Thomas B
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Thomas B
@asocialscientist.bsky.social
13 followers 33 following 9 posts
Anthropologist / Geographer
Occasional translator

No fun, no core, no mosh, no trends.
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The US-Mexico border is practically larger-than-life and completely imagined by most Americans. It's very hard to make it real or even package it as something manageable.

On the other hand, anytime someone tells me the border is wide open, I show them stuff like this and ask them to show me where:
picture of the US-Mexico border in El Paso TX consisting of several layers of barbed wire defended by soldiers
December 11, 2024 at 8:11 PM
No excuse for this guy but within our department (social sciences, respectably New England) all students are on a first-name basis with professors.

As a linguist I'm not bothered but it was strange at first.

Anyway, Alvin Poussaint in 1967:
For the moment my manhood had been ripped from me—and in the presence of a Negro woman for whom I, a “man,” was supposed to be the “protector.” In addition, this had occurred on a public street for all the local black people to witness, reminding them that no black man was as good as any white man. All of us—doctor, Jawyer, postman, field hand and shoe-shine boy—had been psychologically “put in our place.” The self-hate that I felt at that time was generated by the fact that I and my people were completely helpless and powerless to destroy that white bigot and all that he represented. Suppose I had decided, as a 'man should, to be forceful? What crippling price would I have paid for a few moments of assertive manhood? What was I to do with my rage? And if I, a physician in middle-class dress, was vulnerable to this treatment, imagine the brutality to which “ordinary” black people are subjected—not only in the South but also in the North where the brutality is likely to be more psycho
May 5, 2024 at 5:55 PM