Weekend Reads 1/28/17

Writing Human Rights and Getting It Wrong

Unlike an academic writer, who is obliged to be clear about methods and analytical frameworks, a human rights writer can simply tell a story. This story then gains uncommon gravitas thanks to its validation by a human rights organization. Yet there is never only one story that can be written about a war or a massacre. The writer must choose which one to tell, and how. This choice, no matter how principled, is not neutral.

Barack Obama’s Legacy Is More Secure Than You, or the GOP, Think

Protecting, fulfilling, and, in some cases, restoring Obama’s legacy will require mustering the political will to rally around it. If Obama’s supporters defend the pillars of his legacy, rather than fatalistically accept their destruction, they stand a good chance of warding off the most frontal attacks. And where they fail, and Obama’s achievements are repealed, then they can set out to repeal the repeal when the opportunity presents itself.

Milo Yiannopoulos and misguided leftist censorship

I just don’t think it’s a good investment of my political capital to try to keep speakers like Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on the campuses where I work. I’d rather help create spaces that say, “Another world is possible.” I’d love to see student movements shift their focus away from speech regulation and spend more time figuring out how to support low-income campus workers and marginalized people in the surrounding community.

Netflix is so big that it doesn’t need net neutrality rules anymore

Though Netflix is no longer worried about its own access to broadband networks, the company's shareholder letter said the company still supports the net neutrality rules. "On a public policy basis, however, strong net neutrality is important to support innovation and smaller firms," Netflix said. "No one wants ISPs to decide what new and potentially disruptive services can operate over their networks, or to favor one service over another. We hope the new US administration and Congress will recognize that keeping the network neutral drives job growth and innovation."