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| <title>Master Feed : The Atlantic</title> | |
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| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255787</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T15:00:00+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T15:00:00+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>When James Baldwin Met Bill Buckley</title> | |
| <summary type="html">I tweeted about this a few days ago, but here's a great video of James Baldwin debating William F.…<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540f9f/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html">I tweeted about this a few days ago, but here's a great video of James Baldwin debating William F. Buckley. I know a lot of conservative intellectuals hearken back to his day as a time when conservatism was untainted by the worst populist instincts. But while Baldwin is fairly serious, Buckley just seems to throwing out a series of one-liners. ("The problem in Mississippi isn't that too few Negroes can vote, it's that too many whites can" or some such.) What's more revealing to me is that his case against doing something about segregation, is basically the same case conservatives make today against doing anything that might alleviate black suffering--black people through their lack of initiative and penchant for having kids out of wedlock are doing it to themselves.<div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/18413741?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/18413741"></a></p></div><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540f9f/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577926156/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e540f9f/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/F1evaMXwbLQ" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/F1evaMXwbLQ/story01.htm" title="When James Baldwin Met Bill Buckley"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540f9f/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cnational0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cwhen0Ejames0Ebaldwin0Emet0Ebill0Ebuckley0C2557870C/story01.htm" title="When James Baldwin Met Bill Buckley"/> | |
| <category term="National"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Ta-Nehisi Coates</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255774</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T15:00:18+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T15:00:18+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>An Open Letter to Sarah Palin: Why Do You Mistreat Your Donors?</title> | |
| <summary type="html">The former Alaska governor used contributions to her PAC on a shameless vanity project that has nothing to do with conservative candidates or issues.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540137/mf.gif' border='0'/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><i>The former Alaska governor used contributions to her PAC on a shameless vanity project that has nothing to do with conservative candidates or issues.</i><br /><br /><img alt="Sarah Palin in Ames - AP Photo:Charlie Neibergall - banner.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/Sarah%20Palin%20in%20Ames%20-%20AP%20Photo%3ACharlie%20Neibergall%20-%20banner.jpg" class="mt-image-none" style="" height="300" width="600" /><br /><p class="caption2"><i>Associated Press</i></p> <style type="text/css"> p.caption2{ width:595px; color:black; background: white; text-align:right; padding: 7px 10px 7px 10px; line-height: 11px; text-size: 8px; margin: -5px 0px 5px 0px !important; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; } </style>Ms. Palin,<br /><br />Your supporters trust you. For all their cynicism about politics, they believe that you're different: a faithful Christian with small town values and a commitment to doing right by regular Americans. You've used that trust to ask homemakers, retirees and small businessmen and women to send you their money. As the Web page of your official political action committee <a href="http://www.sarahpac.com/about-sarahpac">puts it</a>, SarahPAC is "dedicated to building America's future by supporting fresh ideas and candidates."<br /><br />But that isn't how you've been spending the money. <br /><br />Sure, you've given to candidates in the past. But you spent $418,000 in the first 3 months on 2012, and none of it has gone to candidates! Nor has it gone to "fresh ideas." In fact, as Kenneth Vogel <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75036.html">points out</a>, it appears that you spent $19,000 on a video that argues an HBO film about your role in the 2008 presidential campaign gets its facts wrong. Is that correct? It's 2 minutes and 38 seconds long:<br /><br /><object height="315" width="600"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mCo4cnA2Ez4?version=3&hl=en_US" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mCo4cnA2Ez4?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="315" width="600"></object> <br /><br />Do you think that is worth $19,000? Or $1,000? Given that you have a popular Facebook page, regular gigs on national television, and the ability to summon multiple reporters to a press conference at any time, why would you spend $19,000 saying to very few people what you could've said free? Even if the short video is worth thousands to you, why do you think it's appropriate to spend money raised on the promise that you'll support fresh ideas and candidates on contesting events that a) happened in 2008; b) have no bearing on this year's political races or issues; c) mostly just affects your reputation; d) is unlikely to change anyone's opinion of it? <br /><br />Why should your donors bankroll this?<br /><br />You've also spent $255,000 "on fundraising and a small team of political consultants." And perhaps there's a reasonable explanation for the $1,000 you spent at the Disneyland Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. <br /><br />What is it?<br /><br />As I recall, this isn't the first time you've produced a high budget video to reflect well on yourself for no apparent reason. Here's the one you released earlier this year after visiting Iowa:<br /> <br /><object height="315" width="600"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gqaE4sXZWRQ?version=3&hl=en_US" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gqaE4sXZWRQ?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="315" width="600"></object> <br /><br />Should people who give you money expect that you'll make more videos about yourself that are totally unrelated to any campaign or issue? Do you think the money of rank and file conservatives is well spent building your personal brand? Why should anyone trust you as a steward of their money again? Did you think you'd get away with this just because the conservative media is curiously silent when popular movement figures shamelessly fleece the rank and file? <br /><br />For the sake of your supporters, please do not reply by video.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Conor Friedersdorf<br /><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540137/mf.gif' border='0'/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/xJDCREAjHM8" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/xJDCREAjHM8/story01.htm" title="An Open Letter to Sarah Palin: Why Do You Mistreat Your Donors?"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/palincpac.thumb.jpg" title="An Open Letter to Sarah Palin: Why Do You Mistreat Your Donors?"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e540137/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cpolitics0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Can0Eopen0Eletter0Eto0Esarah0Epalin0Ewhy0Edo0Eyou0Emistreat0Eyour0Edonors0C2557740C/story01.htm" title="An Open Letter to Sarah Palin: Why Do You Mistreat Your Donors?"/> | |
| <category term="Politics"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Conor Friedersdorf</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255797</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T15:02:17+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T15:02:17+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>The Object Poster, the Visual Pun, and 3 Other Ideas That Changed Design</title> | |
| <summary type="html">Five innovations that transformed our visual language.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e5400a9/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><em>Five innovations that transformed our visual language.</em> <p></p> <img alt="5 ideas sheller 615.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/5%20ideas%20sheller%20615.jpg" width="615" height="234" class="mt-image-none" style="" /><p></p> For the my new book, <i>100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design</i>, co-authored with Veronique Vienne (Laurence King Publisher), we each chose 50 that we believe continue to make an impact. These are five of my selections adapted from the book. </p> <p><b>The Object Poster</b></p> <p> <img alt="object poster.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/assets_c/2012/04/object poster-thumb-300x385-84491.jpg" width="300" height="385" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /></a>With the introduction of chromolithography during the late 19th century, a major shift in advertising form and content altered the way graphic design was practiced. The ability to reproduce color images gave rise to a new popular art that not only persuaded but entertained. Posters were like grand canvases filled with fanciful figures, mirthful metaphors, cool colors, and artful letters. But artists, being artists, were not content to use one method alone, and their visual approaches evolved into numerous complex graphic styles. As a reaction to this complexity, a more simplified style emerged that was easy to "read" by passersby on crowded boulevards. In Germany this technique, known as <i>Sachplakat</i> or "object poster," took the advertising and design worlds by storm. It was the method of choice for the <i>Plakatstil</i>, or poster style movement. </p> <p>Sachplakat's inventor, an 18-year-old German cartoonist who called himself Lucian Bernhard, entered a poster competition in 1906 sponsored by Berlin's Priester Match Company and Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Germany's leading poster printer/advertising agency. As the origin myth goes, Bernhard's first sketch was characteristically Art Nouveau/<i>Jugendstil</i>: It showed a cigar in an ashtray on a checked table cloth with dancing nymphets formed by the intertwining wafting tobacco smoke. Next to the ashtray were two wooden matches. When it was mistakenly taken for a <i>cigar</i> advertisement, Bernhard was forced him to rethink his composition and began eliminating the tablecloth, ashtray, cigar and smoke, leaving behind only two simple matches. He enlarged the matchsticks, made them red with yellow tips, and placed them against a maroon field. At the top of the image area he hand lettered in bold block letters the word "Priester." Voila! A new style!</p> <p>Art Nouveau met its demise not entirely because of Bernhard's invention, but because styles were changing to meet new commercial demands. The increase of vehicular traffic and the fast pace of everyday life required that advertisers compete furiously for the public's attention. Visual complexity no longer achieved the same contemplative results. There may have been other match companies in Germany in 1906, but once the Priester poster was hung on poster hoardings, no other brand entered consumers' mind. The object poster was best when hung in multiples, which created a rhythmic visual refrain: Priester, Priester, Priester. </p> <p>The object poster was in vogue from 1906 to 1914 until the Great War in Europe brought commerce to a thundering halt. During the war, wordy slogans and complex renderings sold patriotism to the masses. After the war, advertising techniques shifted once again and new methods, including Art Deco, began to take hold. The Sachplakat lost its currency, but it was nonetheless influential. It prefigured the Pop Art celebratory parody of the consumed object. Eventually, it became just one of the tools in the advertising industry's kit along with more conceptual illustration and, later, photography. </p> <p>Today's advertisements that feature one simple focal product are the descendants of Bernhard's invention. The ubiquitous Absolut Vodka campaign, which has gone through many iterations during the past two decades, has always maintained its object poster-ness. With the bottle as an anchor, many different yet tethered concepts—i.e. Absolut this and Absolut that—drive the mnemonic. Like with Priester, the title "Absolut" is key. </p> <p><b>Photomontage</b></p> <p><img alt="photomontage.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/assets_c/2012/04/photomontage-thumb-400x538-84494.jpg" width="300" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /></a> In 1917, the German designer and art director John Heartfield developed a dynamic, new visual technique for political satire. The photomontage was the manipulation of two or more different photographs to form a convincing new image. It was a mechanical art for the mechanical age that forever changed how left and rightwing propaganda was produced. Heartfield's anti-Nazi graphic commentaries in the Communist rotogravure periodical <i>AIZ</i> (Workers Illustrated News) were considered the most inflammatory leftist dissent. Photographically situating real people, like Adolf Hitler and his henchmen, in imagined yet plausible pictorial contexts opened them up to greater ridicule than through drawings and paintings. After World War I, Heartfield (whose real German name, Helmut Herzfelde, was altered to an English one as a protest against German nationalism) joined the newly formed German Communist Party (KPD) and produced many of its posters and periodicals. </p> <p>The advent of photomontage intersected with the introduction during the late teens and 1930s of German <i>bildjournalismus</i> (photojournalism) that gained adherents around the world. The French periodical <i>VU</i>, founded in 1928 and edited by Lucien Vogel, a photographer, was one of the most innovative in terms of the picture essay. Vogel was more interested in politics than fashion and used the power of photography to document and critique current events. Graphic design was essential to the success of his magazine. <i>VU</i>'s logo was designed by French poster artist A.M Cassandre, and the leading commercial and experimental foundry Deberny & Peignot set the type. Irene Lidova, a Russian émigré, was the first art director, and in 1933 her layout assistant was Alexander Liberman, who was smitten by photomontage and introduced plenty of it to the magazine as a visual commentary. He later moved on to become chief of Conde Nast. </p> <p>The multi-language editions of <i>USSR in Construction</i>, which published monthly between 1930 and 1940, also employed this versatile art. Founded by Maxim Gorky, its declared editorial mission was to "reflect in photography the whole scope and variety of the construction work now going on in the USSR." Photomontage was used to juxtapose multiple images into a single, ideal, illusory fantasy. But no one had dominion over the process. It was an imaging tool that served needs of whichever master harnessed it. </p> <p>Photomontage was not just a political medium. It was also perfectly suited to commercial use. It transformed realities by introducing elements components that were not there. Although it is still used in some politically satiric contexts, the vast majority of contemporary photomontage (now easily achieved through Photoshop) is the tool of choice for a bounty of tasks—from advertisements to book and record covers to science-fiction images, and so much more. </p> <p><b>Pictograms </b></p> <p> <img alt="pictograms 400px.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/pictograms%20400px.jpg" width="400" height="311" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /> The International System of Typographic Picture Education (ISOTYPE) was introduced in 1936 by Vienese political economist Otto Neurath (1882-1945) and his wife Maire Reidemeister. They were intended as a set of pictographic characters used "to create narrative visual material, avoiding details which do not improve the narrative character," wrote Neurath, about his desire to improve visual literacy. The ISOTYPE was originally designed as an alternative to text, a starkly graphic means for communicating information about locales, events, and objects, on the one hand, and complex relationships in space and time on the other. </p> <p>Neurath believed that ISOTYPE, otherwise known as pictogram, icon, and symbol, was the world's first universal pictorial language. And it was designed to transcend national borders. Neurath's Vienna School was rooted on a simple graphic vocabulary of silhouetted symbolic representations of every possible human and mechanical form, from men and women to dogs and cats to trucks and planes. This litany of symbols was a mix-and-match kit of parts for displaying information or statistical data. Neurath's illustrators, the Dutch Gerd Arntz, and the Viennese Augustin Tschinkel and Erwin Bernath, created hundreds of simplified characteristics that distinguished, say, laborers from office workers, brides from grooms, soldiers from police officers and other professions. The neutral silhouette was preferred because it eschewed subjective interpretation. </p> <p>Neurath was keen on objectivity and ordered the artists to make silhouettes from cut paper or simple pen-and-ink drawings. Yet Arntz somehow injected warmth and humor through gestures in the way a figure held a newspaper or carried a lunchbox. Neurath's work influenced cartographic and information graphics of his day and today's data visualization. </p> <p>Neurath's theory of "statistical accountability" allowed that these symbols could represent quantities and thus be accountable. In addition to conveying quantifiable data, the ISOTYPE foreshadowed today's common pictorial sign symbols. Neurath's colleague Rudolf Modley's <i>Handbook of Pictorial Symbols </i>(Dover Books, 1976) and industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss' <i>Symbol Sourcebook</i> (McGraw-Hill, 1972) are key references for their inclusive compilation of symbols. Otl Archer's event symbols for the 1972 Olympic Games take the basic icons in a more streamlined direction. And the American Institute of Graphic Art's system of 50 symbol signs, designed by Roger Cook and Don Shanosky, a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation, has provided the standard pictograms in airports and other transportation hubs and at large international events.</p> <p><b>Visual Pun </b></p> <p> <img alt="pun300.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/pun300.jpg" width="300" height="421" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" />A visual pun is an image with two or more meanings that yield a single yet layered message. Dan Reisinger's 1969 "Let My People Go," referring to the Soviet Jews who were prevented from emigrating to Israel, is a memorable visual pun for it spells out the message while provoking a secondary level of understanding—and emotion. Using the hammer and sickle as a G indicates that the Soviets are the antagonists. Using Moses' demand of the Egyptian Pharaoh adds drama to the missive. So the pun enters the consciousness through different mental windows. </p> <p>Not all puns are humorous in a slapstick way or witty in a cerebral one. In <i>Visual Puns in Design</i> (Watson Guptil, 1982) author Eli Kince notes puns have a "humorous effect" and an "analytical effect." The former is a mental jolt of recognition that creates a comedic "spark" that releases tension in the form of a smile or a laugh. The later provokes comparison between one idea and another. </p> <p>Then there are puns that use pictures, letters, and words, like Reisinger's. There are more complex puns where letters and words are fused together, including Herb Lubalin's <i>Families</i>, where the letters "ili" are transformed into ciphers for mother, father, and son; likewise his <i>Mother & Child </i>has the ampersand nestled inside the letter "o" of mother suggesting a fetus in a womb. These puns appear easier than they are. Transforming the "ili" into a family required keen perception. And making the ampersand fit so perfectly in the womb demanded typographic skill. For Lubalin, each of these elements were keys to the doors of perception. For another designer, "ili" or "o" might just have been letters. </p> <p>Purely pictorial puns may seem easier than typographical ones, but are not necessarily so. <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=933&tbm=isch&tbnid=vuVBhCWi5FI_kM:&imgrefurl=http://www.miltonglaserworks.com/product.php%3Fproductid%3D16224%26cat%3D252&docid=rGTNZZwMicN1zM&imgurl=http://www.miltonglaserworks.com/image.php%253Ftype%253DD%2526id%253D83&w=380&h=569&ei=Hu2GT_jMMcWdiAKn3XA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=178&vpy=111&dur=1172&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=106&ty=151&sig=113999934925221711956&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=98&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:70">Milton Glaser's 2004 Olympic poster</a>, a Greek column with Olympic rings being thrown over it like at a ring toss, may trigger an ah-ha moment of recognition, but conjuring the pun takes a keen wit. Then there are suggestive puns, made by combining two or more unrelated or disparate references, sometimes as a substitution for a more literal reference, conveying two or more meanings. </p> <p><b>Trade Mascots</b></p> <p><img alt="michelin300.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/michelin300.jpg" width="300" height="435" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" />The rudiments of the trade mascot or trade character—an ideal visualization of a human, humanoid, animal, or combination of all three—began during the industrial revolution. With the rise of mass-produced products, the advertising field developed to sell an abundance of wares. An obvious way to differentiate competing products was through the brand name. But adding a symbolic face to the name further etched the product onto the consumer's conscious and subconscious. Mascots were fixtures of commercial culture from the late-19th century to the present.</p> <p>One of the most successful mascots was designed for Michelin, the French tire company founded in 1888. Its trademark Bibendum (also called "Bib the Michelin Man," among other nicknames) created by French artist "O'Galop" (a pseudonym of Marius Rossillon) was introduced at the Lyon Exhibition of 1894, where the Michelin brothers displayed their wares. André Michelin commissioned this friendly, bulbous figure after his brother, Édouard, observed that a stack of tires looked similar to a human. At the time, lesser-known (and ultimately less enduring) commercial characters were also comprised of product packages, tins and boxes. </p> <p>During the late 19th century, pictures were not entirely shunned, but words were certainly preferred in most advertisements. With advancements in low-cost black-and-white and color printing, reproduction of images precipitously increased in many nationally circulated periodicals. Businesses that had relied solely on brand names and clever slogans sought new visual icons for salvation. Older pictorial trade characters evolved into contemporary mnemonic logos. Industry turned to signs and symbols, some abstract and others representational, to get the public's attention—and loyalty</p> <p>By the early 1900s, advertising pundits had devised pseudo-scientific theories derived from psychology and sociology to convince industry leaders that this innovation would forever change marketing strategies and increase profits. "Signs and symbols rule the world, not words nor laws," Clayton Lindsay Smith quoted Confucius as saying on the title page of <i>The History of Trade Marks</i>, a 1923 booklet exploring the origins of some commercial icons, meant to validate the as-yet-unlabeled "branding" profession. Trade mascots were validated time and again by the most successful characters, RCA's dog waiting to hear "His Master's Voice," or the Gold Dust Twins, two black slaves that worked wonders for housewives (only decades after emancipation were they discontinued), The Armour Meat Man and, of course, Aunt Jemima. </p> <p>When it came to branding, fact and fiction were irrelevant. Fictional trade mascots were given complex historical narratives, underscoring the origin of their species. Their value to sales was never underestimated and their virtues were legally protected, at all costs.</div><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e5400a9/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996768434/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e5400a9/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/sCsG3Gqdilc" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/sCsG3Gqdilc/story01.htm" title="The Object Poster, the Visual Pun, and 3 Other Ideas That Changed Design"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/culture_test/michelin110.jpg" title="The Object Poster, the Visual Pun, and 3 Other Ideas That Changed Design"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e5400a9/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Centertainment0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cthe0Eobject0Eposter0Ethe0Evisual0Epun0Eand0E30Eother0Eideas0Ethat0Echanged0Edesign0C2557970C/story01.htm" title="The Object Poster, the Visual Pun, and 3 Other Ideas That Changed Design"/> | |
| <category term="Entertainment"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Steven Heller</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255798</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T11:10:11+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T11:10:11+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>Picture of the Day: The Planet at Night</title> | |
| <summary type="html">The International Space Station captures an earthly evening the way Gagarin witnessed it.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53beb8/mf.gif' border='0'/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><p><a href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/nasa412.jpeg"><img alt="nasa412.jpeg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/assets_c/2012/04/nasa412-thumb-615x409-84481.jpeg" width="615" height="409" class="mt-image-none" style="" /></a></p> <p>On April 12, 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin">Yuri Gagarin</a> became <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html">the first human to see planet Earth from space</a>. "The sky is very dark," he said of the view; "the Earth is bluish. Everything is seen very clearly." On March 28, the International Space Station captured this image of Gagarin's home, Russia, at night, and from 240 miles above its surface. That's one of the station's solar panels on the left of the image. And the explosion of light on the Earth's surface? Moscow.</p><p>Below, recent Pictures of the Day:</p><p><script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/front/js/gallery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript">atlanticGallery(1870);</script><noscript>Please use a JavaScript-enabled device to view this slideshow</noscript> </p><p><small><em>Image: NASA.</em></small></p><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53beb8/mf.gif' border='0'/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/OCi1tKpOIkY" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/OCi1tKpOIkY/story01.htm" title="Picture of the Day: The Planet at Night"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/nasa330.jpg" title="Picture of the Day: The Planet at Night"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53beb8/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Ctechnology0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cpicture0Eof0Ethe0Eday0Ethe0Eplanet0Eat0Enight0C2557980C/story01.htm" title="Picture of the Day: The Planet at Night"/> | |
| <category term="Technology"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Megan Garber</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255780</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T14:10:58+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T14:10:58+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>Don't Believe That Label</title> | |
| <summary type="html">Potentially harmful chemicals lurk in many everyday products, even if they're not listed on the box.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e538aa3/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><style type="text/css"> p.caption2{ width:595px; color:black; background: white; text-align:right; padding: 7px 10px 7px 10px; line-height: 11px; text-size: 8px; margin: -5px 0px 5px 0px !important; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; } </style> <p><i>Potentially harmful chemicals lurk in many everyday products, even if they're not listed on the box.</i></p> <img src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/main%20Monkey%20Business%20Images%20shutterstock_12164170.jpg" class="mt-image-none" style="" height="300" width="615" /><p class="caption2"><i>Monkey Business Images/<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a></i></p> <p>The chemicals that we put in our bodies every day - by way of the foods we eat, the compounds we inhale, or the materials we touch - have become the subjects of much research and public concern in recent years. And rightly so. Studies have shown, for example, that <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/public_health/art3525.html" target="_blank">compounds like bisphenol A (BPA)</a> can act as endocrine disruptors, altering the ways in which our hormone systems work, and affecting the <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/womens_health/art3173.html" target="_blank">reproductive system</a>, cancer risk, and even the development of a fetus. </p> <blockquote>At least one of the harmful chemicals appeared in all types of products tested, and in about three-quarters of the "alternative" products, which typically advertise that they contain fewer of the unsafe ingredients.</blockquote> <!-- START "MORE ON" BOX --> <div class="moreOnNJBox"> <a href="http://thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/"> <img alt="TEMPLATETheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/TheDoctorLogo.jpg" class="mt-image-center" /></a> <br /><div class="moreOnNJBoxHeader"> MORE FROM THE DOCTOR </div> <ul class="moreOnNJBoxList"><!-- Article 1 --><li> <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/kids/art3493.html"> BPA Linked to Developmental Problems in Girls </a> </li> <!-- Article 2 --> <li> <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/kids/art3307.html"> Hand to Mouth: Kids at Greater Risk for Toxic Exposures </a> </li> <!-- Article 3 --> <li> <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/public_health/art3152.html"> Can Kids Be Too Clean </a> </li> </ul><hr></div> <!-- END "MORE ON" BOX --> <p>A new study finds that many of these potentially harmful chemicals can lurk in household, personal, and cleaning products, and they aren't always indicated on the ingredient lists. Researchers tested over 200 products for the presence of 55 different chemicals that have been previously identified as potentially harmful to humans. These compounds included the infamous BPA, as well as phthalates, parabens, <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/kids/art3155.html" target="_blank">triclosan</a>, glycol ethers, and certain chemical fragrances. </p> <p>The results were somewhat alarming: At least one of the chemicals appeared in all types of products tested, and in about three-quarters of the "alternative" products, which typically advertise that they contain fewer of the unsafe ingredients. The authors also point out that in some products, the more common endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) were absent, but less common EDCs were instead present. Since less common EDCs may also be less studied, this substitution is not always a positive thing. </p> <p>Materials like vinyl products (shower curtains) and fragranced products (sunscreens and dryer sheets) had the highest levels of EDCs. Of the alternative sunscreens that were sampled, a product for <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/kids/art3040.html" target="_blank">babies and children</a> actually had the highest levels of the chemicals of interest. Many of the chemicals tested were not listed on the label, making it potentially confusing to the consumer who is interested in knowing exactly what is in the products he or she is using. </p> <p>But not everyone takes the study findings at face value. The <a href="http://www.cleaninginstitute.org/aci_says_safety_built_into_cleaning_product_dna_refutes_study_designed_to_scare_consumers/" target="_blank">American Cleaning Institute</a> (ACI) says that just because the chemicals are found to be present in the products tested, this doesn't mean that their presence is actually harmful to people. "An enormous amount of research, development and testing takes place before cleaning products hit the shelves," said ACI Executive Vice President Richard Sedlak, who added, "In essence, safety is built into the DNA of cleaning product development and manufacturing." </p> <blockquote>Materials like vinyl products (shower curtains) and fragranced products (sunscreens and dryer sheets) had the highest levels of EDCs.</blockquote> <p>While this issue is being debated (and it will not likely be solved any time soon), there are some things that consumers can do to reduce their exposure to the ingredients. The Silent Spring Institute, which carried out the research, suggests ways to cut down on one's everyday use: </p><ul> <li>Use fewer cleaning products in general </li> <li>Try to avoid fragranced products and those made of vinyl </li> <li>Cut down on antimicrobials including triclosan or triclocarbon</li> <li>Watch out for cyclosiloxanes and cyclomethicone in hair products and sunscreens</li> <li>Look for plant-based ingredients</li> <li>Go back to basics: Use vinegar or baking soda to clean, and hats and light cover-ups to reduce sunscreen use</li> </ul> <p></p> <p>More tips can be found at the <a href="http://www.silentspring.org/pdf/our_research/twelve-product-tips.pdf" target="_blank">Silent Spring Institute</a>. The <a href="http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.1104052" target="_blank">study </a>was published in the online issue of <em>Environmental Health Perspectives</em> in advance of print. </p> <hr><p><i>This article originally appeared on <a href="http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/">TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com</a></i><i>, an </i>Atlantic<i> partner site.</i></p><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e538aa3/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577924078/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e538aa3/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/Zz4CfeMc_8A" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/Zz4CfeMc_8A/story01.htm" title="Don't Believe That Label"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/thumb%20main%20Monkey%20Business%20Images%20shutterstock_12164170.jpg" title="Don't Believe That Label"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e538aa3/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Chealth0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cdont0Ebelieve0Ethat0Elabel0C255780A0C/story01.htm" title="Don't Believe That Label"/> | |
| <category term="Health"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Alice G. Walton</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255792</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T14:11:43+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T14:11:43+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>Democrat Hilary Rosen Sparks Twitter Uproar With Ann Romney Comments</title> | |
| <summary type="html">The strategist sparks an uproar -- and has Dems on the defensive -- after suggesting Romney, a mother of five, never worked.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b9c6/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><p><em>The strategist sparks an uproar -- and has Dems on the defensive -- after suggesting Romney, a mother of five, never worked.</em> </p> <img alt="rosenromney.banner copy.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/rosenromney.banner%20copy.jpg" width="615" height="300" class="mt-image-none" style="" /><p class="caption">Twitter brawlers Ann Romney (left) and Hilary Rosen. <i>Reuters / Wikimedia Commons</i></p> <p> Ann Romney joined Twitter on Wednesday night after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen said on CNN that Romney "has never actually worked a day in her life." </p><p> Speaking on <em>Anderson Cooper 360</em>, Rosen said that it didn't make much sense for presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to look to Ann for advice on women's issues because she was out of touch with the problems faced by most women in America. </p> <!-- START "MORE ON NJ" BOX v. 1 --> <div style="margin: 10px; padding: 10px; width: 215px; float: right; text-align: center;"> <hr> <div style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; font-weight: bold;"> <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/"> <img alt="NJ logo.JPG" src="http://assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/NJ%20logo.JPG" style="margin-top: 5px; height: 55px; width: 55px;"/> </a> <br /> MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL </div> <ul style="text-align: left; line-height: 12pt; margin-left: -20px;"> <!-- Article 1 --> <li style="margin-bottom: 7px;"> <a href="http://nationaljournal.com/columns/on-the-trail/back-to-the-future-20120412"> Romney VP Pick Will Usher in a New Generation of GOP Leaders </a> </li> <!-- Article 2 --> <li style="margin-bottom: 7px;"> <a href="http://nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/gingrich-criticizes-gop-accuses-fox-news-of-bias-against-him-20120411"> Gingrich Criticizes GOP, Accuses Fox News of Bias Against Him </a> </li> <!-- Article 3 --> <li style="margin-bottom: 7px;"> <a href="http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/romneys-longodds-lookingglass.php"> Romney's Long-Odds Looking-Glass Strategy </a> </li> </ul> <hr> </div> <!-- END "MORE ON NJ" BOX v. 1 --> <p> "His wife has actually never worked a day in her life," she said. "She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing." </p><p> Within minutes of Rosen's comments, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AnnDRomney">Ann Romney joined Twitter</a>, and as of late Wednesday night had tweeted out only one post: "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work." </p><p> The conflict has played out over Twitter, with the Romney campaign seeking to make Rosen's comments a problem for Obama at a time when women's issues are a focus of both campaigns. </p><p> Moments after Rosen's appearance, top Romney advisor <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/EricFehrn">Eric Fehrnstrom tweeted out</a> that "Obama adviser" Rosen went on CNN to "debut their new 'kill Ann' strategy and in the process insul[t] hard-working moms." David Axelrod, Obama's top campaign strategist, trying to quell the potential fallout, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/davidaxelrod">took to Twitter</a> to call Rosen's comments "inappropriate and offensive." Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/messina2012">tweeted a request</a> for Rosen to apologize for her comments. </p><p> As of late Wednesday, Rosen had not. Instead, she responded to Ann Romney's tweet with <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/hilaryr">a series of her own tweets</a>. "I am raising children too. But most young American women HAVE to BOTH earn a living AND raise children. You know that don't u?" Rosen tweeted. She added: "Please know, I admire you. But your husband shouldn't say you are his expert on women and the economy." </p><p> She also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-rosen/ann-romney-and-working-mo_b_1419480.html">published a blog post to the <em>Huffington Post</em></a> that attempted to explain the reasoning behind her comments on CNN, insisting "I have nothing against Ann Romney" and that she "admire[s] her grit in talking about her illness publicly," a reference to Ann's struggle with multiple sclerosis. But Rosen doubled down on her assertion that Ann is not an appropriate advisor for her husband on women's issues. </p><p> "So it begs the question, is Ann Romney Mitt's touchstone for women who are struggling economically or not? Nothing in Ann Romney's history as we have heard it -- hardworking mom she may have been -- leads me to believe that Mitt has chosen the right expert to get feedback on this problem he professes to be so concerned about," she wrote. </p><p> Here's how it played out on Twitter: </p><p> <script src="http://storify.com/ajjaffe/hilary-rosen-and-ann-romney-spar-on-twitter.js"></script><noscript>[<a href="http://storify.com/ajjaffe/hilary-rosen-and-ann-romney-spar-on-twitter" target="_blank">View the story "Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney Conflict Plays Out on Twitter" on Storify</a>]</noscript> </p> <style type="text/css"> p.caption{width:595px; color:#DDD; background: black; text-align:left; padding: 7px 10px 7px 10px; line-height: 11px; text-size: 8px; margin: -5px 0px 5px 0px !important; font-family:Arial, sans-serif;} </style><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b9c6/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577828058/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b9c6/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/CyQofeqGOlQ" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/CyQofeqGOlQ/story01.htm" title="Democrat Hilary Rosen Sparks Twitter Uproar With Ann Romney Comments"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/hilaryrosen.thumb.wiki.jpg" title="Democrat Hilary Rosen Sparks Twitter Uproar With Ann Romney Comments"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b9c6/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cpolitics0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cdemocrat0Ehilary0Erosen0Esparks0Etwitter0Euproar0Ewith0Eann0Eromney0Ecomments0C2557920C/story01.htm" title="Democrat Hilary Rosen Sparks Twitter Uproar With Ann Romney Comments"/> | |
| <category term="Politics"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Alexandra Jaffe</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255737</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T14:22:00+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T14:22:00+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>If Europe's Economy Tanks, Could the U.S. Benefit?</title> | |
| <summary type="html">Europe might be headed for a nasty deflationary spiral. The silver lining? It'd be great for our exports and oil prices.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53f39b/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><p><b style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 19px; "><i><a href="www.modeledbehavior.com" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Karl Smith</a></i></b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 19px; "> -- </span><i style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 19px; ">Assistant Professor of Public Economics at UNC-CH & Blogger at Modeled Behavior</i> </p><p>Last year when the European crisis was heating up, I floated the idea that the if the European Central Bank were able to contain the bank meltdown, its insane monetary policy would actually be fairly simulative for the US.</p> <p>Now, it looks like that scenario may be playing out. As <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/491401-the-eurozone-is-turning-japanese">George Wannabee</a> points out, Germany is increasingly turning Japanese:</p> <blockquote> <p>Much has been written about the US Economy going Japanese and there are indeed some worrying signs. And for all the Bernanke bashing, that is one thing he really understands and will fight aggressively. </p><p>Unfortunately, Euro zone policymakers and the Germans' inflation phobias are making all they can for Europe to get into an entrenched deflationary spiral.</p></blockquote> <p>The critical issue - as Wannabee points out near the end of the post - is that this scenario will drive <strong><em>up</em></strong> the value of the euro. If the euro zone gets caught in a deflationary spiral, real European interest rates will rise and the euro will tend to appreciate.</p> <p>Under this scenario, Eurozone exports become increasingly less competitive against American exports. At the same time, the struggling European economy will likely reduce it oil imports. </p> <p>This creates dual positive pressure for the United States which would see cheaper energy at the same time as more robust demand for manufactured goods. </p><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53f39b/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996766850/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53f39b/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/xuiqNsq3s8k" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/xuiqNsq3s8k/story01.htm" title="If Europe's Economy Tanks, Could the U.S. Benefit?"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/meganmcardle/110%20euro%20Images_of_Money%20flickr.jpg" title="If Europe's Economy Tanks, Could the U.S. Benefit?"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53f39b/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cbusiness0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cif0Eeuropes0Eeconomy0Etanks0Ecould0Ethe0Eus0Ebenefit0C2557370C/story01.htm" title="If Europe's Economy Tanks, Could the U.S. Benefit?"/> | |
| <category term="Business"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Megan McArdle</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255783</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T14:00:00+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T14:00:00+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>The Time Facing George Zimmerman</title> | |
| <summary type="html">It bears saying, once again, that I really dislike mandatory minimums: Under second-degree murder,…<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b617/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html">It bears saying, once again, that I really <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/zimmerman-faces-second-degree-murder-charge-in-florida.html?_r=1&ref=us">dislike mandatory minimums</a>:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><div> Under second-degree murder, the jury must find that a death was caused by a criminal act "demonstrating a depraved mind without regard for human life," said Eric Abrahamsen, a criminal defense lawyer in Tallahassee, reading from the state's standard jury instructions. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison; the minimum penalty under these charges is 25 years.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>It's true that Zimmerman may not ultimately face second-degree murder, and thus not face 25 years. It may also turn out that whatever Zimmerman did actually deserves 25 years. But the mandating of time, as always, is still disturbing. There's so much wrong about our current system. </div><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b617/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130577827586/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e53b617/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/NumO_uRU_Fc" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/NumO_uRU_Fc/story01.htm" title="The Time Facing George Zimmerman"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e53b617/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cnational0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cthe0Etime0Efacing0Egeorge0Ezimmerman0C2557830C/story01.htm" title="The Time Facing George Zimmerman"/> | |
| <category term="National"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Ta-Nehisi Coates</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255682</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T13:05:09+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T13:05:09+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>Germany's National Debate Over Guilt, the Holocaust, Israel, and Gunter Grass</title> | |
| <summary type="html">German critics see the Nobel laureate's poem as ugly attempt to invert history, or at best a play for relevance.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e536757/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><style type="text/css"> p.caption{ width:595px; color:#DDD; background: black; text-align:left; padding: 7px 10px 7px 10px; line-height: 11px; text-size: 8px; margin: -5px 0px 5px 0px !important; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; } </style><i>German critics see the Nobel laureate's poem as ugly attempt to invert history, or at best a play for relevance. </i><br /><br /> <img alt="Grass april11 p.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/Grass%20april11%20p.jpg" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" height="300" width="615" /><p class="caption">Günter Grass <i>Reuters</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Last week, Nobel laureate Günter Grass published an op-ed <a href="http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/gedicht-zum-konflikt-zwischen-israel-und-iran-was-gesagt-werden-muss-1.1325809">poem</a> denouncing Israel. The poem <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/gunter-grasss-controversial-poem-about-israel-iran-and-war-translated/255549/">attacked</a> the "hypocrisy of the West" and the potential Israeli preemptive strike over Iran's nuclear facilities: it could "annihilate the Iranian people," Grass said, who are merely "enslaved by a loud-mouth."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the firestorm that has followed, even those opposing Israeli foreign policy have taken issue with Grass's poem, which portrayed Israel as a danger to world peace. In Germany in particular, the criticism is ferocious, and extends to the highest levels of politics. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has <a href="http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/guido-westerwelle/anti-israel-gedicht-aussen-minister-antwortet-guenter-grass-23537798.bild.html">called</a> "putting Israel and Iran on the same moral level [...] absurd," while Rainer Stinner, speaker for the Federal Democratic Party in the Bundestag, has tried to shrug it off: "Grass is a writer. Politically, I've always thought him an idiot." But the question that Grass's German critics seem to be tackling is a tricky one: is Grass merely naïve and possibly careerist, or is there something more subconsciously sinister at work?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Many of the critics seem to feel it's the latter, and that's why they find the poem so repellent. Grass, they argue, is attempting to will into reality a Freudian inversion of past German sins. His poem is an emotional rebalancing of the Holocaust, casting Israel, founded by 20th-century Jewish victims, as a 21st-century existential threat to Iranians.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is an extremely sensitive topic for many Germans. Despite the immediate post-war effort to forgive and forget as quickly as possible, in the past few decades Germany has been extremely anxious to take full responsibility for the Holocaust. That means not just shutting down anti-Semitism wherever it pops up, but being very, very careful about criticizing other parties in any way that might seem to minimize German crimes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Grass's problem is that he has twice now seemed to do just that: compare the Holocaust to the actions of other states. In the summer of 2011, when Grass gave an interview to Israeli journalist Tom Segev over his drafting into the Waffen-SS (despite spending many years urging Germany to confront its past crimes, he kept his participation in the Waffen-SS a secret for a very long time), he said some things about Russia that deeply troubled German observers. Here's how Henryk M. Broder, <a href="http://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article106152894/Guenter-Grass-Nicht-ganz-dicht-aber-ein-Dichter.html">writing</a> for Die Welt, picks apart that earlier interview, which he feels illuminates this latest poem. It's crucial for understanding how Grass's rhetoric can look to a critical eye:</p> <blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">When Segev wanted to know why the Holocaust was only at the edge of the "onion" [i.e. many-layered phenomenon of World War II], Grass answered: "The madness and the crimes didn't just occur in the Holocaust and didn't stop at the war's end. Of eight million German soldiers that were taken prisoner by the Russians, only perhaps two million survived. The rest were liquidated."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One doesn't need to be a trained mathematician to figure out Grass's numbers game: six million German soldiers were liquidated by the Russians. That only around three million German soldiers found themselves Soviet prisoners of war, of which around 1.1 million didn't survive, plays no role. Because Grass isn't talking about numbers, but a cipher. Six million. That is the number everything's always about. The Lucky German Number. Six million Jews dead on one side, six million dead German prisoners on the other, that gives on balance a clean zero.</p></blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal">Why is this relevant now? Because just as the notion of Russians killing an equal number of Germans reverses the perpetrator-victim roles, the notion of Israel "annihilating the Iranian people" does the same, turning Jews from victims into the perpetrators of a new genocide. Or as another German <a href="http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2012-04/guenter-grass-gedicht-israel/seite-2">journalist</a> puts it, Grass is saying "the Jews want to do what we did." By downplaying Iran's wish to destroy Israel, and playing way up Israel's possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Grass starts to look like he's got an agenda, even if it's a subconscious one.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This sort of reading is supported by the famous ironic observation from Israeli psychiatrist Zvi Rex, which Grass's critics are citing <a href="http://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article106152894/Guenter-Grass-Nicht-ganz-dicht-aber-ein-Dichter.html">over</a> and <a href="http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2012-04/guenter-grass-gedicht-israel/seite-2">over</a>: "The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz." Or in other words, a guilty conscience has a surprising way of manifesting itself through aggression and claims to victimhood.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Grass does indeed begin to paint himself as a victim in his poem. He says that, though his own country's "incomparable crime" makes him more alert to the crime that may be about to take place, he has also stayed silent out of consciousness of his own "stain never to be expunged," and out of fear of being called anti-Semitic.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">His critics don't find that rhetorical disclaimer very convincing. Not all of those speaking out right now think Grass is an anti-Semite. One of the harshest denunciations comes from German singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, who doesn't actually think there's anything morally reprehensible about Grass's poem: it's simply poorly thought-out and terrible poetry, he <a href="http://www.welt.de/debatte/article106162791/Stuemperhafte-Prosa-Eine-literarische-Todsuende.html">says</a> -- indicative of a late-career attempt by Grass to stay relevant. And, aside from a vocal fringe for whom Grass has become a hero, there are also plenty of mainstream folks who think Israel's declaration of Grass as persona non grata is a huge overreaction.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But the extent of the backlash shows just how badly Grass has misjudged his audience. As attractive as third rails and original sins may be to seasoned provocateurs -- the United States right now has a more extreme example of this in the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/the-talk-what-parents-tell-their-children-about-john-derbyshire/255578/">case</a> of John Derbyshire's racist list of talking points for white parents on race relations -- they have to be approached with caution and an observable attempt at balance. A politically incorrect attempt to portray reality is one thing. But filter out the facts and present the remainder in a gimmicky medium -- say a poem or a list, neither particularly well-suited to careful argument -- and that's an entirely different sort of affront.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Constant atonement can get old, and it's possible many Germans are ready to engage with the international community without the shadow of the Holocaust. But precisely because of the constant atonement, many Germans have also become adept at picking out undertones and recognizing exculpatory rhetoric. This poem, at this time, struck way too close to home.</p><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e536757/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996763761/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536757/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/uYFYMMcAgyU" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/uYFYMMcAgyU/story01.htm" title="Germany's National Debate Over Guilt, the Holocaust, Israel, and Gunter Grass"/> | |
| <link rel="thumbnail" type="image/jpeg" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/Grass%20april11t.jpg" title="Germany's National Debate Over Guilt, the Holocaust, Israel, and Gunter Grass"/> | |
| <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e536757/l/0L0Stheatlantic0N0Cinternational0Carchive0C20A120C0A40Cgermanys0Enational0Edebate0Eover0Eguilt0Ethe0Eholocaust0Eisrael0Eand0Egunter0Egrass0C2556820C/story01.htm" title="Germany's National Debate Over Guilt, the Holocaust, Israel, and Gunter Grass"/> | |
| <category term="International"/> | |
| <author> | |
| <name>Heather Horn</name> | |
| <uri/> | |
| <email/> | |
| </author> | |
| </entry> | |
| <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:geo="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:as="http://activitystrea.ms/spec/1.0/" xmlns:sf="http://superfeedr.com/xmpp-pubsub-ext" xml:lang="en"> | |
| <id>tag:theatlantic.com,2012-04-12:mt-255734</id> | |
| <published>2012-04-12T13:05:20+00:00</published> | |
| <updated>2012-04-12T13:05:20+00:00</updated> | |
| <title>The Annals of Chicken Diplomacy</title> | |
| <summary type="html">Uzbekistan is now paying its teachers and doctors in poultry, part of a long and bizarre trend of chicken diplomacy in the 20th and 21st centuries.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e536756/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2t.img" border="0"/></summary> | |
| <content type="html"><style type="text/css"> p.caption{ width:595px; color:#DDD; background: black; text-align:left; padding: 7px 10px 7px 10px; line-height: 11px; text-size: 8px; margin: -5px 0px 5px 0px !important; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; } </style><i>Uzbekistan is now paying its teachers and doctors in poultry, part of a long and bizarre trend of foul-related international affairs in the 20th and 21st centuries.</i><br /><br /> <img alt="chickens april11 p.jpg" src="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/chickens%20april11%20p.jpg" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" height="300" width="615" /><p class="caption">A new voluntary program in Uzbekistan will pay teachers and doctors in chickens. <i>Reuters</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The government of Uzbekistan -- no stranger to the <a href="http://registan.net/index.php/2012/03/29/the-plastic-president/">bizarre</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14973062">upsetting</a> -- recently made a truly head-scratching decision. A new voluntary service, according to a report in RFE/RL, now allows teachers and even some doctors to receive part of their salary in <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbek_workers_chickens_in_salaries/24543840.html">Serbian chickens</a>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course, like most "voluntary" programs in Uzbekistan, it is nothing of the sort -- and RFE/RL quotes plenty of people saying they were given the live animals against their will. The Uzbek government has distributed tens of thousands of chickens: 10 chicks per public sector employee. These civil servants are then expected to fulfill a February decree by cabinet ministers to increase the domestic production of milk, eggs, dairy, poultry, and vegetables. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">How teachers and doctors, who are most certainly not farmers, will succeed in raising these animals remains unclear. It's not even a cost-saving measure: the Serbian chicks appear to cost a bit more than their domestic Uzbek counterparts. So what on earth is happening?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chickens are a surprising bellwether for international economic and political issues. Sounding for all the world like some modern-day Khrushchevian <a href="http://www.redplenty.com/Front_page.html">Red Plenty</a> economic master plan, the Uzbek government has demanded that not only agriculture do more, but that industry reduce costs and <a href="http://www.uzinfoinvest.uz/eng/news/uzbekistan_to_cut_expenses_in_industry_sector.mgr">increase production</a> -- just like that. More more more for less less less. So why the chicken handouts?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One indication might be in the <a href="http://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-18126.htm">dramatic increase</a> this year in remittances back to Uzbekistan. The Central Bank of Russia recently released a report that suggests a nearly 50% increase in remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan in 2011, which indicates a flagging economy in the Central Asian nation. Uzbekistan, a gas-exporting country, has also been experiencing <a href="http://registan.net/index.php/2012/02/15/where-is-the-gas/">gas shortages</a> and is globally ranked as <a href="http://registan.net/index.php/2012/01/26/investing-for-victory/">poorly</a> on economic freedom as it is on human rights or political liberties.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But Uzbekistan is hardly the only country to react to a changing political climate through chickens. In the early 1990s, a collapsing Gorbachev-era Russia was experiencing food shortages and hunger. President George H.W. Bush came up with a win-win solution: give surplus U.S. chicken meat to Russia. The U.S. has an insatiable appetite for white chicken breast meat, but in the process produces far more dark chicken leg meat than it could possibly consume. President Bush took that excess and sent it to Russia. The Russians devoured it, proclaiming the beauty of such enormous drumsticks, and to this day chicken hindquarters in Russian are often called "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/mar/09/russia.iantraynor">Bush's Legs</a>."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course, good will and chicken gratitude did not last. By the 2000s, Russian President Vladimir Putin was <a href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100115/157560164.html">complaining</a> about the Americans' use of antibiotics, hormones, and sterilization in U.S. chicken. Russia may have accounted for 22% of American chicken exports, but the fears over the quality of U.S. chicken prompted a drastic curtailment of its production in 2010. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Did it matter that this explosion of concern in the quality of chicken -- which first saw widespread public expression in 2002 or so -- just happened to coincide with the rise in Russian oil-driven economic vitality and a souring of relations with the U.S. over missile defense? Or that Vladimir Putin's 2010 ban on Bush's Legs also took place right when there was a souring of relations (again) over missile defense negotiations and the New Start de-nuclearization treaty?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It certainly couldn't be because Russian chicken is any better. The Russian Consumer Rights Protection Society found in a June 2010 survey that 8 in 10 domestic Russian chickens sold at the supermarket tested <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/31/AR2010103104815.html">positive</a> for salmonella. Even so, Russians prefer fresh Russian chickens to frozen U.S. chickens, and buy them accordingly (China is following a similar trend -- leading to an incredible <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/china-and-russia-are-snubbing-american-chicken-07282011.html">oversupply</a> in the U.S. of dark meat chicken). But Moscow isn't above giving their own chicken farmers a little boost.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The U.S. has engaged in its own odd chicken diplomacy as well. Peter van Buren, a career Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, published a <a href="http://wemeantwell.com/">memoir</a> last year of his time serving in Iraq. One of the the most memorable chapters in his book, appropriately titled "Chicken Sh*t," is about efforts to revive the Iraqi chicken industry. Van Buren describes the lavish funding a nearby chicken factory received to get new equipment and to hire people.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The factory, it turned out, was worthless. Brazil dominated the the global market for frozen whole chickens and Iraq just couldn't produce poultry cheaply enough to compete (Brazil defends this domination <a href="http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/02/04/2012/132238/Brazil-targets-poultry-export-subsidies.htm">zealously</a>). Worse still, van Buren <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/10/01/140974715/we-meant-well-an-attempt-of-sorts-to-rebuild-iraq">recounted</a> for NPR, the factory didn't have refrigeration because it did not have electricity -- which makes the idea of a frozen chicken factory rather moot. But rather than admitting failure, van Buren and his team actually created a false factory for when touring VIPs came by, hiring random people to sit on the production line while it processed worthless chickens they could never sell, all to impress a Congressional delegation or administration official into thinking the Iraqi economy was thriving under U.S. leadership.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Even in Afghanistan, chickens can ignite the most bizarre behavior. Last summer, the Taliban tried to <a href="http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/08/03/taliban-ban-sale-frozen-chickens-ghazni">ban the sale</a> of frozen chickens in Ghazni province because they thought the chickens were not killed in accordance to Halal food rituals (which are similar to Kosher rules). When I was in Afghanistan in 2009, we would read reports that the Taliban were telling locals that it was their Islamic duty to support local Muslim farmers instead of foreign non-Muslim factory workers, so they should buy locally produced meats.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Taliban are locavores, in other words. They're also protectionists and, to an extent, mercantilists. But they're also in good company, at least when it comes to chickens. Around the world, frozen chickens can tell us much about how an economy is doing and what its leadership thinks of it.<br /></p><img width='1' height='1' src='http://Theatlantic.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625839/s/1e536756/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/130996763762/u/49/f/625839/c/34375/s/1e536756/a2t.img" border="0"/><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~4/goKS_KJja4U" height="1" width="1"/></content> | |
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