http://slyoyster.com

Interesting observation made over at Transcosmic that the swift migration from Myspace to Facebook rivals the same social patterns indicative of white flight from cities to the suburbs in the past. 

At a keynote speech during New York’s Democracy forum at Lincoln Center, Danah Boyd spoke of the racial disparity and possible reasons for mass abandonment of MySpace for the “more cultured” and “less cheesy” social networking site Facebook. Boyd, a social media researcher for Microsoft and fellow of the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society, stated: “We might as well face an uncomfortable reality … what happened was modern day ‘white flight’.”

Boyd also observed that: “The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to all of us. It should scare the hell out of us.”

What he doesn’t mention in the piece is the reasons many people left Myspace for Facebook.  In my particular case, the preponderance of profile spam – hookers, bands, automusic tracks, ads plastered over 80% of the screen, etc. etc. became overwhelming on Myspace. 

Facebook was a place that I could manage a digital rolodex of friends, aquintances, and contacts without worry.  The user-interface is far superior.  With that said, this isn’t a race issue per say, despite the user profiles.  If Facebook ends up doing the same things as Myspace, you’ll their user-base crumble as well. 

Update: Just found the original paper, “The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online,” the article was based upon and it’s much more nuanced and a far better read than Transcosmic’s piece.

Turns out it’s racism!  From Russian ad agency Voskhod.  Racism never tasted so good.

Is anyone else alarmed at the increase in foreign food products that have a vague connection to the President, that is nothing more than an excuse to blatantly display racist tude.  Like the German fried chicken Obama Fingers?  And this?  [via Copyranter]

Which is probably why we weren’t so shocked that one of the new characters in their Christmas 2009 movie, The Princess and the Frog was a stereotypical cajon-type. We weren’t the only ones who recognized the obviousness. It was fairly on par with some of their other past efforts, which doesn’t make it right or excusable.

Disney has a long history of racist portrayals as you’ll see below and in some of their most recent efforts as well. Still, I’m not sure what’s worse: subtle racism like a character called Jim Crow (true) or the hidden sexual innuendos found in Little Mermaid and The Lion King. No, scratch that. Racism wins. Or loses, I guess, depending on your point of view. Anyway, the point is that a company built of family-entertainment should no better and we should expect better from them and that starts with calling them on their shenanigans.

Good for Disney at least trying to go back to 2-D animation, but we could do without the simple characterizations of certain groups of people. We poked around on YouTube and someone has spliced together a montage of exactly what we were looking for – examples of Disney’s past transgressions.

We don’t spend nearly as much time talking politics as we’d like around here, mostly, becuase it’s theater for ugly people.� Only with much more drastic repurcussions.� Sadly, two articles I came across made me stand up and want to shrug my shoulders and shake my head in disgust.

First, from Politico.� Fearing a general election where the GOP has to walk on egg shells against either Hillary or Obama, for fear of being called racist or sexist, they’ve hired opinion polls to find out how far they can go before feeling a backlash.

Top Republican strategists are working on plans to protect the GOP from charges of racism or sexism in the general election, as they prepare for a presidential campaign against the first ever African-American or female Democratic nominee.

The Republican National Committee has commissioned polling and focus groups to determine the boundaries of attacking a minority or female candidate, according to people involved. The secretive effort underscores the enormous risk senior GOP operatives see for a party often criticized for its insensitivity to minorities in campaigns dating back to the 1960s.

The RNC project is viewed as so sensitive that those involved in the work were reluctant to discuss the findings in detail. But one Republican strategist, who asked that his name be withheld to speak candidly, said the research shows the daunting and delicate task ahead.

Republicans will be told to �be sensitive to tone and stick to the substance of the discussion� and that �the key is that you have to be sensitive to the fact that you are running against historic firsts,� the strategist explained.

Um, or you could just not be racist or sexist. � That’s a start.� I love that they are worried about “appearing” racist.� However, Rep. Donald Brown (R-Fla.) must have not gotten the memo.

Rep. Donald Brown (R) introduced a bill last week to create a �Confederate Heritage� license plate for the state. Saying �it would give motorists a way to show pride in their heritage,� Brown proposes a $25 charge for motorists to purchase a plate with �a shield displaying the rebel battle flag symbol surrounded by several flags from the Civil War era.� The money would benefit �educational programs run by Sons of Confederate Veterans,� which considers the Civil War to be �the Second American Revolution.�

I love how some people see the Civil War as “the Second American Revolution.”� Again, you lost the war get over it.� That was almost 150 years ago.� McCain might want to box Rep. Brown in the ears and have him get in line.� Nothing like proposing a Confederate Flag license plate when you’re trying to not “appear” racist.

<sarcasm>Almost as genius as Truck Nutz.� I love Rednecks.</sarcasm>