Every four summers we are treated to the Olympic spectacle of matchless athletes encased in a curious hodgepodge of patriotism, nationalism, and "human interest."
A columnist for the Oregonian drew a lot of flak for pointing out what the rest of the world has long known: everyone but the U.S. roots against the U.S. at the Olympics. It hardly seems fair that the richest nation in the world, a country whose military budget is about as much as everyone else's put together, also gets to scoop up an obscene number of Olympic medals, wave the American flag around in front of the rest of the world every few minutes, and chant "U.S.A.!! U.S.A.!!" nonstop for weeks while most of the world's nations win not a single medal. All of this while American athletes and their families maneuver to present themselves as virtuous underdogs deserving of big sponsorship deals.
This is not to say that I didn't go crazy when Galen Rupp (who played soccer for a local coach I know well and went to my son's high school) kicked his way to a silver medal in the 5,000 meters.
But the Olympics more often reflect than transcend nationalism, a fact that the endless stories of young, virtuous Americans struggling for excellence helps to obscure. The Olympics both project and disguise U.S. power.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Hanna Rosin on Young Women and Casual Sex
The most recent issue of The Atlantic has an interesting piece by Hanna Rosin who argues that handwringing over the "hook-up" culture of casual sex at modern colleges does not victimize young women.
Rosin points out that only a minority of college students have a large number of sexual partners and that the great majority hope to marry.
But most of her ink is devoted to puncturing the assumption that casual sex is bad for young women. Rosin points out that the average woman at college is doing much better than her male counterpart, and that she's more likely than him to get a good job and make good money right after college. Many such women conclude that it is unwise for them to take on children, husbands, or even serious boyfriends at a critical time in their lives--at or soon after college. "Hooking up" enables them to enjoy sex without the burden of a relationship that will take up their valuable time--and might saddle them with a man who is apt to make less money and do less housework than they are.
Back in the 1950s, Hugh Hefner urged well-to-do young men to "rent" women rather than "buying" (marrying) them. The dynamics that Rosin describes are a bit different, but the fact that many ambitious young women are avoiding commitments to young men is one more indication that the average young woman is apt to be more successful than her male counterpart.
Rosin points out that only a minority of college students have a large number of sexual partners and that the great majority hope to marry.
But most of her ink is devoted to puncturing the assumption that casual sex is bad for young women. Rosin points out that the average woman at college is doing much better than her male counterpart, and that she's more likely than him to get a good job and make good money right after college. Many such women conclude that it is unwise for them to take on children, husbands, or even serious boyfriends at a critical time in their lives--at or soon after college. "Hooking up" enables them to enjoy sex without the burden of a relationship that will take up their valuable time--and might saddle them with a man who is apt to make less money and do less housework than they are.
Back in the 1950s, Hugh Hefner urged well-to-do young men to "rent" women rather than "buying" (marrying) them. The dynamics that Rosin describes are a bit different, but the fact that many ambitious young women are avoiding commitments to young men is one more indication that the average young woman is apt to be more successful than her male counterpart.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
"Wonders of the African World"
I recently watched--and read about--Henry Louise Gates's "Wonders of the African World," a six-part documentary created for public television in the late 1990s. (Gates is arguably the most prominent African-American scholar in the world.)
The documentary elicited a great deal of criticism, especially from Africans, for Gates's flippant on-camera persona and his tendancy to lecture Africans on such topics as slavery and gender inequality. The companion volume Gates wrote was much more detailed and nuanced, which suggests that Gates may not have had full control over the TV series. Certainly complexity is often the enemy of popular historical documentaries.
But what comes through strongly in both the documentary and the book is Gates's focus on great African civilizations--and his often ambivalent reaction to their militaristic or hierarchical aspects.
As one of his interviewees points out, however, what great civilization has not been ultimately concerned with the exercise of power? If we are looking for impressive ancestors, how do we define "impressive"? Should we necessarily conflate impressive with powerful?
The documentary elicited a great deal of criticism, especially from Africans, for Gates's flippant on-camera persona and his tendancy to lecture Africans on such topics as slavery and gender inequality. The companion volume Gates wrote was much more detailed and nuanced, which suggests that Gates may not have had full control over the TV series. Certainly complexity is often the enemy of popular historical documentaries.
But what comes through strongly in both the documentary and the book is Gates's focus on great African civilizations--and his often ambivalent reaction to their militaristic or hierarchical aspects.
As one of his interviewees points out, however, what great civilization has not been ultimately concerned with the exercise of power? If we are looking for impressive ancestors, how do we define "impressive"? Should we necessarily conflate impressive with powerful?
Friday, August 10, 2012
The Color Purple and Moral Complexity
I watched "The Color Purple" today for the first time in many years and was reminded of the film's moral complexity.
The novel by Alice Walker and the film generated a fair bit of criticism for portraying the black men in Celie's life as brutal patriarchs. This is also a common trend among scholars--often white ones--who hesitate to explore hierarchies and exploitations within exploited communities. On the one hand, this tendency to depict oppressed people as uniformly noble reflects a noble impulse to reverse old, racist stereotypes. But it can also reflect a subtle form of racism, namely an assumption that oppressed people are not capable of agency and complexity. People without sin, after all, are not really human or interesting. Part of what makes "The Color Purple" so compelling is that Celie wrestles with multiple forms of oppression (racial, gendered, sexual, economic), as well as her own timidity. And the film, like the book, shows that all manner of people--oppressors and oppressed--are capable of great transformations and sacrifices, that we can all love fiercely.
A final piece of irony is that the author of this remarkable story of redemption and determined commitment to family and kin became estranged from her own daughter, who accused her of neglecting her as a child and then being unable to accept her success as an adult.
Hence the marvelous story and the life of its gifted creator remind us that suffering and redemption are bound to startle us.
The novel by Alice Walker and the film generated a fair bit of criticism for portraying the black men in Celie's life as brutal patriarchs. This is also a common trend among scholars--often white ones--who hesitate to explore hierarchies and exploitations within exploited communities. On the one hand, this tendency to depict oppressed people as uniformly noble reflects a noble impulse to reverse old, racist stereotypes. But it can also reflect a subtle form of racism, namely an assumption that oppressed people are not capable of agency and complexity. People without sin, after all, are not really human or interesting. Part of what makes "The Color Purple" so compelling is that Celie wrestles with multiple forms of oppression (racial, gendered, sexual, economic), as well as her own timidity. And the film, like the book, shows that all manner of people--oppressors and oppressed--are capable of great transformations and sacrifices, that we can all love fiercely.
A final piece of irony is that the author of this remarkable story of redemption and determined commitment to family and kin became estranged from her own daughter, who accused her of neglecting her as a child and then being unable to accept her success as an adult.
Hence the marvelous story and the life of its gifted creator remind us that suffering and redemption are bound to startle us.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Mining in the 1860s
We recently toured a mine in Virginia City, Nevada--a place I've wanted to visit since watching "Bonanza" episodes as a kid. Every Sunday night my parents visited the Fletchers, who had a TV (we did not), and I got to watch "Candid Camera," "Disneyworld," and "Bonanza."
But I digress. The mining site reminded me of how incredibly difficult it was for most people to make a living even in relatively prosperous places in the nineteenth century. The miners often worked far underground and in very hot and dangerous conditions. Much of the work consisted of pounding away with a sledehammer at the end of a long drill for many hours a day. Most people across the world still have to work very hard to make relatively little.
In this regard, as in so many others, middle-class Americans are truly exceptional. We have much more comfortable lives and don't have to work all that hard (compared to people of other times and places) to get them. But this arrangement strikes us as so natural, so ordinary, that we seldom reflect on how peculiar and lucky we are.
But I digress. The mining site reminded me of how incredibly difficult it was for most people to make a living even in relatively prosperous places in the nineteenth century. The miners often worked far underground and in very hot and dangerous conditions. Much of the work consisted of pounding away with a sledehammer at the end of a long drill for many hours a day. Most people across the world still have to work very hard to make relatively little.
In this regard, as in so many others, middle-class Americans are truly exceptional. We have much more comfortable lives and don't have to work all that hard (compared to people of other times and places) to get them. But this arrangement strikes us as so natural, so ordinary, that we seldom reflect on how peculiar and lucky we are.
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