Last week the post spoke of a prisoner’s reality. This week, also via The Marshall Project, which specializes on reporting about the criminal justice system, the perspective of prison guards. While a closed group, they attempt to bridge their isolation through social media like Facebook, and a reporter took a look at their unfiltered posts all the while cautioning readers this was representative of only a “subset” of guards, those who used Facebook. She categorized what was culled from those posts into four sections, each representing Continue reading “The Side of The Prison Guards”
Category: Better Relations
Victims and Victimhood
A NYT essay by Arthur C. Brooks made a distinction between being a victim and what he calls the culture of victimhood, meaning anyone being slighted or hurt by others or the system feeling victimized whether or not in his eyes it was deserved. He sees the practice as being so frequent and prevalent and as not having much merit. As much as I find the concept evocative, I am not sure about the examples he cites, for example those of students feeling hurt by the use of micro-aggression. I am sure there are exaggerations, no one is perfect, but micro-aggression which I have heard and seen is a real issue, and even if one makes a distinction between a racial slur and violent rape, Continue reading “Victims and Victimhood”
Non-Whites Needed
The head of CBS Entertainment division, Glenn Geller, recently announced that the network was interested in expanding diversity in its programming including non-white characters who would be shows’ main characters. During an interview after his announcement, Geller gave an example: The character of Nancy Drew in the planned reboot of the Nancy Drew series won’t be white. There was no word as to what color she would be, just that the idea of diversity will be applied to the young detective. The idea of applying diversity to new shows, particularly those which are retooled from past series, is increasingly talked about. In the series Elementary, Continue reading “Non-Whites Needed”
Struggling Towards Our Goals
An article from author and blogger Mark Manson indeed caught my attention. He expounded on the idea that we tend to want “the reward and not the struggle”, “the result and not the process”, the victory and not the fight. He reminded his readers that life does not work that way that “we are defined by the values we are willing to struggle for”, that “our struggles determine our successes”, and for us to choose our struggles wisely. I liked his approach that bypassed the unrealistically optimistic picture we often get, that all we have to do is want something and it will come, that success Continue reading “Struggling Towards Our Goals”