516 lines
66 KiB
HTML
516 lines
66 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
||
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
||
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
||
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
||
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
||
<title>20 June, 2021</title>
|
||
<style type="text/css">
|
||
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
||
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
||
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
||
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
||
</style>
|
||
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Biden Reverse Trump’s Damage to the State Department?</strong> - Reeling from the leadership of Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo, career officials wonder whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken can revitalize American diplomacy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-biden-reverse-trumps-damage-to-the-state-department">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Iran Moves Toward a One-Party State</strong> - The Supreme Leader is willing to risk the legitimacy of an election to consolidate monolithic hard-line control. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/iran-moves-toward-a-one-party-state">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The High Cost of Biden’s Meeting with Putin</strong> - To Biden, illusions are a hazard in foreign policy; to Putin, they are its currency. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-high-cost-of-bidens-meeting-with-putin">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Is Going On at Yale Law School?</strong> - The prestigious institution has tied itself in knots over a dispute involving one of its most popular—and controversial—professors, Amy Chua. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/what-is-going-on-at-yale-law-school">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory</strong> - To Christopher Rufo, a term for a school of legal scholarship looked like “the perfect weapon.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>One Good Thing: These dark detective novels are really about ethics and hope</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TvHpqdpY8cPAaB-ILFBXrw_piQM=/456x0:5345x3667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69477866/GettyImages_987886130.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The Abbaye du Saint Benoit du Lac in Quebec, one of the inspirations for the settings in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mystery series. | Walter Bibikow/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Can fiction about police be healing in 2021? Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache books make a very good case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JhKU0o">
|
||
I discovered <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Flists%2Fthe-louise-penny-list&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22533094%2Finspector-gamache-louise-penny-cozy-series-mystery-novels" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series of novels</a> (also known as the Three Pines series) the way a proper detective might: by ransacking Goodreads lists and analyzing the ratings of all the cozy mysteries I could find, to see if any of those quirkily wholesome stories of small-town murder ranked higher than Agatha Christie.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ugOOHA">
|
||
I reasoned that if Goodreads users could agree on the merit of any mystery writer, it would be Christie. (The site is notorious for its vicious and finicky readers who downvote books for the pettiest of reasons.) Therefore any title in the genre that had lots of Goodreads entries and a reader rating that was as high or higher than that of, say, <em>And Then There Were None</em> would be worth digging into.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JPMkNZ">
|
||
Turns out, Penny’s series is not only a Goodreads hit, but has proven so popular she’s churned out <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/louise-penny/chief-inspector-gamache/">a total</a> of 16 volumes<strong> </strong>since publishing the first, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/338691.Still_Life"><em>Still Life</em></a>, in 2005; the 17th, <em>The Madness of Crowds</em>, will come out in August. The books have also won an <a href="https://www.fictiondb.com/author/louise-penny~book-awards~40339.htm">absolute mountain</a> of awards — including the Agatha Award, presented to literary cozies — <a href="https://www.minlib.net/booklists/award-winners/agatha">seven times</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t899UK">
|
||
Conceptually, Inspector Gamache sounds like the last kind of story to go head to head with anything by the grand dame of murder. To start, it’s Canadian, and we all know the darkest crime a Canadian ever committed was creating Tim Hortons. (I kid!)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xjvrRg">
|
||
The books are also difficult to easily categorize. They balance many of the most comforting elements of cozy mysteries with many of the bleakest and most haunting elements of gritty modern noir or criminal procedurals. Yet even when they’re dealing with modern issues like PTSD, drug addiction, systemic racism, and police corruption, they’re all undercut with a highbrow literary bent and a thoroughly humanitarian, nigh-spiritual worldview. Hardly the stuff of the average mystery novel.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="seTTY5">
|
||
People <em>love</em> them. And now, having spent the last month blazing through the first nine books, I see why.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Cc8U3z">
|
||
Louise Penny has perfected the literary genre hybrid
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y9AUOy">
|
||
The Inspector Gamache series takes place in an idyllic small town in Canada called Three Pines. The quirky circle of artists and brigands who reside there frequently compare Three Pines to Brigadoon because it’s not on any map and seems to appear out of the mist only to wandering souls in need of its comforting sense of community. How they feel about its astronomical death rate is another matter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2PFNvT">
|
||
One of the souls who seems to need Three Pines most is our hero, Inspector Gamache, a gentle Quebecois police inspector battling internal corruption. As chief inspector of the Sûreté du Quebec, Gamache culls deep devotion from his officers as well as other beat cops who know him only by reputation. Thanks to the ongoing fallout of a complex scandal involving police brutality against a poor Indigenous community, however, most of his superiors on the force hate him.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rZcR5n">
|
||
Every book in the series thus runs on two parallel tracks: the slow train of Gamache’s meandering route through solving the particulars of that book’s specific murder case, and the bullet train of navigating the intricate political intrigues of his own police department.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ton280">
|
||
This structure allows Penny to layer two different mystery genres — the traditional cozy and the crime thriller — atop one another. The concept of the cozy mystery forms something of a paradox: stories about murder, death, and despair wrapped in a comforting bubble of familiarity, community, warm-hearted main characters, and often a sense of high-spirited fun. If the genre itself forms a paradox, then the Inspector Gamache books form one more. They’re a Schroedinger’s box of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/louise-pennys-a-trick-of-the-light-a-cozy-mystery/2011/08/29/gIQADq5I2J_story.html">yes, they’re definitely cozies</a> and <a href="https://cozy-mystery.com/blog/louise-penny-chief-inspector-gamache-mystery-series.html">no, they’re definitely not</a>, with a lot of <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/more-than-cozy-louise-pennys-small-town-murder-mysteries/">okay, fine, they are, but they’re also so much more</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KzJdA2">
|
||
I find that Inspector Gamache books frequently wriggle away from association with the cozy genre — though I have to note my favorite book in the series so far, <em>A Trick of the Light</em> (book six) is also the coziest of the lot. Overall, though, I agree with the Washington Post’s assessment that they form a wonderful literary hybrid, with an emphasis on literary.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L6XA4L">
|
||
That’s because in addition to observing most of the conventions of the cozy genre, the books are also twisty, multilayered, and sweeping, with story arcs stretching across volumes and involving dozens of characters. Each novel is only partly fixated on crime and equally fixated on various cultural and historical themes, from Canadian revolutionary exploits to Quebecois culture clashes to art and music history.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cl1TNi">
|
||
The books also feel somewhat documentarian, often borrowing real events and settings. Each novel features multiple places reportedly based on <a href="https://www.easterntownships.org/tourist-routes/12/three-pines-inspirations-map-louise-penny">real-life locations</a> around rural Quebec. Interwoven through the entire series are recurring snatches of actual real poems, most written by Margaret Atwood, but presented in the story as coming from the mind of one illustrious fictional poet. One line, <a href="https://www.kittlingbooks.com/2013/09/poisoned-pen-with-louise-penny.html">reportedly</a> written by the self-published poet Marylyn Plessner, serves as an idée fixe for the entire series and its commitment to showing grace to the wounded: “Who hurt you once, so far beyond repair, that you would greet each overture with curling lip?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Q6ZOm">
|
||
These details keep the books rooted in the real — an achievement, given that they’re also playing with tropes and settings that have a deliberately mystical vibe and often verge into the wildly over-the-top. Everything about Three Pines ticks the Quaint Small Town bingo card: There’s the cute B&B and bistro run by the equally cute gay couple who, like their neighbor the quirky bookshop owner, stumbled upon the town one day by accident and never left. They’re joined by the resident town drunk, an aging, foul-mouthed troll who hates everyone, secretly yearns for love, and … was also the poet laureate of Canada. That’s Ruth Zardo, one of the most vivid characters I’ve ever read and absolutely one of the best reasons to devour every book in this series.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="97OaIj">
|
||
At the center of this motley crew we have Clara, a perpetually harried struggling artist whose biggest roadblock to professional success may be her own jealous and resentful husband. Watching her figure this out over the course of the series as she gradually comes into her own may be one of the other best reasons to check out the series.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EVtEcR">
|
||
On Inspector Gamache’s own team, far removed from Three Pines and embroiled in the political drama of the Sûreté, we have mostly doggedly loyal officers, comforting and faithful — except for one. The insubordinate agent, Yvette Nicole, is almost impossible to take seriously as a character because her narcissism, overconfidence, and non-neurotypical social processing give her such an intense personality. But Penny has the great gift of empathizing with all her characters, and that makes Nicole in particular irresistible. She’s an obnoxious, completely unpredictable weapon in Gamache’s arsenal, and yet another reason to seek out the series.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="t67ets">
|
||
At their core, these books are about hope and community
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3ThzCj">
|
||
You may have noticed I’ve said very little about murder, and that’s because there’s so much more going on in this series than murder. I’ve found the actual book-by-book murder plots and their resolutions to be very hit-or-miss — but even when Penny’s episodic tales are a bit unwieldy, her ongoing narrative, and the twists and sheer drama she culls from it, are truly operatic in scale and achievement. The books so far divide into two separate but linked narrative arcs — books 1 to 3 and books 4 to 9 — and that’s a lot of reading, a lot of plot to keep straight, and a huge amount of build-up to a climax. But in both arcs, the climaxes are deliciously dramatic, with giant consequences, huge plot twists, and some absolutely brilliant, deeply satisfying sleights of hand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RB4VWq">
|
||
(Also of note: So far, I have experienced this series via its fantastic audiobooks, the first 10 of which are narrated with exquisite craft and care by the late <a href="https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/narrators/ralph-cosham/">Ralph Cosham</a>. Cosham’s precise Quebecois pronunciation is a gift, and he inhabits the titular Inspector Gamache and many of the series’ other characters so fully he all but becomes them. If you want to binge the series, I can’t recommend the audio production enough.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xx3a95">
|
||
That’s not to say the series isn’t without flaws. Over 17 volumes, there’s a lot of repetition for newcomers and the reader who’s forgotten what happened in the last book, so if you binge them, you may get tired of hearing some details over and over. One ongoing plot involving a character’s painkiller addiction nearly stretches all credulity and resolves with total absurdity. And there’s a refrain of unconscious but omnipresent fat-shaming for many, many characters, particularly the series’ only Black character, Myrna the bookstore owner, who’s perpetually characterized through her fatness.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f1eyEI">
|
||
Yet there’s a reason these books have won such critical acclaim. Even with some obvious flaws, Penny’s writing excels in its depth of characterization, scope of plotting, and commitment to serializing story arcs over the course of multiple books, and above all the heart at the center of each book.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xdUXnn">
|
||
We might say that heart is Inspector Gamache himself. In a moment when defunding and abolishing the police are central to every discussion of how to fix a broken justice system here in America, the last thing I expected when I read the first volume was to become obsessed with a series about a Canadian cop. But Penny, through Gamache, perpetually asks how policing can be both ethical and kind, and how a broken and corrupt justice system might be rebuilt around these principles. Gamache may be an unrealistically idealized version of a police officer — he doesn’t even carry a weapon during the daily course of his job — but he is a welcome one. Genteel and literate, Gamache uses a form of soft power as his primary offense. He’s dedicated to listening and learning, gaining the trust of fellow officers and suspects, rather than leading through shows of force or bullying his way toward a predetermined outcome.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CdWyRz">
|
||
The image of a cop who constantly keeps himself and his considerable power in check, in favor of doing community outreach and bonding with suspects, feels almost unfairly flattering as a portrait of policing in 2021. But if Gamache is ethical and kind, the Sûreté itself is not, and Penny always reminds us the system itself is broken.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TpVJXS">
|
||
Broken, but not irredeemable. In Penny’s universe, almost no one is beyond redemption or past hope of forgiveness, especially if they’re part of a community that’s chosen love and forgiveness as its guiding principle. That idea, too, feels like a rare luxury in a culture where our sins are increasingly preserved for all time and added to an ever-growing tally of reasons for others to judge us (or cancel us) at will.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T5Br9q">
|
||
It’s also why, when a writer like Penny comes along, you might find yourself clinging to them — perhaps as a reminder that you yourself are not beyond hope.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5HYhxZ">
|
||
<em>You can find the </em><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Flists%2Fthe-louise-penny-list&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22533094%2Finspector-gamache-louise-penny-cozy-series-mystery-novels" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Inspector Gamache</em></a><em> books, beginning with </em><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fstill-life-a-chief-inspector-gamache-novel%2F9780312541538&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22533094%2Finspector-gamache-louise-penny-cozy-series-mystery-novels" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Still Life</a><em>, at your local library or wherever books are sold. To listen to the audiobooks, check out Audible, Amazon, or your favorite audiobook merchant.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="estjfL">
|
||
<em>For more recommendations from the world of culture, check out the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/one-good-thing"><em>One Good Thing</em></a><em> archives.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vavw1K">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yNxaV7">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Abortion rights, Joe Biden, and communion: the controversy, explained</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Joe Biden Marks His Inauguration With Full Day Of Events" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dB3tNw5ImA5TyVq9Ky63CSGh6Ic=/208x0:3532x2493/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69476579/1297420254.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend services at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle with Congressional leaders prior to his inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
US Catholic leadership is divided on how to approach pro-choice Catholic politicians.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SCGxsb">
|
||
In a break from the Vatican and past policy, the American arm of the Roman Catholic Church this week kicked off a process that could eventually sanction the exclusion of President Joe Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, from receiving holy communion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZmvcsU">
|
||
On Thursday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which consists of all Catholic bishops in the US and the US Virgin Islands, voted overwhelmingly to <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/us-bishops-approve-action-items-their-agenda-spring-general-assembly">draft</a> “a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church” that would clarify church policy on the topic — at least in the US. If approved, such a statement could allow individual bishops to prevent Catholic politicians who disagree with church doctrine about abortion from receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist, a sacred rite in Catholicism.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D7iASH">
|
||
It’s a change that has been pushed by conservative bishops with renewed fervor in recent months, following Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump, and appears to specifically target Biden, who is vocal about his Catholic faith, and whose personal views on abortion have been subject to question throughout his <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-campaign-abortion-biden-ryan-debate/catholics-ryan-biden-disagree-over-abortion-rights-idINDEE89B04C20121012">time as vice president</a> and while campaigning in 2020 for the Oval Office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fyYZEW">
|
||
Thursday’s vote also reflects an internal divide among US church leadership over how involved the religious institution should be in political life. If the conference does produce a statement opposing sacraments for pro-choice politicians, it would be a sharp departure from past non-responses to politicians who have gone against church teachings on other issues, such as the death penalty. And it would diverge from the teachings of Pope Francis, head. of the Catholic Church, who has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/pope-bluntly-faults-churchs-focus-on-gays-and-abortion.html">called for the church</a> to be a “home for all,” rather than overly focusing on a handful of social issues.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Tizsl">
|
||
Biden, 78, is an observant Catholic who regularly attends Mass — including in Cornwall, England, during the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-k-churchgoers-stunned-bidens-join-them-sunday-service-n1270608">recent G7 summit</a> — and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-catholic-bishops/2021/06/18/acf576c0-d04a-11eb-a7f1-52b8870bef7c_story.html">reportedly considered</a> entering the priesthood at multiple points in his life.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="BRITAIN-G7-SUMMIT" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QjSbNqj0O_JNRO-toamWdFA3Rvs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22669020/1233424320.jpg"/> <cite>BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
President Joe Biden leaves church after attending mass in St Ives, Cornwall during the G7 summit on June 13, 2021.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n6EdmO">
|
||
But his pro-choice stance on abortion stands in stark contrast to that of the Catholic Church, and especially that of conservative Catholic leaders in the US, who place particular focus on the issue.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bUR0FY">
|
||
<a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/17/us-bishops-conference-eucharist-vote-communion-biden-240890">According to the Jesuit magazine <em>America</em></a>, Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who leads an anti-abortion committee in the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, cited public figures who “love to describe themselves as devout Catholics” while nonetheless supporting abortion rights, as a reason for his vote to draft the statement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DEt5fI">
|
||
In May, Naumann also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/05/25/catholic-bishops-biden-communion-abortion-francis/">told Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein</a> that such a statement is particularly urgent now because of a “different climate” on abortion rights in the US.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="H8Nv2B">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
I spoke to Archbishop Joseph Naumann, leader of the US bishops’ pro-life committee and one of the men pressing for the vote. He noted the bishops took a similar vote in 2004, but said the new effort is urgent because of what he calls a “different climate” on abortion. 2/7
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Michelle Boorstein (<span class="citation" data-cites="mboorstein">@mboorstein</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/mboorstein/status/1397511926951907328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gSHAaL">
|
||
Other Catholic leaders, such as Bishop Liam Cary, have been <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/17/us-bishops-conference-eucharist-vote-communion-biden-240890">even more explicit</a> about their focus on Biden: “It seems to me this is an unprecedented situation in the country,” Cary said, according to <em>America Magazine</em>. “We’ve never had a situation like this where the executive is a Catholic president who is opposed to the teaching of the church.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s4ssbS">
|
||
The results of the vote were released on Friday, and the measure was approved by a wide margin, with 168 US bishops <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/us-bishops-approve-action-items-their-agenda-spring-general-assembly">voting in favor</a> and just 55 opposing. Six members of the conference abstained from the vote.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2mXDHk">
|
||
However, many steps remain before the church takes any action that could affect Biden’s ability to receive the sacrament, and the result may ultimately be more symbolic than anything. For one, the statement has yet to be drafted, much less approved (that requires a two-thirds majority from the same conference), and the Vatican will likely also have to approve the statement first. (Francis has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-vatican.html">remained silent</a> about this week’s vote.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4x7lkF">
|
||
Consequently, there’s no guarantee that the statement will go as far as some conservative bishops hope in emphasizing that pro-choice politicians should be banned from receiving communion, even if one is approved — and as <em>America Magazine</em> writer Michael J. O’Loughlin <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeOLoughlin/status/1405177395339014164?s=20">pointed out on Twitter</a> Friday, the conference doesn’t have the ability to ban Biden from receiving communion outright in any case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="ciS4km">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
But ultimately, the decision on who can receive Communion rests with an individual bishop, not a bishops conference. There will not and cannot be a vote by the bishops conference on whether an individual believer is able to receive Communion. 6/
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Michael J. O’Loughlin (<span class="citation" data-cites="MikeOLoughlin">@MikeOLoughlin</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeOLoughlin/status/1405177395339014164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="guJzAw">
|
||
According to O’Loughlin:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q8EY1U">
|
||
Some Catholic conservatives, including some bishops, want to include a section in the proposed future statement about public figures who disagree on church teaching, especially on abortion, and reiterate that their position bars them from Communion. … But ultimately, the decision on who can receive Communion rests with an individual bishop, not a bishops conference. There will not and cannot be a vote by the bishops conference on whether an individual believer is able to receive Communion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3DOin2">
|
||
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop for Washington, DC, has <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/11/24/cardinal-wilton-gregory-joe-biden-communion-dialogue">said</a> categorically that he will not block Biden from receiving communion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YDMBAu">
|
||
It’s not unprecedented for an individual bishop to weigh in on whether a political figure should receive communion. In 2008, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24359892">according to the AP</a>, New York Cardinal Edward Egan condemned former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s decision to receive communion during a papal visit to the city because of Giuliani’s support for abortion rights. However, this week’s vote could lead to a much broader rebuke of Catholics who go against church doctrine on abortion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="FFBdwb">
|
||
Catholic Democrats are already pushing back on the vote — and public opinion is against it as well
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cZJvCx">
|
||
Although it is not yet certain what the final statement could end up looking like, nearly 60 Catholic Democrats have pushed back on the conference’s decision. In a “<a href="https://delauro.house.gov/sites/delauro.house.gov/files/documents/Statement%20of%20Principles%206.18.21.pdf">Statement of Principles</a>,” the lawmakers wrote that “the Sacrament of Holy Communion is central to the life of practicing Catholics, and the weaponization of the Eucharist to Democratic lawmakers for their support of a woman’s safe and legal access to abortion is contradictory.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lL6eIE">
|
||
“We solemnly urge you to not move forward and deny this most holy of all sacraments, the source and the summit of the whole work of the gospel over one issue,” reads the statement, signed by prominent progressive Catholic lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and released Friday.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AsGwBe">
|
||
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who joined the formal statement, also condemned the conference’s decision in harsher language on Twitter.<strong> </strong>On Friday, he called the bishops’ conference “hypocrites,” and in a <a href="https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1406059092951453697">series</a> of <a href="https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1406160913678303237">posts</a> has pointed out that other Catholics have not been denied sacraments for going against church teachings on other matters, such as divorce, contraception use, and supporting the death penalty.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="uTJGAq">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Dear <a href="https://twitter.com/USCCB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="USCCB">@USCCB</span></a>: I’m Catholic and you are hypocrites. You did not tell Bill Barr, a Catholic, not to take communion when he expanded killing human beings with the death penalty. You are being nakedly partisan and you should be ashamed. Another reason you are losing membership. <a href="https://t.co/kpIYRolnHD">https://t.co/kpIYRolnHD</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Ted Lieu (<span class="citation" data-cites="tedlieu">@tedlieu</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1405967402894958596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zqJl9Y">
|
||
All told, there are more than 150 Catholic members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who did not join Friday’s statement. Catholics <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2021/01/01/catholics-rise-prominence-religion-congress/">hold 29 percent of seats</a> in Congress — making it the most-represented religious denomination in the body. Of those members, <a href="https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1405969670545551365?s=20">according to the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel</a>, 91 are Democrats and 67 are Republicans.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="XwPkiZ">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Obviously Biden should be the focus of these stories, but the Speaker of the House and most Catholic members of Congress would be denied communion if this advances. (91 Catholic Dems in Congress, 67 Republicans.) <a href="https://t.co/ARKn3dA2Py">https://t.co/ARKn3dA2Py</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Dave Weigel (<span class="citation" data-cites="daveweigel">@daveweigel</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1405969670545551365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZhTz59">
|
||
And while the motion to draft a statement was approved easily by the conference of bishops this week, polling suggests that Friday’s statement by Catholic lawmakers is more in line with the views of American Catholics writ large.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NzjwjM">
|
||
According to a <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2021/03/30/most-democrats-and-republicans-know-biden-is-catholic-but-they-differ-sharply-about-how-religious-he-is/">recent survey</a> by the Pew Research Center, a sizable majority of US Catholics — about 67 percent — believe that Biden should still be allowed to receive communion regardless of his views on abortion, while just 29 percent say he should be denied.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4vY0OX">
|
||
The question breaks along sharply partisan lines, with 87 percent of Catholic Democrats supporting Biden’s ability to receive communion and a smaller majority of Catholic Republicans opposing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="O0cZPh">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
I see a lot of conservatives gloating about this but I think telling observant Catholic liberals and Democrats they’re not wanted or welcome in the Church is not going to work out the way they seem to think it will. <a href="https://t.co/lcZtivvraq">https://t.co/lcZtivvraq</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Adam Serwer (<span class="citation" data-cites="AdamSerwer">@AdamSerwer</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1405967980928897029?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfHZbf">
|
||
Additionally, an outright majority of all US Catholics support the right to an abortion, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/20/8-key-findings-about-catholics-and-abortion/">according to a 2019 Pew survey</a>. About 56 percent say it should be legal in all or most cases, while 42 percent say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PMSDbM">
|
||
For his part, Biden seems unworried by the conference’s move.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TMH5BV">
|
||
“That’s a private matter, and I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1405966299159740419?s=20">said</a> on Friday when asked by a reporter about potentially being denied communion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="NUuhpo">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
President Biden responds to Catholic bishops potentially denying him communion for his support of abortion rights: “That’s a private matter, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.” <a href="https://t.co/R5ckSKMbkV">https://t.co/R5ckSKMbkV</a> <a href="https://t.co/7gSpwhbYWs">pic.twitter.com/7gSpwhbYWs</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— CBS News (<span class="citation" data-cites="CBSNews">@CBSNews</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1405966299159740419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<h3 id="61OYVO">
|
||
Opponents of the statement are worried about politicizing the church
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w8z16Y">
|
||
Though this week’s vote by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is only an agreement to move forward with a draft — a long way from anything final or substantive — it’s still noteworthy for what it says about the church’s willingness to involve itself in partisan politics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1BaQ1D">
|
||
Were conservative bishops to succeed in blocking pro-choice politicians from receiving the Eucharist, the impact would break down along largely partisan lines and could put pressure on devout Catholics who are also pro-choice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="azct8n">
|
||
In debating the resolution to draft a statement this week, bishops also expressed <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahmccammon/status/1405637547439558661?s=20">concern</a> that backers of the proposal had their eyes on the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election and warned against “get[ting] embroiled in the political situation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="kbT3TA">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
“I can’t help but wonder if the years 2022 and 2024 might be part of the rush and I think we need to be careful not to get embroiled in the political situation.” ~Bishop Coerver of Lubbock, TX, worrying that bishops are rushing discussions about denying communion. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USCCB21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USCCB21</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Sarah McCammon (<span class="citation" data-cites="sarahmccammon">@sarahmccammon</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahmccammon/status/1405637547439558661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TMTFTF">
|
||
And Bishop <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/05/05/joe-biden-communion-eucharistic-exclusion-abortion-us-bishops-240596">Robert McElroy</a> of San Diego warned that taking steps to prevent politicians from receiving the Eucharist could damage the sanctity of the rite.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vt6iks">
|
||
“Once we legitimate public policy-based Eucharistic exclusion as a regular part of our teaching office — and that is the road to which we are headed — we will invite all of the political animosities that so tragically divide our nation into the very heart of the Eucharistic celebration,” McElroy said, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/us/targeting-biden-catholic-bishops-advance-controversial-communion-plan.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage">according to the New York Times</a>. “That sacrament which seeks to make us one will become for millions of Catholics a sign of division.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="fCRJXw">
|
||
Many US bishops aren’t on the same page as the Vatican
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XWxACz">
|
||
Thursday’s vote by the bishops’ conference is also notable for at least one other reason: It marks a split from the Vatican, which has previously warned American bishops against taking such a step — and it reflects a peculiarly American focus on abortion rights above other matters of church doctrine. It also diverges from statements from Pope Francis, the organization’s head, who has advised against overemphasizing social issues at the expense of other matters of morality and justice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wm9gTW">
|
||
“It is not necessary to talk about these [social] issues all the time,” Francis said in a 2013 interview with <em>America</em>, referring to same-sex marriage, abortion, and contraception.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D1E5HW">
|
||
In May, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, who heads the Catholic Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — an international body, seated in Rome — specifically <a href="https://www.catholicnews.com/cardinal-ladaria-cautions-us-bishops-on-politicians-and-communion/">cautioned</a> Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, the current president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, against attempting to implement national policy without widespread support.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pxrhbg">
|
||
Without universal agreement by US bishops, Ladaria said, the proposed statement on the Eucharist could “become a source of discord rather than unity” within the church.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l9eJtq">
|
||
According to Catholic News Service, which obtained the letter, Ladaria also argued to Gomez that “it would be ‘misleading’ to present abortion and euthanasia as ‘the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest level of accountability on the part of Catholics.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e2knOg">
|
||
Indeed, Gomez did just that in a <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/usccb-presidents-statement-inauguration-joseph-r-biden-jr-46th-president-united-states">statement</a> marking Biden’s January inauguration. “For the nation’s bishops, the continued injustice of abortion remains the ‘preeminent priority,’” he wrote at the time, though he also stressed that “preeminent does not mean ‘only.’”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gC5tVw">
|
||
As other writers have noted, that emphasis by American Catholicism isn’t new. “Especially since the 1990s, the American Catholic Church has become increasingly identified with the religious right, emphasizing the perils of abortion and gay rights,” writes <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/joe-biden-catholic-social-teaching-centrism.html">UCLA Prof. Jeffrey Guhin in an article for <em>Slate</em></a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BxYc3x">
|
||
However, the church also takes stances that could be seen as liberal on other issues, such as social justice and environmentalism. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/us/targeting-biden-catholic-bishops-advance-controversial-communion-plan.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage">As the <em>New York Times</em> pointed out</a> on Friday, Biden’s Catholicism, which stems more from such liberal Christian doctrine and is “focused less on sexual politics and more on racial inequality, climate change and poverty,” aligns closely with that of Francis in many ways, despite their differing stances on abortion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MdBjpF">
|
||
In that sense, the strong conservative bent of the American bishops’ organization diverges from the spirit of the Vatican since Francis ascended in 2013. Previously, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/world/europe/biden-vatican-communion-abortion.html">according to the Times’s Jason Horowitz</a>, Pope Francis “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/world/europe/pope-francis-schism.html">has explicitly identified the United States as the source of opposition to his pontificate</a>,” and described it as “an honor” to be attacked by conservative American bishops. On Saturday, Francis did not comment on the week’s vote — because, as Horowitz writes in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-vatican.html">separate article</a>, “The divergence of the conservative American church from Francis’ agenda is now so apparent as to become unremarkable.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>People keep finding late loved ones on Google Maps</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A Google Street View car navigates a crowded street." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/szoWAwMt9E7RaAsPeELeqWLR1d4=/265x0:3541x2457/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69475601/GettyImages_1134268823.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Google uses cars to capture the panoramic images that power Street View, and sometimes, images of people. | Avalon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Some find it comforting, some find it creepy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EpEMnv">
|
||
For years, Google Maps has offered Street View, which stitches together panoramic camera images to recreate a digital facsimile of physical spaces in the real world that you can explore online. Some people are discovering that if they scroll through the platform long enough and <a href="https://blog.google/products/maps/go-back-in-time-with-street-view/">use a time travel feature</a>, they just might find the image of a late loved one captured by one of Google’s cameras — and seemingly saved in Google Maps forever.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JQeJky">
|
||
In the past few days, several posts announcing these discoveries have gone viral. One from UK-based writer Sherri Turner has already racked up tens of thousands of<strong> </strong>“Likes” on Twitter. A similar tweet from an <a href="https://twitter.com/fesshole/status/1405169551092948994">anonymous confessions account</a> also attracted attention from not only other Twitter users but also major <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57511055">media</a> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/google-maps-street-view-captures-image-late-family-members-fesshole-tweets-1601606">outlets</a>. The tweets have turned into threads where others share stories of looking for their deceased relatives in Google Maps.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="UgWW4s">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
I look at my mum’s old house on Google maps street view, the house where I grew up. It says ‘Image captured May 2009’. There is a light on in her bedroom. It is still her house, she is still alive, I am still visiting every few months on the train to Bodmin Parkway,
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Sherri Turner (<span class="citation" data-cites="STurner4077">@STurner4077</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/STurner4077/status/1405152351112077317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u1C0QS">
|
||
This is hardly the first time people have used the time travel feature in Street View to go searching for the departed on Google Maps — or to share the experience on social media. Google released Street View in 2007, and these types of viral Twitter posts have been happening <a href="https://twitter.com/r13639/status/392432114991239168">since at least 2013</a>. The trend points to an enduring pattern of Google forging ahead in its endless quest to map the entire world (Street View currently includes 87 countries) and constantly update that data. Somewhere along the way, Google Maps users are realizing this process has unintended consequences.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dnj1vF">
|
||
This effect suggests that the creation of these 360-degree views of the world requires momentary surveillance. Google Maps uses lots and lots of cameras to create the immersive experience that Street View offers. Google says the <a href="https://www.google.com/streetview/">digital recreation of the physical world</a> is powered by millions of cameras<strong> </strong>that capture multiple angles, <a href="https://www.google.com/earth/education/tools/street-view/">collected</a> by people “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FZH652qYkA">driving</a>, pedaling, sailing, and walking around and capturing imagery.” The company has also moved to allow users to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/03/google-now-lets-anyone-contribute-to-street-view-using-ar-and-an-app/">submit their own images to supplement its own Street View</a>. While helping people remember dead family members isn’t really the intended purpose of Google Maps, a spokesperson told Recode it was “heartwarming” people were using the platform in this way.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A person has a bicycle on a street in Brooklyn, which is recorded by Google’s Street View" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8O8UdSHZRx48c7W_ReAAVPVzkXw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22665945/Screen_Shot_2021_06_17_at_4.24.37_PM.png"/> <cite>Google Maps</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The time travel feature in Street View lets you compare present images to images that were captured as far back as 2007.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ENARpV">
|
||
Turner, the writer, told Recode she discovered the time travel feature in Street View earlier this week, when she was trying to see what a house that belonged to her late mother, who passed away nearly four years ago, looked like now. She ended up finding that the last available image on Street View was from 2009. It showed the house with a light on, which told Turner that her mother was home when the image was captured. “That makes it a little bit more something that you feel like you’ve stumbled across rather than something you’ve made happen,” she told Recode.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sKsRqQ">
|
||
Again, people have been discovering images of late loved ones on Street View for a while. It was even happening <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/rZMM5o5">before Google introduced the time travel feature</a>. The phenomenon also drove a <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/01/google-street-view-deceased-loved-ones.html">whole</a> <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/searching-for-the-dead-in-google-street-view-d3cbb117f4fa">news cycle</a> last year, when one Twitter user said she’d found an image of her late grandfather on Street View. The tweet generated more than 400,000 “Likes.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1XuQ7a">
|
||
But there’s more to the story than viral content. The images are a reminder that many people who show up in Street View don’t know their pictures are being taken, and the deceased have no say in whether or not their image remains on the service.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BugTur">
|
||
More broadly, tech companies like Google hold much of the power over this sensitive and personal data, and citizens haven’t had a real role in setting norms for how data associated with decreased people ought to be handled. That’s especially important because Google’s approach to this data may not match up with the religious and cultural norms surrounding death practiced by many of its users across the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CXrGux">
|
||
“Increasingly, the majority of our online users are going to come from global south countries,” <a href="https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/3183331">Faheem Hussain</a>, a professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society, told Recode. “What we are increasingly seeing is the absence of [the] participation of the people in that design.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PeQeRm">
|
||
Late family members aren’t the only surprising finds on Google Maps. There are entire <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/streetview/">online</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/googlemapsshenanigans/">communities</a> devoted to exploring the mapping platform for unusual things, identifying everything from wild animals to sandstorms. There’s also a much darker side of the apparent omnipresence of Street View and Google Maps more broadly, one that raises myriad concerns about <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/woman-sues-google-exposing-her-underwear-street-view-flna125876">peoples’ privacy</a>. Back in 2013, for example, a father in California had to ask Google to remove <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/catesevilla/man-says-the-body-of-his-dead-son-can-be-see-on-google-maps">an aerial image of his son’s dead body</a>. Google says it has systems in place for blurring out personally identifying information from passersby and license plates in the photos it takes. But clearly, some people can still be identified if a family member knows what they’re looking for.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d52XWY">
|
||
The enduring trend of finding lost loved ones inevitably serves as a reminder that Google plays a major role in documenting our daily lives over time. There’s no sign that the digital artifacts being preserved in Street View are going to go away anytime soon. Instead, they might just become part of how history is recorded in a process that we don’t necessarily have control over.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>WTC final | New Zealand bounces back on day three morning</strong> - Anything in the vicinity of 250 would be a good score in prevailing conditions.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tokyo organisers working on safe stay and training of Indian athletes in Games Village: TOCOG</strong> - The Indian athletes and officials travelling for the Olympics have been asked by the Japanese government to undergo daily COVID-19 tests for a week prior to their departure</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Selection in Olympics team was my late father’s dream, says Lalremsiami</strong> - The 21-year-old created history when she became the first female player from Mizoram to be picked for the Olympics.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shafali Verma will be very important for us in all formats: Mithali</strong> - The India veteran also backed her English counterpart Heather Knight’s call for a five-day Test format for women’s cricket.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DeChambeau within reach of second straight U.S. Open</strong> - He has stuck to the same strategy he used to win at Winged Foot last year</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aisha Sultana appears before Kavaratti police</strong> - Filmmaker from Lakshadweep Aisha Sultana, who was served a notice by the police to appear at the Kavaratti police station for her ‘bio-weapon’ commen</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Keel of additional Krivak class second frigate laid</strong> - Stealth ship is being built by Goa Shipyard Limited with technology transfer from Russia</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Some trains going towards Vijayawada cancelled for safety works</strong> - The railways have cancelled some trains going from Visakhapatnam to Vijayawada, Guntur, Lingampalli and Kadapa in view of safety related modernisation</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Facing ED probe, Sena MLA urges return to NDA fold</strong> - NCP, Congress trying to weaken Sena, MLA Pratap Sarnaik tells Uddhav</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Congress again alleges scam in land purchase in Ayodhya; says responsibility of SC, PM to find truth</strong> - Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that a BJP leader brought 890 metres of land in Ayodhya for ₹ 20 lakh in February and sold it to the Temple Trust for a whopping ₹ 2.5 crore, making a profit of 1250% in only 79 days.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antwerp: Five construction workers killed in school building site collapse</strong> - All of the victims were construction workers who had been building the new primary school.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Man loses hand in clashes at banned France rave</strong> - Five police officers were hurt as police tried to break up the party in the Brittany region.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In pictures: 1,000 Dreams to mark World Refugee Day</strong> - Refugees across Europe set out to record the lives of those who have also fled persecution.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘World’s oldest’ alligator Muja celebrates 85th birthday at Belgrade Zoo</strong> - From surviving World War Two to becoming a hit on TikTok, Belgrade Zoo star Muja has been through a lot.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Robert Schuman: Pope puts father of modern Europe on sainthood path</strong> - The Pope recognises the “heroic virtues” of Robert Schuman, who founded key European institutions.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Test out next-gen space tech in Kerbal Space Program</strong> - The rocket-building game lets you pilot a fusion-propelled craft right now. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1774406">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Archaeologists recreated three common kinds of Paleolithic cave lighting</strong> - Experiments could enhance our understanding of the origin of prehistoric art in caves. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1773827">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two Viking burials, separated by an ocean, contain close kin</strong> - Two Viking Age warriors from the same family died hundreds of kilometers apart. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1774420">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The efforts to make text-based AI less racist and terrible</strong> - Researchers try different approaches to solve problem of amplifying negative stereotypes. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1774477">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pornhub sued for allegedly serving “under-age, non-consensual” videos</strong> - “I seek justice for myself and the countless victims who don’t come forward.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1774586">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>The Bible and the Quran tell us to love each other</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Kamasutra is more specific.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FatGuyInAWheelchair"> /u/FatGuyInAWheelchair </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3s5fm/the_bible_and_the_quran_tell_us_to_love_each_other/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3s5fm/the_bible_and_the_quran_tell_us_to_love_each_other/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>As an Aussie, Americans are always asking me where in Australia there <em>isn’t</em> something trying to kill you…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“School” is my answer
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Genius_Mate"> /u/Genius_Mate </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3ewd9/as_an_aussie_americans_are_always_asking_me_where/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3ewd9/as_an_aussie_americans_are_always_asking_me_where/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A wife decides to take her husband, Dave, to a strip club for his birthday.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They arrive at the club and the doorman says, “Hey, Dave! How ya doin’?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
His wife is puzzled and asks if hes been to this club before.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Oh no,” says Dave. “Hes on my bowling team.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
When they are seated, a waitress asks Dave if hed like his usual and brings over a Budweiser.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
His wife is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and says,“How did she know that you drink Budweiser?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Shes in the Ladies Bowling League, honey. We share lanes with them.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A stripper then comes over to their table, throws her arms around Dave, and says “Hi Davey. Want your usual table dance, big boy?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Daves wife, now furious, grabs her purse and storms out of the club.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Dave follows and spots her getting into a cab. Before she can slam the door, he jumps in beside her.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He tries desperately to explain how the stripper must have mistaken him for someone else, but his wife is having none of it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
She is screaming at him at the top of her lungs, calling him every name in the book.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The cabby turns his head and says, "Looks like you picked up a real bitch tonight, Dave.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MrGuttor"> /u/MrGuttor </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3yxv8/a_wife_decides_to_take_her_husband_dave_to_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3yxv8/a_wife_decides_to_take_her_husband_dave_to_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The guy sat next to me on the train pulled out a photo of his wife and said, “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I said, "If you think she’s beautiful, you should see my wife!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He said, "Why? Is she super-hot too?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I said, “No, she’s an optometrist!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RealTheAsh"> /u/RealTheAsh </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o43smv/the_guy_sat_next_to_me_on_the_train_pulled_out_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o43smv/the_guy_sat_next_to_me_on_the_train_pulled_out_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Success is like being pregnant.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Everyone says congratulations, but nobody knows how many times you got fucked.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Digital8BitBuddy"> /u/Digital8BitBuddy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3npio/success_is_like_being_pregnant/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o3npio/success_is_like_being_pregnant/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html> |