Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 919

The Red Cross Would Like to See War Crimes Punished in Video Games

When it comes to real life war crimes, the International Red Cross often finds itself with its hands tied. For example, the organization has been hinting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should face war crimes for about two years and many would argue that he hasn't really faced any real consequences for his litany of sins which includes gassing his own people.

The agency apparently wants to change that in the virtual world too and is urging developers to punish gamers who violate the Geneva Convention. Killing civilians, torture, and killing medical personnel are some of the things the ICRC is taking umbrage with, and addressed in a statement. They write: 

Gamers should be rewarded for respecting the law of armed conflict and there should be virtual penalties for serious violations of the law of armed conflict, in other words war crimes.  This already exists in several conflict simulation games. Game scenarios should not reward players for actions that in real life would be considered war crimes.

There are probably just a handful of games where torturing someone is depicted. And the Grand Theft Auto franchise, though not set in a war zone, is probably one where gamers can do just about everything the ICRC doesn't like. 

If you had questions about killing off peasants and healers in Starcraft and Warcraft-like games, or sending wave after wave of troops into Gandhi's defenseless town  in Civilization, you are fine. The ICRC's suggestion is only to games inspired by actual war. 

The ICRC is talking about video games that simulate real-war situations. It is not suggesting that this apply to games that portray more fictional scenarios such as medieval fantasy or futuristic wars in outer space.  

[...]

Serious violations of the laws of war can only be committed in real-life. A person cannot commit a war crime simply by playing a video game.

The ICRC's statement brings up a conversation about free speech in art and the ongoing violence in video games solution. Even though study after study has shown that the connection between video games and real life violence is shaky at best, that hasn't stopped U.S. lawmakers from continually targeting and prescribing solutions to the industry. True, perhaps adding a virtual consequence might teach a lesson. But it might also be ignored, much as in real life.

       

Newtown Residents Vote to Rebuild Sandy Hook Elementary

Ten months after the tragic murders of so many of its young students, it was decided this weekend that Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, will be torn down, and a new school built in the exact same spot. 

Residents of Newtown turned out in huge numbers on Saturday to vote on whether the city should accept state-funding to support the project, or simply refurbish the old school rooms where the shootings took place. The Newtown Bee reports the referendum passed with an overwhelming majority: 4,504 voted for the school's demolition while only 558 voted against it. A task force previously recommended the school be torn down, but the decision needed approval from the town before it could be finalized. 

The News-Times reports construction of the new school, which will cost somewhere between $42 million and $47 million, should be completed by 2016.

Newtown residents and school administrators were pleased to finally have this decision finalized. "I'm very happy that it passed, and passed significantly," Legislative Council Chairman Jeff Capeci told the Newtown Bee. "I had a feeling it would. Now we can move forward with the new school. This is great for the town. We can bring our children home." Sandy Hook students have been operating out of the former Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, a nearby town, ever since the tragic December 14 shooting that killed 26 people. They'll stay there until construction of the new school is complete. 

       

The Silly Claim That Americans Don't Have Enough Time to Read

A whopping 51 percent of Americans polled said that the main reason they don't pick up books is that they don't have enough time to read.  When Americans are asked what keeps them from reading more books, "more than half — 51 percent — cite lack of time as a major factor. Only 16 percent say lack of interest in reading; 14 percent cite a lack of quality books," USA Today reports.

That poll seems to paint this idea that if Americans had more time on their hands, they would be reading more Murakami, Franzen, Oates, and Lahiri. Literature, after all, has been linked to making us better people. Just think, our cocktail conversations would be so much better since if we all read more, as we'd get to discuss whether or not The Corrections was better than Freedom, or if Kafka on the Shore was weirder than the The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Most of us want to read! Civilization is not doomed, after all!

If you're nodding along, stop now. There's reason to believe that 51 percent of those people citing a time constraint aren't being genuine. Granted, Americans are busy, and bless those parents devoting all that time shuttling their busy kids back and forth. But, according to the United States Department of Labor's American Time Use Survey from 2012, the average American aged 15 and older devotes 2.8 hours of that leisure time watching television. And those numbers can be downright depressing when you look at how teenagers spend their weekends: 

Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and over averaged 1.0 hour of reading per weekend day and 20 minutes playing games or using a computer for leisure. Conversely, individuals ages 15 to 19 read for an average of 7 minutes per weekend day while spending 1.0 hour playing games or using a computer for leisure.

The silver lining for people who think American literacy is reaching a cultural nadir is that USA Today found that e-readers and tablets are spurring people to read more books. People who had either an e-book or tablet read more books than people who didn't. And nearly 40 percent of Americans aged 18-39 had a reader, meaning that there's a chance that these contraptions can get Americans back to the books.

       

Three Cellular Researchers Share Nobel Prize for Medicine

Three scientists working at three different American universities have been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, kicking off a week of honors for new laureates around the world.

The three recipients are James E. Rothman, chairman of the Cell Biology department at Yale University; Randy W. Schekman, a professor of Molecular and Cell biology at UC-Berkeley; and Thomas Südhof, a German-born doctor who works at Stanford University. The men are being honored together for a collection of independent, but related breakthroughs in "vesicle traffic" that "solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system."

A statement from the Nobel committee describes the significance of their work:

The three Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental process in cell physiology. These discoveries have had a major impact on our understanding of how cargo is delivered with timing and precision within and outside the cell.  Vesicle transport and fusion operate, with the same general principles, in organisms as different as yeast and man. The system is critical for a variety of physiological processes in which vesicle fusion must be controlled, ranging from signalling in the brain to release of hormones and immune cytokines. Defective vesicle transport occurs in a variety of diseases including a number of neurological and immunological disorders, as well as in diabetes. Without this wonderfully precise organization, the cell would lapse into chaos.

In addition to the interconnected nature of their research, all three winners also have a connection to Stanford University. Südhof is a current professor there, but Rothman and Schekman both did post-doctoral research in the same department at the Palo Alto campus.

This is just the first day of what will be a busy week for the folks in Stockholm. A different 2013 Nobel Prize winner will be announced each day this week, culminating with the Peace Prize on Friday morning. (The Economic Sciences prize winner will be named on Monday.) In addition to the shiny medal, each prize winner also gets (or shares) 8 million Swedish kornor, which is worth about $1.2 million USD.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the week. You can watch the announcements live at Nobelprize.org.

Monday, October 7
Physiology or Medicine: James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof

Tuesday, October 8
Physics: 11:45 a.m. CET at the earliest (5:45 a.m. EDT)

Wednesday, October 9
Chemistry: 11:45 a.m. CET at the earliest  (5:45 a.m. EDT)

Thursday, October 10
Literature: 1.00 p.m. CET (7:00 a.m. EDT)

Friday, October 11
Peace: 11:00 a.m. CET (7:00 a.m. EDT)

Monday, October 14
Economic Sciences: 1:00 p.m. CET at the earliest (7:00 a.m. EDT)

       

Protests in Egypt Kill 51

At least 51 people were killed during nationwide protests in Egypt that turned violent on Sunday. The Associated Press reports that 30 of the deaths occurred in Cairo. The protests continue following a military coup in July that forced out elected president Mohammed Morsi and marked the start of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sunday was also a national holiday that marked the 40th anniversary of the start of Egypt's 1973 military conflict with Israel. Given the occasion, the military stepped up security around Tahrir Square which has served as the flashpoint of much of the Egyptian protest movement. According to USA Today, "Tanks surrounded the square as thousands of people converged, waving Egyptian flags and cheering on military helicopters and jets flying above as part of the celebration."

The Interior Ministry reported 423 arrests and said that the protests were intended to "ruin the celebrations and cause friction with the masses." On Saturday, Egyptian officials made the distinction that any protesters on Sunday would be treated not as activists, but as agents of foreign powers.

       

Iranians Flout Nonexistent Law to Show Netanyahu Their Precious Jeans

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attracted the online ire of Iranians on Thursday after he made the false assumption that wearing jeans is not permitted in Iran. In an interview with BBC Persian television on Sunday, he said that "I think if the Iranian people had freedom, they would wear jeans, listen to Western music, and have free elections."

Those comments touched off a series of angry, occasionally jokingly outraged tweets as Iranians posted pictures of their denim wares online for all to see. The country loosened restrictions on social media last month, and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani even spoke with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey last week.

Netanyahu's remarks came in the context of the Israeli Prime Minister's broader stance that Iran's more open demeanor is a ruse, or in his words, "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

Hey @netanyahu , look at our pants. #jeans #جین pic.twitter.com/2yDa1HJblF

— Arash (@ArashManteghi) October 6, 2013

.@netanyahu Here are my #Jeans and #Western music you idiot. pic.twitter.com/pxv2hqv8WV

— Sallar (@sallar) October 6, 2013

@netanyahu I'm wearing #jeans like many other young & old people in #iran pic.twitter.com/OXUsJounwF

— Mohammad HZG (@mohhzg) October 6, 2013

@netanyahu Iranians wear jeans in iran, if you didnt know by any chance #jeans #Iran pic.twitter.com/mjP70aOnmI

— Ilgar (@rshappy89) October 7, 2013

Hi @netanyahu, here is a photo of me at the Sa'dabad Palace in #Iran wearing my favorite blue #jeans. pic.twitter.com/mMSobAJlV6

— Kayvon Afshari (@KayvonAfshari) October 6, 2013

#jeans @netanyahu pic.twitter.com/WDLM3l8DuC

— Mohsen MZadegan (@mmzyma) October 6, 2013

Me & My #jeans ! In your face @Netanyahu . #Iran #Netanyahu #IranJeans #Apartheid #Israel pic.twitter.com/W9pQEv4nLe

— Bazinga (@PersianFarzad) October 6, 2013

 

       

Tweeting About a Show Now Influences Its Ratings

Nielsen has announced a new ratings system that takes into account tweets about a show as well as the audience exposed to those tweets. As Scandal fans already know, the second-screen experience has become an essential part of viewing some television shows, and Twitter is trying to make the platform appealing to media partners as a possible way of increasing revenue.

The way the system works is that a tweet that appears in a user's feed is known as an impression, so while a relatively small amount of the viewership is actively tweeting about a television show, a much larger audience is seeing the chatter. For example, via the Los Angeles Times, a show like The Voice has an online audience 50 times greater than the number of people actually tweeting. Nielsen "also has identified 35,000 Twitter accounts, created by networks, actors, athletes, professional sports teams and others associated with TV programming."

Online interaction with media is fast becoming a metric of success in various parts of the entertainment industry. At the beginning of the year, Billboard began counting YouTube views in its chart calculations, propelling one-hit wonder Baauer's "Harlem Shake" to the top position. Additionally, Nielsen itself also started counting online television views as well a few months ago.

Though Nielsen's new system is a separate metric from its main TV ratings system, it's still another way for networks and their advertisers to judge the reach of their message. It's possible that in the face of th DVR, social media is making TV appointment viewing again. It's unclear if that trend will carry over to a more asynchronous viewing event like filmgoing, but hopefully not.

       

Al-Qaeda Suspect Currently Being Held on Navy Ship

[image error]The New York Times reports that the U.S. Navy is currently holding a suspected longtime member of al-Qaeda onboard one of its ships in the Mediterranean Sea without having been read his rights or allowed a lawyer. Abu Anas al-Libi was captured by American commandos in Libya over the weekend and is currently being interrogated in military custody before being sent to New York for prosecution.

Among al-Libi's alleged crimes:

Abu Anas, 49, who was born Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, was indicted in Manhattan in 2000 on charges of conspiring with Bin Laden in plots to attack United States forces in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia, as well as in the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 224 people.

He has been described as a Qaeda computer expert and helped to conduct surveillance of the embassy in Nairobi, according to evidence in trials stemming from the bombings. In investigating the attacks, the authorities recovered a Qaeda terrorism manual in Abu Anas’s residence in Manchester, England.

The suspect is currently being held aboard the U.S.S. San Antonio, and has not been read his rights or been provided a lawyer. Officials speaking to the Times compared the detainment to the 2011 capture of Ahmed Warsame, a member of al-Shabab, which recently carried out a brutal attack on a Nairobi mall. Warsame was held on a ship and interrogated for two months before being advised of his rights. He later pleaded guilty and cooperated with U.S. intelligence. A source told the Times that, "Warsame is the model for this guy."

CNN has a statement from al-Libi's wife, who claims that he left the organization in 1996, pirior to the embassy attacks in 1998. She told reporters that he "participated in the jihad in Afghanistan. .... He was a member of al-Qaeda and he was personal security for (Osama) bin Laden -- that's true -- but he did not take part in any operation." The suspected terrorist had spent time in Britain and throughout the Middle East, but returned to Libya in 2011 to help overthrow Muammar Qaddafi.

[Pictured: al-Libi and the ship where he is being held, the U.S.S. San Antonio]

       

Destruction Begins on Syria's Chemical Weapons Equipment

How does one destroy a country's chemical weapons equipment? In Syria, currently an active war zone, a team of international inspectors are using anything on hand to get the job done. Starting on Sunday, a U.N.-backed team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ordered the start of that process. Workers are using blowtorches, saws, and even vehicles to destroy the equipment used to manufacture chemical weapons in the country. 

The team has until November to eliminate Syria's ability to destroy chemical weapons. So despite the quick time table and the dangerous conditions of the country, the 20-person inspection team is moving fast. Officials haven't said where the work has begun, according to the Washington Post. But here's the general process going forward: 

Work to dismantle delivery and production equipment is relatively straightforward, according to experts, using simple tools, or even vehicles to run over and crush items. It is the later phases — disposing of highly corrosive precursor chemicals and filled warheads — that will pose the biggest challenge. Some precursors are expected to be transported out of the country to be destroyed.

The international team includes both U.N. staffers and OPCW experts. They arrived earlier this week to begin work on a U.N. Security Council-approved plan to destroy the Assad regime's entire chemical weapons supply by the first half of 2014. But two big deadlines approach in November. Along with the in-progress destruction of equipment, the entire stockpile must be under international control by then, too. The OPCW team is only directing and overseeing the destruction process. Syrians are doing the actual work.

       

Antonin Scalia Doesn't Care What History Says About Him

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gave a wide-ranging interview to New York magazine, covering everything from the justice's love of "Duck Dynasty" to his historical legacy. And guess what? Scalia doesn't care what history says about him, 50 years from now. "You know, for all I know, 50 years from now I may be the Justice Sutherland of the late-twentieth and early-21st century," Scalia told the magazine, adding, "'He was on the losing side of everything, an old fogey, the old view.' And I don’t care." 

While Scalia's not the only Supreme Court justice giving interviews lately, the sprawling Q and A with New York's Jennifer Senior published on Sunday has to be one of the most thoroughly animated interviews with a justice in recent memory. Among the topics addressed is the justice's stance on homosexuality — a subject on which he regularly makes headlines. Senior asks Scalia what his personal experience is with the cultural "sea change" on gay rights. His reply: "I have friends that I know, or very much suspect, are homosexual. Everybody does." When asked whether any had come out to him, he adds, "No. No. Not that I know of." 

The conservative justice talks about his reading habits, which no longer include the Washington Post. That's because, he says, "they lost subscriptions partly because they became so shrilly, shrilly liberal." Now, he reads the The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times. That, and a lot of talk radio — Scalia's favorite program is hosted by his friend, Bill Bennett.

For better or for worse, Scalia also pretty much nails the absurdity of State of the Union addresses. The justice, who hasn't gone to a State of the Union in 16 years, has previously used the phrase "childish spectacle" to describe the whole affair: 

"it is a childish spectacle. And we are trucked in just to give some dignity to the occasion. I mean, there are all these punch lines, and one side jumps up—­Hooray! And they all cheer, and then another punch line, and the others stand up, Hooray! It is juvenile! And we have to sit there like bumps on a log. We can clap if somebody says, “The United States is the greatest country in the world.” Yay!" 

But the interview doesn't stop there. Scalia talks about his poker habit with Senior, who says that Scalia seems like the sort of person who wouldn't be great at poker. The following exchange happens in response: 

Scalia: Shame on you! I’m a damn good poker player
Senior: But aren’t you the kind of guy who always puts all of his cards on the table? I feel like you would be the worst bluffer ever.
Scalia: You can talk to the people in my poker set.
Senior: Do you have a tell?
Scalia: What?
Senior: A tell.
Scalia: What’s a tell?
Senior: What’s a tell? Are you joking? 
Scalia: No.
Senior: A tic or behavior that betrays you’re bluffing.
Scalia: Oh! That’s called a tell? No. I never … do you play poker?

The whole thing is worth a read, but we've extracted a few of the personality-laden highlights below. 

On what's wrong with modern society: 

One of the things that upsets me about modern society is the coarseness of manners. You can’t go to a movie—or watch a television show for that matter—without hearing the constant use of the F-word—including, you know, ladies using it. People that I know don’t talk like that! But if you portray it a lot, the society’s going to become that way. It’s very sad.

On the Devil (after a long conversation about Catholic doctrine):  

Senior: Can we talk about your drafting process—
Scalia: [Leans in, stage-whispers.] I even believe in the Devil.
Senior: You do?
Scalia: Of course! Yeah, he’s a real person. Hey, c’mon, that’s standard Catholic doctrine! Every Catholic believes that.
Senior: Every Catholic believes this? There’s a wide variety of Catholics out there …
Scalia: If you are faithful to Catholic dogma, that is certainly a large part of it.
Senior: Have you seen evidence of the Devil lately?
Scalia: You know, it is curious. In the Gospels, the Devil is doing all sorts of things. He’s making pigs run off cliffs, he’s possessing people and whatnot. And that doesn’t happen very much anymore.
Senior: No.
Scalia: It’s because he’s smart.

On "Duck Dynasty:" 

Senior: I know you watched the show 24. Do you also watch Homeland?
Scalia: I don’t watch Homeland. I don’t even know what Homeland is. I watched one episode of—what is it? Duck Dynasty?
Senior: What?
Scalia: I don’t watch it regularly, but I’m a hunter. I use duck calls.