THE ARMY TIMES AGREES
From a tough editorial on the broader issues of accountability:
One can only wonder why the prison wasnï¿t razed in the wake of the invasion as a symbolic stake through the heart of the Baathist regime.
(Via Andrew Sullivan.)
Dynamist Blog
WHILE WE'RE INVESTIGATING
Could someone find out whose bright idea it was to recycle the Abu Ghraib prison as a U.S. facility? I'm sure it seemed like an obvious, practical idea at the time, but the symbolism was terrible--and someone should have noticed.
THE PRISON AND THE COURT
Tom Curry of MSNBC looks at whether the Abu Ghraib abuses might influence the Supreme Court's rulings on the legal status, and appeal rights, of prisoners in Guantanemo and U.S. citizens designated "enemy combatants."
The legal issues--some of which are fairly complext, at least to this non-lawyer--don't change with the revelations from Iraq, but the abuses there do point up why checks and transparency are essential to the maintenance of a free society.
NOT A FEDERAL ISSUE
Apparently no one in the Senate believes in federalism. From today's Washington Postreport
The bill before Congress would make it illegal to videotape, photograph, film, broadcast or record a naked person or someone in underwear anyplace where a "reasonable person would believe that he or she could disrobe in privacy."
The legislation also would make it illegal to sneak photos of a person's "private parts" when "their private parts would not be visible to the public, regardless of whether that person is in a public or private area."
A person convicted under the law could face a fine and as much as a year in jail.
The bill passed the Senate by voice vote without dissent. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider it before the August recess.
Hardly a national emergency, but I do have a little Internet access and a tiny bit of downtime (see below).
SHORT BLOGGING HIATUS
Barring national emergencies, or unexpected downtime and Internet access, I will not be blogging until Thursday.
TOILET TELECOM
One of the weirdest aspects of spending a lot of time in airports is hearing cell phone conversations--in some cases, obviously business-related--from the next stall in the ladies room. Maybe I'm behind the times, but I don't want to hear flushing toilets (among other noises) in the background of my phone calls.
THE MASLOW MYTH
In a cover story for Innovation, the magazine of the Industrial Design Society of America, I look at why people spend time, energy, and money on more than their "basic needs." Hint: It's not because of advertising. Check out the great photos, including two taken in Laos by my sister-in-law Karen Inman.
SPEAKING APPEARANCES
I've updated the list of my upcoming appearances. Check it out to see whether I'll be in your area--or just to see why I may not be blogging a lot over the next couple of weeks. (Print deadlines not included.)
BLURRING THE AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL DISTINCTION
Steve Portigal, a smart observer of consumer behavior, posts a link-filled examination of the many ways in which amateurs and professionals are converging. A few samples:
Within recent memory, some products that put previously unachievable professional-grade abilities in the hands of ordinary people include video cameras, desktop publishing, teeth whitening, home theater, hairstyling products, and home dry-cleaning. Further, consider some of the brands that offer "professional" as part of their promise: Hummer, Jeep, Viking, Thermador, SubZero, Bosch, Nikon, and Smart and Final.
In our culture there is a growing interest in trying to be like the professionals. As consumers, we're interested in how business is done. The popular press reports the amount of money that a new movie makes in its opening weekend. Advertisements (most recently Dell) profile the product designers, user researchers, usability testers, and others who are behind the scenes for the products we buy. Many of the ubiquitous reality-TV shows are simply pulling back the veil on a previously hidden process (MTV's Cribs documents the homes of the famous, Take This Jobï¿ tracks the work activities of people with unique occupations, Airline shows the minutiae of getting passengers boarded for an on-time departure, and Family Plots tells all about a family-owned funeral home). The boundaries between consumer and producer continue to blur, a change that was massively accelerated by the Internet....
But beyond simply acting upon that sense of ownership by talking about the companies, many people are taking advantage of new enabling technology (i.e., Photoshop) to go one step further - to create new "products." And, with a distribution channel like the Internet, they can also share their creation with an enormous audience, just like the professionals.
There's too much here for a quote to do justice to it. Read the whole thing. On a related note, way back in 1996, Reason's Nick Gillespie looked at the creative ways fans relate to popular culture--a far cry from the stereotype of passive consumers.
WOMANHOOD AS HUMILIATION
Andrew Sullivan has a long quote from one of al Sadr supporters who reports abuse at the hands of American troops. It concludes: "They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel, and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman." Being a Muslim woman is like being tortured and humiliated all the time? And this guy thinks there's nothing wrong with that?