Where will same-sex couples be 50 years from now in the over two dozen countries that have legalized same-sex marriage in these last 17 years? Will we be having reminisces with young couples who got married and who are now having their 40th to 50th anniversary?
Military service is something that you can look up to and admire (or pity if that results in disability or some other misfortune), but why claim it when it isn’t yours?
It’s a paid voluntary experience, one for which one need not be shamed if one did or did not serve.
Beyond the “deplorable” aspects of its content, Gab once had (until March 2017) an interesting technical aspect: fusing Twitter-style short-form microblogging with Reddit’s up/down-voting to popularly rank posts in page visibility.
I can only imagine how many problems Gab’s fusion of microblogging with up-downvotes created in terms of content moderation and user communication.
To reach its goal of diversifying its audience, the company has done only one thing: It removed the downvote button. Like on Reddit, users had the ability to vote a post higher or lower, determining its relevancy on the forum. Now items can only be voted up.
Sanduja is convinced the change will make the platform more positive and inclusive. In a phone call, he said Gab removed downvotes because trolls were doing it for entertainment and to harass women who were defending themselves. Also, “there were a lot of social justice warriors and members of the far left coming into our site essentially trying to start a brouhaha.”
Huh.
I’m guessing the ethics of downvoting as a moderation tool have not yet been perfected, even on a site which fused most of the Twitter microbloggimg experience with Reddit’s downvoting feature.
In fact, Gab had both up/down-voting AND reblogging. Which one was used for its promotion algorithm if there was one? We’re they competing with each other?
And the difference between microblogging sites and news/question sites is how the former are geared toward a tighter, personal expression which isn’t necessarily meant to invite a high level response and assessment compared to posts on the latter. To place the scrutinizing tool of public downvoting on all microblog posts seems like not only a tool for massive abuse, but also a great waste of such a tool.
It reminds me of that one Gumball episode in which the characters 1-5 star-rate each other on an app, resulting in the entire town becoming paralyzed from doing anything in their lives in fear of losing their stars (someone actually tried to do this in real life).
It’s a bit like the much-requested “dislike” button which will likely never appear on Facebook. Those who dislike the “dislike” button – including Mark Zuckerberg himself- criticize the potential for abuse of users through vote-brigading. Facebook, which operates with more hierarchy in their design of posts and comments, has went their own way in adding “reaction buttons” to posts and comments.
To date, YouTube, Reddit, Quora and Stack Exchange are the only prominent sites to use downvoting as a moderation tool (Quora only allows comments to be downvoted). None of these would be considered a microblogging site.
I could only see downvoting of microblogs as something better than a user-abusive tool if the downvoting were implemented in a different way than how it is implemented as thumbs up-thumbs down on Reddit or YouTube. There has to be more than that.
If we’re going to talk about how to end mass incarceration and remove the legal basis for penal labor, as Ava DuVernay’s Academy Award-nominated documentary 13th has done, we have to broaden our scope beyond the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The movement in Colorado to repeal their state constitution’s exception for penal slavery is a good start (although it fell short by a hair due to the terrible legalese of the 2016 ballot question), but here are several other states which need to make similar changes:
States
Alabama Article I, Section 32: That no form of slavery shall exist in this state; and there shall not be any involuntary servitude, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted.
Arkansas’ 1874 Constitution Article 2, Section 27: There shall be no slavery in this State, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime. No standing army shall be kept in time of peace; the military shall, at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power; and no soldier shall be quartered in any house, or on any premises, without the consent of the owner, in time of peace; nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law.
California’s 1879 Constitution Article I, Section 6: Slavery is prohibited. Involuntary servitude is prohibited except to punish crime.
Colorado’s 1876 Constitution, Article II, Section 26: There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Georgia’s 1983 Constitution, Article I, Paragraph XXII: There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court.
Indiana 1851 Constitution Article I, Section 37: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, within the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Iowa Article I, Section 23: There shall be no slavery in this state; nor shall there be involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.
Kansas 1859 Constitution, Bill of Rights, Section 6: There shall be no slavery in this state; and no involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Kentucky’s 1891 Constitution, Section 25: Slavery and involuntary servitude in this State are forbidden, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Louisiana 1974 Article I, Section 3: No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. No law shall discriminate against a person because of race or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations. Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for crime.
Michigan Article 1, Section 9: Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitudeunless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state.
Minnesota Article I, Section 2: No member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.
Mississippi 1890 Article 3, Section 15: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Nebraska 1875 Article I, Section 2: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Nevada’s 1864 Constitution, Article I, Section 17: Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude unless for the punishment of crimes shall ever be tolerated in this State.
North Carolina’s 1971 Constitution Article I Section 17: Slavery is forever prohibited. Involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the parties have been adjudged guilty, is forever prohibited.
North Dakota Article I Section 6: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state.
Ohio’s 1912 Constitution Article I, Section 6: There shall be no slavery in this State; nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.
Oregon’s 1859 Constitution Article I, Section 34: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in the State, otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.— [Added to Bill of Rights as unnumbered section by vote of the people at time of adoption of the Oregon Constitution in accordance with section 4 of Article XVIII thereof]
Tennessee Constitution Article I, Section 33: That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are forever prohibited in this state.
Utah Article I, Section 21: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within this State.
Vermont’s 1777 Article I: That all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; therefore no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after arriving to the age of twenty-one years, unless bound by the person’s own consent, after arriving to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.
Wisconsin Article I, Section 2: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
U.S. insular areas
American Samoa Article I, Section 10: Slavery prohibited. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in American Samoa.
Puerto Rico Article I, Section 33: Slavery not exist, nor any form of involuntary servitude except which may be imposed for a crime, after conviction. Not impose cruel and unusual punishment. Suspension of civil rights including the right to vote shall cease upon the imprisonment imposed.
Others
The state constitutions of Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Connecticut, Washington, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Maryland, New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Delaware, Maine and New Hampshire do not mention slavery at all.
Notably, Rhode Island’s 1845 state constitution does not have a penal exception clause, saying specifically in Article I, Section 4: “Slavery shall not be permitted in this state.”
If only more of our country’s state constitutions were like Rhode Island’s, in which they could all simply say “Neither slavery nor indentured servitude shall be permitted in this state.” Period.
I supported Ellison, but I didn’t really think that Ellison would make much more headway after that first round. The fact that this went to the mat as it did is a first for the DNC. Perez appointing him as deputy chair is a good first move. Much is owed to Bernie and Randi and so many others who invested in his campaign.
I welcome Perez as chair if he and Ellison as deputy chair can together implement the 3k+ county strategy. Ellison cannot be merely the outreach face of the DNC. And if Perez proves problematic, he should go.
I’m also glad to have seen this firsthand, to have been here for this. I was here for history, and I hope the DNC will change for the better. #DNCchair
Preston Theodore King is an African-American academic and civil rights activist from Albany, GA. The son of Clennon Washington King, Sr., who served as Booker T. Washington’s chauffeur and co-founder of the Albany GA NAACP, Preston King fled to the UK in 1961 from charges of draft evasion at home for refusing to report for his conscription until an all-white draft board addressed him as “Mr.”, the same way that it addressed white draftees.
While in exile, he married Mureil Hazel Stern, a Jewish-British social justice activist and had two children, Oona King (Baroness King of Bow, formerly member of parliament) and Slater King (named after Preston’s brother Slater King, the vice-president of the Albany Movement). He later divorced Stern and, after an escapade with the children to Nairobi which ended with Stern retrieving the children back to London, King moved to Australia to teach at the University of New South Wales in the 1970s and marry a woman of Lebanese descent.
He returned to Georgia after being pardoned by President Clinton in 2000, after an exile of 39 years. He has since taught at Morehouse and Emory.
Decades from now, Islam will integrate into the realm of “respectable American religions” for White Americans (Lindsay Lohan?) to join.
The hysteria of today will fade, and “Judeo-Christian” social conservatism will be replaced by “Abrahamic” social conservatism. Some of the most media-savvy conservative ideologues and hucksters of tomorrow will be wealthy, White paragons of family/free-market values who just happen to be Muslim.
This happened to Catholics, Mormons and Jews, who only integrated after the ruling class of this country found that these hated groups could be exploited for their wedge usefulness against some other existential enemy.
Eventually, White-enough American Muslims will become useful to our ruling class against America’s next great existential enemy. And those who engage in cultural warfare and nativism against Muslims will either look pretty stupid or just disappear under the rug of ugly-American provincialism, as do Judeophobes, anti-Catholics and anti-Mormons.
Black Gay Nerd 