Most recent public comments by Erin Perry https://nowcomment.com/users/15129 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735551 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735551 I agree. It's honestly scary that its described as a system of social control, because I agree based on her evidence but I just have not seen prison described that way before. Its upsetting that being "tough on crime" is still seen as a positive despite the fact that prisons don't deter crime. Why is the frankly racial dog-whistle rhetoric taken so seriously and put into policy despite all crime-related evidence to the contrary? It's scary that the penal system is not run by logic but by a good deal of racism. Tue, 18 Apr 2017 09:04:45 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735544 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735544 From watching 13th, I'm also at a loss to defend the disparity that America claims itself as the land of the free and at the forefront of progress when we do not have the evidence to defend this claim. Other nations have had a history of slavery, but the race relations in America as well as the prison system here are so profoundly negatively affected by the legacy of slavery I wonder why America specifically has made so many mistakes. Fri, 14 Apr 2017 01:08:27 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735528 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735528 I like that you brought Kima up, because I agree that her connection to the black people that she polices does challenges our assumptions of her as a woman and as a black woman. It does make me wonder what she might of been like before becoming police, and to what extent the Baltimore police culture has affected how she interacts with the black community. Thu, 13 Apr 2017 05:24:38 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735527 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735527 This may be slightly off-topic, but the focus on toughness that we see in political rhetorical reminded me of code switching and presentation of masculinity for young men that we see in the readings. It's interesting that both the young men in the drug trade as well as the politicians vilifying both tap into this idea that being tougher and acting tougher is a solution to life's problems. Clearly it is not, but there seems to be a fear or aversion of anything soft, softness, and being soft in both cases. Thu, 13 Apr 2017 05:20:07 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735524 https://nowcomment.com/documents/76206?scroll_to=735524 What I found astounding about some of these vagrancy laws was the idea that these men over the age of 18 had to be employed at the beginning of each each year or they were criminals. It's such an arbitrary definition of employment, and has nothing to do with whether or not these men might be supported by family, or are searching for jobs, or have enough savings that they don't need to have a job at that time of the year. The law here is explicitly arresting people because they are black, and that there is not a similar clause for white men makes it clear it has nothing to do with vagrancy. I can see here how these laws were both created with the intent to make another de-facto slavery as W.EB DuBois says here, but I can also see how the fear of black criminality plays into this. By using terms like vagrancy the white constituents of these areas probably supported such laws and perpetuated the perception that black men were criminals because the law itself is correlating blackness, but not whiteness, with criminality by specifically arresting black people for these new definitions of "vagrancy" Thu, 13 Apr 2017 10:13:41 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667993 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667993 This brings into question whether or not these shows have any type of moral obligations...to think that the average public and drug dealers alike are learning from this show is very interesting but a little worrisome. I think it'd be a little bad, and darkly ironic if the Wire made drug dealers and the drug trade in Baltimore and elsewhere more effective Thu, 02 Feb 2017 06:09:47 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667987 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667987 I know a lot of writers write aspects of themselves into their characters. Despite the fact that Simon is a journalist and McNulty is a detective, I agree with this initial similarity and I have to wonder if Simon is using his frustration with other institutions in Baltimore (like the Sun) to inform McNulty's frustration with the institution of the police department. Thu, 02 Feb 2017 18:12:43 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667984 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667984 I agree! I think that distinguishing between truth, fiction, and hyperbole in Simon's Baltimore is essential. I think the problem for me is that I'm not very familiar with the ins and outs of the city, and I might not be able to distinguish what is cookie cutter and what is not. Thu, 02 Feb 2017 06:04:25 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667980 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667980 Are these problems then that television can continue explore, as Simon chose to do in the Wire? If newspapers like the Baltimore Sun are no longer addressing these issues, as Simon seems to think, whose responsibility is it, if anyone's, to explore the root causes of drug abuse or racism in a way that will reach the wider public? I think that television might be a more universally palatable medium as we see in the popularity of the Wire, but at the same time its hard to assume that television shows can or will fill the gaps in sociological exploration that the Wire has done. Thu, 02 Feb 2017 07:09:36 +1100 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667971 https://nowcomment.com/documents/70146?scroll_to=667971 ^ For some reason my name didn't show up this is my comment Thu, 02 Feb 2017 05:53:40 +1100