Roundup

The Internet is Lousy Because of Capitalism, Not Bad Apple CEOs

by Matthew Crain

"Surveillance advertising was created by marketers, technology start-ups, investors, and politicians, a coalition bound by the desire to commercialize the web as quickly as possible."

Teaching the History of Campus Police

by Yalile Suriel

The FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin offers an insight into how law enforcement in the 1970s increased its presence on college campuses and redefined the function and goals of campus police forces. Here's how one professor has used this source in class. 

The Coming Pregnancy Surveillance State Will Bring "Homeland Security" to Women's Bodies

by Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz

The Dobbs ruling puts longstanding racist and nationalist beliefs that white women's reproductive labor is the price of their citizenship, and punitive controls on women of color, on collision course with the modern capacity of digital surveillance, threatening the criminalization of any miscarried pregnancy. 

Alito Laments "Disrespect" for Faith – But His Dobbs Ruling Will Push More Americans Away

by Juan Cole

"Ironically, even as Alito has managed to impose 20th century Roman Catholic dogma on all Americans, striking down any right to privacy or for women to control their own bodies, he is puzzled as to why anyone would be hostile to his agenda."

The Eugenic, Anti-Black History of the "Brazilian Butt Lift"

by Daniel F. Silva

Brazilian doctors developed the procedure in the wake of a eugenics movement that assimilated some stereotyped attributes of Black women's bodies into a new set of beauty standards that marginalized Afro-Brazilians. A similar dynamic occurs today on worldwide social media.

Is There a Biblical Solution to the Modern Problem of Debt?

by Eva von Dassow

Many are inspired by Old Testament rules for debt jubilees, but, while the practice has a historical basis, that history shows debt forgiveness was part of an unequal society in which forgiving old debts simply enabled the masses to take on new ones. 

Putin's Rule is Weakening. Then What?

by Timothy Snyder

A shift in rhetoric from prominent Russian politicians has revealed fissures in their relationships to Putin, suggesting that they are positioning themselves to benefit from a difficult war in Ukraine and a possible political upheaval.

Is there a Way for LIV Golfers to Avoid Helping Saudi Arabia "Sportswash" its Human Rights Abuses?

by Lane Demas

If the golfers who have been drawn to the new LIV tour by the lavish money offered by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund want to, they can choose to be more than mere pawns in a plan to use sports to sanitize the regime's human rights record. 

Fed Up with Emails from Democratic Pols? You're Not Alone

by Lara Putnam and Micah Sifry

The Democratic Party's strategy of electronic communications to raise fear and money is backfiring, as voters see little change despite their contributions. The party must reach people at their doorsteps, not through their inboxes. 

SCOTUS Hasn't Always Been the Final Arbiter; Liberals Should Stop Thinking it Is

by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath

"Liberals drew the wrong lessons from the mid-20th century federal judiciary’s fleeting embrace of social reform, and forgot that over the long arc of U.S. history, the minority rights the court has most consistently safeguarded have been those of the wealthy and powerful, the corporate, landed and enslaver elites."

At 100, Norman Lear's Transformative Influence is Still Felt on TV

by Oscar Winberg

"All in the Family" capitalized on the culture wars of the 1960s to show that television networks could depart from safe, inoffensive programming and acknowledge social divisions. 

Bill Russell's Greatness Was Unfathomable

by Jack Hamilton

"Bill Russell wasn’t just everything we should want out of people who play sports; he was everything we should want out of public figures, an absurdly gifted human being who understood there was a world outside those gifts and who set himself to help change it."

"Freedom Dreams" at 20: Robin D.G. Kelley on the Ongoing Work of Imagining Liberation

by Robin D.G. Kelley

"The “Black Spring” rebellion of 2020 sparked a renewed interest in Freedom Dreams. But the book was never intended as a roadmap.... Instead, it humbly offered a different take on histories of a handful of social movements by centering their visions of a better future for all."

Reproductive Rights, Slavery, and the Post-Dobbs World

by Jennifer L. Morgan

Black women's history with reproductive freedom from slavery to today shows that racial and gendered oppression depend on the denial, embraced by Clarence Thomas, of a constitutional protection for bodily autonomy. 

What Bill Russell's Troubled Relationship with Boston Tells Us about Racism

by Peniel E. Joseph

Russell always insisted on exposing the extent of prejudice and discrimination, and refused to settle for acclaim as an athlete as a substitute for respect as a person. 

Is the Lack of Leadership for Women Harming the Church's Standing Among Catholics?

by Phyllis Zagano

An initiative by Pope Francis to take the pulse of the faithful is delivering insights: many of Europe's Catholics distrust the power of the bishops and lament the exclusion of women from leadership. 

The Roundup Top Ten for July 29, 2022

The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

Young Faculty Refusing the "Free Labor" Their Predecessors Performed Have Their Reasons

by John Warner

Faculty used to operate in a gift economy of unpaid labor supporting peer review, journal editing, and writing letters for tenure reviews. Now that institutions have withdrawn the possibility of that work being cashed in for job security, why should any faculty bother with it? 

Why "Life of the Mother" Exemptions Vanished From Abortion Restrictions

by Mary Ziegler

Exceptions to allow abortions to protect women's lives are popular. They are being eliminated from new abortion bans because the people pushing those bans distrust both women and doctors. 

Can Fiction Like "The Ministry For the Future" Guide Real Action on Climate?

by Walter G. Moss

Kim Stanley Robinson's 2020 novel has impressed readers from Bill McKibben to Barack Obama – does it model a better approach to the global climate crisis?