Rotundus.com

The whisper room: Moderates on Twitter are losing their voice

"Michael Kearney, an assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, found that while partisan users form highly partisan social networks on Twitter, moderate users – or those less politically engaged – continue to avoid politics, potentially creating an important void on social media. “We are not necessarily getting farther and farther apart – it’s just the people in the middle are becoming more quiet and withdrawn,” Kearney said. “If you fail to consider all the people in the middle who do not care about politics as much, it seems like there is a more clear division when there is not, so social media might be artificially creating this sense that we are becoming more polarized.”"

Descriptive Representation and the Political Engagement of Women

"most evidence of the effects of descriptive representation on women's empowerment is drawn from surveys from the 1980s and 1990s. I update these studies" The results of her updating? "Considering political engagement, I find little evidence that women are more politically interested or participatory when residing in places with more female officeholders or candidates. Women's political presence as candidates and officeholders does not uniquely encourage other women to engage in political life."

The Shady Link Between Sunscreen and Your Health

On balance has advice to avoid sun exposure done more harm than good? Still the case that "All the experts agree that sunburns—especially those suffered during childhood and adolescence—are particularly bad" though.

I might add that alongside fake news we should also consider fake non-news - ie media failing adequately to report significant things which do not fit with the standard-issue journalistic narrative. https://t.co/TP3Qfu5zrZ

— Rory Sutherland (@rorysutherland) February 3, 2019

The concept of “strategic silence” in journalism is fascinating. You take something of direct importance to the public that would sell papers because everyone wants to read about it...and then you quietly fail to report because of potential consequences: https://t.co/sBAoaZe40K

— Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) December 7, 2018

I sort of expect to see a few mentions in the conservative-leaning media like this around the time of the annual March for Life - where the whole "Covington Catholic" fiasco happened.

'Absolutely Nothing Happening Today,' Says CNN Reporter Gesturing Toward Massive Crowd At March For Lifehttps://t.co/lh17YizmW3 pic.twitter.com/Iqp983OKlP

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 19, 2019

One of the reasons I'm fairly unsurprised that people would be willing to support someone like Trump is that they're fairly used to a dishonest media representation on at least a subset of particularly emotionally evocative subjects. It's the ideal environment for a grifter to flourish.

The 1918 ban of Black medical students: Addressing our past discrimination to promote diversity in the future\

A Canadian example: "in 1918, we had put in place a policy to formally ban Black students. This policy was approved in a motion by the Queen’s Senate, and it was enforced until 1965. ... the motion that had set the ban in place had never been officially repealed. He asked us to formally rescind the motion, which we did during the October meeting of the Senate."

A Twitter thread

Looks like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has the requisite sleaze factor to be a US congress member: "A rich guy used a PAC to pay @AOC's boyfriend $6,000 when her campaign was running out of money. After AOC won, she gave that rich guy a job in her office. Follow me on a journey."

Teens who seek solitude may know what's best for them, research suggests

"The key factor is choice ... When solitude is imposed on adolescents and young adults, whether as punishment or as a result of social anxiety, it can be problematic. But chosen solitude contributes to personal growth and self-acceptance, they found."

Something to think about in NPR's Before Rosa Parks, A Teenager Defied Segregation On An Alabama Bus:

Other African-Americans had previously refused to give their seats to white passengers, says Hoose. "What was without precedent, though, is Colvin wanted to get a lawyer and she wanted to fight," he says.

The lawyer she chose was Fred Gray, one of two African-American lawyers in Montgomery at the time. After speaking with Colvin, Gray says, he was prepared to file a civil rights lawsuit to contest segregation on buses in Montgomery. But after discussing Colvin's incident with other local African-American community leaders, the community decided to wait, he says.

Colvin was just 15 and did not have civil rights training. Gray says the community was not quite prepared for Colvin's situation.

"Later I had a child born out of wedlock; I became pregnant when I was 16," Colvin says. "And I didn't fit the image either, of, you know, someone they would want to show off."

Nine months later, Rosa Parks did the exact same thing as Colvin. She was 42 years old, a professional and an officer in the NAACP. Hoose says Parks was the symbol that civil rights leaders were looking for.