Tag: Resistance

The masked and the unmasked

The masked and the unmasked

Before 2020 and COVID-19, I never thought much about masks. Now I think about them all the time. One question that keeps coming up is why they have become so controversial and contentious, especially here in the US. Why all the resistance? These questions are on my mind constantly. The whole subject of mask-wearing is often so tense that it can be difficult to even mention the subject. Masks have become a proxy for not only what people believe about {+}

Hooligans, Aggression, and the FIFA World Cup: How Football Reflects upon Race/Class/Gender/Power

Hooligans, Aggression, and the FIFA World Cup: How Football Reflects upon Race/Class/Gender/Power

The 2018 FIFA World Cup starts on June 14, 2018. This year it is being hosted by Russia. And in case you haven’t heard: we have a Russian ‘hooligan’ problem on our hands. The organized form of this practice falls along the lines of a Fight Club (1999) situation in which young (and not so young men) get together and fight. For those of us unused to the visuality of such consensual violence, it remains jarring, disconcerting and sometimes upsetting. But for those {+}