

We hope to see you at the Museum soon!

Illustrated, from top:

Rose Hartman (American, born 1937). Bianca Jagger Celebrating her Birthday, Studio 54, 1977. Black and white photograph. Courtesy of the artist. © Rose Hartman 

Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977). Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Partial gift of Suzi and Andrew Booke Cohen in memory of Ilene R. Booke and in honor of Arnold L. Lehman, Mary Smith Dorward Fund, and William K. Jacobs, Jr. Fund, 2015.53. © Kehinde Wiley. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) 

Lourdes Grobet (born Mexico City, Mexico, 1940). Untitled, from the series Painted Landscapes, circa 1982. Silver dye bleach photograph. Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.12. © Maria de Lourdes Grobet. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Jeffrey Gibson (American, born 1972). WHEN FIRE IS APPLIED TO A STONE IT CRACKS, 2019. Acrylic on canvas, glass beads and artificial sinew inset into custom wood frame. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta, Chicago. © Jeffrey Gibson. (Photo: John Lusis) 

Eskimo artist. Engraved Whale Tooth, late 19th century. Sperm whale tooth, black ash or graphite, oil. Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Robert B. Woodward, 20.895. Creative Commons-BY. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) 

Kuba artist. Mask (Mwaash aMbooy), late 19th or early 20th century. Rawhide, paint, plant fibers, textile, cowrie shells, glass, wood, monkey pelt, feathers. Brooklyn Museum; Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1582. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) 

Guy Marineau (French, born 1947). Pat Cleveland on the dance floor during Halston's disco bash at Studio 54, 1977. (Photo: Guy Marineau / WWD / Shutterstock) 

John Edmonds (American, born 1989). Two Spirits, 2019. Archival pigment photograph. Courtesy of the artist and Company, New York. © John Edmonds 

Face and Shoulder from an Anthropoid Sarcophagus, 332–30 B.C.E. Black basalt. Brooklyn Museum; Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1516E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) 

Lorraine O'Grady (American, born 1934). Rivers, First Draft: The Woman in the White Kitchen tastes her coconut, 1982/2015. Digital chromogenic print from Kodachrome 35mm slides in 48 parts. Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York. © Lorraine O’Grady/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

[spilledreality]

Mothering & Interventionism

A common experience: M invites F over for a 2nd or 3rd date to watch something together. Depending on the class sophistication in play, this might be a Paul Thomas Anderson film (Inherent Vice), an Altman flick (The Long Goodbye?), or a much-hyped matchup on Monday night football. M is excited to share with F this thing he likes, which he believes to be a part of him, and to experience it with her (which is to make himself more real, through another’s eyes). Fifteen minutes in she’s restless, fidgeting; depending on personal style will either cute-whine “I’m bored” or suggestively rub against his thigh, and it’ll slowly dawn on him that they seeing the plot arc to completion. (He’s locked in; she “kinda” tried but it “just wasn’t her,” or, she “can never sit still for a movie.”) 

One way to chalk this up is “Men care about ideas, women care about people.” A better explanation is that she read into his viewing request a Straussian request for sex—in other words, that she is the evening’s course, the object he is most interested in consuming. To her, she is just providing him what he wanted. Whereas to realize otherwise would be to recognize the ferocity of competition between consumables in a modern economy. The intervention re-establishes desirability above all else.

*

Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Gay, girly windowdresser Molina locked up with macho, lefty revolutionary Valentin.

Valentin's talking about suffering for the cause, the necessity and nobility of class struggle. Molina responds: Don't worry, you'll have your day, I'm sure.

In other words, Molina has responded directly to the emotional or psychological need that he has interpreted in Valentin's politics.

If you take Valentin’s commitment uncharitably, Molina has cost him his face, has not responded indirectly in turn (which is to say, one obfuscating level above) and therefore allowed Valentin to maintain a pretense of idealism. If you interpret Val charitably, he actually believes in the struggle. His commitment no doubt has psychological motivations, but it is a lossy reduction to see his ideological commitments as a psychological insecurity or need for validation, to have his day.

So, one, we have the presumption of knowing (Molina believes he knows Valentin) and two we have the presumption of amelioration (tht Molina believes he can make better). The mother as the journalist, the journalist as mother: a shared belief in the necessity of the slant, the skew. Neutrality becomes immoral as soon as the moral course is clear; they feel, anxiously, that there are critical stakes to their action or inaction, and yet in their panic respond with the opposite of responsibility, acting and moralizing short of adequate information, judging sans relevant expertise or (as in journalists) competent knowledge of the target domain. I once saw a mother wash all her sons’ cast iron pans with soap and water while he was out, because she believed him untidy, having observed him wiping them down with paper towels. I once watched a mother, on her second trip to New York, counsel a stressed daughter, rushing to some meeting or another, on the optimal commute across two boroughs. I once saw a mother throw out raw milk, believing it spoiled.

*

While it is tonally hyperbolic to compare the mother, or the journalist, to the colonial excess of a white man’s burden, the underlying policy is one of interventionism, as opposed to passivity, and it is predicated inextricably on two fundamental assumptions. One, that the helped party is in need of assistance, and cannot or will not satisfactorily solve the problem-at-hand on its own. Second, that the intervening party is itself sufficiently capable of ameliorating the helped party’s problem, beyond what that party can do itself. Though the assisting party may deny these assumptions (which is to say, deny their presumption of incompetence in the other, or competence in themselves), these are the only terms in which an intervention is rational and selfless.

In order to hold these beliefs, the intervening party must further believe it holds a strong grasp of the helped party’s problems, and the intricate context within which that problem is situated, a context which constitutes the criteria by which a potential solution is desirable or undesirable, possible or impossible. (The context is the constraints which, alongside a goal, comprises the factors of an optimal solution.) As readers of James Scott or Sam[ ]zdat will recognize, this is the territory of episteme and metis, typically applied to imperial ventures in which a “rational” governmental actor, perhaps the British empire, observes what they believe to be an “irrational” practice among the populace of one of their colonies. From afar, a “better” set of practices are drawn up and then top-down imposed on the locals, typically with disastrous results. The primary reason for the failure of these interventions is informational asymmetry. The Indian population, for instance, might not be able to verbally explain (which is to say justify, as if to parents) why their crops are planted in a certain pattern, but that planting pattern has evolved over, say, many generations to address and solve a complex matrix of contextual constraints—local weather patterns, soil makeup, unique genetic makeup of the local sugarcane, the lifestyles and religious beliefs of planters, the religious and cultural calendars of the community—which the British empire is unaware. Unknown unknowns are the bedrock of failures of interventionist policy. And a person’s psychology—we come back to Molina now—has as its bedrock informational asymmetry. This is why we call it interiority.

*

The alternative to intervention, of course, is passivity, which is a difficult decision to make. It is equally obvious that we demonize our mothers, our empires, for their failures, and praise—or rather, are thankful for, even if we should not utter such praise—when they correctly anticipate, when their solutions bring real improvement. If an intervening party believes it has gathered adequate information, believes that its unique insight or perspective can improve situational outcomes, it is difficult and even, within some frameworks, morally questionable not to intervene. It’s easy to say, “run the cost-benefit analysis, and intervene if and only if it is more likely to help than hurt” (or else helps more than it hurts, etc). It is almost impossible to actually make this calculation, and the reason is the unknown unknowns of episteme. Unless we are as intimately familiar with the local context as the locals, we cannot know what disasters might befall our interventions, the way good intentions pave colonial streets with the suffering of the helped.

More information improves your ability to make this calculation, and is therefore obviously desirable. There is also a difference between soft interventionism — giving advice—and hard interventionism—imposing a practice. The former ranges from patronizing to merely annoying, but uses local knowledge as a check against its proposition. The latter has no systems of checking and verifying, and often harms more than it helps.

[londonrumbler]

Human Trafficking: An Epidemic

Although it is universally viewed as morally repugnant, human trafficking continues to grow at an alarming rate. Human trafficking is becoming an epidemic worldwide, with over 800,000 people trafficked across international borders every year and over 160 countries identified as being either involved or affected by human trafficking. Poverty and lack of economic stability or opportunity makes many individuals, most of whom are women and children, extremely vulnerable to human traffickers; many accept promises of work and housing in other countries only to have their documents destroyed, their lived indebted to their captors, and their bodies used as payment. Though women and children are the most vulnerable to human trafficking for the sex trade, bonded servitude, or labor purposes, human trafficking is not limited to only these forms of exploitation.

The use of child soldiers is increasing worldwide, with approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 thought to be fighting in conflicts currently, hundreds of thousands more are known to be members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time. Child soldiers are defined as a person under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participates in an armed conflict as part of an armed force or group. While most of these children are wielding rifles, AK47′s, grenades, and rocket launders on the front lines others are being put to use behind the scenes in supporting roles such as messengers, spies, cooks, mine-clearers, and sex slaves. The issues of child soldiers clearly overlaps with that of human trafficking because many nations are kidnapping, coercing, and recruiting children into their military regimes and rebellion groups where the children are then abused, starved, and manipulated into committing horrific crimes for their captors.

The issue of child soldiers is as internationally widespread as human trafficking but, unlike the covert actions of human traffickers, most countries don’t hide the fact that they are exploiting the youth of their nation. The problem is most critical in Africa, where children as young as seven have been involved in armed conflicts. However, children are also used as soldiers in various Asian countries and in parts of Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. In many cases, children are recruited into a country’s armed forces when the country in question is in a state of peace. Similarly, military schools are a common feature across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. It is blatantly apparent that no area of the world is immune to this issue.

There are many plausible causes for this epidemic of child soldiers, all of which involve conflict and exploitation. In many developing countries, colonial legacies have led to weak economies and unstable political climates; this in turn has led to the exacerbation of rich, natural resources for desired political and economic control, which results in prolonged armed conflicts and the widespread use of child soldiers. Furthermore, in countries where the standard of living has declined beyond point of feasible recuperation, many parents will offer their children to recruiters in return for basic needs for themselves or for the children. Also, in some cases, the children will become soldiers in order to protect themselves or their families from harm. Yet, in other cases, the children will voluntarily sign up because they have been brainwashed with, or feel a connection to, the ideology of their recruiters and see no other options available to them. Whatever the reason for the recruitment, the fact of the matter is that these children are vulnerable and can be manipulated too easily into becoming ruthless and unquestioning tools of war. 

If this problem were to be solved, the dehumanized children around the world would be guaranteed their freedom and safety as well as offered support in reintegrating into society to ensure productive, healthy adult lives. Despite the efforts of the United Nations and smaller advocates for the ban of child soldiers, there has been little progress made in the numbers of child soldiers active in warfare. Though the United Nations has created a legal framework to protect children from armed conflicts, its actual implementation is painfully slow. This is partly because international human rights treaties typically bind states, not non-state activists such as the armed rebel groups largely to blame in these situations; this fact limits the reach of human rights law. Furthermore, even if the laws were to be implemented and agreed to by the countries and states involved, whether they would honor their agreement is whole separate issue.

The issue of child soldiers doesn’t present many viable alternatives except for the obvious banning and prosecuting of those responsible. The prosecution of child soldier recruiters may serve as a deterrent to other armed groups in the future. Some armed groups are currently seeking international legitimacy and support for their political objectives and use of child soldiers, but with negative publicity arising everywhere about child soldier use, their efforts could be undermined and their support eliminated. Furthermore, if pressure from the governments supporting these armed groups’ activities (i.e. the United States) were to be applied, no doubt the use of children would significantly decrease in combat situations. In some cases, armed groups may be open to negotiations with governments or the United Nations aimed at demobilizing child soldiers if the correct terms and conditions were applied. The most plausible alternative is simply to increase awareness and continue to apply pressure to the governments of the countries known to harbor child soldiers; only in this way can we hope to contain the situation in order to eventually eliminate it. 

Similarly, there is no clear solution to, or means of implementation, for the issue of child soldiers; it is a messy matter that requires a lot of cooperation and funding that realistically will probably never be granted without drastic measures. However, some positive steps have been taken and the smaller agencies and advocates for these exploited youth never stop working towards a solution. Despite the legal challenges court systems face with these non-governmental groups, child soldier recruiters may face prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which was established in 1998. Other acts, laws, and court systems have been established in recent years to combat child soldiers as well; for example, the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 implemented by the US Senate and Special Court for Sierra Leone, which was established in 2002. The most plausible solution right now is simply to increase awareness of these acts, laws, and organizations. In doing so, the level of outrage will increase in the global population which will increase the levels of funding and amount of aid to these groups and organizations that are doing the most good for the victims. This can be implemented through any media source: magazine, book, newspaper, television, pamphlet, social media, film, etc.

Despite the easily accessible data and facts about child soldiers, as well as human trafficking in general, the number of victims continues to increase annually. The exact causes of this epidemic are difficult to define, but they involve conflict and exploitation of vulnerable populations. If this problem were to be solved, the dehumanized victims around the world would be guaranteed their freedom, dignity, and safety. Though these issues don’t present many viable alternatives or solutions except for swift eradication and punishment of the perpetrators, preventative steps are being taken and hopefully, with enough publicity and knowledge circulating, there will be an end in sight soon. Knowledge needs to be circulated about the atrocities taking place all over the world, because with knowledge comes power and with power comes change. Hopefully people will take their newfound knowledge about human trafficking and all its exploits and turn it into the changes that need to happen.

[transhumanitynet]

Sapient Sentient Intelligence Value Argument (SSIVA) Theory

The Sapient and Sentient Intelligence Value Argument (SSIVA) Theory first introduced in the Springer Book titled “The Transhuman Handbook” (Lee) was designed as a computable model of ethics that protects all sapient and sentient intelligence. The model is critical to a number of major Transhumanist projects including work with the Foundation at the Transhuman House as well as the AGI Laboratory that uses this as the basis for teaching AGI models to respect humanity.

SSIVA Theory states that “ethically”, a fully Sapient and Sentient Intelligence is of equal value regardless of the underlying substrate which it operates on meaning a single fully Sapient and Sentient software system has the same moral agency [WF] as an equally Sapient and Sentient human being. We define ‘ethical’ according to dictionary.com as pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principals of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct. Moral agency is, according to Wikipedia; is “an individual’s ability to make moral judgments based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is “a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong.” Such value judgments need to be based on the potential for Intelligence as defined here. This, of course, also places the value of any individual human and their potential for Intelligence above virtually all things save the one wherein a single machine Intelligence capable of extending it’s own Sapient and Sentient Intelligence is of equal or more value based on a function of their potential for Sapient and Sentient Intelligence. It is not that human or machine intelligence is more valuable than the other inherently but that value is a function of the potential for Sapient and Sentient Intelligence and SSIVA argues that at a certain threshold all such Intelligence should be treated equally as having moral equivalence. Given this equality, we can in effect apply the same rules that govern humans and apply them to such software systems that exhibit the same levels of Sapient and Sentient. Let us start from the beginning and define the key elements of the SSIVA argument as the basis for such applications of the law.

While the same moral value is implied, it’s the treatment as equals in making their own mind through their own moral agency that is the same. Any more ‘value’ then that becomes abstract is subjective It is that the moral agency that is the right we assign to that Sapient and Sentient Intelligence based on the value of the potential of such entities is the same.

Accordingly ‘Intelligence’ is the most important thing in existence. In SSIVA Theory ‘Intelligence’ is defined as the measured ability to understand, use and generate knowledge or information independently.

This definition is more expansive then the meaning we are assigning to Sapience, which is what a lot of people really mean when they use the often-misunderstood term sentience. Sapience [Agrawal]:

Wisdom [Sapience] is the judicious application of knowledge. It is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments, and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one’s emotional reactions (the “passions”) so that universal principles, reason, and knowledge prevail to determine one’s actions. Wisdom is also the comprehension of what is true coupled with optimum judgment as to action.

As opposed to Sentience [Prince] which is:

Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive, or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth-century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think (“reason”) from the ability to feel (“sentience”). In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences (described by some thinkers as “qualia”).

In SSIVA Theory it is Sapience and Sentience together that is considered by using the term Intelligence to mean both.

In the case of this paper, we will apply Sapience to refer specifically to the ability to understand one’s self in every aspect; through the application of knowledge, information and independent analysis, and to have subjective experiences. Although Sapience is dependent on Intelligence, or rather the degree of Sapience is dependent on the degree of Intelligence, they are in fact different. The premise that Intelligence is important, and in fact the most important thing in existence, is better stated as Sapient Intelligence is of primary importance but Intelligence (less than truly Sentient Intelligence) is relatively unimportant in comparison.

Why is Intelligence, as defined earlier, so important? The reason is: without Intelligence, there would be no witness to reality, no appreciation for anything of beauty, no love, no kindness and for all intents and purposes no willful creation of any kind. This is important in from a moral or ethical standpoint in that only through the use of applied ‘Intelligence’ can we determine the value at all even though once Intelligence is established as the basis for assigning value the rest becomes highly subjective but not relevant to this argument.

It is fair to point out that even with this assessment that there would be no love or no kindness without Intelligence to appreciate. Even in that argument about subjectivity, it is only through your own Intelligence you can make such an assessment, therefore, the foundation of any subjective experience that we can discuss always gets back to having Intelligence to be able to make the argument.

Without an “Intelligence,” there would be no point to anything; therefore, Intelligence is the most important quality or there is no value or way to assign value and no one or nothing to hold to any value of any kind nor determine a scale of value in the first place.

That is to say that “intelligence” as defined earlier is the foundation of assigning value and needed before anything else can be thus assigned in terms of value. Even “subjective” experience of a given Intelligence has no value without an Intelligence to assign that value to that experience.

Through this line of thought, we also conclude that Intelligence being important is not connected with being Human nor is it related to biology. Intelligence, regardless of form, is the single most important ‘thing’ under SSIVA Theory.

It is, therefore, our moral and ethical imperative to maintain our own or any other fully Sentient and Sapient Intelligence (as defined later with the idea of the Intelligence Value Argument threshold) forever as a function of the preservation of ‘value’.

Whatever entity achieves full Sapient Intelligence, as defined above, it is therefore of the most ‘value’. Artificial Intelligence referring to soft A.I. or even the programmed behavior of an ant colony is not important in the sense of being compared to fully Sapient and Sentient Intelligence; but the idea of “Strong AI” that is truly Sapient Intelligence would be of the most value and would, therefore, be classified as any other human or similar Sapient Intelligence.

From an ethical standpoint then, ‘value’ is a function of the ‘potential’ for fully Sapient and Sentient Intelligence independent of other factors. Therefore, if an AGI that is ‘intelligent’ by the above definition and is capable of self-modification (in terms of mental architecture and Sapient and Sentient Intelligence) and increasing its ‘Intelligence’ to any easily defined limits then its ‘value’ is at least as much as any human. Given that ‘value’ tends to be subjective SSIVA argues that any ‘species’ or system that can hit this limit is said to hit the SSIVA threshold and has moral agency and is equal ethically amongst themselves. This draws a line in terms of moral agency in which case we have a basis for assigning AGI that meets these criteria as having ‘human’ rights in the more traditional sense or in other words ‘personhood’.

This of course also places the value of any individual fully Sapient and Sentient Intelligence human or otherwise and their potential for Sapient and Sentient Intelligence above virtually all other considerations.

SSIVA Threshold

The difficult part of SSIVA theory is the SSIVA threshold which is determining the line for Sapient and Sentient Intelligence. The SSIVA threshold is the threshold at the point of full Sapient and Sentient in terms of being able to understand and reflect on one’s self and one’s technical operation while also reflecting on that same process emotionally and subjectively. This understanding should be sufficient to theoretically replicate without a built-in a system such as biological reproduction or a computer software program replicating. This kind of reproduction is insufficient to cross the SSIVA threshold.

To compare and contrast SSIVA with other ethical theory:

Utility Monster and Utilitarianism 

The Utility Monster [1] was part of a thought experiment by a Robert Nozick related to his critic of utilitarianism. Essentially this was a theoretical utility monster that got more ‘utility’ from X then humanity so the line of thinking was that the “Utility Monster” should get all the X even at the cost of the death of all humanity.

One problem with the Utility Monster line of thinking is that it puts the wants and needs of a single entity based on its assigned values higher than that of other entities. This is a fundamental disagreement with SSIVA where SSIVA would argue that you can never put any value of anything other than other Intelligence themselves. This would mean that the utility monster scenario would be purely unethical from that standpoint.

Utilitarianism does not align with SSIVA thinking for an ethical framework as Utilitarianism asserts that ‘utility’ is the key measure in judging what we should or should not be ethical whereas the SSIVA (Intelligence value argument) makes no such ascertain of value or utility except that Sapient and sentiment Intelligence is required to assign value and past that “value” then becomes subjective to the Intelligence in question. The Utility Monster argument completely disregards the value of post threshold Intelligence and by SSIVA standards would be completely unethical.

Buchanan and Moral Status and Human Enhancement

In the paper ‘Moral Status and Human Enhancement” [Buchanan], the paper argues that against the creation of inequality regarding enhancement. In this case the SSIVA is not really related directly unless you get into the definition of the SSIVA ethical bases of value and the fact that having moral agency under SSIVA means only that intelligence can make a judgment as to any enhancement and it would be a violation of that entities rights to put any restriction on enhancement.

Buchanan’s paper argues that enhancement could produce inequality around moral status which gets into areas that SSIVA doesn’t address or frankly disregards as irrelevant except in having full moral agency we would not have the right to put any limits on another without violating their agency.

Additional deviations with Buchanan include that sentience is the basis for Moral status whereas SSIVA makes the case for sentience and sapience together being the basis for ‘value’ which we assume that definition or intent is similar to this idea of ‘moral status’ articulated by Buchanan.

Intelligence and Moral Status

Other researches such as Russell Powell further make a case that cognitive capabilities bear on moral status [Powell] where SSIVA doesn’t directly address moral status other than the potential to meet the SSIVA threshold grants that moral status. Powell suggests that mental enhancement would change moral status, SSIVA would argue once an entity is capable of crossing the SSIVA threshold the moral status is the same. The largest discrepancies between say Powell and SSIVA are that Powell makes the case that we should not create persons where SSIVA would argue it’s an ethical imperative to do so.

Persons, Post-persons, and Thresholds

Dr. Wilson argues in a paper titled “Persons, Post-persons and Thresholds” [Wilson] (which is related to the aforementioned paper by Buchanan) that ‘post-persons’ (being enhanced persons through whatever means) do not have the right to higher moral status where he also argues the line should be Sentience to assign ‘moral’ status whereas SSIVA would argue that the line for judgment of ‘value’ is that of Sapience and Sentience together. While the bulk of this paper gets into material that is out of scope for SSIVA theory but specific to this line for moral status SSIVA does build on the line for ‘value’ or ‘moral status’ including both Sapience and Sentience.

Taking the “Human” Out of Human Rights [Harris]

This paper really supports the SSIVA argument to a large degree in terms of removing ‘human’ from the idea of human rights. Generally SSIVA would assert that ‘rights’ is a function of Intelligence being sapience and sentience and anything below that threshold would be a resource whereas Harris’s paper asserts that human rights is a concept of beings of a certain sort and should not be tied to species but still accepts that a threshold or as the paper asserts that these properties held by entities regardless of species which would imply also that such would extend to AI as well which would be in line with SSIVA based thinking. What is interesting is that Harris further asserts that there are dangers with not actively pursuing research further making the case for not limiting research which is a major component of SSIVA thinking.

The Moral Status of Post-Persons [Hauskeller]

This paper by Hauskeller in part is focused on Nicholas Agar’s argument on the moral superiority of “post-persons”, and while SSIVA would agree with Hauskeller that his conclusion in the original work are wrong; namely he asserts that it would be morally wrong to allow cognitive enhancement, Hauskeller argument seems to revolve around the ambiguity of assigning value. Where SSIVA and Hauskeller differ is that as a function of Intelligence where SSIVA would place absolute value on the function of immediate self-realized Sapient and Sentient Intelligence in which case a superior Intelligence would be of equal value from a moral standpoint. SSIVA disregards other measures of value as being subjective due to being required to be assigned by Sapient and Sentient intelligence to begin with. SSIVA theory asserts that moral agency is based on the SSIVA threshold.

Now if we go back to the original paper by Agar [Agar], it is really his second argument that really is wildly out of alignment with SSIVA namely that Agar, argues that it is ‘bad’ to create superior Intelligence. SSIVA would assert that we would be morally or ethically obligated to create greater because it creates the most ‘value’ in terms of Sapient and Sentience Intelligence. It is not the ‘moral’ assignment but the base value of Sapient and Sentient Intelligence that assigns such value as subjective as that may be. Agars ambiguous argument that it would be ‘bad’ and the logic that “since we don’t have a moral obligation to create such beings we should not” is completely opposite of the SSIVA argument that we are morally obligated to create such beings if possible.

Rights of Artificial Intelligence

Eric Schwitzgebel and Mara Garza [Schwitzgebel] make a case for the rights of Artificial Intelligence which at a high-level SSIVA based thinking would support the idea articulated in their paper but there are issues as you drill into it. For example, Schwitzgebel and Garza make the conclusion that developing a good theory of consciousness is a moral imperative. SSIVA theory ignores this all together as being unrelated to the core issue where SSIVA works from the assumption that consciousness is solved.

Further, their paper argues that if we can create moral entities whose moral status is reasonably disputable in which case, we should avoid creating such machine systems. SSIVA theory doesn’t deal with the issue of creating such systems but deals with the systems once created.

The big issue with SSIVA around AGI is that value exists in all Sapience and Sentient Intelligence and the implication is to optimize for the most value to the most Intelligence that is fully Sapient and fully Sentient.

Cited References

Lee, N.; “The Transhuman Handbook;” Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-16920-6 (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030169190)

Agar, N.; “Why is it possible to enhance moral status and why doing so is wrong?”, Journal of Medical Ethics 15 FEB 2013

Schwitzgebel, E.; Garza, M.; “A Defense of the Rights of Artificial Intelligences” University of California 15 SEP 2016

Hauskeller, M.; “The Moral Status of Post-Persons” Journal of Medical Ethics doi:10.1136/medethics-2012-100837

Harris, J. “Taking the “Human” Out of the Human Rights” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 2011 doi:10.1017/S0963180109990570

Powell, R. “The biomedical enhancement of moral status”, doi: 10.1136/medethics-2012101312 JME Feb 2013

Wilson, J.; “Persons, Post-persons and Thresholds”; Journal of Medical Ethics, doi: 10.1136/medethics-2011-100243

Buchanan, A.; “Moral Status and Human Enhancement”, Wiley Periodicals Inc., Philosophy & Public Affairs 37, No. 4

Olague, G; “Evolutionary Computer Vision: The First Footprints” Springer ISBN 978-3-662-436929

Prince, D.; Interview 2017, Prince Legal LLP

Agrawal, P.; “M25 – Wisdom”; Speakingtree.in – 2017 – http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/m25wisdom

Wikipedia Foundation “Moral Agency” 2017 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_agency

See https://hpluspedia.org/wiki/Sapient_Sentient_Intelligence_Value_Argument_(SSIVA)_Theory

Sapient Sentient Intelligence Value Argument (SSIVA) Theory was originally published on transhumanity.net

[it-d035n-t-m4tt3r]

3/18/19

This class was incredibly exciting and filled with much more political theory than I had anticipated. The most interesting thing however I saw was how someone like Frantz Fanon was related to existentialism and how students in the class begged such a question as to how.

This week’s discussion for me, firstly, is to relate Fanon to the existential school of thought, and second, to further express the distinction between the question of “When is Violence acceptable?”, opposed to “when does violence work”

At a first glance this week’s writing, really only appealed to the socialist school of thought and the advocacy for specific types of violent revolution (I’ll get to that in a moment).  However, this is, I think, a very naive injustice as to why we were reading him in the first place, at least within the context of the class.  So much of his ideology and philosophy surrounds the notion that there is, in every human, a self.  And through the example of the colonist’s oppression of the colonized, he is really begging the question, can an individual (the self-identity) exist under oppression?

So much of existentialist thought is wrapped in the interpretation of what an individual is (Kierkegaard), how they can be true to themselves (Nietzsche), and whether one’s individual existence has meaning (Camus).  The question that Fanon raises rather justly is, can one even begin to ask themselves questions of their own existence, if they are, without thought or question, denied the very conditions that would allow them to have an existent self-identity in the first place?  If one is not allowed to recognize themselves as having the basic right to exist, the right to a self-identity and humanity, equivocal to the human intellectual and social capacities of others, simply because the conditions of epidermal constraints, what is their existence, and how do they reclaim their individuality? That’s how Fanon relates to the existentialists.  He begs the question of what it means to exist, therefore, he is an existentialist philosopher.

Now, as it relates to violence, Fanon has a very specific definition as to the difference between violence that works and when it is necessary.  Fanon says that “When it comes to the colonial situation the Marxist analysis must be stretched.”  What does he mean by this, and how does it relate to the context of reclaiming one’s individual identity?  What Karl Marx has to say in his book Das Kapital, A Critique of Political Economy, is that in order to achieve social liberation the proletariat (working class) must rise up against the oppressive mechanisms of capitalist hierarchies and overtake them.  This, as Fanon relates it to the colonial situation is similar, but not congruent. The situation that exists in colonial hierarchies, similar to the analysis that Marx makes of western capitalism, is oppressive in its very nature as a means to garner resources for the colonial societies, and within the mechanisms of capitalist colonialism the oppression that exists here, is not simply just directed toward the working class, but towards individuals who the colonizers deem as incapable of morality, incapable of intellectual capacity, etc. And because the colonists deny the right of humanity and social equality to the colonized, it allows them to reroute themselves as to deny any compromise of their own moral structures and allows them to continue the oppression as they see fit.  The justification for this, is race.  Racism creates race, race does not create racism.  And because of this, the borderline eugenic defense of such oppressive mechanisms and artificial racial predeterminations, lets the oppressors, or the colonists in this case, see themselves as justified.  Fanon understands this and understands that this is why revolutions fail. It is only with racial considerations, as well as considerations of the working class that people can achieve a genuine social liberation.  Because even if the working class prevails, if the notion that race is a biological determinate of someone’s capacity, they eventually divide themselves and defeat their own unity.  Even within the Soviet Block this is apparent.  There existed in the USSR racial and ethnic distinctions between Russians, Balkans, and other ethnic Slavs and eventually divided the people amongst themselves (Separation of Yugoslavia).  Of course, this is not the ONLY reason they failed as a whole but it is still a prevailing factor and worth mentioning within the context of this discussion.

“But dude”, you say, “What about the violence?”

Violence in such cases as to achieve social liberation, as I have just discussed, Fanon argues cannot be successful if there is an absence of racial equity.  But where Fanon also stretches the Marxist definitions is when it applies to destroying the notion of universally applied theory of revolution. As violence relates to Marxist revolutions, there is really no incorporation of racial prejudices and determinations which classify different types of violent acts and when they can succeed.  What Marx even so denies, is the applications of his work as a universal theory, something that could work in any time, and any place, and under any set of social conditions.  Fanon rejects this.  Fanon would argue that for indigenous, or proto-socialist (agrarian/post-feudal) societies, there exists a social framework that better lends itself to the ideas of collectivization of resources and communal ownership of goods and the means of production.  In societies such as these, there is a much easier path through violent revolution to reject the influence of western capitalism or colonialism and achieve socialist states ahead of western society.  He would argue that under these sets of conditions violence works.  And it works well.  The old guard communist states, China, Russia, Vietnam, and Korea, all existed under these conditions prior to WWI and WWII.  And only when confronted with the threat of global capitalist and colonial influence, did these societies collectivize their violence and break free, in the immediate sense, of their oppression.  Vietnam especially, given that they were directly sought to be colonized by the French, and then the Americans.  Where Fanon sees violence as being ineffective, is in societies that ARE the oppressor.  Societies that act as the colonist.  Societies like the UK and the US where colonial capitalism had set in and is the prevailing ideology.  Violence under these conditions ostracizes the root cause and diminishes any efforts toward greater social liberation, and thus, the oppressive cycle is allowed to continue unimpeded.  Violence to Fanon is always necessary when the oppressed are denied their humanity and seek to revolt in the attempts to regain it.  But violence only works, if artificial biases like race are discarded, and if the specific set of social conditions allow it to be necessary in the first place. Violence in this case is very cyclical within its own necessity and warrant.  This in my opinion is Fanon’s take on that important distinction.

Fanon has brought to light, especially in more recent times, the struggle of the colonized to seek, achieve, and redefine their own cultural identities through an unwanted struggle which was beset upon them, forcing them to overcome at all costs.  This painting below, by Myrna Báez, done in 1974 demonstrates the mood of when Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony, the key accouterment to the Jibaro (Rural Peasantry) and exists as a metaphor for the islands independent cultural identity

[writeaboutart]

of demons and spectres

“Of Demons and Spectres” is the essay written by Joselina Cruz, curator of the Philippine Pavillion at the 57th Venice Art Biennale. The essay first appeared in the exhibition catalogue for the pavillion, and then in the exhibition booklet of the re-positioning at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, which took place from 23 May to 20 July 2019.

The essay is quite long, but I am amazed at how it was able to piece together all these different lines of thinking. In other news, I learned by posting this that formatting outlines on Tumblr is a real pain.

I. Questions / Context

A. How does one represent one's own country (in the context of Venice as the most prestigious art stage in the world)?

Can we find it in current art practices?

Can we seek it from past art productions?

Can we ascertain it elsewhere, through generative ways of reconstituting the contemporary without being trapped in the past or the present?

B. Shifting ideas about nationalism, nation identity, and the national.

Politically, we see shifting nationalisms emerging in Europe and Asia

Authors addressing the idea of "nation" come up with a discourse necessarily based on the context of the contemporary, and influenced by continuous re-definitions of gender, literature, and history.

Some events of the past year occurring in other parts of the world show a global shift to very "interesting times". [1]

II. Framework

A. The art of comparison as origin of nationalism

Jose Rizal calls it el demonio de las comparaciones in his novel Noli me Tángere

Benedict Anderson's experience with Former President of Indonesia, Sukarno, as mentioned in the introduction of his The Spectre of Comparison.

B. Nationalism in the midst of spatial and temporal dislocations

Nationalism that is spatial and temporal

Spatial, developed during the latter part of 19th century, equality across borders

Temporal, subsists in fear of difference and protects sameness

Nationalism as experienced in parts of the world

Europe - traverses both definitions, may run the spectrum of ethnocentricity or may be civic-focusedb.

Asia - countries play off the world powers and are not beholden to them

The nation exists best as imagined (thesis)

Individuals hold different nationalities and occupy different geographical spaces, essentially allowing the individual to be part of various nations.

Temporal dislocations allow for ideas, objects, and people themselves to be imagined beyond the present.

C. Contemporaneity

Rizal and gardens as triggers

Gardens triggered Crisostomo Ibarra's el demonio de las comparaciones.

Gardens are bound to the colonial act of forcing nature to follow shape under the hand of the gardener/colonizer.

Gardens to which Rizal, through Ibarra, compares Jardin Botanico to is a generalized garden Europe, a failed utopia.

Rizal in the garden observes two states of existence, without losing sight of his position - living in the present and capable of seeing both colony and colonizer.

Rizal's el demonio de las comparaciones is part of contemporaneity that re-maps history and art production outside of national and disciplinary frameworks.

Contemporary and the Contemporaneity

The usual definition of contemporary is an unsettled present, constantly bound by time.

There are several difficulties with this definition of contemporary.

The contemporary finds itself in a constant state of becoming, always being made, and as such, the present becomes the past before it can even get to the future.

"Contemporary art" has no critically meaningful referent, and often the term is diluted without its existential, social, and political meanings.

The exhibition depends upon the coming together of different but equally present "temporalities" such that all temporalities are present, but one must also be aware of their distance from it; one must be critical.

"The contemporary is understood as a dialectical method... with a more radical understanding of temporality." [2]

'Dialectical contemporaneity' does not designate a particular style, rather an approach [3] making it possible for the exhibit to be mined as a politicized project.

D. Point of Engagement

Access by the point-of-view of Anderson to produce a sightline that accesses past and future (Rizal) and future and present (Maestro and Ocampo). 

Access through its triple temporalities - as a 21st century exhibition linking with 19th century via an experience during the 1960s, the twentieth century.

III. Artworks Overview

A. Lani Maestro and Manuel Ocampo exemplify belonging to two states.

Maestro's belonging is of Canadian and Filipino, while Ocampo's belonging is of FIlipino and American.

The two artists' practice are intertwined with their own thinking of origin and status.

Their individual practice are also responsive to their shifting topographies, calibrating reflectively as they move across places.

B. With the two artists' works, the point of engagement is the body, the means by which either negotiate areas of their critical positions.

In Noli Me Tángere, the politics of Rizal was embodied by Crisostomo Ibarra, echoing the work of Merleau-Ponty when the body enters a space.

For Maestro and Ocampo, the site of engagement is the body itself

Maestro's work references the body in terms of its presence, whether absent or distant.

Ocampo's work references bodies that are ruinous and ruined, rendering them in utter disregard of their natural contours or functions.

IV. Lani Maestro's in The Spectre of Comparison

A. Engagement with the Body

The works feature the body as a metaphor, a political site, and a social construct.

The works present how the body occupies and is occupies, and how it produces a presence in its absence.

The works echo previous works in this qualification.

ladders that reach out to windows inside a box

book of images of waves picturing a moving ocean

sound piece with a murmured phrased.

silent post cards containing a line or two

The works incite a return to the individual.

B. No Pain Like This Body (2010/2017)

Influences

The novel of the same name by Harold Sonny Ladoo

The conditions of poverty, homelessness, prostitution, and drug abuse prevalent in Downtown Eastside Vancouver

Characteristics

The work has the same height as a regular person, thus situating the body to the work, its text and color.

The work employs a text reversal to derive the capacity and incapacity of the body to handle discomfort.

Appearance in Previous Exhibitions

The work was first exhibited in a gallery with shop windows opening to the street.

The work glowed bright enough so that people were drawn to and were able to experience the work even after gallery closing time.

C. these Hands (2017)

Influences

The poem Flowers of Glass by Jose Beduyab.

The "cradle of jewelry-making" in France [4]

Reading

The work resonates to the body part valuable to artists.

The work speaks in anticipation of the wounding of the body

The work speaks about fear of violence that comes with the severance of limbs.

D. meronmeron (2017-2019)

Title

The word meron comes from mayroon.

The analogy may: existence, roon: place; thus mayroon: existence in a space.

The word meronmeron doubles itself: meron is to have, thus meronmeron to have being.

Reading

The art work awaits the audience to fill the latent obligation of its title. [5]

The benches fulfill the work's commitment once they are occupied.

V. Manuel Ocampo's in The Spectre of Comparison

A. The body as unabashedly present B. The disappointment with the real

Manuel recalled the experience seeing the paintings of Juan Valdez de Leal in Seville in 1997.

Manuel is a painter first and everything else is a poor second, and as such his paintings resist definitions.

C. The iconography of Manuel

Catholic elements (which have received attention)

Swastikas

Bodies cut up revealing spilling organs

Excrement

Abstract art with a native version

Magritte shown as a rat

Ad Reinhardt cartoons

VI. Synthesis

A. The artists do not simply resist authority, as they also engage and critique the discourse of their practices.

Maestro rethinks her oppositional relationship with "East" and "West".

Ocampo ponders on his "contamination" of culture.

B. The site of the spectre is not firmly situated.

The loci where the local and global meet are not essential to the practices of Maestro and Ocampo.

The same applies for artists and curators moving across nations and spaces.

The registers of experiencing the spectre (in the exhibition) are varied.

Rizal's sad melancholy

Anderson's moment of understanding

Maestro's re-thinking of "East" and "West"

Ocampo's contamination of cultures

The consciousness of the colonial émigré was crystallized by Rizal as he continuously flipped between the contexts of home and the colonizing other.

The same privilege exists for us who live in the 21st century, although not similarly as luxury, as there remains the call to determine whether we will remain as tourists or engage beyond mere surfaces.

VII. Conclusion

A. Venice as “the exhibition” ought to be contested, unless participation is a national desire to “officially” be part of the contemporary and global art discourse (which have its own responsibilities and consequences.

B. The artists in “The Spectre of Comparison” produce a global discourse, interrupted by discursive and complex imaginings that allow for the consciousness of worlds to be constructed across geographies, temporalities, and he haunting of soectres.

––––––––––––

Footnotes:

[1] Notably, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte's approval of the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and his bloody war on drugs; the election of Donald Trump as US President, Brexit, and continued nuclear missile testing of North Korea.

[2] Claire Bishop, Radical Museology.

[3] Ibid.

[4] In conversation with Lani Maestro.

[5] Ibid. Lani said an artwork is not complete unless one engages with it.

[arcticdementor]

Over recent weeks, political turmoil raged in the form of mass demonstrations that saw 1 in 7 Hong Kong residents take to the streets to protest an extradition bill that would have allowed alleged suspects to be deported to stand trial in Mainland China, where the legal system is subject to the arbitrariness and discretion of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The fear that any dissident could be targeted isn’t unfounded as stories about billionaires and booksellers being kidnapped by Beijing operatives, only to be prosecuted in show trials on the Mainland and in some cases even tortured in jail, are well known. The extradition bill left almost no room for doubt about China’s ambitions to further override the civil rights guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and renege on the agreed-upon “One Country, Two Systems” framework.

…

For those who embrace the ideological frameworks of various forms of “Social Justice” Theory including postcolonialism, decolonialism, critical race theory and intersectional feminism, seeing the Asian inhabitants of a former colony raise its colonial flag simply does not compute. Within this ideological conception of the world there is a very simple understanding of power dynamics in which oppression must always come from people seen as having dominant identities – white, male, western, heterosexual, cisgender, ablebodied and thin – and be inflicted upon those seen as having marginalized identities – people of color, colonized or indigenous people, women, LGBT, disabled and fat people.  When all of these elements are considered together, we get the framework of ‘intersectionality’ and it is through the language and activism of intersectional scholars and activists that most people encounter these ideas.

Eastern people who complicate the narrative of Western oppressor and Eastern Oppressed are understood to be speaking into and perpetuating oppressive discourses of colonial power which apply much more broadly than their own situation. From this perspective, by aligning themselves symbolically with the flag or philosophically with the ideas wrought by colonial legacy, the protesters were understood to completely invalidate the legitimacy of their liberation movement. Other criticisms reserved for the protesters include rebukes for lacking sensitivity and solidarity toward other countries with victims of colonialism. The journalist Ben Norton went so far as to say that the British flag was a symbol of “genocide, murder, racism, oppression and robbery,” and that the “pro-democracy” activists in Hong Kong were in effect, pro-colonialist groups, funded and backed by the “Western NGO-Industrial Complex.”

This argument perfectly exemplifies how one’s basic reasoning and moral calculus can get muddled when steeped too heavily in this kind of postcolonial theory. To deride the fight against one of the most repressive and autocratic regimes is to completely undermine and disparage Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy and freedom. Semantically equating being “pro-democracy” to being “pro-colonialist”, where the latter is essentialized to “pro-evil,” Norton instantly reveals the moral incongruence of embracing the actual oppressor (China) at the expense of the oppressed (Hong Kong), all in the name of opposing an institution which has become a bogeyman used by progressives to blame only the West for all of the world’s ills. Does it ever occur to him and other like-minded critics that perhaps the vast majority of the protesters simply do not want to live under the tyranny of a surveillance state that censors dissidents and implements dystopian social credit score systems?

…

The entire historical trajectory of our species and the geopolitics of our world are grafted upon a map drawn by colonial violence. Colonialism has existed in nearly all states and civilizations and has been the norm, not the exception, for the better part of human history. Since the ancestors of modern humans set out of Southeastern Africa around 70,000 years ago, despite the clear record of intermixing, people have been conquering territory, sometimes by way of committing genocide. Proto-Indo-European Yamnaya people spread from the Pontic steppe and ended up settling from the Tarim basin to Ireland millennia ago. The Thule displaced the Dorset in Canada’s Arctic less than a thousand years ago, the latter being almost wiped off from the face of the earth. Our own DNA bears testimony to this tyrannical tendency embedded in us: 1 in 200 men on Earth can trace their ancestry from Ghengis Khan. The status of conqueror and the conquered has changed hands repeatedly throughout history. These and countless other examples, such as the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate into the Iberian Peninsula and the occupation of Eastern European states by the Ottoman empire, should shatter the myth that colonialism was a uniquely Western transgression. With the moral arc slowly bending toward justice, post-colonial guilt has taken a stranglehold on Western thought, manifesting itself in two forms: one constructive and the other, destructive.

Constructive guilt allows us to critically evaluate various historical injustices and current inequalities that were shaped by European colonialism. Destructive guilt leads to the moral myopia exemplified by some progressive reactions to the plight of the Hong Kong people, which disturbingly echo that of Chinese-run state media. For one, the sight of the British flag among the Hong Kong protests has united intersectional progressives and CCP apologists in calling the massive demonstration a Western-backed uprising and accusing them of, ironically, “internalized colonialism.” This particular criticism is both condescending and patronizing as it alludes to the lack of self-agency among Hong Kong protesters, who must be so mentally weak as to become unwitting shills and puppets for the Western agenda. This epitomizes the postmodern notion of colonialism stretching beyond just physical land occupations to include a sort of cultural or ideological transformation of the mind. This is, indeed, exactly how postcolonial scholars from Frantz Fanon to Edward Said to Gayatri Spivak have seen it. If there is any merit to this idea, then why isn’t what China is doing considered a form of colonization of the Hong Kong mindset? Do we only care about the injustice of colonialism when the respective groups, defined as the “colonizer” versus the “colonized,” harbor differential levels of melanin? This logic not only provides the license to discount instances of colonialism between ethnically homogenous groups, it also allows progressive elites who rail against the lack of civil liberties, the imprisonment of dissidents, the mistreatment of minorities, abuses in detention centers and police brutality back home in the West, to be willfully blind to the hypocrisy of somehow supporting some of the very same things for the people of Hong Kong.

[teachingtranshistory]

BOTH AND NOT EITHER OR: a Trans Manifesto

We make history; history makes us.

         On April 29th of 2019, 13 students organized to present their own introduction to trans histories past and present, and in this way, enact critical interventions to recover the lives, voices, and revolutionary work of marginalized communities who have been and continue to be rendered absent and dismissed from dominant, hegemonic narratives of trans histories and futures. We also recognize the many ways in which our own introduction of trans histories will contain absences in itself, and therefore, name this manifesto to situate this introductory work within a larger framework and movement to reimagine what trans histories and futures can and must be.

We declare…

1.“Transgender” as a Western Concept

Trans history must acknowledge the impact of imposed Western and colonial ideas.

“Transgender” is a concept born in the West and we should be mindful of what we, as people embedded in the West, are considering trans.

Trans history must acknowledge the legacies and continued existence of gender variance within indigenous communities across the globe. This acknowledgement must include recognition of how colonization, including the violent erasure of “queer” identity and expression within indigenous communities, has created a facade of newness and Western claim over queerness when it realistically can only be seen as such because of colonial violence. At the same time, it is important to understand that applying the term “queer” or “transgender” to such indigenous communities - especially to indigenous communities in history - is not always appropriate considering the Western creation of these precise labels, and considering the creation and continued existence of culturally specific terminology such as Two-Spirit.

2. LANGUAGE

Trans history must remember and honor the language used today and in the past.

We know and acknowledge that words and labels have histories, often histories of pain. We recognize and use the words and labels our ancestors used to describe themselves. We give power the power of self-determination to our ancestors, a thing often stolen from them.

Trans history should reflect how language/terminology was (mis)used throughout history, how certain terminology emerged/in what contexts it emerged and also reflect on its own use of language

Trans history should respect the language that activists used to describe and understand themselves and try not to project modern terminology on historical figures who have rejected it, especially in communities of color and working class communities.

3. “Passing,” Privilege and Accessibility to Trans Identity

Trans history must not gatekeep because of passing or dysphoria.

We recognize that to be one does not have to be “passing” to be trans. We understand that not everyone was able to afford the safety of being “out” as trans. We understand that not everyone in our histories knew what being “trans” is/was.

Understanding trans histories should not come with the prerequisite of a college education. These histories should be made with a commitment to learning and teaching folks of all backgrounds.

Trans histories should acknowledge that being able to “pass” (or even desiring to pass) is a product of race, class, and ability and has no bearing on the legitimacy of an individual’s trans experience.

4. Remembering and Honoring

Trans histories are about remembering: remembering languages once used to describe people like us, remembering stories that will help us tell our own, remembering …

Trans history should remember and honor those community members who have lost their lives and point to the continued violence against trans people’s existence today.

Trans history should honor those that were revolutionaries and those that worked within the system, while acknowledging that both options are not always open

5. Trans History as Embodied Identities

Trans history must acknowledge histories embodied, knowledges created through lived experience.

We make our history; history makes us

6. Transphobia as a mechanism of white supremacy and classism.

Trans history is rich and cannot be summarized by any one narrative.

Trans history must acknowledge that trans lives are varied and complex and cannot be represented by a few lives or actions (eg christine jorgensen, lives that are white, wealthy, medically transitioned, and binary)

Trans history should center the histories of racialized People of Color, low-income people, whose lives and experiences are locations and examples of pain and suffering caused by the interlocking forces of white supremacy, classism and capitalism, heteropatriarchy, settler colonialism, and xenophobia, but also survival, resistance, and joy.

We must acknowledge and center the role of white supremacy in the violent creation, imposition, and maintenance of transphobia, both throughout history and in the present. We must especially acknowledge the way that white and upper-class trans people themselves benefit from these systems!

7. LABOR

Trans history should place the onus on cis people to actually do the work of seeking out trans histories. Trans people have done the work of creating, changing, making, living histories and it’s exhausting to ask us to also do the work of presenting these histories to cis people.

8. Abolish Hierarchies within Trans communities based on medical transition history!

Trans history must acknowledge how privilege exists within the trans community.

Trans history should acknowledge the hierarchies constructed by the medical industrial complex that place trans people who medically transition as more valid than those who transition in other ways. We contend that these hierarchies are bullshit, and that One. Does. Not. Need. Dysphoria. To. Be. Trans.

→ We also contend that dysphoria itself is a reductive and dangerous concept that attempts to homogenize diverse and highly individual experiences.

9. Who is trans history for?

Trans history is for trans people and all trans people.

Trans History can never be all-encompassing due to the histories that have been strategically erased, buried, and destroyed. Trans history does not purport to be representative of all experiences, but should decenter whiteness and upper-class narratives.

Trans histories can exist non-linearly, in our relationships to past and future and our processes of healing the present.

Trans histories only exist because of what came before trans history; what comes before Trans History cannot ever be fully contained by Trans History.

Trans histories demonstrate the wide range of strategies people have made to survive

Trans history is for everyone and trans history is ours and trans history is only for us, against us and within us

10. Trans Youth

Trans youth have the right to grow up in a world where all of these tenets exist.

The onus should not be on the youth to create this world for themselves. The onus is on us to create a world where trans youth feel safe and protected. We appreciate and honor those who came before us and look forward to the next generation of trans people and their journeys.