Public Life « Solomon Asch Center

Linguistic models of abusive language November 5, 2024 Christian Leuprecht David B. Skillicorn David Kernot a Royal Military College of Canada, Queen’s University & Charles Sturt University, Edinburgh, Australiab Queen’s University, Edinburgh, Australiac Defence Science and Technology, Edinburgh, Australia
The paradox of violent leaders and organizational structures October 4, 2024 Michael Freeman Victor Asal Gina Ligon a Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USAb Political Science, University at Albany - Downtown Campus, Albany, NY, USAc University of Nebraska Omaha - National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), Omaha, NE, USA
Improving affected victims and community reintegration of former Boko Haram terrorist defectors in Nigeria: a community-informed participatory action research October 1, 2024 Tarela Juliet Ike D.E. Jidong E.E. Ayobi a School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UKb Division of Psychology and Mental Health, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Mancheter, Manchester, UKc Department of Research, Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKd Tare Wyd Legal Chambers, Warri, Delta State, Nigeria
Perception of perpetrators’ acknowledgement of victimhood increases rather than decreases support for reconciliation with another victim group September 30, 2024 Bryan Bilven Hadi Sam Nariman Anna Kende a Doctoral School of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungaryb Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Dying to bankrupt: the effect of suicide terrorism on foreign direct investment September 30, 2024 Max Abrahms Asif Nawaz a Department of Political Science, Northeastern University, Boston MA, USAb Department of History & International Affairs, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

Court Discloses Memo Approving Drone Strike on American

Since 2011 when U.S. citizen al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, various civil rights groups (and family members) have sought to obtain (and challenge) the legal justification for the strike. The issue gained further notoriety in early 2013, when Attorney General Eric Holder refused to rule out a lethal drone strike on U.S. citizens […]

Smile! A Drone Is About to Take Your Picture

In this article, the New York Times considers possible cultural niches for drones. While the standard fears of safety and privacy are mentioned, it is noteworthy that the focus is on how drones will be used in day-to-day life, instead of just if such integration is possible or even desirable.

Drone rock: Robotics company creates a flying, musical band

What this performance lacks in artistic merit or musical complexity, it makes up for in the technical achievement of delicately coordinating all the flying machines. A sign of the technology’s maturity may well be performances in which the art is more important than the programming.

The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

Drones and the NSA: two of the biggest stories in military technology meet in this article. The NSA provides targets’ cell-phone location data, and drones often collect signals intelligence data for the NSA to analyze. Perhaps even more interesting than this predictable synthesis is the terrorists/insurgents’ adaptation. By changing or trading cell phones, the article […]

Drones in Culture: Dilbert

This cartoon neatly combines fears on safety and corporate spying with a reference to an earlier era’s air technology fad.

Yemen’s New Ways of Protesting Drone Strikes: Graffiti and Poetry

Drones have become a major issue in Yemen, as their artistic pursuits are reflecting. Based on the article’s main image, the predator drone is becoming strongly symbolic in the region.

Amazon Drones: The Rebuttal

Since Jeff Bezos made headlines with his plan for drone deliveries, many have offered their opinions on proposal. Many have declared it impractical or contrary to Amazon’s business plan, or just plain absurd.

Coming Soon, a Night Watchman With Wheels?

This prototype illustrates just how far the field of robotics has come. With half a dozen kinds of sensors and some level of autonomy, this device still has an expected effective cost of just $6.25/h. Needless to say, privacy is a concern. As it is designed to be networked, perhaps security should also be a […]

Which drone future will Americans choose?

This commentary attempts to look at drones in the context of nuclear proliferation. While drones certainly are more focused than a nuclear bomb, they are also far cheaper to obtain. While the fears stated may be exaggerated, privacy and proliferation will continue to be major concerns. The Asch Center also agrees with the author that […]

Drones in Culture: Blondie

The Blondie Comic strip for 24 Nov. 2013 has a hapless employee under constant monitoring by a miniature Predator drone. While the Predator design is clearly artistic license, this strip taps into a common worry about surveillance, lack of privacy, and the damping of free speech.

Published by the University of Texas Press the book features 100 of Hyman's photographs and six critical essays that depict and discuss the emotional aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks -- a time when people from all walks of life created and encountered memorials to those who were murdered. Vernacular art appeared almost everywhere—on walls, trees, playgrounds, vehicles, houses, tombstones, and even on bodies. This outpouring of grief and other acts of remembrance impelled photographer Jonathan Hyman to document and preserve these largely impermanent, spontaneous expressions. This book, a unique archive of 9/11 public memory, is the result of his compiling a collection of 20,000 photographs, along with field notes and personal interviews. For more information about the book or to purchase it, visit the book's page at Amazon or Facebook.

Sramana Majumdar

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