Friday Linkdump is basically all about the bread and circuses.

[bodlon]

Juvenal is, as you can see, largely unimpressed.

I found this article -- Peanut Butter And Jelly Racist? Portland School Principal Ties Sandwich To White Privilege -- interesting in ways that frustrated me and made me uncomfortable, though I mostly gritted my teeth at the hostility the idea that PB&J as a non-neutral cultural object received. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to sign off on the idea of a foodstuff as racist exactly, but the assumption that the consumption of certain foods is a cultural default or a defining trait among Americans certainly could be under a lot of circumstances. I'm also not sure I associate PB&J with whiteness per se, but it is something that's embedded in and part of the US overculture, in which whiteness confers some pretty significant benefits. As anyone who's interacted with someone different, food is (like language) pretty damn important to cultural identity.

Speaking of privilege, this post -- The Distress of the Privileged -- is one of the most cogent discussions of why social change is hard. Specifically, it strives to contexualize push-back that groups seeking to correct inequity tend to face. It doesn't offer any simple solutions, but certainly it's food for thought.

Equally cogent (albeit angrier, and containing stronger language) is this piece -- Your Lack Of Insight And Compassion Make You Ugly -- in which the author takes on image memes that propagate hostile attitudes about the poor. This is absolutely worth a read.

And since we keep coming back to the topic of food -- dinner, SNAP, sandwiches, etc. -- the How Much Food is Eaten Around the World in One Week image set is making the rounds again. It makes me want to do an experiment in which I photograph and calculate all the food I buy and eat in a week. I suspect the answer will be very strange indeed.

If none of that impresses you, all I can offer is this: Britain swamped with zombies as Atos send the dead back to work. I'll let you decide which category that one goes in.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com