Awesomeness

[owlmoose]

I have posted about my love of videoblogger Jay Smooth before. He's probably best known on the Internets for his famous video on how to tell people they sound racist, which I expect most of you have seen before (but if not you should go watch it right now). Recently, he gave a follow-up TED talk at Hampshire College, and it is very excellent.

There's also a transcript on his site, here. But if you are video-enabled, watching the whole thing is very worth your time.

Comments

[auronlu]

Wow. Thanks. I hadn't seen the first video, and I am SO IMPRESSED. The second will take some more time to digest fully.

What struck me about the first video is that it applies to nearly every kind of social friction and disagreement. (I have family members who spend a great deal of time and effort in nitpicking each others' psychology and character flaws in response to actions that bothered them.)

Not to take away from the more important subject of racism -- whoops, there I go not talking about it -- but I just can't help seeing the applicability in many, many arenas.

[owlmoose]

Oh, definitely -- I think both vids are generally applicable to all kinds of social justice issues. I imagine Jay tends to focus on race because it's where he lives for both personal and professional reasons (he's a hip-hop DJ), but I don't think it's inappropriate to see it in a more global context as well. (And he's made fantastic videos on other issues as well, such as the Roman Polanski mess, which I found one of the most cogent statements on that entire affair.)

[auronlu]

Since I last posted, I've gone to his channel and started working my way back through all his videos for the last year.

So, so, SO MUCH SENSE. (And also funny about hard issues). I'll look for the Roman Polanski one now.

[owlmoose]

Make sure to watch "The Little Hater" -- I think you will appreciate it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TpmJgSfZ_8&feature=related