The Hip Hop Anthropologist

 The podium at the United Nations, once a sanctum for statesmanship and sober reckoning, groaned pitifully beneath the weight of a bloated comic carnival barker in a baggy suit, flapping like an elderly circus seal for over fifty minutes. What was once a crucible for global consensus had been hijacked by a deranged ringmaster who mistook belligerence for strength, applause for legitimacy. The scaffolding of international alliances—delicate, deliberate, hard-won—was treated like stage décor, minus the cheap, gaudy, and fake Home Depot gold, for a soliloquy of self-congratulation, absent the blueprints of shared humanity; replaced by the crude etchings of grievance and vanity. It was not diplomacy; it was demolition dressed down in patriot drag, debased into a ledger of petty vendettas and theatrical chest-thumping. The world did not lean in to listen—it sat stunned, bracing for the next verbal Molotov hurled from a pulpit now repurposed as a bully’s balcony. The orange-tinged face o...

    Social and behavioral scientists may not recite a Hippocratic Oath, but their ethical compass points unmistakably toward a duty to prevent harm. Their mandate is not merely academic—it is moral, civic, and urgent. Like psychologists who are legally bound to report suicidal or homicidal ideation, social scientists are ethically compelled to sound the alarm when societal structures begin to fracture.    This responsibility transcends the ivory tower. It demands that scholars engage with the world as it is—messy, polarized, unequal—and use their tools of inquiry to illuminate paths away from harm. Whether analyzing the corrosive effects of disinformation, the widening chasm of economic disparity, or the erosion of democratic norms, their findings must be communicated not just to peers, but to the public, policymakers, and communities who stand to suffer the consequences of inaction.    Du Bois and the Moral Imperative of Applied Sociology   ...

  By Dennis Shipman  Th ere's a brutal, undeniable truth echoing across the American landscape, a truth that cuts deeper than any political pundit dares to admit: the only thing Trumpty Dumpty got right was saying we're a stupid country, because we are. Not because of a lack of intelligence in our individuals, but because a pervasive, self-destructive racism has blinded a significant portion of the electorate, leading them to vote against their own material well-being in a grotesque theater of racial spite. This isn't theory; it's the daily lived reality for millions, and a pathology that threatens to be the ultimate undoing of this nation. We are witnessing, in stark and horrifying clarity, how white citizens will vote to perpetuate white supremacy anywhere in the world, no matter the cost to themselves. They will vote for policies that cause their own families to suffer, to starve, to go without healthcare, housing, or other basic needs. Why? Just to deprive those ...

 DEI always has been a canard, a red herring; a race-based grievance by under performing, under educated white ethnics envious of the immense strides made by educated racial minorities, who achieved upward mobility white ethnics presumed was their birthright, in spite of the huge ball and chain Black folks carry on our way up the ladder to success. Trump's entire administration is riddled by and infected with photogenic, camera-ready mediocrities who could not collectively manage their way outta a wet paper bag. If their immigrant dad was a trade unionist, they were admitted to the craft, guild, or trade. If their parents attended a prestigious college or university, they received preferential admission treatment. There was no bar exam for lawyers in many states until Blacks began graduating from law school. No exam to practice psychology 'til '65. No tuition at public colleges. The retirement age used to be 65. Ronald Reagan changed it to 67 parring back and ...

  The problem with any claim that a Russian intelligence service operation gave the hitherto moribund Trump campaign a needed boost over the finish line is that without hard facts – e.g., empirical data, primary source material, or other evidence - the Far Right abetted by a complicit media, already hard at work normalizing an abnormal candidacy, will be able to dismiss the claim as sour grapes; unsubstantiated conspiracy theories; the rantings of the lunatic fringe, or unfairly cast Clinton as a sore loser.     In all likelihood, the evidence would be dismissed as unpersuasive by an indolent media that gave us Trump on a silver platter. Look how easily Trump was able to adroitly manipulate his "poorly educated" supporters by characterizing the fourth estate as "corrupt," "liars" ex cetera. Now Trump backers are subliminally programmed to disbelieve anything the mainstream media publishes with good reason. It was a masterful disinformation campaign b...