Have you ever wondered how it is that our electronic gadgets, including iPhones are so cheap? According to Business Insider, it's because "they are built using labor practices that would be illegal in this country — because people in this country consider those practices grossly unfair." This story includes many details regarding the working conditions of the Chinese workers who make many of the gadgets that Americans consume.
At the Washington Post, Sebastian Junger points out the contradiction made salient by the news that American Marines urinated on several dead Taliban fighters:
For the past 10 years, American children have absorbed these moral contradictions, and now they are fighting our wars. The video doesn’t surprise me, but it makes me incredibly sad — not just for them, but also for us. We may prosecute these men for desecrating the dead while maintaining that it is okay to torture the living. I hope someone else knows how to explain that to our soldiers, because I don’t have the faintest idea.
Bill Moyers is back on the air. In this video, he explains why inequality matters:
Bill Moyers on Occupy Wall Street from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.
There is also ample scientific evidence that inequality matters.As I worked to write a long email on my iPhone, I found myself skipping some apostrophes because the reader certainly would understand what I was trying to communicate. This made me wonder why we users of English don't organize and officially eliminate apostrophes in many contractions. How about writing "dont" instead of "don't"? How about "cant" instead of "can't" (no one will confuse it with the obscure noun or little-used noun, verb and adjective versions of "cant." Even without an apostrophe, we would instantly know what "doesnt" and "wasnt" mean. Arguments can even be made to eliminate apostrophes in possessives (we've actually done that in pronoun possessives (his, her, their, its). The apostrophe, as used in contractions, was originally implemented to warn us that something is missing. If it's already apparent what's missing, though, the apostrophe (at least in many cases) seems redundant. I checked to see whether anyone else has proposed to do away with many of our apostrophes and I found this article by Richard Nordquist, who offers many resources, including a link to the aptly named Apostrophe Protection Society. I know that what I propose will never happen. That is the power of path dependency. But perhaps it is already happening unofficially, due to the way many of us are taking shortcuts on our smartphones. I know that Im not the only one who doesnt like digging out those little apostrophes and I wont be inclined to change my ways.
Arthur Brisbane, the public editor of the New York Times, asked his readers whether the news reporters should be "truth vigilantes": "I'm looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge 'facts' that are asserted by newsmakers they write about." The U.K. Guardian describes the fallout:
Brisbane (who, as public editor, speaks only for himself, not the Times) referred to two recent stories: the claim that Clarence Thomas had "misunderstood" a financial reporting form when he left out key information, and Mitt Romney's assertion that President Obama gives speeches "apologising" for America. Brisbane asked whether news reporters should have the freedom to investigate and respond to those comments. The reaction from readers was swift, voluminous, negative and incredulous. "Is this a joke? THIS IS YOUR JOB." "If the purpose of the NYT is to be an inoffensive container for ad copy, then by all means continue to do nothing more than paraphrase those press releases." "I hope you can help me, Mr Brisbane, because I'm an editor, currently unemployed: is fecklessness now a job requirement?"