Archive for March 8th, 2007

8
Mar

Vagina

   Posted by: Jeffrey    in Culture, Learning & Teaching, Politics

There, I said it. Vagina. 

Did anybody see the interesting article in today's New York Times about three female high school students who were suspended for saying the word Vagina? I did not know this word was so bad or demeaning or cause of the corruption of youth, nor did I know that the book it was taken from, The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, was so controversial that a single word in it should be censored. As an educator, I bristle when learning is closed in the very place it should be safe to be explored.

No, I never read the book. As a gay male, the topic of a vagina does not ordinarily arise in my conversations, but I hate censorship. I hate being told what I can and cannot say. I hate when my voice is silenced, and whatever the three girls did or did not do, I have great trouble seeing how this will somehow make for a better world. Censorship closes minds because it means that some things cannot be discussed or even considered. I wonder who or what feels so threatened that this was worthy of suspension? At least it reminds us the world is not as open as we may wish or suppose.

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8
Mar

John Edwards on Twitter?

   Posted by: Jeffrey    in Politics

John EdwardsIt seems John Edwards is on Twitter as, you guessed it, johnedwards. I sent a direct Twitter message to this account, and received this direct message email back:

Yes this is his. So it is official. Staff will monitor the updates and pass along, but he and his traveling aide will update.

John Edwards

If this is really John Edwards, then I am impressed that current social media is being used well. I passed this to a colleague at Personal Democracy Forum as I thought it was interesting. 

However, I am a suspicious fellow. How can I be sure this really is a John Edwards' account? How can I be sure this is not somebody posing as him to potentially stir up trouble? I have used Twitter over the past week and like it, but I am not sure how to authenticate any of the people who are there. I could have opened an account using another person's picture and website, so how can I be sure this is true? While perhaps this is not the biggest issue in the world in this case, I think it has large implications for unsavory people who may want to pose as others to intentionally cause deceit.

How can we know the id of those behind social media unless we meet at meetups? The ability to confirm identities is now a topic of conversation, but there is nothing quite in place yet. With the presidential primaries already heating up, who knows what may develop with them? Perhaps to confirm identities we all have to list our own user names on our own websites? John Edwards did not do that with Twitter on his Social Networking page, so again I ask, how do we know?

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