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A long but worthy read from the archives of 2014. Historical topic (and relating to the legislature HR that called to investigate reparations) so it's just as pertinent today, maybe even more so as the violence against black people we saw around 2014 just keeps happening and happening.

The United States' legacy of decades upon decades of abuse & violence is stunning. Not a good look, but quite helpful to sit with all of this. Makes my own privilege feel immense and this is 100% worth the long read.

Yet America was built on the preferential treatment of white people—395 years of it. Vaguely endorsing a cuddly, feel-good diversity does very little to redress this.

great find, defo agree this is AOTD material.

If Readup had a second-cousin in debate club I think it would be the Kiaolo platform they suggest at the end lol.

Not sure that's truly the best solution to trolls, but I did find this sociological exploration of what drives a hot tempered or deliberately sadistic trolling.

I'm still noodling on some parts of this, and while compelling, I'm not convinced just seeing people face to face is always enough to elicit empathy anymore. I'm seeing quite a bit of antisocial behaviors lately IRL, and it's as if these behaviors and disconnection from the humanity of the other people around us is a bit muddled.

There's a marketing exercise I've done a few times where you consider the people who oppose you or have opposite viewpoints to yourself. Then you write out why they're right. It's a helpful way to push empathy, but I am not convinced face to face has the same result. You have to want it.

More recently, Mr. Bezos has ramped up his giving.

No surprise, his personal brand is garbage right now. My network of friends universally despises Bezos & Amazon for their impact on the world. A lot of millenials and others are ditching Prime and I imagine this wasn't a decision driven much by desire, more likely it's just business acumen seeing he needs to do this or he'll keep losing talent & customers.

Drop in the bucket but if Bezos is feeling guilty and ponying up cash to fight climate change, that's a small win.

This is an awesome shift in how we share info online.

I've been missing Encyclopedia's lately and it's been a weird feeling, with my libraries closed I struggle to find obscure reference material and information online that isn't either clickbait, or horrid. Like where do you find reliable information on the habitat and nesting habits of California Quail? Still don't know!

I share a need for an easier way to share reliable, solid knowledge outside of university resource libraries and gated journals. The ad driven clickbait is driving me batty. These platforms look compelling for that (fingers crossed)

Pretty rad.

Users getting paid for the data they create is a popular idea among some tech thinkers like Jaron Lanier, someone Yang says he’s been influenced by.

I was glad to see the shoutout for Jaron, I've heard the exact program outlined by him before. Exciting for a lawmaker to jump on actually enacting something like this.

Even if it put pressure on companies just to let you easily delete data that would be fabulous. There's a decent way to do it on Facebook (so they say) but it doesn't touch your user data. I just spent 3 days last week deleting all my past usage history & data on Facebook and it was a huge headache. Fingers crossed this makes moves.

iGirl is great. The obsession with 90s fashion...hilarious to me, given my age. Big Depop fan though, it's another great addition to the Poshmark type platform if you don't buy new clothes.

Depop’s growth over the past few months makes sense, given that many consumers have less cash on hand and are looking for inexpensive garments.

Thought this was a peculiar assumption. I know for many people they're tight on funds, but those people probably aren't buying clothes-used or otherwise (and a lot of stuff on Depop isn't that cheap). I know people making more money on unemployment than they would at their jobs (and turning down projects when I try to hire them bc of it) but not being able to go out and shop. Or stuck at home working remote with nowhere else to stock up on athleisure.

And its interesting they worry Gen Z sellers wont stay on the platform once they mature. Ever heard of Nasty Gal? She started as an ebay shop and built a brand, nothing wrong wrong with being a springboard.

Fun article if you like the nitty gritty of fashion, always glad to see more used & recycled clothing getting back into the world. The last thing we need is to keep supporting the rampant pollution and slavery of the modern fashion industry.

A year behind you Bill but WOW this piece is a worthy long read.

So much to think about, especially now when people are clamoring for ways to prioritize social services over policing.

It's a big thing to consider, esp when we grow up surrounded by media that frames that "bad guys get put away" message so we can rest and have one less thing to concern ourselves about. What a big big idea, and a big mission for Gilmore.

In 1902, the famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow told men held in Chicago’s Cook County Jail: “There should be no jails. They do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish.”

OMG THIS STORY. Everyone needs to read this, it's...everything you think but with a poodle. And absurd. And heartbreaking when you think about it for a while.

This reminds me of that film, The Great Hack. I really wonder who is pulling the strings and am dismayed at this desire, again, to other the problem. aka "Of course it can't be happening in our town...it's the big bad wolf (antifa)"

I've had those teachers, the brutally strict ones. The story of the 7 y/o blew my mind, but still didn't surprise me, sad.

“These small towns matter because it’s a lot of small towns. All of these small towns coming together, it’s what we need to make a change.”

Per usual I love this from AHP. She always has such keen human interest pieces.

Interesting look at a small town and what happens when we "other" a problem and decide it doesn't apply to us anymore. What a world.

“And the way that partisanship has played out in this moment, when wearing a mask seems to indicate your political affiliation.”

This is such a good metaphor. and ohhhh man do I agree, so much water I never knew I was swimming in

It’s becoming more and more clear to me how much ‘water’ there is in the world I live in.

Fascinating article, the history of wooden dollars in the Great Depression in Tenino and their current iteration.

By creating its own local currency, Tenino keeps the money in the community. As Fournier puts it, “Amazon will not be accepting wooden dollars.”

I've always wondered about ways to keep more money in your local businesses. And, here ya go! I recently saw a video about TimeShare currencies in a New Zealand town where you volunteer and can use the vouchers at the farmers market. It's not always a sunny day solution but these innovative humans give me life, and hope, for what's to come.

A helpful take. The last time the police killed an unarmed black person (6 mos ago?) I read White Fragility, felt informed, then let the issue get backburnered Bc I had the privilege to do so. It’s at the point now where reading and being aware isn’t enough, so I think this has some helpful suggestions although as a hardy reader I do think books are a wonderful way to see other perspectives and experiences, so I’ll keep tearing through my own reading lists

There's a lot going on atm but I still appreciated this well written reminder to not forget the climate crisis

Very interesting for the inner statistics geek in understanding Black Swan events

Wow, this one hits hard. The way it's laid out makes for a really impactful read, and it doesn't tickle.

As I read it occurred to me that this felt like satire, my brain had a hard time digesting that this is the reality of the US today. uf. Dystopian indeed.

I can relate to the feeling shared here. Sometimes i feel like texting has become too convenient, so we text drivel instead of having real convos.

My best friend took a break from her cell and turned it off for a few weeks at a time. We started writing letters (on paper!) and it was such a nice, novel way to think deeply and converse as opposed to the random flood of memes we sometimes share. "novel" ha.

Michael Pollan is such a win, i love how he writes and explores a topic so succinctly. V nice read, and for sure a lot to consider

Yep, this is a good one

I was just reading in the John Hopkins daily C19 report something about Sweden that makes me question the validity of some of the statements in this piece.

Sweden and several U.S. states never locked down and they didn’t see any of the promised doomsday exponential growth either.

Sweden encouraged social distancing but only limited mandatory restrictions to prohibit gatherings of greater than 50 people. They mostly relied on people's sense of civic duty to sort them out.

Now...Sweden has reported COVID-19 mortality among the highest per capita in the world, including compared to other Nordic countries, which have reported significantly fewer deaths.

So to me, that sounds like their lack of social distancing was actually quite detrimental. Maybe the spike wasn't as spikey, but having the highest death rate per capita seems like a lose to me...

Also, bc Swedens so reliant on outside imports, are facing their worst recession since WW2.

I would suggest taking some of this article with a grain of salt, it appears that it isn't entirely backed up by the data.

Silver lining?

Interesting way to show dissent when you cant get out and gather safely

This is the satire piece I needed today. It's sharp, it probes the wounds, it will make you do that weird quick-exhale thing that's sort of a laugh in response to painful truisms.

Oh...this. I saw this study referenced in that book All The Rage.

It's so fascinating and, like Pegeen, this leaves me feeling in no way warm and cozy.

It's absolute garbage. UGH. I have been called a "little bitch" at the office before, so this hits home. The double standards got to go.

Great long read about how to really make change with some really compelling examples & arguments.

When you are clear about your goal and find the right strategy, your target audience may be as narrow as a single person.

Cant say I agree with the people who call the show "soul-affirming". I had a friend who was over the moon for it, but I found it a bit exhausting. It's just so much to track, the podcast voice with the unmatched action of the animation is mind-numbing. Maybe easier if you're used to second screening....on the plus, you really can't multi-task, it takes ALL of your attention to try to wrap your mind around 2 disparate storylines at once

Of course all lives matter...Sadly, our society has a long history of treating some people as less valuable than others.

"What an anti-racist does first and foremost is identify racial inequities," says Kendi.

“You have to remember they are in the entertainment business,” says Ten. “Everything in entertainment has to be exaggerated to get attention.”

That sums a lot of this up. I had a long talk with a friend the other day about the trends this family is nurturing, the lavish obsession with flashy wealth, the cosmetic surgery and injections...A relentless obsession with falsehood and faking an image, so this article holds few surprises that other things would be, inflated.

I wouldn't be mad to see them fade to obscurity, I'm not sure how many more 23 year olds with injected trout pouts my psyche can handle.

someone people on my side drag to virtue-signal

That sure sums up a bunch. She seems like a balanced, rad person--even if I don't agree with all her perspectives. And how absurd the reaction that she dated a "cool girl". Oh, the horror? C'mon...how small minded can we be.

This jump to divisive, demonizing of complex human beings is exhausting. Seems like we actually need more people like Bari, people willing to be nuanced, take different perspectives, and not just say what what get clicks or make people feel cozy in their beliefs.

But, she asks, “is our job to be a warm bath and an ideological safe space for people who we think are our readers? Or is it our job to show them the scope of opinions, legitimate opinions, that people all over this country have? I think that’s our job.

Preach.

From Glossier to Bratz to Grindr it's been interesting to watch what companies step up

“Even though we don’t have laws that separate people on the basis of race anymore, we still have customs, we still have beliefs, we still have policies and practices that lead to inequities,” Frazier said.

I really like his CTA to get SPECIFIC on requests/demands so local and national level politicians can't just dance around requests and pay lip services. That's a really smart rec.

The $10mil donation feels more like PR than genuine caring. This uproar fascinates me, part of me wants to support free speech but the real parts of me are sick of companies turning the cheek to unconscious and deliberate racism by hiding behind "free speech". I'm interested to see where this goes.

“Internet platforms that are pervasive — as Facebook and Google are globally — must always align with power, including authoritarians. It is a matter of self-preservation,” Mr. McNamee said. “Facebook has been a key tool for authoritarians in Brazil, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar. In the U.S., Facebook has consistently ignored or altered its terms of service to the benefit of Trump. Until last week, Twitter did the same thing.”

interesting. I wonder if we'll see more stories like this, and how we can make sure the reports we take as true are from people physically present and active at these events

Interesting. This book is getting suggested a lot in my friend circles and I wasn't aware of this criticism before. The book was helpful, but I am glad to know this take, in hindsight at least.