A Sociological Eye

  Social media algorithms today are weird in many ways. One way is the overpolicing of content that relates to people's lives coming to an end. I watch a lot of medical videos, because one of the things I study is the sociology of medicine, and it is really quite bizarre to see doctors who are explaining medical cases have to resort to all sorts of euphemisms when the case involves someone who didn't make it. "Despite this treatment, the patient had an outcome incompatible with life." That's just silly. It doesn't help anyone. And it is hurtful that algorithms take down posts where people are mourning the passing of a loved one whose end by their own hand, because the posts used the standard term for such an act. When it comes to actually viewing people's passing or their disturbing remains in media and social media, that's been treated as forbidden ever since the aftermath of 9/11. Many Americans were traumatized by watching scores of people lea...

  Look, I say this as a dad. As fathers go, I have sacrificed more than many--I'm a gestational father, who carried and delivered my kid like seahorse fathers do. I've dealt with the gauntlet of gender transition so that I can be recognized as a father, so that my kid can roll her eyes at me and say "Daa-aaaad!" when I tell a punny joke. Being recognized as a primary-parent father is important to me. But Father's Day is still an annoying holiday. Mother's Day has a grand political history. It was founded by Victorian feminist pacifists during the Civil War to demand recognition of the unpaid labor of love and care performed by women. It took hold in the imaginations of women of the time, who performed all sorts of labor as charity without pay in the 1800s and early 1900s, and wanted recognition of the vital work they did to save the lives of impoverished children, serving as an unpaid social safety net. It was a feminist holiday at root. Then it got commercial...

This is the story of David DePape : gamer, nudist, and rightwing conspiracy theorist. In the early morning of October 28, 2022, Depape broke into the home of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. She was in Washington, DC, with her security detail. But her husband Paul Pelosi was home. DePape beat him with a hammer, fracturing his skull and injuring his arm and hands. Within minutes of this news being announced, hot takes were being posted on Twitter. I looked, and here is what I saw: on the political right, the claim was that DePape was a crazed leftist. The “proof”? Well, come on, he lived in San Francisco! He had long hair! Googling the man turned up a history of participating in nudist protests. That couldn’t be a conservative! Oh, look, he listed his occupation in a newspaper article from a decade ago as a hemp jewelry artist. What could be a more ridiculous, emasculated lib-type job for a man? So, hmm, if he’s a leftist, why did he break into the Pelosi home and attack Paul, ...