Reads: Robbie Rogers, Gender Violence & More
[A wrap up of some of the interesting reads from across the Web.]
Robbie Rogers: why coming out as gay meant I had to leave football - The Guardian
Shortly after footballer Robbie Rogers came out publicly through a blog post on his website last month, he has quit professional soccer at a young age of 25. Although his teammates have been very accepting, the sport itself has to do a lot to tide past its homophobia, feels Rogers. Read this and more in a free-wheeling chat in The Guardian:
"I started feeling very different and it was a case of, 'All right, I'm good at football and I get attention from girls. Why don't I want that? What's wrong with me?' I realised I was gay when I was 14 or 15. I was like, 'I want to play football. But there are no gay footballers. What am I going to do?'
"You feel such an outcast. I just couldn't tell anyone because high school in the States is brutal. You're going through puberty and kids can be vicious. I was lucky my older sisters were cool people and I was the football guy. All these things made it easier to mask myself. But it was also difficult. You have girls coming on to you and you're like, 'Shit, it would be a lot easier if they weren't interested and I could just play football.' I kept saying: 'I can't go out because I have training today or a match tomorrow.'" >>
Gender justice, interrupted - The Hindu
Ever since the horrific rape of a 23 year old girl on a moving bus in Delhi, there has been clamor for tougher laws to curb sexual violence. Despite all this, there has been no dearth of such incidents in various parts of the country. Ratna Kapur, in an article on The Hindu, argues merely implementing a law wouldn't be of any use, and that steps need to be taken to avoid sexism in everyday life and allow people to walk on the streets without fear.
In India, the new law represents a trend in South Asia to equate justice with the death penalty and stringent imprisonment terms. Yet empowerment for women cannot lie in merely attaching a death sentence on to the crime of rape, or increasing the mandatory minimum sentences for rape. How will these measures act as deterrents when indeed such changes will see the already low conviction rate for rape plummet even further? Empowerment rests in the ability of women, sexual minorities, and religious minorities to be able to walk on the streets free from the fear of sexual violence, sexual harassment and rape. >>
The death of a country - The Economist
The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria cannot be described in words. As cities are being pummeled amidst the escalating violence, civilian death toll has been estimated to be a staggering 70,000 according to a recent report from the United Nations. With grave political and economic instabilities already affecting several nations in the Middle-East, the civil war threatens to put millions of lives further at risk. President Assad's violent means to quell Arab Spring will have far-reaching consequences and even more puzzling is the silent demeanor from the rest of the world, including the USA.
So far the fighting has claimed 70,000 or more lives; tens of thousands are missing. The regime has locked up 150,000-200,000 people. More than 2m are homeless inside Syria, struggling to find food and shelter. Almost 1m more are living in squalor over the border.
Suffering on such a scale is unconscionable. That was the lesson from the genocides and civil wars that scarred the last half of the past century. Yet President Barack Obama has suggested that saving lives alone is not a sufficient ground for military action. Having learnt in Afghanistan and Iraq how hard it is to impose peace, America is fearful of being sucked into the chaos that Mr Assad has created. Mr Obama was elected to win economic battles at home. He believes that a weary America should stay clear of yet another foreign disaster. >>
Drone Home - Time
Drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan are not unusual. In the name of its global war on terror, the USA has launched 447 of them just in Afghanistan last year alone. But the sad reality is that civilians living in these areas have lost their peace of mind and have begun to flee their homes to escape such relentless airstrikes. With drone warfare in military coming under scathing criticism recently, Lev Grossman foresees a scenario when robotic planes become a part and parcel of the American way of life.
Drones don't care who they work for. They'll spy for anyone, and as they get cheaper and more powerful and easier to use, access to military-grade surveillance technology will get easier too. Voracious as they are for information, drones could take a serious chunk out of Americans' already dwindling stock of personal privacy. It's certainly not legal to fly a drone up 10 stories to peer through the curtains into somebody's bedroom, but it's just as certain that somebody's going to do it, if they haven't already. Last February an animal-rights group in South Carolina launched a drone to watch a group of hunters on a pigeon shoot on private property. The hunters promptly shot it down. It might be America's first case of human-on-drone violence, but it won't be the last. >>
What You Didn't Post, Facebook May Still Know - The New York Times
Social network giant Facebook has become so desperate to make money that it's leaving no stone untouched to leverage any of its features to its benefit. Ads are of course the most lucrative option; and it's been adopting different means to make them relevant to its users through targeted (ads based on your likes and preferences), retargeted (ads based on your browsing habits elsewhere outside FB) and lookalike advertising (ads based on matched user demographics). They may seem like a blatant invasion of your privacy, but it's just a case of your personal info getting more prominence and thus becoming a means to make money!
In shaping its targeted advertising strategy, it is no longer relying solely on what Facebook users reveal about themselves. Instead, it is tapping into outside sources of data to learn even more about them — and to sell ads that are more finely targeted to them. Facebook says that this way, marketers will be able to reach the right audience for the right products, and consumers will see advertisements that are, as the company calls it, “relevant” to them. >>
Robbie Rogers: why coming out as gay meant I had to leave football - The Guardian
Shortly after footballer Robbie Rogers came out publicly through a blog post on his website last month, he has quit professional soccer at a young age of 25. Although his teammates have been very accepting, the sport itself has to do a lot to tide past its homophobia, feels Rogers. Read this and more in a free-wheeling chat in The Guardian:
"I started feeling very different and it was a case of, 'All right, I'm good at football and I get attention from girls. Why don't I want that? What's wrong with me?' I realised I was gay when I was 14 or 15. I was like, 'I want to play football. But there are no gay footballers. What am I going to do?'
"You feel such an outcast. I just couldn't tell anyone because high school in the States is brutal. You're going through puberty and kids can be vicious. I was lucky my older sisters were cool people and I was the football guy. All these things made it easier to mask myself. But it was also difficult. You have girls coming on to you and you're like, 'Shit, it would be a lot easier if they weren't interested and I could just play football.' I kept saying: 'I can't go out because I have training today or a match tomorrow.'" >>
Gender justice, interrupted - The Hindu
Ever since the horrific rape of a 23 year old girl on a moving bus in Delhi, there has been clamor for tougher laws to curb sexual violence. Despite all this, there has been no dearth of such incidents in various parts of the country. Ratna Kapur, in an article on The Hindu, argues merely implementing a law wouldn't be of any use, and that steps need to be taken to avoid sexism in everyday life and allow people to walk on the streets without fear.
In India, the new law represents a trend in South Asia to equate justice with the death penalty and stringent imprisonment terms. Yet empowerment for women cannot lie in merely attaching a death sentence on to the crime of rape, or increasing the mandatory minimum sentences for rape. How will these measures act as deterrents when indeed such changes will see the already low conviction rate for rape plummet even further? Empowerment rests in the ability of women, sexual minorities, and religious minorities to be able to walk on the streets free from the fear of sexual violence, sexual harassment and rape. >>
The death of a country - The Economist
The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria cannot be described in words. As cities are being pummeled amidst the escalating violence, civilian death toll has been estimated to be a staggering 70,000 according to a recent report from the United Nations. With grave political and economic instabilities already affecting several nations in the Middle-East, the civil war threatens to put millions of lives further at risk. President Assad's violent means to quell Arab Spring will have far-reaching consequences and even more puzzling is the silent demeanor from the rest of the world, including the USA.
So far the fighting has claimed 70,000 or more lives; tens of thousands are missing. The regime has locked up 150,000-200,000 people. More than 2m are homeless inside Syria, struggling to find food and shelter. Almost 1m more are living in squalor over the border.
Suffering on such a scale is unconscionable. That was the lesson from the genocides and civil wars that scarred the last half of the past century. Yet President Barack Obama has suggested that saving lives alone is not a sufficient ground for military action. Having learnt in Afghanistan and Iraq how hard it is to impose peace, America is fearful of being sucked into the chaos that Mr Assad has created. Mr Obama was elected to win economic battles at home. He believes that a weary America should stay clear of yet another foreign disaster. >>
Drone Home - Time
Drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan are not unusual. In the name of its global war on terror, the USA has launched 447 of them just in Afghanistan last year alone. But the sad reality is that civilians living in these areas have lost their peace of mind and have begun to flee their homes to escape such relentless airstrikes. With drone warfare in military coming under scathing criticism recently, Lev Grossman foresees a scenario when robotic planes become a part and parcel of the American way of life.
Drones don't care who they work for. They'll spy for anyone, and as they get cheaper and more powerful and easier to use, access to military-grade surveillance technology will get easier too. Voracious as they are for information, drones could take a serious chunk out of Americans' already dwindling stock of personal privacy. It's certainly not legal to fly a drone up 10 stories to peer through the curtains into somebody's bedroom, but it's just as certain that somebody's going to do it, if they haven't already. Last February an animal-rights group in South Carolina launched a drone to watch a group of hunters on a pigeon shoot on private property. The hunters promptly shot it down. It might be America's first case of human-on-drone violence, but it won't be the last. >>
What You Didn't Post, Facebook May Still Know - The New York Times
Social network giant Facebook has become so desperate to make money that it's leaving no stone untouched to leverage any of its features to its benefit. Ads are of course the most lucrative option; and it's been adopting different means to make them relevant to its users through targeted (ads based on your likes and preferences), retargeted (ads based on your browsing habits elsewhere outside FB) and lookalike advertising (ads based on matched user demographics). They may seem like a blatant invasion of your privacy, but it's just a case of your personal info getting more prominence and thus becoming a means to make money!
In shaping its targeted advertising strategy, it is no longer relying solely on what Facebook users reveal about themselves. Instead, it is tapping into outside sources of data to learn even more about them — and to sell ads that are more finely targeted to them. Facebook says that this way, marketers will be able to reach the right audience for the right products, and consumers will see advertisements that are, as the company calls it, “relevant” to them. >>
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