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Is America enduring a 'slow civil war'? Jeff Sharlet visits Trump rallies, a celebrity megachurch and the manosphere to find out

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Nor is its author, Jeff Sharlet, focused only on the ominous events of January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol.

Key Points:

Nor is its author, Jeff Sharlet, focused only on the ominous events of January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol.
Sharlet believes that event is part of a “slow civil war” that threatens the future of the American republic.
Review: The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War – Jeff Sharlet (W.W. Norton)

American racism

Sharlet documents Belafonte’s lifelong struggle against racism, through a series of conversations.
Sharlet uses Belafonte to argue racism is at the heart of the American political and social malady.
Belafonte, a mainstream performer with cross-race appeal who still suffered intense discrimination, is Sharlet’s bearer of the bad news that racism resides in the core of American identity.
Read more:
From sit-ins in the 1960s to uprisings in the new millennium, Harry Belafonte served as a champion of youth activism

‘The American religion of winning’

While race may be at the heart of a contested American identity, Sharlet believes evangelical religion is propelling the narrative of discontent and rebellion.
Or rather, a distorted branch within evangelical religion: the prosperity gospel, which teaches that faith and positive thinking attract health, wealth and happiness.
Wilkerson is portrayed as a very “cool” Christian, with a talent for grabbing headlines and fraternising with celebrity friends.
Prosperity follows him.” The American prosperity gospel is a materialist practice full of (sometimes unaware) poseurs, a bit like Trump himself.
His braggadocio at rallies appeals to his acolytes because it operates within “the American religion of winning”.

Evangelical religion and QAnon

As the apostle Paul wrote: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (KJV, 2 Corinthians 5:7).
Through QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory provides secular breadcrumbs for those seeking answers for the strange condition of the modern American nation-state.
QAnon is rooted in Gnostic philosophy, which held that reality is not what it appears (and was expelled from the mainstream of early Christianity’s canon).
QAnon adherents believe that, with the addition of the conspiracy theories supplied by QAnon, menacing forces and hopeful signs can be effortlessly revealed.
Read more:
History repeats itself: From the New Testament to QAnon

A slow civil war

Hope cannot easily spring eternal, so grim are the signs of a slow civil war. Sharlet hints mass protest may be a democratic antidote to the American proto-fascism he fears.

In the end, Sharlet can only offer the slender hope that democratic practice, one small step at a time, might prevail through the will of sensible people.
But what if the problem went deeper than an internal culture war?
Read more:
In Doppelganger, Naomi Klein says the world is broken: conspiracy theorists 'get the facts wrong but often get the feelings right'

Not unique to America

Certainly, Australia has experienced white racism – and violent, organised attacks on non-whites.
Alternatively, follow the unfolding story of the two policemen and a neighbour, gunned down in an ambush in Southern Queensland in 2022.
But it is harder to channel racist and religious fanaticism into an attack on the political state in Australia.
They will not be assured of America’s future role as a reliable world bastion of liberal democracy.
Nor can they be assured the United States will remain the politically stable centre of an increasingly unstable global economic system.

Ian Tyrrell received funding from the Australian Research Council's grant schemes on five occasions from 1996 to 2015.

Our 'food environments' affect what we eat. Here's how you can change yours to support healthier eating

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Achieving these is often challenging – it can be difficult to change our eating habits.

Key Points:

Achieving these is often challenging – it can be difficult to change our eating habits.
The collective physical, economic, policy and sociocultural surroundings, opportunities and conditions that influence people’s food and beverage choices and nutritional status.
But it’s possible to change certain aspects of our personal food environments, making eating healthier a little easier.

Unhealthy food environments

Our food environments also provide us with various prompts to eat unhealthy foods via the media and advertising, alongside health and nutrition claims and appealing marketing images on food packaging.
For example, social occasions or work functions might see large amounts of unhealthy food on offer.
Here’s what’s driving our unhealthy food habits

Not everyone is affected in the same way

People who are more susceptible will likely eat more and eat more unhealthy foods than those who are more immune to the effects of food environments and situations.
These people might also be more likely to experience physiological reactions to food cues including changes in heart rate and increased salivation.

Some of us tend to eat when we’re tired or in a bad mood, having learned over time eating provides comfort in these situations.
Being in front of a TV or other screen can also prompt people to eat, eat unhealthy foods, or eat more than intended.

Making changes

Then you can restructure some aspects of your personal food environments, which can help if you’re working towards healthier eating goals.
Foods consumed as snacks are often sugary drinks, confectionery, chips and cakes.
Try removing unhealthy foods, particularly packaged snacks, from the house, or not buying them in the first place.
This means temptations are removed, which can be especially helpful for those who may be more susceptible to their food environment.

Rebecca Leech receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1175250). Georgie Russell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

'Caring as much as you do was killing you'. We need to talk about burnout in the arts

Retrieved on:

Monday, January 8, 2024

Since COVID-19, concern has grown about burnout in the arts and culture sector.

Key Points:

Since COVID-19, concern has grown about burnout in the arts and culture sector.
the level of burnout in this industry is pretty shocking […] the idea that [burnout] even exists is a running joke […] we’re all overworked and constantly tired.
Yet it is ironic that cultural organisations whose success is based around people should treat those same people poorly.

What is burnout?

According to both the World Health Organization and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (widely regarded as the “gold standard” measure), burnout has three dimensions:
Recent research identifies three further burnout symptoms:
Burnout is also associated with negative outcomes, such as alcohol abuse, declining health and job withdrawal, which could be presenteeism, absenteeism or quitting. In a nutshell, burnout is a state of physical and/or emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress on the job.

Read more:
If companies want to stop quiet quitting they need to take burnout seriously

What causes burnout in the arts?

Prolonged work-related stress is the main cause of burnout.
Artists and arts workers often experience these stressors due to the boom-bust careers necessitated by the project-based work that characterises this sector.

Other unique factors also contribute to burnout in Australia’s arts and culture sector.
Interestingly, hope can buffer burnout so more recent policy developments may bring some relief.
Performance anxiety and “obsessive passion” can also cause burnout for some artists – particularly in the event of failure.

Individual-centred solutions are not enough

Reflecting on the wisdom shared in their circle, one participant said that discussions about the stress of arts work:
kept coming back to the idea of caring less.
Not that you don’t care, but that you need to be able to care less, because caring as much as you do was killing you.

Prioritising self-care is often touted as the solution to burnout, both by and for artists. Indeed, “fixing the person” approaches dominate both academic and industry responses. But as workplace expert Jennifer Moss wrote for the Harvard Business Review, “burnout is about workplaces, not workers”.

What can arts organisations do?

The key to preventing burnout is supporting engagement and wellbeing at work by creating six “positive ‘fits’” between arts workers and their workplaces:
This involves more than just individual job-tweaking. A holistic approach is needed to build workplace cultures that prioritise wellbeing from recruitment to leaving the organisation. Specific steps arts organisations should take straight away are:

Preventing burnout among arts workers will require long-term, organisation- and sector-wide commitments.
And, to maximise success, arts leaders – including those in politics and government – should ask themselves how can the arts and culture sector (and individual arts organisations) become a great place to work, and a workplace of choice?

Kate Power has received funding from the Queensland Government, under the Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship program.

Artists bring human richness at times of strife — and need to be allowed to speak about the Israel-Hamas war

Retrieved on:

Sunday, January 7, 2024

As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war.

Key Points:

As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war.
For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed the departure of Anishinaabe-kwe curator Wanda Nanibush from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
After the Royal Ontario Museum tried to change a Palestinian American artist’s work, Jenin Yaseen staged a sit-in and others protested.

Endeavouring to speak truthfully, meaningfully

Rights, limits, regulation and the purpose of artists’ work are what is at stake in this discussion.
An investigation is underway to see how the gallery’s policies may have impacted the board’s decision-making.

People trying to create and speak truth

Some might suggest that artists should entertain and enlighten us but stay away from contentious issues.
I believe artists have a unique role, different than that of journalists, political leaders or even documentary filmmakers.

Art and our lives

Thinking about “art worlds” as “patterns of collective activity,” as Becker does, helps us to think about art in relationship to our social and political lives, and the conditions under which artists create.
Art schools, professional organizations, galleries and performance spaces all play a part in enabling some artists and their messages to shine, whether through financial support, attention or time — while constraining or even silencing others.

At the same time, they prescribe behaviours and actions that constrain both artists and the public perception of their work.
In this way, the support systems around artistic work have political implications, just as much as the art itself may have.

Discipline via funding

As I examined in my doctoral research, the Summerworks Theatre Festival briefly lost funding from Canadian Heritage in 2011 after staging playwright Catherine Frid’s controversial play Homegrown.
This was after a high-profile 2006 RCMP investigation saw 18 Muslim individuals accused of terrorism.
(Charges against seven people were stayed or dropped, while four people were convicted).

What do we want from our artists?

People around the world face what some scholars and activists have called a “polycrisis.” Artists represent and reflect this social and political upheaval.
Theatres across the world stage performances or screenings — like The Gaza Monologues — to try to represent Palestinian voices.
And we should be mindful of desires to discipline the art world at a time when its voices are so deeply needed.

Lowell Gasoi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Can your staff spot the five most common text message scams?

Retrieved on:

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Sentinel, People, Federal Trade Commission, Policy, UPS, Family, Rich, YES, Habit, PIN, SPAM, Friends, Reward, Blog, Amazon, Social Security, Printing, Record, Consumer, Fraud, Android, FedEx, Social, Name, Identity theft, Privacy, FTC, United, Growth, ASAP, Data, Employment, Comment, Online shopping

Can your staff spot the five most common text message scams? According to reports in the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel database, text message scams took consumers for $330 million in 2022.

Key Points:

Can your staff spot the five most common text message scams?

According to reports in the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel database, text message scams took consumers for $330 million in 2022.
With reported losses more than doubling in 2021 and nearly five times what people reported in 2019, would you be able to spot the five most common text message scams?
First, some background about what may be behind the proliferation of this form of fraud.
It’s estimated that text message open rates are as high as 98%, compared to email open rates of 20% – and they cost next to nothing to send.
So people may have grown accustomed to responding to that ping with an automatic click.
The Data Spotlight focuses on these five common text message scams.

According to the Data Spotlight, reporting can help stop scam text messages. Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM). This helps your wireless provider block similar messages. Report it on either the Apple iMessages app or Google’s Messages app for Android users. And report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Here is additional advice for your employees:

How Ireland's Nollaig na mBan evolved from a day off housework to a celebration of women's achievements

Retrieved on:

Friday, January 5, 2024

People, Online, Awareness, Music, The Three Kings, Restaurant, Woman, Little, Glass, Friends, International, Man, Biblical Magi, Wine, Freedom, Rest, Tea, Stoke, Food, Social media, Birth, Female, Child, Nightclub

My grandmother loved Nollaig na mBan, when my Dad would collect her around lunchtime and bring her to visit with her sister in Dún Chaoin, a village in west County Kerry.

Key Points:

My grandmother loved Nollaig na mBan, when my Dad would collect her around lunchtime and bring her to visit with her sister in Dún Chaoin, a village in west County Kerry.
They would both dress in their Sunday best, my grandmother wearing the colourful beaded necklace she saved for special occasions.
My dad was their chauffeur because Nollaig na mBan was traditionally a “day off” for women after organising and executing a busy Christmas holiday for their families.

Celebrating Nollaig na mBan around Ireland

The tradition of Nollaig na mBan has been celebrated for generations in West Kerry.
Elsewhere in counties Kerry and Cork, as well as other Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas it was also common, but in many other communities around Ireland it was not a tradition at all.
In 1970, Danaher wrote of Nollaig na mBan: “Christmas Day was marked by beef and whiskey, men’s fare, while on Little Christmas Day the dainties preferred by women – cake, tea and wine, were more in evidence”.

Modern-day Nollaig na mBan traditions

For the second year, a Nollaig na mBan festival is celebrating women in north County Dublin.
Online discussion around Nollaig na mBan often centres on celebrating historical figures or creatives, alongside pictures women post of themselves with their female family members and friends.
Nollaig na mBan is a day to remember how far women in Ireland have come since the latew 1970s before which bans against contraception and married women working limited our freedom.

[email protected] previously received funding but not currently from Culture Ireland, Arts Council of Ireland, Ealaín na Gaeltachta, Kerry County Council. She is affiliated with the Board of the Arts Council of Ireland and works at the Folklore Department, University College Cork.

What is resilience? A psychologist explains the main ingredients that help people manage stress

Retrieved on:

Friday, January 5, 2024

To sum it up in a sentence: Resilience is the ability to manage stress in effective ways.

Key Points:

To sum it up in a sentence: Resilience is the ability to manage stress in effective ways.
As a clinical psychologist, researcher and educator specializing in training people to cope with stress more effectively, I know that resilience can be developed.
For instance, one may handle relationship issues rather well but be unable to cope with the stress of a traffic jam.
Some are things you can do in your daily life, such as exercise, hobbies and activities, and getting adequate sleep.

Resilience can be cultivated

Confusing connotations about resilience pervade not only the scientific literature and mental health approaches but also popular culture.
All of this says that resilience can flourish by incorporating specific behaviors and creating healthy environments.
What looks like resilience could instead be suppressing, numbing or hiding feelings.
Post-traumatic growth refers to the positive changes that some people report after trauma, especially when they incorporate some of the resilience “building blocks” listed above.

Resilience isn’t always the answer

Overemphasizing resilience can reinforce racial injustice by suggesting that people who are subjected to it are resilient enough to handle it.
Having to wear a mask of resilience or put on a smile can add to the burden of racism, making resilience exhausting.
We can benefit from working on the building blocks of our own individual resilience, and from initiatives in schools, workplaces and other environments that promote resilience more broadly.
The upside is that you can choose from many effective ways of building resilience to determine the most suitable approach for you.

Rachel Goldsmith Turow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Going on a road trip this summer? 4 reasons why you might end up speeding, according to psychology

Retrieved on:

Thursday, January 4, 2024

People, Injury, Family, Risk, Fatigue, Probability, Road rage, Friends, Research, Man, Crash, Frustration, Climate, Personality, Snack, Aggressive driving, Time, Safety, Psychology, Road

You’ve sorted entertainment and snacks for your passengers and have squeezed all your holiday luggage in the car.

Key Points:

You’ve sorted entertainment and snacks for your passengers and have squeezed all your holiday luggage in the car.
You’re now ready to head off for your road trip – one hour after you meant to leave.
Here’s why, what this does to your risk of being injured, and how to plan your road trip to minimise that risk.

1. You think you’ll get there faster

In fact drivers overestimate how much time they save by driving faster.
In a study where global positioning systems were fitted to willing participants’ cars, on average drivers saved only two minutes travel time each week by driving faster than the speed limit.

2. You take risks, not just while driving

Repeat offenders are more likely to be men, younger or previously involved in a crash.
This is because these personality traits are linked to risky behaviours generally, and not just behind the wheel.

3. You and your friends think speeding’s OK

Drivers who usually speed see this as socially acceptable and have friends or family who also speed.
They think speeding is socially acceptable, and the chances of being caught or having a crash are low.

4. You’re reacting to what’s happening today

Another important contributor to speeding is what’s happening at the time, and how drivers feel about it.
Speeding may also be part of an aggressive driving style, an aggressive reaction to frustrating driving situations, or something that happened before the driver got in the car.

Speeding’s risky (even just a little over the limit)

However, even putting your foot down just a little bit jeopardises you and your passengers’ safety, as well as the safety of others on the road.
That is when, just before the crash, one vehicle was driving 20km/h or more above the speed limit.

How to avoid speeding this summer

If you’re planning a road trip this summer, you can:
You can also find ways to manage frustration or anger that can lead to speeding:
Possibly my favourite strategy is to remember that someone is waiting for you and they want you to arrive safely.
Amanda Stephens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

I research the therapeutic qualities of writing about art – here are three steps for trying it yourself

Retrieved on:

Thursday, January 4, 2024

I asked myself this question during my creative writing PhD, where my focus was on writing a collection of poems in response to modern and contemporary art.

Key Points:

I asked myself this question during my creative writing PhD, where my focus was on writing a collection of poems in response to modern and contemporary art.
I made use of books and postcard reproductions of artworks and also looked online, using resources such as Google Images and virtual gallery tours.
And I reflected on how it’s possible to nurture a love of art and creativity despite such feelings of marginalisation.

Is there something in the obscurity or formlessness that chimes with something buried in our psyche?
Maybe creative writing – and particularly writing that makes use of artworks – can perform this function, and even work as a precursor or complement to psychotherapy.
So, here are three steps I have found to be effective when using an artwork as a prompt to “write therapeutically”.

1. Choose your artwork

People often say a piece of art “resonates” or “speaks” to them.
See if you can allow an image to find you in this way.
It doesn’t need to be an artwork in a museum or gallery – any image you feel a connection with is a good choice.

2. Embrace ‘slow looking’

As you do so, analyse the image and try to notice as much as possible.
This kind of attention involves looking around the entire artwork, without assuming that some parts are more important than others.
Instead, try to treat everything as though it’s of equal significance (at least initially).

3. Try uninhibited writing

Follow your slow looking exercise with some uninhibited and uncensored writing.
As you work, consider adopting a particular mode of writing in response to the image.
There are many alternatives – you could even try writing poems about the artwork.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Patrick Wright received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Peter Magubane: courageous photographer who chronicled South Africa's struggle for freedom

Retrieved on:

Thursday, January 4, 2024

The photographer suffered great losses during apartheid.

Key Points:

The photographer suffered great losses during apartheid.
He miraculously survived being shot 17 times below the waist at the funeral of a student activist in Natalspruit in 1985.
Despite the pain and suffering he witnessed and experienced, Magubane’s photographs testify to the hope that is at the heart of the struggle for a just world.

Witness to momentous events

He not only witnessed, but also took part in, many of the most significant events in modern South African history.
Referred to as the “dompas”, the document was used to control and restrict the movement of black South Africans.
His images focusing on life in the township were later to form the subject of several of his books.
He soon began to work as a photographer under the tutelage of Drum’s chief photographer and picture editor, Jürgen Schadeberg.
the events of that day produced the picture of the funeral as one of the central iconographic emblems of the anti-apartheid struggle.
Her slender hands are beautiful, and their perfect smoothness accentuates the brutal rupture where her skin has been broken.

The archive

In 2018 his work was exhibited in a major retrospective, On Common Ground, alongside that of another renowned South African photographer, David Goldblatt.
He served as Nelson Mandela’s photographer from 1990 to 1994.
Magubane’s indomitable spirit and compassionate vision live on through his work.

Kylie Thomas ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.