ASA Meeting – Day 1
August 1st, 2008 by SocProf and tagged Rant, Sociology
Things that suck:
- Having one’s flight delayed for 2 hours because of a big time thunderstorm in Chicago
- Being seated on the plane next to a big guy (so, no armrest separation possible) who progressively opens his legs wider and wider… guys, keep your goddamn legs together and stop encroaching on women’s already drastically limited legspace, ok?
- Being surrounded by people who must think their disgusting habits have to be shared in public (picking one’s nose, chewing gum with one goddamn mouth open and making a lot of slushy noice, manicuring oneself by opening one’s mouth really wide and shoving half one’s big finger in there)… seriously, I wish there were 2 economy cabins: one of normal people like me, who just read, rest and have their Ipods on. And then one for families with kids and people with gross habits… a sealed and soundproof cabin for them… heck, different flights altogether.
- Being then 2 hours late at one’s destination so that I missed the plenary session of the day with ASA President Arne Kalleberg, Christopher Jencks, Bob Kuttner (of the American Prospect… these guys must love the ASA cuz they always show up), and Donna Shalala…. !@#$… it looked like a great discussion with a great topic: "Reinventing the American Dream" in the context of globalization, neo-liberalism and increasing inequalities.
- Attending a Marxist Section while sleep deprived… and what a panel: Stanley Aronowitz, Douglas Kellner (blog) (the other guys, not so great)… the topic: the future of the Frankfurt School after Adorno… (following quote about Adorno at the link should be the motto for PB2.0: "In order to become a better society, we need to overcome this basic problem of communication. We need to speak the Truth, not our own personal truth. We need to rid our discussions of the stereotypes, the advertisements, the put-downs, and especially the lies. In doing so, we will be able to discuss what is really important: the ideas.") great but geez, I do NOT like psychoanalysis. There, I’ve said it!
- Having 4 session that look interesting all scheduled at 2:30pm, and none at 4:30pm (although helps with the sleep deprivation thing).
- Forgetting to get utensils at the Indian fast food where I bought dinner… I shall not reveal what I used as forks, knives and spoon to eat my basmati rice and palak paneer.
Things that DO NOT suck
- Meeting Rick Fantasia again
- Great sessions tomorrow, especially one with Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett, Arjun Appadurai and Manfred Steger… oh boy!!
- Meeting VastLeft on Sunday… Yay!!
Posted in Humor, Sociology | 2 Comments »
August 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Do you really think that there is a difference between referring to babies as “!@#$ spawn” and the violation of human rights? Human rights are violated *exactly* through comments like yours:
“Being surrounded by people who must think their disgusting habits have to be shared in public (picking one’s nose, chewing gum with one goddamn mouth open and making a lot of slushy noice, manicuring oneself by opening one’s mouth really wide and shoving half one’s big finger in there)… seriously, I wish there were 2 economy cabins: one of normal people like me, who just read, rest and have their Ipods on. And then one for families with kids and people with gross habits… a sealed and soundproof cabin for them… heck, different flights altogether.”
Different flights for different kinds of human beings next to a “stop the genocide” banner and you reject “institutional racism?”
August 7th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
That’s right. I think people with bad manners are annoying, therefore, I’m a big proponent of genocide.
And I don’t know what they’re teaching at your university but you’ve got serious reading comprehension problems… there is a difference between behavior and people. We do segregate smokers, for instance (at least in this country, might be different somewhere else)… are you gonna whine about that too?
Better to remain anonymous, you might expose you idiocy.
Genocide and segregation refer to largely ascribed statuses over which people have no control. Bad manners… that’s something plainly within the control of individuals engaging in them.
Go read Goffman.