Where Your Mouth Is #1: The Culture of Life

Alternet.org
June 14, 2005

Bush & Co. sure seem to want a "culture of life" when it comes to abortion, stem cell research, condoms, and permanently comatose women in Florida, but what the heck does a Culture of Life look like?

Contributor Robbie Samuels asks strangers for their definitions, Erin Rollins from Planned Parenthood explores what makes up Bush's culture of life and what we can do about it, and Jill Nelson talks with me about the vibrant and complex culture of life for African Americans on Martha's Vineyard. Plus creative non-fiction from Lisa Vaas, and a musical memorial for the lives of 25,000 Iraqis.

Contribute to Where Your Mouth Is! Upcoming themes include "The Mainstream," "Pride/Patriotism," and the "Ownership Society." Send your stories and story ideas to whereyourmouthis@gmail.com.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

ACLU By ACLUSponsored

Google This: Algorithmic Oppression

Imagine you've forgotten once again the difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee, so you do a quick Google image search of “gorilla." But instead of finding images of adorable animals, photos of a Black couple pop up.

Is this just a glitch in the algorithm? Or, is Google an ad company, not an information company, that's replicating the discrimination of the world it operates in? How can this discrimination be addressed and who is accountable for it?

“These platforms are encoded with racism," says UCLA professor and best-selling author of Algorithms of Oppression, Dr. Safiya Noble. “The logic is racist and sexist because it would allow for these kinds of false, misleading, kinds of results to come to the fore…There are unfortunately thousands of examples now of harm that comes from algorithmic discrimination."

On At Liberty this week, Dr. Noble joined us to discuss what she calls “algorithmic oppression," and what needs to be done to end this kind of bias and dismantle systemic racism in software, predictive analytics, search platforms, surveillance systems, and other technologies.

What you can do:
Take the pledge: Systemic Equality Agenda
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