Oppression renames its victims, brands them as a farmer brands his cattle with a common signature. It always aims to subvert the individual spirit and the humanity of the victim; and the victim will more or less struggle to remove oppression and be free.

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in his essay “Spelling Our Proper Name,” in his book The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays

If we think we have physical imperfections, obsessing about them is only destructive. Low self-esteem involves imagining the worst that other people can think about you. That means they’re living upstairs in the rent-free room.

— Roger Ebert

Here is — they had no business being there. Sure, if there’s some way where you have an army of bandits, which we haven’t seen, on any mass scale going and attacking, maybe you might bring in some guys like that. But right now, people don’t need guns. They need gauze, as I think one doctor put it. And this is the essence of — it’s just the same way they reacted after Katrina. It’s the same way they acted — the victims are what’s scary. They’re the other. They’re black people who, you know, had the only successful slave revolution in history. What could be more threatening?

From Amy Goodman’s interview with Kim Ives of Haiti Liberté.

I think this quote from Ives is a spot-on analysis about how we’ve treated Haiti and Haitians since the revolution. And I think that theme of The Black Other — “lawless,” “savage,” and uncivilized is implied — is what binds Haiti and post-Katrina New Orleans.

Several journalists have made explicit and implicit comparisons between Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and Haiti’s earthquake. ABC News’ Dan Harris (in the network’s world news podcast), for example, seemed surprised that Haitians weren’t “looting” en masse. I mean, isn’t that what poor black folks do after natural disasters?

Never mind that Haiti is dirt poor, which doesn’t leave much to “loot,” even if buildings were sturdy enough to enter and remove stuff from. Never mind that Haiti is a different country with its own history and culture. Never mind that religion is so deeply embedded in Haiti’s national narrative that prayer, not looting, would be — and has been — Haitians’ predictable reaction to disaster.

No, Haitians are just more black faces on a different part of the map. Bad behavior* is what we expect.

* That we called it “looting” post-Katrina and post-Haiti earthquake — framing it purely as a nefarious criminal act, rather than one driven by survival — is another discussion.

But shame is a verb as well as a noun. Almost nobody arrives at shame on their own; there are shamers and shamees. Hester Prynne didn’t pin that scarlet A on her own chest. In fact, it may be wiser to think of shame as a relationship rather than just a feeling: a relationship of domination in which the mocking judgments of the dominant are internalized by the dominated.

Barbara Ehrenreich in her 2006 blog entry The Shame Game.

The one thing I’ll be damned if I let stand in my spheres of influence, though, is the erasure, violence, and willful intolerance, that comes from being close-minded and ignorant about the interconnectedness of the basics of the human condition.

From Brandon‘s post It’s A Fight for Our Lives.

The interview begins with a look back at Johnson’s career and ends with some of her insights about social media marketing. For example:

Even more than social media, digital content gives consumers a platform to have a megaphone and talk about anything they want. But the truth is that they are talking about brands. I recently read that 20% of tweets are about brands. We see it now as people use tools like Brightkite and Foursquare to mention the restaurants they’re in on Twitter and other social networking sites. Are people going to be a friend with your brand? That’s the part that’s funny and fishy. But if brands make content that’s relevant to people’s interests and passions then it’s a win-win.

It’s weird seeing someone you know on a somewhat personal level getting some industry-wide recognition and praise. But Johnson has been in the game for awhile, so it’s well deserved.

Bonus? The accompanying photo was captured by another blog family member, Cecily. [Via j. brotherlove]

The researchers found support for the idea that blinding insights favor a prepared mind–that is, you’ve got to really internalize the problem at hand if you’re to find any sort of solution. … But to actually bring those insights to life, you’ve got to step back.

From October 2009′s Hard Work’s Overrated, Maybe Detrimental by Cliff Kuang on FastCompany.com

I learned this lesson while working on a project that left me mentally drained every day. Often one I stepped away from the problem — usually all it took was the drive home — the solution would present itself like a neon-colored peacock.

[Via White African]

But I can’t help but think the new software represents the triumph of hope over experience. Drupal looks great in theory: It’s a powerful way to govern a Web site that is born out of the collective efforts of the community. In practice, it tends to be a bit of a mess. Does that sound like any particular form of government to you?

Chris Wilson in his Slate.com piece Message Error (Via techPresident)

Also see: by Conor McNamara Messenger’s Error(s): Chris Wilson’s flawed rant about Drupal and whitehouse.gov