I can’t say that we’ll be watching the royal wedding. But we should at least put a thin veneer of intelligence on top of the shallow spectacle. That’s our job. In two very quick minutes, Emory historian Patrick Allitt sketches out the history of royal weddings, and tells you why this “Royal Willding” stands out…
The Kitty Genovese Myth and the Popular Imagination
On Monday, April 18th a 22-year old woman named Chrissy Lee Polis was severely beaten by two teenagers at a McDonald’s in Baltimore, while several bystanders watched and a McDonald’s employee videotaped the whole incident. Late last week, the video went viral, and now the employee has been fired, the two girls (one of whom is only 14) are in custody, and Polis is considering a civil suit. The victim, who is transgendered, told the Baltimore Sun this weekend that she considers the beating a hate crime.
Meanwhile, the incident has elicited several comparisons to the famous 1964 case of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who was stabbed to death in the courtyard of her New York City apartment building while 38 neighbors watched and did nothing to help her. The widespread coverage of her case had a huge impact on both policy and the field of psychology: The NYPD reformed its telephone reporting system; researchers began studying the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility; and the dead woman became a symbol of the dire consequences of inaction.
One of the most elegant uses of that symbolism is the chapter (above) from the online motion comic based on the graphic novel Watchmen. Genovese figures prominently in the origin story of the superhero/antihero Walter Joseph Kovacs, aka “Rorschach.” Rorschach constructs both his identity and his costume as a direct response to the passivity and even cynical voyeurism embodied by the neighbors who heard and watched her die.
But the actual reactions of the witnesses to Kitty Genovese’s murder were more complicated than originally reported. It’s unlikely, for example, that any of the infamous 38 bystanders heard the entire crime, or realized its severity in the moment. For a fascinating account of the discrepancies between the facts and myths of the case, you can listen to this 2009 story on NPR, or read this 2007 article from American Psychologist (the link is to a PDF from the author’s website).
The Kitty Genovese parable is no less morally instructive for being not quite accurate. The bystander effect is still real, the McDonald’s worker’s decision to tape the beating last week rather than stop it is still reprehensible. And of course, Rorschach is still one of the most righteous dark avengers in popular culture. But it’s worth remembering that we’re more likely to learn from our mistakes when we dig for the truth, even — and perhaps especially — when the truth isn’t so simple.
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly
Kevin Spacey & Alec Baldwin Go to Bat for the Arts
Both Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey are longtime advocates for government funding of the Arts. If you missed their testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommitee on the Interior earlier this month, you aren’t alone. They were kicked off the schedule because of preparations for a congressional shutdown. These speeches were delivered not to the subcommittee but to a crowd of advocates and fans.
Both are well worth watching. Spacey, who is also the artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre, has long been one of the most respected and articulate actors in Hollywood. (See his inspiring pep talk to a young actor on Inside the Actor’s Studio here.) He packs more wisdom in these 12 and a half minutes than some performers do in a lifetime.
As for Alec Baldwin, his speech is shorter, but equally compelling. If you’re in a rush, head straight to minute 4:00, which begins with this teaser: “I come from a business where we all know a great secret …”
Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.
Diary: The Last Short Film by Tim Hetherington
Earlier today, Tim Hetherington, the photographer who produced and directed the award-winning film Restrepo, was killed in the Libyan city of Misurata. Although interested in diverse art forms, Hetherington spent more than a decade working in war zones. He was a cameraman on Liberia: An Uncivil War (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback (2007), then directed Restrepo, a film about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. And, that same year, Hetherington also shot a short film, Diary, which he summarized in this fashion:
‘Diary’ is a highly personal and experimental film that expresses the subjective experience of my work, and was made as an attempt to locate myself after ten years of reporting. It’s a kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media.”
You can watch Diary above and also visit a slideshow of Hetherington’s photographic work here.
via BoingBoing
Bubble Watch: Is China Next?
Last month, China hit another major milestone. It passed Japan and became the second largest economy in the world, leaving only the US in its way. Give China a decade, maybe a little more, and it will inevitably surge into the lead. That’s the accepted narrative.
But then we come across this: the possibility that a mounting real estate bubble might derail China’s plans. This report from Australian public television gives you a disturbing look at how the Chinese government has pumped vast amounts of capital into fixed assets, like commercial and residential real estate, to keep the country’s economy growing. And what they’re left with is what James Chanos (a hedge fund manager) has famously described as “Dubai times one thousand.” Right now, there are an estimated 64 million empty apartments in China, and approximately 30 billion square feet of commercial real estate under construction — equivalent to a five-by-five foot office cubicle for every man, woman and child in China. It’s one thing to read these facts, another thing to see what it all looks like. And that’s the opportunity you get above.
For a more precise roadmap of what a Chinese crash might look like, you should spend some time with this piece in Canadian Business magazine.
How Venice Works: 124 Islands, 183 Canals & 438 Bridges
3,000,000 tourists move through Venice each year. But when the tourists leave the city, 60,000 year-round residents stay behind, continuing their daily lives, which requires navigating an archipelago made up of 124 islands, 183 canals and 438 bridges. How this complicated city works – how the buildings are defended from water, how the buildings stand on unsteady ground, how the Venetians navigate this maze of a city – is a pretty fascinating story. These techniques have been worked out over Venice’s 1500 year history, and now they’re explored in a captivating 17 minute video produced by a Venetian government agency. You can learn more about the inner life of this great city at Venice Backstage.
via Metafilter
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Inside Job, Oscar-Winning Documentary, Now Online (Free)
In late February, Charles Ferguson’s film – Inside Job – won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. And now the film documenting the causes of the 2008 global financial meltdown has made its way online. A corrupt financial industry, its corrosive relationship with politicians, academics and regulators, and the trillions of damage done, it all gets documented in this film that runs a little shy of 2 hours.
Inside Job can be purchased on DVD at Amazon. We all love free, but let’s remember that good projects cost real money to develop, and they could use real financial support. So please consider buying a copy.
Hopefully watching or buying this film won’t be a pointless act, even though it can rightly feel that way. As Charles Ferguson reminded us during his Oscar acceptance speech, we are three years beyond the Wall Street crisis and taxpayers (you) got fleeced for billions. But still not one Wall Street exec is facing criminal charges. Welcome to your plutocracy…
Evgeny Morozov Animated: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
RSA has released its latest animated video, and this time it features Evgeny Morozov, the Belarus-born researcher, who takes the contrarian position that the internet can often inhibit (rather than promote) democracy, especially within authoritarian contexts like China and Iran. And what follows (above) is a more sobering talk about how authoritarian regimes use the web to suppress civic engagement and fledgling democracy movements. This clip is part of a longer 27 minute lecture (see full version here) that peers into “the dark side of internet freedom,” a phrase that happens to be the subtitle of Morozov’s new book.
Morozov is currently a visiting scholar in the Liberation Technology Program at Stanford, and if you’re wondering how he looks at technology and the role it played in Egypt’s revolution, you can watch a quick clip here.
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