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Richard Stallman's Political Notes

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Conductors, orchestra directors, and rape

jeudi 9 août 2018 à 02:00

In classical music performance, conductors, orchestra directors and agents have so much power over musicians that they use it to get away with rape, and actions that come close to rape.

These incidents, the ones clearly described, are grossly wrong. Other incidents are described with the vague word "inappropriate", or "sexual assault" which is almost as broad. They might in fact be additional instances of rape, or something close. But "inappropriate" could also be used for minor matters. It is important not to be vague in this way.

The Kochs and the bullshitter

mercredi 8 août 2018 à 02:00

"The Kochs turned the GOP into a crazy train, then left the keys where any idiot could find them."

I think that is a bit of an exaggeration. What the bullshitter did required total contempt for truth, practiced for a long time.

The privatization of Sallie May

mercredi 8 août 2018 à 02:00

How the privatization of Sallie May turned it into a predatory lender, which has grown into the principal source of student loans in the US, at high interest and impossible for people to escape.

Borrowing to go to school in the US is a risky bet. Lots of Americans lose the bet, and are saddled with debt for the rest of their lives.

Miracle solution to poverty

mercredi 8 août 2018 à 02:00

Stories about the few people rescued from poverty or deadly sickness via surprising acts of personal charity distract Americans from campaigning for a better social system (at least like what we had a few decades ago, if not better) which standardly takes care of everyone.

In effect, they suggest that the solution is to pray for a personal miracle rather than organize to help everyone.

I am sure that GoFundMe requires nonfree Javascript code, so I would never use that site. More importantly, I recognize it does more good to donate to the progressive political campaigns to help everyone, than to help one person at a time directly.

The miracle solution doesn't scale. If a million people pray for a miracle, at most a few thousand are likely to get one. To help people in general, we need to help them systematically. With Medicare for All, you will get treatment for your illness. With paid family leave, you won't need your coworkers to sacrifice their vacations. With decent wages, you'll have savings and the failure of your car won't make you walk to work. With more housing in cities and good public transport, you won't need a car.

Sex work vs trafficking

mercredi 8 août 2018 à 02:00

Some women in Nepal try to spot young women who are bring trafficked out to India.

Reading between the lines, I get the impression this traffic is rooted in a combination of naivety on the part of young women (isn't there an effort to teach them that these offers are probably phony?) combined with prudish prejudice on the part of parents. I suspect that some of them wanted to, in effect, sell their daughters into marriage, and those lose value as brides if they get a "bad" reputation.

These are the things that need to be changed to put a real crimp in trafficking.

Destigmatizing sex work in India would also help, as that stigma encourages and facilitates keeping prostitutes as slaves.