Happy MLK Day everyone. I just spent the last half hour reading MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. To be totally honest, I don’t think I’ve ever read it in its entirety before. It is incredibly powerful and moving. I encourage anyone reading this to take some time with it today. I pulled a few quotes here. King’s letter makes the case — in exceedingly eloquent and persuasive terms — for nonviolent direct action in the face of injustice. And discusses the historical precedent and moral imperative for distinguishing between just and unjust laws (including a framework for drawing that distinction), and for disobeying unjust laws. It hammers home the point that we can’t blindly accept “the law” if we don’t take into account the context in which it was created or the morality and justice of the ends it seeks. Part of the beauty of it is the guided tour of the history of changemaking, conflict and progress that Dr. King takes us on — all the way from Socrates, to the Boston Tea Party
Happy MLK Day everyone. I just spent the last half hour reading MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. To be totally honest, I don’t think I’ve ever read it in its entirety before. It is incredibly powerful and moving. I encourage anyone reading this to take some time with it today. I pulled a few quotes here. King’s letter makes the case — in exceedingly eloquent and persuasive terms — for nonviolent direct action in the face of injustice. And discusses the historical precedent and moral imperative for distinguishing between just and unjust laws (including a framework for drawing that distinction), and for disobeying unjust laws. It hammers home the point that we can’t blindly accept “the law” if we don’t take into account the context in which it was created or the morality and justice of the ends it seeks. Part of the beauty of it is the guided tour of the history of changemaking, conflict and progress that Dr. King takes us on — all the way from Socrates, to the Boston Tea Party
and the American Revolution, to the Holocaust, to of course the Civil Rights movement. It’s kind of incredible the extent to which we have to learn and re-learn the dynamics of societal norms and the process by which we arrive at and live under the rule of law. At the heart of the letter is tension between a moderate “take it slow” approach (embodied at the time by the white southern church, whose leaders the letter was addressed to) and more extreme “force change now” approach (embodied at the time by Elijah Muhammed’s Muslim movement). King’s articulation of the rationale for a measured and pure — yet intentionally impatient — nonviolent approach is incredibly thoughtful and reasoned. It’s part inspiration and part how-to for anyone working to create positive change in the face of resistance from the status quo. I can’t equate the civil rights movement with the digital rights movement, and I won’t do that here. But that is the corner of the activism world that I sit in, so it’s the lens that I’m reading this through. And I can’t help but think about the passing of
, and the path he charted in the pursuit of social justice, as I read Dr. King’s words. So many of the conversations I’ve been having this past week have revolved around this question of how we view and respond to acts of civil disobedience. More importantly, I want to use today to reflect on both the (incredible yet entirely incomplete) progress that we’ve been able achieve as a nation since 1963 when this letter was written, and the profound and powerful moral foundation for change that Dr. King’s letter provides.
This post has been a long time coming. This weekend, we hosted a BBQ at our house as part of the Summer of Internet Freedom. Internet Freedom is nice and all, but really, it was just an excuse to fire up a batch of burger dogs. What's a burger dog? I'm glad you asked. A burger dog is delicious snack that solves two critical problems: 1) Burgers are too big. Especially at BBQs with lots of delicious food, burgers should be snacks, not meals. And 2) you should only have to buy one kind of bun, really. And since hot dogs will never fit on a hamburger bun, there you have it. So, a burger dog is a small hamburger made to fit in a hot dog bun. It's really quite good. Here's how you do it: 1) Make the patties. Start with a small handful, roll it roughly to the shape of a hot dog, and then flatten it out by slapping it gently with your fingers and shaping the edges. As a guide, a properly sized burger dog, pre-cooked, should take up the width of your first three fingers, and extend from the your fingertips down to the inside of your palm. Pre-cooked, a burger dog is maybe 1/5 of a pound (my 3 lbs of ground beef produced 15 burger dogs).
Today marks the launch of the Internet Defense League, an effort led by Fight for the Future to build permanent infrastructure for defending the internet. The idea is simple: build a loose, permanent coalition of individuas, companies and websites that stand at the ready to react to threats to the internet. How exactly this works is up to you -- there are
and the American Revolution, to the Holocaust, to of course the Civil Rights movement. It’s kind of incredible the extent to which we have to learn and re-learn the dynamics of societal norms and the process by which we arrive at and live under the rule of law. At the heart of the letter is tension between a moderate “take it slow” approach (embodied at the time by the white southern church, whose leaders the letter was addressed to) and more extreme “force change now” approach (embodied at the time by Elijah Muhammed’s Muslim movement). King’s articulation of the rationale for a measured and pure — yet intentionally impatient — nonviolent approach is incredibly thoughtful and reasoned. It’s part inspiration and part how-to for anyone working to create positive change in the face of resistance from the status quo. I can’t equate the civil rights movement with the digital rights movement, and I won’t do that here. But that is the corner of the activism world that I sit in, so it’s the lens that I’m reading this through. And I can’t help but think about the passing of
, and the path he charted in the pursuit of social justice, as I read Dr. King’s words. So many of the conversations I’ve been having this past week have revolved around this question of how we view and respond to acts of civil disobedience. More importantly, I want to use today to reflect on both the (incredible yet entirely incomplete) progress that we’ve been able achieve as a nation since 1963 when this letter was written, and the profound and powerful moral foundation for change that Dr. King’s letter provides.
This post has been a long time coming. This weekend, we hosted a BBQ at our house as part of the Summer of Internet Freedom. Internet Freedom is nice and all, but really, it was just an excuse to fire up a batch of burger dogs. What's a burger dog? I'm glad you asked. A burger dog is delicious snack that solves two critical problems: 1) Burgers are too big. Especially at BBQs with lots of delicious food, burgers should be snacks, not meals. And 2) you should only have to buy one kind of bun, really. And since hot dogs will never fit on a hamburger bun, there you have it. So, a burger dog is a small hamburger made to fit in a hot dog bun. It's really quite good. Here's how you do it: 1) Make the patties. Start with a small handful, roll it roughly to the shape of a hot dog, and then flatten it out by slapping it gently with your fingers and shaping the edges. As a guide, a properly sized burger dog, pre-cooked, should take up the width of your first three fingers, and extend from the your fingertips down to the inside of your palm. Pre-cooked, a burger dog is maybe 1/5 of a pound (my 3 lbs of ground beef produced 15 burger dogs).
Today marks the launch of the Internet Defense League, an effort led by Fight for the Future to build permanent infrastructure for defending the internet. The idea is simple: build a loose, permanent coalition of individuas, companies and websites that stand at the ready to react to threats to the internet. How exactly this works is up to you -- there are
2) Grill it. Since burger dogs are relatively thin, you don't need to grill them for very long. Over a medium-high heat, I grill for several minutes, without flipping, until the juices start to come through the top. Then, a single flip. Then, grill for a few more minutes, adding 1/2 slice of american cheese (or a whole slice, cut in half and then staggered lengthwise, if you're feeling cheesy) at the end.
3) Deck it out. The most important topping for a burger dog is a sandwich-sliced kosher pickle. They (magically) happen to be exactly the length of a hot dog bun. I also prepare tomatoes and onions -- half-cut, then sliced thinly. This one has everything:
4) Enjoy. So delicious! And since they're small, you can totally have two! Our hand model is none other than Jake Shapiro, proprietor of Public Radio Exchange (and fellow lover of Internet Freedom).
, including (as I've done) inserting some JS into your site that will light up at certain times when the net is under threat. I've also got a snazzy new badge in my sidebar that fills me with pride every time I look at it. The past six months has been all about: "how does the internet advocacy movement evolve post-SOPA?". I see the creation of the defense league as a big, exciting and awesome part of that.
I remember back in the fall, during the building of anti-SOPA/PIPA campaign, FFTF made one of the most creative and effective advocacy moves I've ever seen: they offered ways for any website owner to "black out" their logo in protest of the bills. Tons of websites took this up, which helped the meme of the campaign spread laterally, quickly. I distinctly remember setting up my "stop censorship" logo and then feeling an immediate sense of kinship with others on the web who did the same. This is like a bigger and better version of that. I can say clearly and with pride that I'm part of the global force that will work to defend the internet, in whatever ways I can. That feels good to say. Tonight, as part of the launch, "cat signals" will light up the sky around the world. I'll be co-hosting the NYC party on the roof at OpenPlans, along w/ Alexis Ohanian of Reddit. There are still free tickets available, so RSVP here if you want to come. I can't wait to help flip the switch.
2) Grill it. Since burger dogs are relatively thin, you don't need to grill them for very long. Over a medium-high heat, I grill for several minutes, without flipping, until the juices start to come through the top. Then, a single flip. Then, grill for a few more minutes, adding 1/2 slice of american cheese (or a whole slice, cut in half and then staggered lengthwise, if you're feeling cheesy) at the end.
3) Deck it out. The most important topping for a burger dog is a sandwich-sliced kosher pickle. They (magically) happen to be exactly the length of a hot dog bun. I also prepare tomatoes and onions -- half-cut, then sliced thinly. This one has everything:
4) Enjoy. So delicious! And since they're small, you can totally have two! Our hand model is none other than Jake Shapiro, proprietor of Public Radio Exchange (and fellow lover of Internet Freedom).
, including (as I've done) inserting some JS into your site that will light up at certain times when the net is under threat. I've also got a snazzy new badge in my sidebar that fills me with pride every time I look at it. The past six months has been all about: "how does the internet advocacy movement evolve post-SOPA?". I see the creation of the defense league as a big, exciting and awesome part of that.
I remember back in the fall, during the building of anti-SOPA/PIPA campaign, FFTF made one of the most creative and effective advocacy moves I've ever seen: they offered ways for any website owner to "black out" their logo in protest of the bills. Tons of websites took this up, which helped the meme of the campaign spread laterally, quickly. I distinctly remember setting up my "stop censorship" logo and then feeling an immediate sense of kinship with others on the web who did the same. This is like a bigger and better version of that. I can say clearly and with pride that I'm part of the global force that will work to defend the internet, in whatever ways I can. That feels good to say. Tonight, as part of the launch, "cat signals" will light up the sky around the world. I'll be co-hosting the NYC party on the roof at OpenPlans, along w/ Alexis Ohanian of Reddit. There are still free tickets available, so RSVP here if you want to come. I can't wait to help flip the switch.
