being

15Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, POLITICS

Alex Jones Is Being Held Accountable For Spreading Conspiracy Theories 10 Years After The Sandy Hook Shooting – But Those Sorts Of Lies Now Plague The US

Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the U.S. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the U.S. While American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media now regularly achieve mainstream acceptance and are echoed by people in power. Recently, one of the most popular American conspiracy theorists faced consequences in court for his part in spreading viral lies. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones and his company, Infowars, were ordered by juries in Connecti...

Being Light-Skinned Can Lead To ‘Reverse Colorism’ In Many Parts Of The World

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Being Light-Skinned Can Lead To ‘Reverse Colorism’ In Many Parts Of The World

Racism is often debated, discussed and analyzed in politics, the classroom and the workplace. But as a scholar of the politics of skin color, I see colorism as a form of prejudice that’s poorly understood and gets very little attention. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines colorism as “prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin.” Western media outlets routinely assume that colorism refers to the preference for lighter skin in communities of color. Yet this assumption betrays a Western bias. Yes, in places like the U.S., darker-skinned people can experience various aspects of discrimination. But in some African communities, the U.S. and other parts of the world, light skin may also lead to prejud...

Abuse Is Baked Into American Sports – Nobody Said Anything For Fear Of Being Benched

24Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SPORTS

Abuse Is Baked Into American Sports – Nobody Said Anything For Fear Of Being Benched

As someone who has been researching, writing and teaching about women’s and girls sports for the past 15 years, I wasn’t surprised by the recent revelations of sexual and verbal abuse by National Women’s Soccer League coaches. There’s a tendency to explain such horrific behavior in strictly individualistic terms – as a sign of personality disorders or moral deficiencies. But this kind of response misses the larger picture of how organized sports itself contributes to abusive and even sadistic behavior. My book on the hypercommercialization of girls sports identified many instances of verbal and physical abuse of girls and young women at both the youth and college levels. More recently, some colleagues and I have been exploring the structural causes of college athlete stress and anxiety....

Facial Analysis AI Is Being Used In Job Interviews – It Will Probably Reinforce Inequality

28Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Facial Analysis AI Is Being Used In Job Interviews – It Will Probably Reinforce Inequality

Artificial intelligence and facial analysis software is becoming commonplace in job interviews. The technology, developed by US company HireVue, analyses the language and tone of a candidate’s voice and records their facial expressions as they are videoed answering identical questions. It was used in the UK for the first time in September but has been used around the world for several years. Some 700 companies, including Vodafone, Hilton and Urban Outfitters have tried it out. Certainly there are significant benefits to be had from this. HireVue says it speeds up the hiring process by 90% thanks to the speed of information processing. But there are important risks we should be wary of when outsourcing job interviews to AI. The AI is built on algorithms that assess applicants against i...

Even If No One Is Looking For You, Yes You Are Being Watched – Surveillance Is Pervasive

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Even If No One Is Looking For You, Yes You Are Being Watched – Surveillance Is Pervasive

The U.S. has the largest number of surveillance cameras per person in the world. Cameras are omnipresent on city streets and in hotels, restaurants, malls and offices. They’re also used to screen passengers for the Transportation Security Administration. And then there are smart doorbells and other home security cameras. Most Americans are aware of video surveillance of public spaces. Likewise, most people know about online tracking – and want Congress to do something about it. But as a researcher who studies digital culture and secret communications, I believe that to understand how pervasive surveillance is, it’s important to recognize how physical and digital tracking work together. Databases can correlate location data from smartphones, the growing number of private cameras, license ...

Famous For Being Absolutely Drop Dead Gorgeous – Our March-April Cover Star Kylie Jenner

31Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IRL COVERS

Famous For Being Absolutely Drop Dead Gorgeous – Our March-April Cover Star Kylie Jenner

If you've been trying to keep up with the Kardashians, then chances are your pants will be keeping up with Kylie Jenner. The Keeping up with the Kardashians star turned makeup magnate has been keeping fans up all night, and making bones stand upright, since the series premier in 2007. People say Kylie is just famous for being famous, but that's not true. She's also famous for being absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Throughout her reality series she can be seen in various states of undress, including in a black sports bra and matching black sweatpants in one episode. That's one sexy set of work out clothes, and we know just the workout we'd love to spot Kylie during. Another episode brought us the juicy Jenner in a tight white bathing suit. The side cleavage was out of this world and the tigh...

If They See It Being Virtually Touched – Consumers Value A Product Viewed Online More

6Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

If They See It Being Virtually Touched – Consumers Value A Product Viewed Online More

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Consumers who see a product on sale being virtually touched are more engaged and willing to pay more than if the item is displayed on its own, according to a recent research paper I co-authored. Behavioral economists have previously shown that people value objects more highly if they own them, a concept known as “the endowment effect.” Marketers have found that this feeling of ownership can occur even when a consumer merely touches something in a store. With Americans buying a record amount of stuff online, I wondered whether virtual touch also influences how consumers perceive and value products. To find out, I teamed up with marketing researchers Joann Peck, William Hedgcock and Yixiang Xu and performed a ...

Our Children Are Being Suspended For Petty Reasons – Forcing Black Parents To Take Off From Work And Sometimes Lose Their Jobs

24Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Our Children Are Being Suspended For Petty Reasons – Forcing Black Parents To Take Off From Work And Sometimes Lose Their Jobs

Journalism Charles Bell, Illinois State University When “Mike,” the father of a ninth grade student, got a call from his daughter’s school, the first thing he asked was: “How important is this?” “They said, ‘Well, it’s important,’” Mike told me during an interview for my research. When Mike went to his daughter’s school to see what was the problem, school officials told him his daughter was being suspended for giving a boy a hug. He ended up missing out on some of his hourly wages to deal with the situation. “I was like, ‘Nah. Not only am I missing out on some hours at work, I’m missing out on some important meetings, and also commitments that I have made, to come up here and talk about suspensions, a five-day suspension for giving somebody a hug,” Mike told me. “That’s one of the thi...

‘Black Women Being Trailblazers’: Spelman Faculty Refuse To Teach In Person As Classes Begin

24Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

‘Black Women Being Trailblazers’: Spelman Faculty Refuse To Teach In Person As Classes Begin

Education Though vaccinations and masks are required on campus, concerns about COVID-19 protocols remain as the Delta variant rages through Georgia. Orion Rummler Originally published by The 19th Spelman College’s faculty council, the organizing arm for professors at the influential historically Black women’s college, told students on Thursday morning that they would no longer teach in-person classes, citing a lack of “clear and enforceable” safety guidelines from the school administration, per an email obtained by The 19th. Classes at the college began Wednesday. Spelman, located in Atlanta, is one of the first colleges or universities to feel this kind of pressure from faculty this fall after thousands of instructors at American colleges took a similar stand last summer. “Our profe...

Tesla’s Autopilot Being Investigated By The Feds And What That Means For The Future Of Self-Driving Cars

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Tesla’s Autopilot Being Investigated By The Feds And What That Means For The Future Of Self-Driving Cars

TECHNOLOGY Hayder Radha, Michigan State University It’s hard to miss the flashing lights of fire engines, ambulances and police cars ahead of you as you’re driving down the road. But in at least 11 cases in the past three and a half years, Tesla’s Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system did just that. This led to 11 accidents in which Teslas crashed into emergency vehicles or other vehicles at those scenes, resulting in 17 injuries and one death. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has launched an investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot system in response to the crashes. The incidents took place between January 2018 and July 2021 in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. The probe covers 765,000 Tesla...