THREAD: I’ve represented people the government views as “terrorists.” Here’s an incomplete set of reasons why calling yesterday “terrorism” is not a good idea:

If the goal is to trigger accountability: the DOJ has *plenty* of tools to investigate, prosecute, or otherwise hold accountable those who conspired to break the laundry list of laws that were broken yesterday. I’ll let those more prosecutorially-minded list them out.
The govt regularly prosecutes activities it labels terrorism without ever actually charging a crime of terrorism. On the flip side, it charges not actually dangerous, but marginalized, ppl with terrorism-related crimes all the time. Here's a @HRW on this: https://t.co/XtYSb7aBk5
(h/t @tarekzismail for work on that report). While there, note how when they set their minds to it, FBI/DOJ have manufactured “terrorists,” deploying informants, entrapment, and the like. Not just in Muslim communities, also Black liberation & other mvmts portrayed as "Terrorist"
If the purpose is discursive, ask: what work does the Terrorism word do? What did the “War on Terror” designator do? It just stokes fear and clouds our ability to talk about root causes, understand different forms of violence & protest, and different relationships w the state.
This then opens the door to “terrorism experts,” permits the deployment of anti-terrorism funding, agencies (FBI, DHS, etc) that have repressive power and who do not share our goals. They will use their authorities, as they always have, to go after Black, Brown dissent & protest.
For example, we know the FBI knew about white supremacist infiltration of police departments for a v long time and has barely lifted a finger https://t.co/iB3vcbkb3D h/t @alicesperi
But instead, the developed an absurd framework justifying their surveillance and investigation of BLM activists, concocting weird labels like “Black Identity Extremism” and then “racially motivated violent extremism” https://t.co/4BgvnItmZ4
or of course, of Muslims under (debunked and completely flawed “Radicalization” theories). The brilliant @assuss has helped shine light on one example of the mind-boggling scope of these programs https://t.co/KHMCgLBZ71
Under the “terrorism” designator, these agencies mobilize insane resources to infiltrate mosques & target religious communities. Here's our client, giving a glimpse of what happened when the FBI tried to coerce him to spy on his community https://t.co/fFTOOgvHq3 h/t @CUNY_CLEAR
This is where the Terrorism label leads. I know we’re angry, and many are actually feeling terrorized. That’s legitimate. But it's a trap. Let’s build on mvmt calls to question the role of law enforcement, including here, when they appear to be the problem, not the solution.
So many other really smart ppl have made this argt v thoughtfully. Applying an abolitionist lens, @atiya_husain reminds us that "the racial history and significance of the concept is constitutive of [the concept of] terrorism." https://t.co/iHlExtNlz4 (this is a must read)
Also @dcli thouroughly breaking down how "counterterrorism" is inextricably linked to US imperialism and how the industry of terrorism 'experts' - those who will be called to opine on & implement the current push - is, well, racist (listen for more nuance) https://t.co/76b3dpq08z

More from Government

I don't normally do threads like this but I did want to provide some deeper thoughts on the below and why having a video game based on a real world war crime from the same people that received CIA funding isn't the best idea.

This will go pretty in depth FYI.


The core reason why I'm doing this thread is because:

1. It's clear the developers are marketing the game a certain way.

2. This is based on something that actually happened, a war crime no less. I don't have issues with shooter games in general ofc.

Firstly, It's important to acknowledge that the Iraq war was an illegal war, based on lies, a desire for regime change and control of resources in the region.

These were lies that people believed and still believe to this day.

It's also important to mention that the action taken by these aggressors is the reason there was a battle in Fallujah in the first place. People became resistance fighters because they were left with nothing but death and destruction all around them after the illegal invasion.

This is where one of the first red flags comes up.

The game is very much from an American point of view, as shown in the description.

When it mentions Iraqi civilians, it doesn't talk about them as victims, but mentions them as being pro US, fighting alongside them.

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“We don’t negotiate salaries” is a negotiation tactic.

Always. No, your company is not an exception.

A tactic I don’t appreciate at all because of how unfairly it penalizes low-leverage, junior employees, and those loyal enough not to question it, but that’s negotiation for you after all. Weaponized information asymmetry.

Listen to Aditya


And by the way, you should never be worried that an offer would be withdrawn if you politely negotiate.

I have seen this happen *extremely* rarely, mostly to women, and anyway is a giant red flag. It suggests you probably didn’t want to work there.

You wish there was no negotiating so it would all be more fair? I feel you, but it’s not happening.

Instead, negotiate hard, use your privilege, and then go and share numbers with your underrepresented and underpaid colleagues. […]
This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?