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SOPA and PIPA: Whose rights are we protecting?

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Wikipedia anti-SOPA page

The NY Times article (In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Old) by Jonathan Weisman on the proposed anti-piracy legislation in Congress  highlights the conflict between old and new business models. The battle of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) bills signals the changing times.  It suggests that public understanding of media use is shifting.  It highlights the reallocation of  political heft, dollars and lobby power from the old to new economy.  It also shows the power of the new communications model of many-to-many.  When people are connected across networks, rather than isolated in buckets, word travels fast.   Weisman quotes John Feehery, a former House Republican leadership aide, as saying: “... the Internet world, the social media world especially, can reach people in ways we never dreamed of before.”(p.2) It also shows how fast politicians' ideologies move when they fear losing votes. In my mind, the article leaves … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Politics & Policy Tagged With: , , , ,

Dangerous Method: Engaging but Not Satisfying

December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Spielrein and Jung

The film, A Dangerous Method, is an ambitious effort to portray the complex and tumultuous evolution of the relationships and theories among the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, his protégé Carl Jung, and the patient-turned-psychoanalyst, Sabina Spielrein.  The movie is beautiful and engaging but not very satisfying.  But then, it is based on the untidiness of real life, and titans of western thought though they were, Freud and Jung were still human beings.  The film is well worth seeing, but be prepared to come out thinking 'huh, interesting' rather than 'wow!'  Dangerous Method succeeds as a largely nonjudgmental chronicle of impassioned people and big ideas that unfold over time.  In taking this long and very human view, however, it sacrifices emotional force, and leaves mostly ambivalence.  It's greatest moment is the glimpse of Carl Jung through the eyes of Spielrein as someone wanting to look beyond the dark side of the psyche into human potential. Few figures … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Psychology Tagged With: , , , ,

Unlikely Heroes: Resilience with a Dragon Tattoo

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
2011-10-24-lisbeth-salander-rooney-mara

Hollywood's remake of the film from the bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"is scheduled for release just before Christmas.  It comes on the heels of the 2009 Swedish film versions of the Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology*.  While not exactly family fare, I loved Larsson's books and I'm not the only one eager to see how Director David Fincher handles the material.  The marketing build-up to the December release, concern about the explicit sexual violence, the casting intrigues, and the inevitable comparison to the Swedish versions have, however, eclipsed the true power of the book -- the psychology, particularly of Larsson's complex anti-hero, the anti-social, computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander.   The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo furthers this discussion. The soon to be released anthology published by BenBella  and edited by fellow PT blogger Robin Rosenberg and Shannon O'Neill, is collection of essays (including mine) examining the psychology of Lisbeth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Positive Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

Transmedia Storytelling Raises Awareness for OCD

August 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
OCD-Teen-Web-150

Stories are powerful things.  The International OCD Foundation is putting transmedia storytelling to work in its new campaign to raise awareness and overcome stereotypes about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) called Dare to Believe...Together We Can Beat OCD.  Stories are a primal form of communication that allows us to capture and share authentic human experience.  If you or those you know have never experienced OCD or its symptoms, it's hard to image what it's like, how difficult life with OCD can be, or the stigma and emotional hurdles to getting treatment. But stories engage us at multiple levels and using all of our senses and, most importantly, they create a shared space of understanding.  This opens a pathway to our right brain, activating our creativity and imagination; we can experience stepping out of our own world and into another.  For a sufferer of OCD, stories can show proof of hope and help suffers image possibilities for the future and change their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , ,
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