Morning Ed: Society {2016.05.25.W}

28 thoughts on “Morning Ed: Society {2016.05.25.W}”

1. America’s equivalent to the idol industry probably has the same problems because the power issues involved are similar. There is that not really funny joke about the casting coach and no shortage of people willing to abuse even the slightest bit of power to get sex.

   The idol industry always fascinated me. Western countries have something similar but it doesn’t quite reach the level of pop cultural dominance as the idol industry does in East Asia country. East Asian pop stars from the Idol Industry aren’t mocked for being manufactured or lacking authenticity like their Western equivalents are. Its interesting that the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western countries developed a need for their pop singers to be authentic in a way that other countries did not.Report

   1. It’s also somewhat mitigated by the fact the idol industry in the US is now dominated by Nick and the Mouse, which recruits their talent when the talent itself are still kids. (Which has its own but different issues)Report

      1. And there is plenty of rumor about the treatment of the kids that are recruited by either company.Report

      2. This is kind of naive. People in a position of power abuse kids all the time.Report

         1. If the Mouseketeer club has a casting couch, that would be a bigger scandal than the Archdiocese of Boston.Report

            1. Yes it would but see Jimmy Saville. Stuff like this happens.Report

2. State Department sets new single-day record for Syrian refugee approvals

   Too bad the Obama admin cares more about meeting their self imposed goal of 10k immigrants than careful screening.

   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/24/state-department-sets-single-day-record-for-syrian/Report

   1. Moony! Git Yer Moony Here!Report

   2. Wouldn’t that to be expected as staff is increased? Based on the article, which says they’ve been increasing staffing since February, there are also a record number of people working on refugee approvals.Report

3. I’m sure the U still believes in the football gods.Report

4. Oberlin students want to abolish midterms and any grades below C

   Those poor dears want to put activism before academics

   http://theweek.com/speedreads/626361/oberlin-students-want-abolish-midterms-grades-below-cReport

   1. that is, though, effectively how George W Bush got through college.Report

      1. Gentleman’s C, everyone!Report

      2. So you are arguing that the two situations are analogues?Report

         1. I’m saying that it’s funny that the left-liberal elite is converging to the same status-striving armistices that characterize the aristocracy.Report

   2. I think this is pretty admirable. While so many people their age are demanding handouts, Oberlin students are selflessly pushing to devalue their own degrees in order to give students of other colleges an edge on the job market.Report

      1. How are they devaluing their degrees?Report

         1. When making hiring decisions, would you consider a degree from a college where failure is impossible to be as strong a signal of ability as one from a college with actual standards?Report

            1. I’d consider it more strongly, actually.
               Because I’ve heard of that school.
               Either you succeed, or you die.

               You surely didn’t think that every school, for every thing, was as nice as American colleges?Report

            2. I hear about this kind of stuff, and I just love my nice, well regarded STEM degree so much more.Report

            3. I’d prefer a college with standards. I wonder if most HR folks put that much thought into it or they just look for good grades.Report

               1. Frankly, I know what good HR people should be doing, as I’m related to several. Given what I’ve seen in several of my HR depts in the last decade, I wonder what the hell they actually do, ’cause I don’t seem them doing anything that my relatives did.Report

                  1. I know. Once my wife was offered a job after the previous candidate got almost all the way through the hiring process and then HR finally checked to see if she really had the degree she claimed to have which it turned out that she did not. You’d think that would be the one of the first things to check.Report

                  2. I suspect that a good chunk of the time they don’t check. I suppose it’s become more common, but I know two people who got their foot in the door by lying.Report

5. State Dept. IG: Clinton violated email rules

   I guess they couldn’t sweep that one under the rug.

   http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-email-inspector-general-report-223553Report

6. 2 Trials and No Convictions Put Top Baltimore Prosecutor in a Bind

   I dare say that it does. she might want to rethink her strategy about the case and prosecuting cops to make her community happy.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/us/marilyn-mosby-baltimore-freddie-gray-police.html?_r=0Report

7. The New Republic article about the High Sparrow seems to ignore the fact that the role of the Faith Militant is necessary to finish playing the part of acting out the answer to Varys’ Riddle:

   In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me – who lives and who dies?

   I think it’s going to take more than Olenna Tyrell calling in her family’s army to King’s Landing to get rid of him. After all, he’s not only silver-tongued, but the righteousness of the gods is his claim to legitimacy.Report

8. A co-worker of mine was drugged and kidnapped as a young child, and was on the point of being sacrificed when the police rescued him. He recently met the detective who rescued him.

   http://globalnews.ca/news/1361090/kidnapped-boy-edmonton-police-officer-who-saved-him-reunite-after-26-years/Report

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