Category Archives: Uncategorized

Strike the flag; direct action version

Posted on June 28, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Just in case all those rainbow flags flying everywhere had obscured the Confederate flag still flying at the state capitol in South Carolina, Bree Newsome climbed the flag poll and took it down.  Police were on top of the situation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Don’t stop with the flag. #blackvotesmatter

Posted on June 26, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Politicians in the South, mostly Republicans (because it’s mostly Republicans in power in the South), have been rallying around the removal of the Confederate flag from government display.  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called her state legislature into a special … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Start with the flag

Posted on June 25, 2015 by David S. Meyer

The tragic racist killing of nine people at Charleston’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, following a year of activism around #blacklivesmatter, drew unusual attention to a range of issues around political and economic inequality.  Striking the battle flag of the Army … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Climate activists: Habemus papem

Posted on June 18, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Pope Francis’s encyclical on the moral necessity of protecting the earth is out.  You can read “On Care for Our Common Home” here (in English; translations in many other languages are readily available–but I couldn’t find the Latin version).  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Froze and reversed the arms race? Claiming credit on an anniversary.

Posted on June 12, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Thirty(three) years ago today, one million people marched in the streets of New York City to protest the nuclear arms race in general and the policies of Ronald Reagan in particular.  Organized around a “nuclear freeze” proposal, the demonstration was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Organizing (debt) forgiveness; Occupy continues

Posted on June 11, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Occupy’s campaign against economic and political inequality continues, although you have to look a little bit below the headlines to see its efforts and influence. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just announced that the Federal government would forgive student loans … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Activist social science

Posted on May 28, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Like way too many social scientists, I’ve been overly obsessed with the LaCour/Green retraction. Partly, it’s the perverse attraction of watching the slow-motion crash of a career, but more substantially, it’s a chance to reflect on how social science is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How do people change their minds? Others?

Posted on May 22, 2015 by David S. Meyer

More from Columbia University: Donald Green, a professor of political science, has asked Science to retract an article he and a UCLA graduate student, Michael LaCour, published last year.  The paper demonstrated that an extended and open-ended conversation with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Take the degree, leave the mattress.

Posted on May 21, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Emma Sulkowicz dragged her mattress across the Columbia University campus for the last time this week, when she participated in a Class Day graduation ceremony.  This day, several friends helped Sulkowicz carry the mattress across the stages, but mostly she’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will the revolution be tweeted?

Posted on May 10, 2015 by David S. Meyer

More than forty years ago, the talented and tragic poet/musician/activist Gil Scott-Heron rapped–before there was rap–that the Revolution would not be televised.  Television was controlled by big corporations and commercial interests, and social change would come from the streets.  But … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments