tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/pulitzer-prize-16993/articlesPulitzer prize – The Conversation2023-05-17T12:40:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053782023-05-17T12:40:39Z2023-05-17T12:40:39ZBarbara Kingsolver’s ‘Demon Copperhead’ and the enduring devastation of the opioid crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526588/original/file-20230516-35975-5ps8gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=453%2C590%2C3095%2C2057&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Barbara Kingsolver's protagonist, Demon, is much more than his drug habit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/child-lying-on-the-waterfall-royalty-free-image/537292087">SergioZacchi/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://barbarakingsolver.net">Barbara Kingsolver’s</a> literary honors range from the National Book Prize of South Africa to the PEN/Faulkner Award. </p>
<p>On May 8, 2023, she added a <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/barbara-kingsolver">Pulitzer Prize</a> to her accolades. </p>
<p>Her winning novel, “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/demon-copperhead-barbara-kingsolver?variant=40073146204194">Demon Copperhead</a>,” is more than just a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/766/766-h/766-h.htm">David Copperfield</a>.” Casting an opioid-addicted Appalachian orphan as her protagonist, Kingsolver sheds new light on one of America’s greatest health crises. </p>
<p>Understandably, the COVID-19 pandemic eclipsed media coverage of and national concern over the opioid epidemic; nevertheless, opioids remain a massive public health problem, and I think the author’s attention to it is both welcome and necessary. </p>
<p>In taking up the topic, she joins artists with ties to Appalachia, such as bluegrass guitar phenom <a href="https://www.billystrings.com/">Billy Strings</a>, the late singer-songwriter <a href="https://www.johnprine.com/">John Prine</a> and photographer <a href="https://www.stacykranitz.com/">Stacy Kranitz</a>, all of whom have used their art to highlight the ravaging effects of these drugs on their region.</p>
<h2>How artists can reclaim a place</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/college/people/william-nash">As an American Studies professor</a> who teaches courses on both country music and images of rural America, I see this groundbreaking work through the lens of <a href="https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/human_geography/cultural">cultural geography</a>, which explores the relationship between culture and place.</p>
<p>A region can inspire unique forms of art, music, literature and architecture, and the work of geographer <a href="https://www.aag.org/memorial/edward-w-soja/">Edward Soja</a> helped show how this work can push back against stereotypes. </p>
<p>In 1996, Soja published “<a href="https://geography.ruhosting.nl/geography/index.php?title=Thirdspace">Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places</a>.” </p>
<p>In it, he argued that stereotypes of a region’s people and landscape could lead to damaging politics and policies. For example, outsiders’ views of “the inner city” as hotbeds for poverty, crime and broken families led to the implementation of racist <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/moynihan-report-1965/">public housing policies in the 1960s</a>.</p>
<p>Soja’s book was a call to arms for artists and the marginalized: In what he called “thirdspace” – a place that exists at the intersection of the real and the imagined – they can reclaim and reframe visions of their region, showcasing <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-black-poets-and-writers-gave-a-voice-to-affrilachia-155706">different identities and experiences</a>. </p>
<p>Appalachia is a region that, for generations, has been subjected to <a href="https://qz.com/1167671/the-100-year-capitalist-experiment-that-keeps-appalachia-poor-sick-and-stuck-on-coal">economic oppression</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/03/298892382/stereotypes-of-appalachia-obscure-a-diverse-picture">classist stereotyping</a> and environmental and medical recklessness. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-brian-benczkowski-gives-remarks-west-virginia-and-appalachian">The pumping of opioids into rural communities</a> represents just another chapter in this story of exploitation. </p>
<p>Yet artists and writers like Kingsolver are able to show that the people in the region are more than just backward, powerless victims – that they are complicated people with the same goals, longings and fears as the rest of us. </p>
<h2>More than an addict</h2>
<p>Kingsolver, who was raised in rural Kentucky and who currently resides in Virginia, had a keen vision for Copperhead. She weaves the history of the economic fallout from the tobacco industry and coal mining into her protagonist’s backstory.</p>
<p>Her central concern, though, was always the opioid crisis. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/books/barbara-kingsolver-demon-copperhead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">As she told The New York Times in October 2022</a>, “I wanted to say, ‘Look, it’s still here, and this got done to us and we didn’t deserve it.’”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover of 'Demon Copperhead.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Demon Copperhead’ won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0570/7209/1326/products/33274BCF-6D06-40F3-B603-2C8F57086E36.jpg?v=1669761668">Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s the story of Demon’s life. An orphan who experiences poverty, an abusive foster home and social isolation, he finds freedom and glory on the football field, only to experience a devastating knee injury. </p>
<p>Pressured by his coach and the townspeople to play through his pain, he blindly takes the OxyContin that the local Dr. Feelgood prescribes, only to find himself crippled physically, psychologically and emotionally by his addiction.</p>
<p>And yet, through all of that, Demon is much more than his habit. Kingsolver foregrounds his humanity, his humor and his potential for goodness in a way that makes him more than “just an addict.” </p>
<p>In doing so, Kingsolver uses her connection to the region, her empathy for its residents and her awareness of stereotypes about Appalachians and addicts to avoid what could have easily been a reductive portrayal. Instead, she crafts a realistic and still-not-despairing vision from the inside.</p>
<p>This approach – an example of Soja’s thirdspace – is, in my view, the most powerful tool that artists have at their disposal to counteract the impulse to move on from grappling with this ongoing epidemic.</p>
<h2>Filling the void</h2>
<p>What Kingsolver does in prose, Billy Strings and John Prine do in song. </p>
<p>Strings, whose breakout hit, “<a href="https://outsider.com/entertainment/music/country-music/billy-strings-dust-in-a-baggie-lyrics-story-behind-song/">Dust in a Baggie</a>,” is a portrait of methamphetamine addiction, takes on opioids in “<a href="https://americansongwriter.com/billy-strings-enough-to-leave-video-jason-isbell-tour-announcement/">Enough to Leave</a>,” a track from his album “Home.” </p>
<p>Written to commemorate two friends who overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin within the same week, <a href="https://lyrics.lol/artist/1431433-billy-strings/lyrics/4694970-enough-to-leave">the song</a> is a <a href="https://jambands.com/news/2020/02/20/billy-strings-shares-in-studio-video-of-enough-to-leave/">haunting evocation of grief</a> for those left behind when addiction takes its toll:</p>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> Enough to kill ya, enough to put you down
Seems like every way you turned was like a hard wind comin' down
Enough to leave me, enough to leave me here
And though the room is empty now I can almost feel you near
</code></pre>
<p>The same is true for Prine’s “Summer’s End,” a track from his last album, 2018’s “The Tree of Forgiveness.”</p>
<p>The video for that song, directed by West Virginia filmmakers Kerrin Sheldon and Elaine McMillan Sheldon, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-john-prines-summers-end-video-addresses-the-opioid-crisis-776514/">portrays an aging grandfather and his young granddaughter</a> going about the mundanities of daily life in the wake of their daughter and mother’s death. A single frame depicts a news headline about the opioid crisis, illuminating the source of their suffering without overshadowing the regularity of their routines.</p>
<p>The video brings to mind a line from Samuel Beckett’s 1953 novel “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Unnamable">The Unnamable</a>”: “You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nXbEFTv9zr0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The music video for ‘Summer’s End.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Upending a theory of ‘genetic decline’</h2>
<p>Words, music and pictures – all have become powerful tools in this thirdspace reading of opioid-afflicted Appalachia. </p>
<p>Like the Sheldons, Kentucky-born photographer Stacy Kranitz offers gritty, complex and beautiful photographic portraits of Appalachia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.readingthepictures.org/2014/02/stacy-kranitz-the-rape-of-appalachia/">She has written</a> about how she wants her work to provide a corrective to the negative portraits of Appalachia penned by Kentuckian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Comes_to_the_Cumberlands">Harry Caudill</a> and New York Times reporter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Bigart">Homer Bigart</a> in the 1960s. </p>
<p>Caudill, who emphasized the economic exploitation of Appalachia, also came to embrace William Shockley’s <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-shockley">theory of dysgenics</a>, arguing that “genetic decline” among the people of Appalachia played a contributing role in the perpetuation of their suffering.</p>
<p>Their work brought Appalachia to the <a href="http://acsc.lib.udel.edu/exhibits/show/legislation/appalachian">Johnson administration’s awareness</a>. But it also amplified the national perception of the region and its people as backward, helpless and ripe for exploitation. </p>
<p>Kranitz’s engagement with Appalachia – particularly her refusal to let Caudill’s stereotypical views of its inhabitants as backward and regressive stand – offers a thirdspace revision of the region and its residents. Her series “<a href="https://www.stacykranitz.com/as-it-was-given-to-me">As It Was Given to Me</a>” juxtaposes a burning cross at a Klan rally with an image of a lovely, innocent girl holding a lit sparkler. Unafraid to illustrate the ugliness of the region, Kranitz is equally insistent on finding its beauty. </p>
<p>Like these artists and musicians, Kingsolver set out in “Demon Copperhead” to wrestle with the region’s complex history and its current social ills. </p>
<p>In that, she succeeded. </p>
<p>Hopefully the Pulitzer committee’s recognition of the novel will lead others to not only educate themselves about Appalachia, but also participate in the work needed to undo the damage that these drugs have done – and continue to do. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Nash does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is just one of many artists from Appalachia who are probing the crisis in their work, while taking pains to ensure that it doesn’t define the region and its people.William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814072022-08-05T12:14:23Z2022-08-05T12:14:23ZSocial media provides flood of images of death and carnage from Ukraine war – and contributes to weaker journalism standards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467537/original/file-20220607-40890-hy7er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C5974%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A soldier's body lies next to a destroyed Russian truck on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaUkraineWar100DaysExplainer/1a73a1612aba4c479dfb2a16af7f21cd/photo">AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Photos of civilians killed or injured in the Russia-Ukraine war are widespread, particularly online, both on social media and in professional news media. </p>
<p>Editors have always published images of dead or suffering people during times of crisis, like wars and natural disasters. But the current crisis has delivered many more of these images, more widely published online, than ever before.</p>
<p>“It’s all over social media,” says Nancy San Martin, a longtime former foreign correspondent and editor at the Miami Herald. And not just online. Mainstream journalists are also departing from their traditional tendency to avoid <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/us/politics/photos-uvalde.html">prominently featuring images of dead people</a> or particularly direct depictions of physical injuries.</p>
<p>But in times of conflict overseas, those standard practices tend to ease, San Martin, now deputy managing editor for the history and culture desk at National Geographic, told me in a phone interview: “War will always open that door. Part of our role is to document the consequences of war and all that it entails.”</p>
<p>Editorial oversight has traditionally been part of the equation – the practice of a group of journalists who ensure context, balancing the significance and importance of what an image depicts with its gruesomeness. They might, for instance, choose a different angle of an injured or dead person that shows less blood, or crop an image so a dead person’s face isn’t visible, or choose to withhold an image altogether while providing written information about what happened.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://beenasarwar.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/2001-jan.-22-documentary-and-democracy-goldsmiths-college.pdf">longtime journalist and editor</a> following media, journalism and human rights, I
know images can become <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/world/2013/04/28/iconic-war-photographs/2119175/">public icons symbolizing major events</a>.</p>
<p>The flood of images from the Ukraine war runs deep and wide. It contains many potentially iconic images but also shows more raw carnage than in past conflicts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photograph of three dead bodies lying next to a split-rail fence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469057/original/file-20220615-24-g6m8g8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander Gardner’s photos, along with those of Mathew Brady, depicted casualties of the U.S. Civil War and were among the first to show people who had been killed in combat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.05174/">Alexander Gardner via Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Powerful images</h2>
<p>From the <a href="https://www.life.com/history/crimea-where-war-photography-was-born/">earliest days of photography</a> in the 19th century, war has been a common subject, including <a href="https://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/historyculture/photography.htm">during the U.S. Civil War</a>. </p>
<p>Certain images have become famous, such as <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/article/joe-rosenthal-and-flag-raising-iwo-jima">Joe Rosenthal’s World War II image of U.S. Marines</a> raising the flag on Mount Suribachi, signaling the capture of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army in February 1945. It was distributed by The Associated Press and <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/article/joe-rosenthal-and-flag-raising-iwo-jima">ran on the front pages</a> of many U.S. newspapers.</p>
<p>“There have always been powerful images emerging from conflict,” Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer <a href="https://patrickfarrellphotography.com/">Patrick Farrell</a> told me in a video call. “A still image is still one of the most powerful forms of media. It will sit with you forever.”</p>
<p>Many of the famous images are not of victory or glory but rather of violence and death – and also remain etched in public memory. Nick Ut’s photograph of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/50-years-after-napalm-girl-myths-distort-the-reality-behind-a-horrific-photo-of-the-vietnam-war-and-exaggerate-its-impact-183291">napalm girl</a>” Kim Phuc and John Filo’s photo of <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/news/history/2020/05/01/kent-state-shooting-photos-mary-ann-vecchio-impacts-nation-jeffrey-miller-john-filo/3055009001/">Mary Ann Vecchio mourning student protester Jeffrey Miller</a> at Kent State University show both the foreign and domestic toll of the Vietnam War. They were <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/news/history/2020/05/01/kent-state-shooting-photos-mary-ann-vecchio-impacts-nation-jeffrey-miller-john-filo/3055009001">transmitted via wire services</a>, too, and <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/04/vietnam-war-napalm-girl-photo-today">chosen to feature prominently</a> in newspapers and magazines across the country.</p>
<p>Photos of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/14/haiti-port-au-prince-deaths">bodies piled in the streets</a> after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and floating in the water in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2010/08/24/129400381/telling-their-stories">New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina</a> in the same year are examples of the choices made by editors across the nation to feature coverage showing the real human cost of significant natural disasters.</p>
<p>Kevin Carter’s 1993 image of a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2006/03/02/5241442/a-pulitzer-winning-photographers-suicide">vulture next to a starving child</a> in Sudan is another lasting image of human tragedy that was published by editors worldwide. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994.</p>
<p>Wire-distributed photos of other tragedies, including Nilufer Demir’s image of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Greek beach, and atrocities, like the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/abuse-photos-ii/8/">images from Abu Ghraib</a> of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, are also visceral reminders of complex events. </p>
<h2>Increased volume</h2>
<p>The difference between those situations and the present one in Ukraine is the sheer volume of images.</p>
<p>There are, as usual in conflict situations, award-winning professional photojournalists in Ukraine <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/05/world/ukraine-war-photographers-cnnphotos/">sending images back</a> to the media outlets they work for. But many of them are also posting images on their own or their employers’ <a href="https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/4857/war-photography-in-the-age-of-social-media">social media accounts</a> – more images than might be published on a newspaper’s front page or homepage on the web.</p>
<p>Also on social media are <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-social-media-images-from-the-ground-could-be-affecting-our-response-to-the-war-178722">legions of ordinary citizens</a> taking pictures with their smartphones and bearing witness, sharing countless images every day.</p>
<p>With the “floodgates opened by social media,” as Farrell put it, the media environment in 2022 is different from previous decades. There are now many powerful images competing to become iconic.</p>
<p>It’s “not more graphic than what we saw during Vietnam,” in Farrell’s estimation, but the media cycle then, based on daily newspapers and nightly TV news broadcasts, meant there were breaks in the barrage of imagery. </p>
<p>What’s of concern to Farrell, and to me, is that there is less editorial oversight about which images reach the most eyeballs – even in professional newsrooms. </p>
<p>With social media in the mix and the never-ending competition to be first, editors are publishing and distributing images with less consideration for traditional editorial restraint and balance between gore and meaning – and with less context about the images themselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man plays a piano in the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467539/original/file-20220607-24949-939qjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander, who did not want to provide his last name, plays a piano placed outside in the Old Town on March 29, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine. Alexander said he was playing because he missed being able to play the piano after having to leave his behind when he fled his hometown of Kramatorsk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/alexander-plays-a-piano-placed-outside-in-the-old-town-on-news-photo/1388364859">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Context is vital</h2>
<p>An important element of that context is that in some ways <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/27/what-know-about-ukraines-lviv-struck-by-missiles-when-biden-was-250-miles-away/">life goes on</a>, says San Martin. Despite the carnage and mayhem of war, she says, the places experiencing war are still places where people make their lives. Her husband, Joe Raedle, an award-winning photographer with Getty Images, has been on the ground in Ukraine documenting both the refugee exodus and everyday life – cultural performances, restaurants serving free meals, churches providing comfort – and a <a href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/alexander-plays-a-piano-placed-outside-in-the-old-town-on-news-photo/1388364859">man playing a piano on the street</a>, having left his own behind when he fled the fighting.</p>
<p>“It’s a different kind of war. Still heartbreaking,” she says, noting that there is more happening than the dominant images show. Those elements, she predicts, will become more important to full coverage of events in Ukraine as the war continues. It is going to be, as she says, “a long haul.”</p>
<p>It’s normal for media to focus on the immediacy of conflict or disaster and to highlight the most dramatic, even horrific events. But what San Martin reminds me, and what I have seen in my work, is that the journalists often give <a href="https://beenasarwar.com/2009/06/28/dr-sarwar-blog-media-matters-chapter-in-new-book-on-pakistan-india-divide/">less emphasis to the processes behind</a> events and the surrounding context – including the <a href="https://tvr2c.com/2016/10/26/beenasarwar/">survival, determination and resilience</a> of those affected.</p>
<p>Sensational images circulating on social media are similarly incomplete – or even potentially <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-ukraine-russia/fact-check-photo-of-children-saluting-ukrainian-tanks-dates-back-to-2016-idUSL1N2V10DO">false</a>, whether shared by propagandists or their innocent dupes. They represent an important, and alarming, reality. But there’s more to the picture than that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181407/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beena Sarwar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many images from the Ukraine war are compelling and distressing depictions of the human costs of war.Beena Sarwar, Visiting Professor of Journalism, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1831122022-06-10T06:35:22Z2022-06-10T06:35:22ZGeraldine Brooks’s Horse is a richly detailed examination of the violence of America’s past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467067/original/file-20220606-59031-ab8z35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C3%2C2228%2C1471&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Geraldine Brooks. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hachette.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a letter accompanying the advance copy of her latest novel, Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks reveals the inspiration for <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/geraldine-brooks/horse">Horse</a>. </p>
<p>The author was propelled into the research for this masterly work by a chance conversation with a staff member from the Smithsonian Museum regarding the fastest, most celebrated American racehorse of the 19th century: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A horse so fast that the mass-produced stopwatch was manufactured so his fans could clock times in races that regularly drew more than twenty thousand spectators. A horse so handsome that the best equestrian artists vied to paint him … </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Horse – Geraldine Brooks (Hachette)</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465403/original/file-20220525-25418-8ux0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>Brooks offers a richly textured, intricately developed narrative about that magnificent horse, his trainer, the artist who painted them, and those who restored the skeleton of the great creature in a museum many years later. </p>
<p>She refers to these elements as the “factual scaffolding” for her novel. As the reader discovers in the potted biographies of a dozen or so historical figures Brooks has provided, the scaffolding is a robust and complex structure. </p>
<p>Indeed, this is a novel that explores and exposes real historical figures and actual conditions, events and forces. These are animated through Brooks’ exquisite character construction. Horse deftly reveals the long-term effects of history, depicting the continuities of the brutal treatment of African Americans in the United States during the era of slavery and its deadly manifestations today. </p>
<h2>Daring and disturbing</h2>
<p>Horse is a daring and disturbing novel, in that Brooks makes not one but two young African American men the central characters.</p>
<p>She draws a sustained comparison between the young horse trainer, Jarret, an enslaved man with a prodigious talent for horsemanship and an equally profound love for the animals, and Theo, a doctoral student at Georgetown and one-time Oxford polo player, who has a dog called Clancy and an immense knowledge of 19th century painting. </p>
<p>The novel is daring because Brooks presents the action variously from the point of view of each of these men as the novel progresses (as well as several other characters, including an Australian curator). It is disturbing because of the extreme cruelty each young man endures, despite the historical distance between them and the marked contrast in their social and economic circumstances.</p>
<p>The wealth of historical detail is an impressive element in Horse, and yet it is worn lightly. The world of horse training and racing and its rapid development in the antebellum South – a world of geopolitical tensions and catastrophic greed – provide the background and impetus for the story of the origin, training and career of the exceptional horse known as Lexington. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C613%2C459&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C613%2C459&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465402/original/file-20220525-18-m6myid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lexington – Edward Troye (c.1860).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Plantation life and its hierarchies of enslaved and other workers are revealed through Jarret, who tenderly and expertly rears, trains and protects this extraordinary horse. </p>
<p>He faces the insatiable demands of the track masters and his vulnerability as a man owned by another and sold at a whim. At first, he is “Warfield’s Jarret”, then “Ten Broeck’s Jarret”, “Alexander’s Jarret”, and finally “Jarret Lewis”. </p>
<p>The relationship between Jarret and the horse in his care is the core of the novel and the source of its power. Beyond the novel’s ingenious structure and engrossing historical depth, Jarret’s intense connection to this being provides Horse with much of its strength, warmth and beauty. When he realises that his beloved Lexington is going blind on a long journey from New York City, Brooks writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They had stopped for long rests at farms where Ten Broeck had connections, and in every strange place, Jarret worked from light to last on building Lexington’s confidence. He slept in the pasture so that the horse would be reassured by his familiar scent. By the end of the journey even a strange paddock held no terrors. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The abuse of Jarret and the horses is a constant threat. Brooks renders Jarret’s unflagging resistance and fortitude carefully and without sentimentality.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/set-in-a-19th-century-australian-leper-colony-eleanor-limprechts-the-coast-depicts-past-cruelties-but-has-powerful-things-to-say-about-the-present-182671">Set in a 19th century Australian leper colony, Eleanor Limprecht's The Coast depicts past cruelties, but has powerful things to say about the present</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Historical detail</h2>
<p>Brooks’s knowledge and understanding of horses permeates this compelling work of historical fiction. She presents detailed descriptions of the anatomical variations of thoroughbreds, the biomechanics of their speed and strength, breeding strategies, the methods and foibles of farriers, and the individual temperaments of a range of horses. </p>
<p>These details infuse the story with a distinctive power. The daily regimes of training and the exigencies of the 24-hour care provided by Jarret are rendered with suppleness. The suffering of Lexington and his record-breaking triumphs on the racecourse are vividly depicted and provide the novel with its narrative arc.</p>
<p>The novel’s account of the business of portraiture, including the painting of prize horses, as a feature of 19th century pastoral life and as a form of wealth signalling, offers another rich seam. Brooks understands art history and the world of curatorial and institutional rivalries. Most of all, she understands the precarity of artists’ lives in the past and present, and portrays them with insight. </p>
<p>Among a large cast of characters, artists <a href="https://www.jackson-pollock.org/">Jackson Pollock</a> and <a href="https://www.moma.org/artists/3240">Lee Krasner</a>, philanthopist <a href="https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/about/paul-mellon">Paul Mellon</a>, and art dealer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Jackson">Martha Jackson</a> appear in later chapters as the mystery around a particular painting unfolds. Even here there are no false notes, as the story of the art world intersects with the lives of the horse trainer, owners and their families.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/historical-fiction-deserves-a-future-and-at-present-its-looking-good-27206">Historical fiction deserves a future – and at present it's looking good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An exploration of violence</h2>
<p>Horse is explicit in its exploration of violence – the violence of the most powerful over the least powerful in American society before, during and after the Civil War. Brooks presents violence towards non-human animals and their ruthless exploitation for maximum financial gain as corollaries of the broader violence of society. </p>
<p>The gradations of violence from casual to systemic and the complexity of the relationships created by Brooks allow for a steady consideration of historical and contemporary conditions without a hint of the didactic.</p>
<p>Historical fiction has attracted disdain from critics for several reasons. These have included its association with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Scott">Sir Walter Scott</a> and conservative nationalism, its blending of fact and fiction, its connection with Gothic novels, its origins in romance, and its evolution into popular romances. </p>
<p>In 1901, Henry James stated that historical fiction suffered from a “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ytg3CfAmV0EC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=%22fatal+cheapness%22+henry+james#v=onepage&q=%22fatal%20cheapness%22%20henry%20james&f=false">fatal cheapness</a>”, because it is impossible for a writer to represent the consciousness of a person from an earlier time using their “modern apparatus”. James argued that writers should come back to the “palpable present”. </p>
<p>More recently, the New Yorker critic James Wood has labelled historical fiction a “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/05/07/invitation-to-a-beheading">gimcrack genre not exactly jammed with greatness</a>”. </p>
<p>Wood does, however, make an exception for Hilary Mantel, praising her “novelistic intelligence”, lack of sentimentality, and characterisation. The same case can be made for Brooks with Horse. </p>
<p>Her careful creation of sensibility in her characters, her overarching intelligence, and her refusal of sentimentality represent historical fiction at its best. Brooks has once more weighed into American history, offering bold characterisation, a compelling story, and a fresh perspective on narratives of self-definition, progress and change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Pender has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian-American Fulbright Commission and the National Library of Australia.</span></em></p>The Pulitzer Prize winning writer’s latest novel, based on the true story of a champion thoroughbred, represents historical fiction at its best.Anne Pender, Kidman Chair in Australian Studies, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1832912022-06-02T19:06:50Z2022-06-02T19:06:50Z50 years after ‘Napalm Girl,’ myths distort the reality behind a horrific photo of the Vietnam War and exaggerate its impact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466616/original/file-20220601-49160-94jy38.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2995%2C2164&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, near Trang Bang, Vietnam, after a South Vietnamese plane on June 8, 1972, accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on its own troops and civilians.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GermanyKimPhucPeacePrize/363b61fefe084ae0aa1109b82ddb9df5/photo?Query=Phan%20Thi%20Kim%20Phuc&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=102&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Nick Ut, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “Napalm Girl” photograph of terror-stricken Vietnamese children fleeing an errant aerial attack on their village, taken 50 years ago this month, has rightly been called “<a href="https://www.independent.com/2013/08/08/witness-power-picture-received-emmy-nom/">a picture that doesn’t rest</a>.” </p>
<p>It is one of those exceptional visual artifacts that draws attention and even controversy years after it was made. </p>
<p>In May 2022, for example, Nick Ut, the photographer who captured the image, and the photo’s central figure, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/retired-ap-photographer-ut-pope-napalm-girl-photo-84644513">made news at the Vatican</a> as they presented a poster-size reproduction of the prize-winning image to Pope Francis, who has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/20/pope-ukraine-russia-00018704">emphasized the evils of warfare</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016, Facebook stirred <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/facebook-under-fire-censoring-iconic-napalm-girl-photo-n645526">controversy</a> by deleting “Napalm Girl” from a commentary posted at the network because the photograph shows the then-9-year-old Kim Phuc entirely naked. She had torn away her burning clothes as she and other terrified children ran from their village, Trang Bang, on June 8, 1972. Facebook retracted the decision amid an international uproar about the social network’s <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2016/09/facebook-censors-napalm-girl-photo-changes-mind-has-no-idea-what-its-doing.html">free speech policies</a>.</p>
<p>Such episodes signal how “Napalm Girl” is much more than powerful evidence of war’s indiscriminate effects on civilians. The <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1973">Pulitzer Prize-winning image</a>, formally known as “The Terror of War,” has also given rise to tenacious <a href="https://mediamythalert.com/2009/11/02/media-myths-faqs/">media-driven myths</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a young girl stands next to a man who has a camera slung from his neck. Both are smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466623/original/file-20220601-49132-5movf7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phan Thi Kim Phuc, left, is visited by AP photographer Nick Ut in 1973. After taking the photograph of her fleeing in agony in 1972, Ut transported her to a hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KIM%20PHUC%20AP%20PHOTOGRAPHER%20UT/daacb8b6eee6da11af9f0014c2589dfb?Query=Phan%20Thi%20Kim%20Phuc&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=102&currentItemNo=15">AP photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Widely believed – often exaggerated</h2>
<p>What are media myths?</p>
<p>These are well-known stories about or by the news media that are widely believed and often retold but which, under scrutiny, dissolve as apocryphal or wildly exaggerated.</p>
<p>The distorting effects of four media myths have become attached to the photograph, which Ut made when he was a 21-year-old photographer for The Associated Press. </p>
<p>Prominent among the myths of the “Napalm Girl,” which I address and dismantle in my book “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520291294">Getting It Wrong: Debunking the Greatest Myths in American Journalism</a>,” is that U.S.-piloted or guided warplanes dropped the napalm, a gelatinous, incendiary substance, at Trang Bang. </p>
<p>Not so. </p>
<p>The napalm attack was carried out by propeller-driven Skyraider aircraft of the South Vietnamese Air Force trying to roust communist forces dug in near the village – as news accounts at the time made clear.</p>
<p>The headline over The New York Times’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/09/archives/south-vietnamese-drop-napalm-on-own-troops.html">report</a> from Trang Bang said: “South Vietnamese Drop Napalm on Own Troops.” <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2118/chicagotribune0609720000.pdf?1654103223">The Chicago Tribune front page of June 9, 1972, </a> stated the “napalm [was] dropped by a Vietnamese air force Skyraider diving onto the wrong target.” Christopher Wain, a veteran British journalist, wrote <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2119/IndianapolisStar_front.pdf?1654105513">in a dispatch for United Press International</a>: “These were South Vietnamese planes dropping napalm on South Vietnamese peasants and troops.” </p>
<p>The myth of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52992082">American culpability</a> at Trang Bang began taking hold during the 1972 presidential campaign, when Democratic candidate George McGovern referred to the photograph in a televised speech. The napalm that badly burned Kim Phuc, he declared, had been “dropped in the name of America.” </p>
<p>McGovern’s metaphoric claim anticipated similar assertions, including Susan Sontag’s statement in her 1973 book “On Photography,” that Kim Phuc had been “sprayed by American napalm.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A headline on a New York Times story from June 9, 1972, said 'South Vietnamese Drop Napalm on Own Troops'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466625/original/file-20220601-49050-37lmoh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The New York Times headline of June 9, 1972, clearly reported it was a South Vietnamese attack that sprayed napalm on troops and civilians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/06/09/79469704.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0">New York Times archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hastened the war’s end?</h2>
<p>Two other related media myths rest on assumptions that “Napalm Girl” was so powerful that it must have <a href="https://mediamythalert.com/2017/03/14/napalm-girl-photograph-changed-us-and-our-stomach-for-war-but-how/">exerted powerful effects</a> on its audiences. These myths claim that the photograph <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/28/goya-etchings-louvre-disasters-of-war-exhibition">hastened an end to the war</a> and that it <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/03/09/ukraine-war-photos/">turned U.S. public opinion</a> against the conflict. </p>
<p>Neither is accurate.</p>
<p>Although most U.S. combat forces were out of Vietnam by the time Ut took the photograph, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/29/these-are-americas-9-longest-foreign-wars/">war went on for nearly three more years</a>. <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/fall-of-saigon/">The end came in April 1975</a>, when communist forces overran South Vietnam and seized its capital.</p>
<p>Americans’ views about the war had <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/2299/Americans-Look-Back-Vietnam-War.aspx">turned negative</a> long before June 1972, as measured by a survey question the Gallup Organization posed periodically. The question – essentially a proxy for Americans’ views about Vietnam – was whether sending U.S. troops there had been a mistake. When the question was <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/2299/Americans-Look-Back-Vietnam-War.aspx">first asked in summer 1965, only 24%</a> of respondents said yes, sending in troops had been a mistake. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/2299/Americans-Look-Back-Vietnam-War.aspx">But by mid-May 1971</a> – more than a year before “Napalm Girl” was made – 61% of respondents said yes, sending troops had been mistaken policy. </p>
<p>In short, public opinion turned against the war long before “Napalm Girl” entered popular consciousness.</p>
<h2>Ubiquitous? Not exactly</h2>
<p>Another myth is that “Napalm Girl” appeared on newspaper front pages <a href="https://petapixel.com/2012/09/19/interview-with-nick-ut-the-photojournalist-who-shot-the-iconic-photo-napalm-girl/">everywhere</a> in America. </p>
<p>Many large U.S. daily newspapers did publish the photograph. But many newspapers abstained, perhaps because it depicted frontal nudity.</p>
<p>In a review I conducted with a research assistant of 40 leading daily U.S. newspapers – all of which were Associated Press subscribers – 21 titles placed “Napalm Girl” on the front page. </p>
<p>But 14 newspapers – more than one-third of the sample – did not publish “Napalm Girl” at all in the days immediately after its distribution. These included papers in Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston and Newark.</p>
<p>Only three of the 40 newspapers examined – The Boston Globe, the New York Post and The New York Times – published editorials specifically addressing the photograph. The editorial in the New York Post, then a liberal-minded newspaper, was prophetic in saying: </p>
<p>“The picture of the children will never leave anyone who saw it.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>W. Joseph Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘Napalm Girl’ photo is much more than powerful evidence of war’s indiscriminate effects on civilians. It also shows how false assertions can get traction in the media.W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of CommunicationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1164712019-05-17T10:44:43Z2019-05-17T10:44:43ZPolitical cartoonists are out of touch – it’s time to make way for memes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274721/original/file-20190515-60554-1ti5x8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not everyone possesses the skills to draw a cartoon, but pretty much anyone can make a meme.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lehr/The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New York Times came <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/28/media/ny-times-anti-semitic-cartoon/index.html">under fire</a> after a political cartoon appeared in print on April 25, 2019. In it, a blind President Donald Trump, wearing sunglasses and a yarmulke, is being led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s depicted as a guide dog with a Star of David around his neck.</p>
<p>The Times later <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/business/ny-times-anti-semitic-cartoon.html">issued an apology</a>, called the cartoon “anti-Semitic,” and announced that it would discipline the editor and enhance its bias training. The newspaper also indicated that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-drops-syndication-service-that-supplied-anti-semitic-cartoon">it will no longer use</a> the syndication service that supplied the cartoon. </p>
<p>To some, this might appear to be a significant move. But it fails to address larger problems with editorial cartooning – namely, the ranks of cartoonists are too white, too old and too male.</p>
<p><a href="https://newhouse.syr.edu/faculty-staff/jennifer-grygiel">As a scholar who studies social media and memetics</a>, I wonder if political cartoons are the best way to connect with today’s diverse readership. Many crave searing, cutting political commentary – and they’re finding it in internet memes. </p>
<p>What if internet memes were elevated – not only as a serious art form but also as an important form of editorializing that’s worthy of appearing alongside the traditional cartoon?</p>
<h2>Behind the times</h2>
<p>Newspapers and magazine editors <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-19193-2_11#citeas">still rely on political cartoons</a> to capture readers’ attention and to deliver some lighter material alongside heavier news stories. The need for this content isn’t going away, nor is the need for forms of communication that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218297">challenge governments and open up important public discussions</a> – a role the political cartoonist has long held.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274696/original/file-20190515-60545-5k109i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Political cartoons have long been used to criticize – and mock – those in power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/declined-thanks-political-cartoon-pres-mckinley-787304683?src=EOtdwfByBqm6RQIYpyTUoQ-1-0">Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in many ways, political cartooning can seem like a relic of a bygone era. </p>
<p>A 2015 Washington Post report also underscored the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/12/29/in-a-tamir-rice-era-why-are-there-no-staff-black-cartoonists-to-comment/">lack of diversity among political cartoonists in newsrooms</a>, noting how not a single black individual was employed as one.</p>
<p>Then there’s journalism’s top prize, the Pulitzer. </p>
<p>An extensive <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/100_years_of_data.php">2016 study by the Columbia Journalism Review</a> unveiled how the ranks of editorial cartoon Pulitzer winners have been largely dominated by white men. Since 1922, only two women have received a Pulitzer in this category, and it wasn’t awarded to an African American until this year, when syndicated cartoonist Darrin Bell became the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/714073919/pulitzer-prize-winner-darrin-bell-on-how-trayvon-martins-death-inspired-his-work">first to receive the award</a>. </p>
<p>One roadblock to diversifying the ranks of political cartoonists is that the potential pool of candidates is limited. Few have the technical skill to draw pen-and-ink drollery, the common style for political cartooning. </p>
<p>Another has to do with industry trends. A 2017 study found that <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218297">many newspapers don’t even employ an editorial cartoonist anymore</a>. Instead, they’ve come to rely on less expensive syndication services. </p>
<h2>A more democratic form</h2>
<p>Given the important function of the political cartoon, simply discontinuing their use serves no one, including publishers. </p>
<p>But the field’s high barrier to entry – not to mention the time it takes to actually produce a cartoon – clearly poses a problem. A new, quicker and more inclusive solution to political commentary is needed.</p>
<p>The political cartoon is technically a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme">meme</a>, which is simply any piece of culture that can be copied or replicated. </p>
<p>A different sort of political cartoon, the internet meme, dominates on social media. Often crudely constructed, they’re far easier to create than, say, your typical New Yorker political cartoon. Many simply appear as a photo with text overlay, something that can be made within a few minutes via an online meme generator or mobile app. But the lack of technical skill needed means that they’re democratic in nature – and those that resonate the best will get shared the most and rise to the top. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Btjl6eJg3Y-","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>A new common meme format simply entails brief, humorous, text-based commentary. Words are memes, after all, and they can be used to communicate ideas very quickly and clearly, which avoids some of the issues with visual rhetoric such as misinterpretation or misrepresentation – the exact sort of thing that happened with The New York Times cartoon. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1118208511975075841"}"></div></p>
<h2>Memers of the world, unite!</h2>
<p>Cartooning is undoubtedly a skilled art form. But in 2019, an ugly internet meme that uses a screen grab from “The Office” and quippy text overlay can have just as much clout – if not more – than a sophisticated political cartoon. </p>
<p>Internet memes increasingly play a role in politics and even have the power to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ira-propaganda-senate-report/">influence elections</a>. Facebook groups with hundreds of thousands of followers are dedicated entirely to propagating and spreading political internet memes, such as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/02/23/how-bernie-sanders-became-the-lord-of-dank-memes/">Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/godemperortrumpofficial/">God Emperor Trump</a>. </p>
<p>Politics has become, in many ways – as campaign strategist Doyle Canning put it – “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/09/technology/political-memes-go-mainstream.html">a battle of the memes</a>.”</p>
<p>Some publishers and media outlets understand the value of user-generated content in political discourse and news gathering. For example, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwyCDUsFoOF/">BuzzFeed</a> occasionally posts lighthearted political internet memes on its social media platforms that speak to a younger audience. The Associated Press employs <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2012/new-editor-fergus-bell-explains-how-ap-verifies-user-generated-content-from-sandy-to-syria/">user-generated content editors</a> who comb social media platforms for important images associated with news events. </p>
<p>Memers, meanwhile, are beginning to see their role in driving internet traffic – and ad revenue – and are beginning to formalize their work and employment as content creators. They’re even beginning to organize, with some groups <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/22/18507941/instagram-meme-union">seeking union status</a>. It’s possible that new syndication services may develop for political memes out of these efforts. </p>
<p>But there have been few signs of anyone printing a meme in a physical newspaper or magazine unless it’s controversial enough to become the topic of a news story. To serve print needs, what if publishers hired staff memers or freelance memers – individuals with a pulse for viral content and an understanding of what resonates with younger readers, who could construct stylized, more professional-looking memes that could appear in print and on the web?</p>
<p>Again, this isn’t to say that traditional political cartoons no longer have a role. But it’s time for publishers to anoint the internet meme as worthy of publication. </p>
<p>After all, the best political commentary is just as likely to be found on Tumblr as the pages of the Times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Grygiel owns a small number of shares in the following social media companies: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Alibaba, LinkedIn, YY and Snap.</span></em></p>With sharp political commentary just as likely to be found on Tumblr as in the pages of the Times, why aren’t the best internet memes being published in the nation’s top periodicals?Jennifer Grygiel, Assistant Professor of Communications (Social Media) & Magazine, News and Digital Journalism, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1056442019-04-12T02:03:24Z2019-04-12T02:03:24ZPeople who win big prizes shouldn’t get taxed when they give their windfalls away<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268632/original/file-20190410-2898-1y5zmb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Obama's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Norway-Nobel-Peace-Obama/faf175cd1e1646fbb9c5f53ec2d4fd7c/4/0">AP Photo/John McConnico</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When former President <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-donation/obama-gives-1-4-million-nobel-prize-to-10-charities-idUSTRE62A5EN20100311">Barack Obama</a> won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he didn’t keep the approximately <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/monetary-value-of-the-nobel-prize-608598">US$1.4 million</a>, converted from Swedish currency, that came with it. Instead the Nobel Prize Foundation transferred the money directly to Fisher House, a nonprofit that houses families of wounded veterans while their loved ones get medical care, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-nobel-charity.pdf">eight other charities</a>.</p>
<p>Under the tax code, that action meant the prize money <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2010/04/15/president-obama-and-vice-president-biden-s-tax-returns">didn’t count as income</a>. The Internal Revenue Code provision that authorizes this special treatment is section 74, which governs taxation of prizes and awards. </p>
<p>I study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Ellen+Aprill&btnG=">federal tax law</a> pertaining to charity. The way section 74 treats prizes for outstanding artistic, intellectual, and athletic achievements strikes me as too complicated, inconsistent and outdated. I believe it’s time to revise these rules and regulations to avoid penalizing people who have been honored with these rewards and who choose to give their winnings to causes they support. Otherwise, winning a big prize could have the perverse effect of causing the prize winners financial distress.</p>
<h2>Section 74</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/74">Under section 74</a>, as first enacted in 1954, prize money had to meet two conditions to be excluded from income. First, recipients couldn’t apply or nominate themselves. Second, if they won, they couldn’t be required “to render substantial future services.” In addition to the Nobel Prize, well-known winnings eligible for this special treatment include the cash tied to <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/">Pulitzer Prizes</a> given to journalists and other writers and the <a href="http://www.templetonprize.org/abouttheprize.html">Templeton Prize</a>, awarded to people who make “an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery or practical works.”</p>
<p>The rules changed in 1986. When <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-bill/3838">Congress overhauled the tax code</a> that year, it amended section 74. Under the new rules, money from prizes meeting those criteria would <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/nobel-prize-award-subject-income-taxation/">potentially be taxable income</a>.</p>
<p>Winners had one work-around: never personally receiving the money in the first place. That is what Obama did after winning his Nobel Peace Prize. So did <a href="https://www.editage.com/insights/ever-wondered-how-nobel-laureates-spend-their-prize-money">George Smoot</a> and <a href="https://www.livescience.com/23838-how-nobel-prize-money-is-spent.html">John Mather</a>, the co-winners of the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2006/summary/">2006 Nobel Prize in Physics</a>. </p>
<p>They <a href="https://www.spacegrant.org/mather">both gave their winnings</a> to charities <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/nobel-prize-winners-money-141217506.html">that support scholarships and fellowships</a>. “From my perspective the prize money didn’t feel like my money,” <a href="https://www.livescience.com/23838-how-nobel-prize-money-is-spent.html">Mather explained</a>. “I wanted to do as much good as I could with it.”</p>
<p>And in 2018, biologist <a href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/nobel-laureate-george-p-smith-donates-prize-money-to-mu/article_b64db82c-4032-11e9-a6bf-d7208017620a.html">George P. Smith</a> had the $243,000 he won for the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/summary/">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</a> sent directly to the University of Missouri, where he had conducted his research.</p>
<p>Taking this step can require more than generosity, as I found out in 2002. At that time, I tried to help a big prize winner take advantage of this special arrangement. But the money was from a foreign government that refused to do anything but pay the winner directly so as to avoid being involved in a transaction that might appear to be a form of tax evasion.</p>
<p>To protect the privacy of everyone involved, I am not disclosing the winner, the award or the foreign country.</p>
<h1>Caught off-guard</h1>
<p>Winning large prizes may sound like a good problem for prestigious people to have. But it can be costly if prize money propels someone into a higher tax bracket.</p>
<p>Consider the fate that would befall a jointly filing married scientist, earning, say, $100,000 in adjusted gross income, whose spouse doesn’t work outside the home. If she claimed the following typical itemized deductions – mortgage interest of $12,000, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/164">state taxes equal to the $10,000 limit</a>, and $3,000 in charitable contribution deductions – the couple’s taxable income would be $75,000 and federal income tax liability would come to a little over $8,600.</p>
<p>If this scientist won the Nobel Prize, which currently comes with an approximately <a href="https://www.insidescience.org/news/getting-ready-2018-nobel-prizes">$1 million award</a>, and she didn’t take advantage of section 74 or change any other behavior related to taxes, the couple’s taxable income would jump to $1,075,000. And their federal tax liability would skyrocket to almost $340,000 – substantially reducing their windfall.</p>
<p>Awardees who itemize their taxes can reduce the amount of their suddenly enlarged taxable income by making tax-deductible contributions to charities. But there is a limit. </p>
<p>They can’t deduct <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/170">donations that exceed 60 percent</a> of their <a href="https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/definition-of-adjusted-gross-income">adjusted taxable income</a> in any single year.</p>
<p>That means prize winners who wish to donate the entire bundle could end up owing tax on money they have already given to charity. I think that this restriction can turn into trap for the unwary. It is also unwise as it can discourage high-profile gifts to charity – gifts that have the potential to inspire more generosity.</p>
<p>If that scientist gave the million bucks she won from the Nobel to charity, she could deduct only a total of $646,800 from her taxable income as charitable contributions. She would still have taxable income of $431,200 and federal income tax liability of a little over $100,000. She would have to find some way to pay that tax. To be clear, she could gradually take the charitable deductions not allowed the year she won the Nobel Prize by carrying it over on her taxes for five years.</p>
<p>But, assuming her adjusted gross income remained around $100,000 a year, she would be able to deduct only $60,000 a year, and her deductions would be at a lower tax rate. At the end of five years, she would still end up losing tens of thousands of dollars in deductions.</p>
<p>Alternatively, she could <a href="https://www.wealthmanagement.com/philanthropy/noble-use-nobel-prize">limit her charitable giving this year to $646,800</a>. She would have money left from the Nobel Prize award to enable her to pay her tax liability of about $100,000. She could deduct the rest of the prize money in future years, but only at the rate of $60,000 a year. </p>
<p>If, instead, she were to take advantage of section 74, and her adjusted gross income remained about $100,000 a year, her taxable income would continue to be about $75,000 –with about $8,622 in federal income tax liability. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268634/original/file-20190410-2921-1ajrxzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marcelo Gleiser, a Dartmouth College professor of natural philosophy, physics and astronomy, and the 1019 Templeton Prize winner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/61838152@N06/10278095783">Fronteiras do Pensamento/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The theoretical physicist <a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20190409a/full/">Marcelo Gleiser</a> won the Templeton’s £1.1 million – currently about $1.4 million – award for 2019. He will now contend with those hypothetical accounting concerns in real life.</p>
<h2>Reasons to revise</h2>
<p>By this point, you are perhaps figuring that this Nobel Prize winner is surely pretty smart and maybe even a genius. Can’t bright people suss all this out on their own or with a good accountant? The answer is no.</p>
<p>The prize winners eligible for this tax break often aren’t rich. Like most Americans, they have no idea how <a href="https://www.pgcalc.com/support/knowledge-base/pg-calc-featured-articles/limitations-income-tax-charitable-deductions">large charitable gifts can affect tax bills</a>. And few people, even among tax professionals and the very richest Americans, are familiar with <a href="http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=%28title:26%20section:74%20edition:prelim%29">section 74’s strictures</a>. </p>
<p>Congress revisited this provision not long ago. But the changes, which took effect in 2018, lightened the load only for <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2016/10/11/13240164/olympic-taxes-barack-obama-medal-prizes">Olympic and Paralympic athletes</a> who earn less than $1 million a year. The special rules for athletes did not encourage charitable giving; it simply excluded the winnings from income. Congress made section 74 more complicated and inconsistent.</p>
<p>A key reason to further revamp Section 74 is the growing popularity among <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/using-prizes-to-spur-innovation">philanthropists</a> of adapting for-profit methods to identify innovative solutions to societal problems by holding <a href="https://www.xprize.org/">high-stakes competitions</a> such as the $5 million <a href="https://ai.xprize.org/prizes/artificial-intelligence">IBM Watson AI XPRIZE</a>, which aims to spur the development of technologies that “tackle the world’s grand challenges.” The people who win those contests should also have the option of having their prizes go directly to charity in order to avoid possible income tax on the awards.</p>
<p>I believe that people who dedicate their lives to solving the world’s most pressing problems deserve the same privileges as Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. If lawmakers agree, they should revise the tax code accordingly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105644/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen P. Aprill has received funding from New York University and the Urban Institute.
She is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel and American Law Institute and serves on boards of the NYU Center on Philanthropy and Law and the American Tax Policy Institute.</span></em></p>Congress can fix this by updating the tax code.Ellen P. Aprill, Professor of Law; John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola Law School Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1025152018-10-02T14:42:07Z2018-10-02T14:42:07ZFive reasons to end the conspicuous silence of music in classrooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236185/original/file-20180913-177947-1tnag05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kendrick Lamar performing in Portugal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jose Sena Goulao/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the main challenges that we educators face is getting our students to actively interact with course content, and perhaps explore its application to “real life”. One of the solutions to this age-old problem seems to be right under our ears. </p>
<p>A few years back I stumbled upon the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1318699?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">article</a> “Music and Cultural Analysis in the Classroom: Introducing Sociology through Heavy Metal” by Jarl Ahlkvist. He explores cultural analysis of music as a pedagogical tool for enhancing the learning experience of sociology students who are new to the discipline. Ahlkvist beautifully illustrates the value of using music as a bridge between theory and reality, and as a way to get students to actively interact with course content. Since this chance encounter I try – perhaps, not enough – to use music in more or less the same way in my course.</p>
<p>On hearing that hip-hop artist <a href="http://www.kendricklamar.com/">Kendrick Lamar</a> was <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/04/regina-carter-kendrick-lamar-pulitzer/558509/">awarded</a> the Pulitzer prize for his album <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/21/the-best-albums-of-2017-no-2-kendrick-lamar-damn">“Damn”</a> earlier this year I couldn’t wait to share the news with my class and my colleagues teaching English literature. I imagined that they would share my excitement and enthusiasm about what the award meant for the hip-hop community and Lamar’s fans. </p>
<p>But this wasn’t the case.</p>
<p>Many of my colleagues didn’t even know who the iconic artist was. Students didn’t understand the big deal as they hadn’t really listened to the album as social commentary. My exchanges highlighted what I believe is the general disregard that South Africa’s schools and universities have for music as a tool for teaching. They haven’t grasped that it’s of equal scholarly importance to the written word.</p>
<p>This palpable absence of music in the lecture halls of South Africa’s universities and schools is problematic for a range of reasons. At some point it must be addressed, either for the sake of progress or at least experimentation. </p>
<p>But, for now, let me share my initial thoughts. To stimulate discussion around music and its potential role within the context of higher education I have distilled these into five concrete ideas.</p>
<h2>Literature is not superior to music</h2>
<p>As a record collector it’s glaringly obvious to me that an album is capable of providing as much social commentary, intellectual depth and perspective as a novel could. In fact, an album might, in addition, provide a more robust text for analysis within the context of lecture. </p>
<p>If, for instance, one is teaching a class on colonialism in Zimbabwe, you could draw on the text of the novel <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270683743_Nervous_Conditions_by_Tsitsi_Dangarembga">“Nervous Conditions”</a> by <a href="https://blogs.stockton.edu/postcolonialstudies/body-in-the-context-of-postcolonial-studies/tsitsi-dangarembgas-nervous-conditions-a-postcolonial-feminist-reading/tsitsi-dangarembga-biography/">Tsitsi Dangarembga</a> to explain colonial subjectivity. But you could also play <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/zimbabwes-powerful-music-of-struggle"><em>Chimurenga</em></a> music and analyse it beyond the constraints of the written word. <em>Chimurenga</em> is music from Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle against colonial rule.</p>
<h2>Music is the literature of the streets</h2>
<p>There’s another reason for the urgent need to include sonic literacy in curricula. It’s to do with access.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, people engage with music more than with books. For example, someone might not read a book on <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/">“Black Lives Matter”</a> – the movement started in 2013 that grew in opposition to violence against black Americans – but they will engage with an album like Lamar’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/18/best-albums-of-2015-no-1-to-pimp-a-butterfly-by-kendrick-lamar">“To pimp a butterfly”</a> from 2015. It not only provided the soundtrack of the times, but also provided <a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-oral-history-of-kendrick-lamar-s-to-pimp-a-butterfly-622f725c3fde">social commentary</a> as impactful as any book published on the topic. </p>
<p>Also, music is more accessible and readily available than books. It’s therefore often the best medium to reach larger numbers of people. </p>
<h2>Music reflects the times</h2>
<p>The music of Afrobeat pioneer <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fela-kuti-mn0000138833/biography">Fela Kuti</a> is a powerful telling of what was happening in Nigeria in the 1970s. It also reflects what ordinary people were experiencing and addresses the burning issues of the time. </p>
<p>The same can be said of artists like American icon <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nina-simone-mn0000411761">Nina Simone</a>, Jamaican reggae superstar <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-marley-mn0000071514">Bob Marley</a> and the “Lion of Zimbabwe”, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-mapfumo-mn0000581262">Thomas Mapfumo</a>. </p>
<p>These artists have managed to be the mouthpieces of particular generations and social movements. Their music has provided guidance in periods of turmoil. With this understanding in mind, how can we ignore these iconic voices when we engage with the context in which they are embedded?</p>
<h2>Music is a vehicle toward the ‘decolonial’</h2>
<p>As academics endeavour to decolonise learning spaces they need to consider why the written word takes priority over the spoken. Also, they should question why certain texts are treated with greater respect despite their obvious chronological and socio-cultural irrelevance. </p>
<p>And, why do academics generally treat text that’s accompanied by music as non-intellectual and inferior? I believe that music is an underutilised tool when it comes to steering curricula away from strictly Western and colonial models that have cemented the privilege of certain texts and modes in the knowledge economy.</p>
<h2>Remain in the groove</h2>
<p>It’s fairly safe to say that a substantial section of the novels and poems that have become permanent, canonical fixtures in curricula across the globe are outdated. This is particularly true since the advent of the internet and social media which have dramatically changed our reality, and how we (and our students) relate to it. </p>
<p>Within a fast moving, highly technologised and globalised era, music provides an analytical framework and sounding board for understanding a rapidly transforming society. To engage with society in real time we can’t always afford to wait for books to be published. We have to listen to the music, and dance while we’re at it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Shakib Bhatch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music is an underutilised tool when it comes to steering curricula away from strictly Western and colonial models.Michael Shakib Bhatch, Lecturer of English. PhD Candidate in Afrofuturism and African Studies, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/952832018-04-24T10:44:26Z2018-04-24T10:44:26ZRap music’s path from pariah to Pulitzer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215774/original/file-20180420-75104-i4c1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kendrick Lamar performs during the Festival d'ete de Quebec on July 7, 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/2017-Festival-d-ete-de-Quebec-Day-2/82c390cc07e6490c9c5ee01bd99cca1e/7/0">Amy Harris/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kendrick Lamar’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/arts/music/kendrick-lamar-pulitzer-prize-damn.htm">Pulitzer Prize win</a> is a major milestone for hip-hop, a genre that celebrates its <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/history-of-hip-hop-music-new-york-dj-kool-herc-google-doodle-clive-cindy-campbell-a7887501.html">45th birthday</a> this August. </p>
<p>It’s also a triumph that many, a mere decade ago, would have never predicted. As someone who teaches and studies the politics of hip-hop and rap, I was pleasantly surprised myself. </p>
<p>I thought of hip-hop’s early years, when some were <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-02/news/vw-30114_1_rap-artists">adamant</a> that the genre – disparaged as “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101300024.html">pornographic filth</a>” – would be a flash in the pan. </p>
<p>It was no fad, however; its music soon gained more and more mainstream acceptance. In response, many people – from parents, to politicians to community leaders – would criticize the art form and seek to suppress it. </p>
<p>The story of hip-hop is one of rebellion, attempts at censorship and, finally, artistic acceptance.</p>
<h2>Rap meets success – then resistance</h2>
<p>Hip-hop traces its roots to the Bronx in the early 1970s. At first, rap music – <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Black_Noise.html?id=2Zw_21gKz1QC&source=kp_cover">with its focus</a> on rhymed storytelling – didn’t play a big role. Instead, there are <a href="https://beat.media/the-4-elements-of-hip-hop">at least four</a> traditional elements of hip-hop culture: DJing, graffiti art, breakdancing and emceeing. </p>
<p>Today, however, rap is the most prominent feature of hip-hop culture. The central tenet of its style – rhyming over beats – can be traced back to the political poets of the <a href="http://revive-music.com/2011/01/25/jazz-poetry-rap-cause-and-effect-of-the-black-arts-movement/">Black Arts Movement</a>, with lyricists like <a href="http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/more-than-the-godfather-of-hip-hop-gil-scott-heron-remembered-763662">Gil Scott Heron</a> using their voices as a form of resistance in the early 1970s.</p>
<p>Rap wouldn’t receive <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6281561/sugarhill-gang-rappers-delight-first-chart-appearance-anniversary">commercial success</a> until the Sugarhill Gang’s “<a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-sugarhill-gangs-rappers-delight-becomes-hip-hops-first-top-40-hit">Rapper’s Delight</a>” (1979). Later, Kurtis Blow’s “<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7550286">The Breaks</a>” (1980) also reached the the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 87 and <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/kurtis-blow/chart-history/r-b-hip-hop-songs/song/580851">No. 4</a> on the Hot Hip Hop/R&B Chart, and this was followed by the <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters/996_ch1.pdf">first political rap song</a> – 1982’s “<a href="http://harvardpolitics.com/covers/fight-power/">The Message</a>” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.</p>
<p>While rap music often explored important issues like the trauma of poverty and addiction, the lyrics also depicted violence and veered into misogyny. As rap’s popularity grew, so did criticism – both inside and outside of the black community.</p>
<p>In 1993, Rev. Calvin Butts of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church organized a protest against rap music in which attendees steamrolled rap albums. </p>
<p>“We will not stand for vile, ugly, low, abusive and rough music,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/nyregion/harlem-protest-of-rap-lyrics-draws-debate-and-steamroller.html">he said</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, African-American political activist C. Delores Tucker became one of the genre’s most outspoken critics. </p>
<p>“What do you think Dr. King would have to say about rappers calling black women bitches and whores?” <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-fi-tupacdelores20march2096-story.html">she wondered</a> in 1996. “About rappers glorifying thugs and drug dealers and rapists? What kind of role models are those for young children living in the ghetto?”</p>
<p>In other instances, the courts tried to intervene.</p>
<p>A Florida U.S. District Court <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/739/578/1610342/">ruled</a> that Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew’s 1989 album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” was legally obscene, and a number of Florida record stores were banned from selling it. Members of 2 Live Crew group were later arrested for performing songs from the album in Broward County, along with store owners who continued to sell it. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/17/us/obscenity-or-art-trial-on-rap-lyrics-opens.html">overturned the ruling</a> on the basis of freedom of speech.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216022/original/file-20180423-94126-1ygqaz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Record shop owner Charles Freeman is handcuffed after selling an undercover detective a copy of 2 Live Crew’s album ‘As Nasty As They Wanna Be.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-FL-USA-APHS466848-2-Live-Crew-Arrest/bba4453f31b747d2a26fa9c03beaef24/9/0">Doug Jennings/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A big focus of critics were anti-police lyrics, which started to appear most prominently in the late 1980s. Many described the police harassment, racial profiling and police brutality that plagued inner-city neighborhoods across the country. </p>
<p>However, the lyrics of the group N.W.A. attracted the most attention – specifically, their song “Fuck tha Police,” which directly denounced the police in unequivocal terms. </p>
<p>Police unions denounced the song’s lyrics; <a href="https://www.spin.com/2013/08/the-worst-moments-of-the-90s-worst-band-names-worst-lyrics-worst-video/130809-worst-of-the-90s-c-delores/">some departments</a> refused to provide security during N.W.A. shows, while the FBI <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbi-agent-who-hunted-nwa">sent a letter</a> to the group’s label, Priority Records, calling the lyrics “discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers.”</p>
<h2>‘An invisible TV station’ for black people</h2>
<p>Because of these headline-grabbing controversies, it was easy for critics to discount rap as a nihilistic genre that wallowed in misogyny, self-harm and violence.</p>
<p>Often overlooked was the way rap music resonated with marginalized, alienated inner-city youth by detailing their daily lives in ways most media outlets wouldn’t – or couldn’t.</p>
<p>Chuck D of Public Enemy <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/11/cnn-black/">called rap</a> “the invisible TV station that black America never had.” Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters was one of the few politicians who recognized its power. In 1994, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-watersphilips15feb1594-story.html">she came to rap’s defense</a>.</p>
<p>“It would be a foolhardy mistake,” she said, “to single out poets as the cause of America’s problems. … These are our children and they’ve invented a new art form to describe their pains, fears and frustrations with us as adults.”</p>
<p>That same year, American Studies scholar <a href="http://www.triciarose.com/">Tricia Rose</a> published her seminal study of hip-hop culture, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2Zw_21gKz1QC&dq=noise+tricia+rose+PDF&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0pMTp9tDaAhUvhOAKHTbDCakQ6AEIJzAA">Black Noise</a>.” She was the first academic to explore the complexities and positive contributions of the genre in a book-length format.</p>
<p>And then there was the simple fact that Americans loved rap music: By the 1990s, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/1991-the-most-important-year-in-music/392642/">it had become</a> the most popular genre on the Billboard Hot 100.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, perhaps because of its reputation, traditional venues were hesitant to embrace rap.</p>
<p>The Grammys have a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/02/15/the-grammys-have-a-hip-hop-problem-these-charts-show-how-bad-it-is/">contentious and inconsistent history</a> with rap. The <a href="https://hiphopdx.com/editorials/id.3995/title.a-timeline-of-historic-hip-hop-firsts-at-the-grammy-awards">first hip-hop-themed award</a> was “best rap performance,” presented to the rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 1989 for their song “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” However, the Grammys didn’t air this award during the show’s television coverage – a decision that compelled some hip-hop artists to boycott the ceremony.</p>
<p>In 1993, rap group Arrested Development was awarded the best new artist. Two years later, the Grammys recognized female hip-hop artists for the first time, with Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa each winning an award. But only two rap albums have won the coveted <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7684970/history-hip-hop-complicated-relationship-grammys">album of the year</a>: Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” which was categorized as a R&B album, and Southern rap duo Outkast’s “Speakerboxx/Love Below.” </p>
<h2>Rap gets an ally – in the White House</h2>
<p>Today, many of the same dynamics are at play. Police brutality is still a common theme of rap music, Kendrick Lamar’s work included.</p>
<p>“Nigga, and we hate po-po,” he raps in “<a href="https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-alright-lyrics">Alright</a>.” “Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.”</p>
<p>The criticism hasn’t abated, either. On a June 29, 2015 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3_hi8eWdbY">segment of Fox News</a>, host Geraldo Rivera criticized “Alright,” <a href="http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/14/kendrick-lamar-sampled-fox-news-damn">arguing</a> that “Hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6620035/kendrick-lamar-responds-geraldo-rivera-alright-bet-awards">Lamar responded</a> by saying that “Hip-hop is not the problem. Our reality is the problem.”</p>
<p>Despite a drumbeat of criticism, hip-hop has been increasingly recognized by other mainstream award shows. Rapper Eminem and the rap group Three 6 Mafia have <a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/xxl-magazine/2006/03/three-6-mafia-wins-oscar/">won</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/22/common-eminem-and-three-6-mafia-a-look-at-hip-hop-at-the-oscars/">Oscars</a>. Hip-hop artists are also being voted <a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/03/rappers-in-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/">into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</a>, with <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-rock-hall-nominees-tupac-20161220-story.html">Tupac</a> the most recent rapper to join the ranks. In 2017, the Kennedy Center Honors recognized rapper and actor <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568286495/40th-annual-kennedy-center-honors-recognize-hip-hop-for-the-first-time">LL Cool J</a>, the first time they’ve honored a hip-hop artist. </p>
<p>President Barack Obama played a big role in the genre’s acceptance. Even before he officially announced his candidacy for the presidency, Obama held closed meetings with <a href="https://www.spin.com/2013/01/barack-obama-hip-hop-rap-history-moments-jay-z-beyonce-president/130117-obama-ludacris/">rap artists</a> such as Ludacris <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-meets-with-ludacris/">to discuss</a> youth empowerment.</p>
<p>During his campaigns and two terms, rap artists always had his ear – he’d continue to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/276491-obama-rapper-meet-on-criminal-justice-reform">meet with them</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/04/10/%E2%80%98%E2%80%98in_my_first_term_i_sang_al_green_in_my_second_term_i%E2%80%99m_going_with_young_jeezy%E2%80%99%E2%80%99_hip_hop_and_the_first_black_president">mention</a> them in speeches, and even <a href="http://time.com/4296265/dj-khaled-obama-white-house-criminal-justice-reform/">host rappers at the White House</a>. </p>
<p>Following Obama’s election, views across the aisle started to shift as well. In 2009, former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/">tried to woo</a> rap artists to the Republican Party. Oprah Winfrey – who had previously <a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/news/hip-hop-today/2014/10/today-hip-hop-oprah-winfrey-slams-ludacris-appearance-show/">denounced rap music</a> – gave her first ever in-depth interview of a rapper when she <a href="http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/oprah-interviews-jay-z-october-2009-issue-of-o-magazine/8">invited Jay-Z</a> to a show that aired on Sept. 24, 2009.</p>
<p>Back in the 19th and 20th centuries, there were attempts to censor slave narratives; because they detailed the <a href="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/article_996926ae-579c-11e7-9d36-13d23afca32d.html">harsh realities</a> of slavery in the South, critics questioned their authenticity and accuracy. Eventually, more and more <a href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/intro.html">recognized the value</a> of these narratives, and the federal government <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/17/opinion/greene-slave-narrative/index.html">dispatched writers</a> to record the stories of surviving slaves in the 1930s. </p>
<p>Over the past few decades, we’ve seen a similar dynamic with rap music. While some have attempted to silence rap because of its raw portrayal of life in inner-city communities, people increasingly see its value. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/articles-and-essays/introduction-to-the-wpa-slave-narratives/importance-of-the-slave-narratives-collection/">Like slave narratives</a>, rap music has given an authentic and candid voice to the voiceless.</p>
<p>For his part in this tradition, Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize is well-deserved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hip-hop heads around the world are rejoicing over Kendrick Lamar’s win. But it’s been a tumultuous ride for a genre once derided as ‘pornographic filth.’Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/759612017-04-11T01:51:59Z2017-04-11T01:51:59ZThe key to writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning story? Get emotional<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164699/original/image-20170410-8879-nxxks2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A bust of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer looks on as reporters look through a box containing the announcements of the 1996 Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-New-York-United-/8c070949fce6da11af9f0014c2589dfb/489/0">AP Photo/Wally Santana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2017 Pulitzer Prizes <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/10/523293420/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2017-pulitzer-prizes">have just been announced</a>, and this year’s winners of the prestigious award include Charleston Gazette-Mail reporter Eric Eyre for his <a href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-health/20161217/drug-firms-poured-780m-painkillers-into-wv-amid-rise-of-overdoses">investigative report</a> on the drug companies that flooded West Virginia with opioids and New York Times Magazine writer C.J. Chivers for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/magazine/afghanistan-soldier-ptsd-the-fighter.html">his article</a> about a veteran of the war in Afghanistan suffering from PTSD.</p>
<p>I’ve done research on <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884912448918">award-winners</a> for some time, analyzing Pulitzers granted since 1995 (the first year for which award-winning stories are available through the organization’s <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2016">online archive</a>). In studying the winning stories, we’re able to see what gets recognized as good journalism. </p>
<p>My research reveals something surprising: What distinguishes Pulitzer Prize-winning stories is not only painstaking journalistic work on important social issues, but also the use of emotional storytelling. </p>
<p>This is surprising because U.S. journalism <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/225193">has long championed its objectivity</a>. And because objectivity tends to be seen as emotionless, emotional storytelling <a href="http://future.arts.monash.edu/journalism/the-rise-of-storytelling-in-the-digital-age-of-journalism/">tends to be viewed as anathema to good journalism</a>. </p>
<p>The winning stories, however, upend this narrative, showing that it’s possible to retain objectivity and also stir the feelings of readers.</p>
<h2>An objective framework</h2>
<p>The journalistic goal of objectivity <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/146488490100200201">first emerged around the end of the 19th century</a>. It was motivated, in part, by a desire to broaden newspaper readership base by asserting the independence of the press from political parties and ideologies. And in order to maintain objectivity, the thinking went that journalism should be based on cold, hard facts. Journalists needed repress their own views and feelings. </p>
<p>According to standard practice of news reporting, the information should be delivered in an “<a href="http://www.poynter.org/2003/writing-from-the-top-down-pros-and-cons-of-the-inverted-pyramid/12754/">inverted pyramid</a>”-style lead paragraph, telling readers the most important facts first. The idea is that the objective style sends a strong signal about the independence and trustworthiness of journalism – something that, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-the-debate-over-journalism-post-trump-gets-wrong/">in the age of fake news</a>, may be more important now than ever. </p>
<p>However, the objective style of journalism <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0r-IAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=objective+journalism+is+dry+and+boring&source=bl&ots=JZU-KAb1AC&sig=pzXBt_jcqBlHLAAWxsz1ytNxMAQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBgPve4JnTAhWEC8AKHSEDCx4Q6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=objective%2">has been criticized for its dullness</a>, for “freeze-drying the topic and manufacturing boring journalism.” </p>
<h2>Getting personal</h2>
<p>Instead of relying on the edicts of objectivity, award-winning journalism draws heavily on telling personal stories about people caught up in news events. My research shows that across hard news award categories – feature, explanatory, international, national, public service and investigative reporting – Pulitzer Prize winners eschew the standard “inverted pyramid.” Instead, they’ll often rely on what journalists refer to as an “anecdotal lead.” </p>
<p>An anecdotal lead draws the reader into a story with wider sociopolitical implications by illustrating how it affects a particular individual or group.</p>
<p>We see it in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/magazine/afghanistan-soldier-ptsd-the-fighter.html">the winner of this year’s feature writing award</a>, C.J. Chivers’ “The Fighter,” which shows the horrors of war by telling the story of one marine’s descent into violence after his service in Afghanistan:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sam Siatta was deep in a tequila haze, so staggeringly drunk that he would later say he retained no memory of the crime he was beginning to commit. It was a few minutes after 2 a.m. on April 13, 2014. Siatta had just forced his way into a single-story home in Normal, Ill., a college town on the prairie about 130 miles southwest of Chicago. A Marine Corps veteran of the war in Afghanistan, he was a 24-year-old freshman studying on the G.I. Bill at the university nearby, Illinois State. He had a record of valor in infantry combat and no criminal past.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, the Associated Press won the coveted <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/associated-press">Public Service Pulitzer</a> last year for a series exposing the grueling labor conditions in the seafood industry. The series <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/associated-press">opened</a> with the experience of Burmese slaves forced to work in Indonesia:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home. Just a few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of major supermarkets, restaurants and even pet stores in the United States. But the eight imprisoned men were considered flight risks – laborers who might dare run away. They lived on a few bites of rice and curry a day in a space barely big enough to lie down, stuck until the next trawler forces them back to sea.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164708/original/image-20170410-31911-3anlu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for articles documenting the use of slave labor in the commercial seafood industry in Indonesia and Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Pulitzers-/b4da40c860354944a9304ee68a101aa1/27/0">AP Photo/Dita Alangkara</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By using personal stories to elicit empathy for individuals, these stories all enable us to understand how real people are caught up in the large, bewildering forces that drive our world. </p>
<h2>Outsourcing emotions</h2>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884912448918">Of the stories I analyzed</a>, more than three in five used anecdotal leads, while just under one in five drew on the conventional inverted pyramid. Stories of individuals caught up in the news were featured in 62.4 percent of stories. </p>
<p>It’s a trend that has been remarkably stable since the mid-1990s. </p>
<p>This type of storytelling is just one of several markers of what I have referred to as a “strategic ritual of emotionality”: an institutionalized and systematic practice of journalists infusing their reporting with emotion.</p>
<p>However, this doesn’t mean that the journalists write about their own emotions. Instead, they “outsource” emotions to the people whose stories they tell. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884912448918">According to my research</a>, stories often use emotional language – for example, quoting worried investors, frightened children, hopeful villagers or anxious parents – but never in reference to the journalist’s emotions. What this suggests is that award-winning journalism is able to both maintain its allegiance to objectivity and tell emotional stories. </p>
<p>I’m not the first to notice the emotionality of award-winning journalism. For example, the journalist and academic Susan Shapiro <a href="http://www.courses.washington.edu/intro2ds/Readings/4_Sob-sisters.doc">has criticized</a> the “sob sister” style of journalism which of is “calculated to snag readers by the emotions and not let them go until they burst, on cue, into tears.”</p>
<p>What my research suggests, however, is that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism’s use of emotional storytelling is not merely focused on emotional appeals for their own sake. Rather, eliciting empathy from readers enables journalism to render abstract and complex events understandable and relatable. </p>
<p>In a world where our experiences and backgrounds are so varied, this type of storytelling is indispensable. And if journalism can successfully tap into universal emotions to bridge divides and elicit mutual understanding, such an achievement truly deserves an award.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karin Wahl-Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>U.S. journalism has long championed an allegiance to cold objectivity. But one researcher analyzed Pulitzer Prize-winning stories from the past 20 years and found that they’re suffused with emotion.Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Professor; Director of Research Development and Environment, School of Journalism, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/725592017-02-10T04:15:29Z2017-02-10T04:15:29ZAre the Grammys really about good music?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156098/original/image-20170208-17355-1ffxp8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is the system broken?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/40744702?size=huge_jpg">'Record Player' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the biggest controversies about the Grammy Awards is whether they measure an artist, song or album’s quality, market share or some combination of the two. </p>
<p>Although the voting members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/div-classtitleaward-ceremony-as-an-arbiter-of-commerce-and-canon-in-the-popular-music-industrydiv/6D721234736777FA7F98B86A89F9BCCB">instructed to consider only quality</a>, there are reasons to believe that the selections are made according to more amorphous criteria. </p>
<p>The voters – a select group of recording artists, conductors, songwriters and engineers – operate in a professional environment, rather than a cultural one. That is, they’re prone to be as concerned with sales potential as they are with artistry. “Quality” is never defined, and anonymous voters, of course, aren’t required to justify their choices. </p>
<p>While there’s no reason to challenge the honesty of the process, it’s safe to assume that it pits commercial interests against cultural ones. It’s also reasonable to assume that, like all electorates, Grammy voters are self-interested and inclined to vote in ways that might financially benefit them.</p>
<h2>A measure of quality or popularity?</h2>
<p>In 2006, professors Mary Watson and Narasimhan Anand <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/div-classtitleaward-ceremony-as-an-arbiter-of-commerce-and-canon-in-the-popular-music-industrydiv/6D7212%5Blink%20text%5D(http://aom.org/News/Press-Releases/Grammy-Awards--Commercial-Appeal-Overtakes-Artistic-Merit.aspx)%2034736777FA7F98B86A89F9BCCB">showed</a> how the Grammy award categories have evolved to legitimize and lend exposure to certain musical genres and not others. For example, the ceremonies resisted including awards for rock until 1979; the same goes for rap music, which didn’t get its own award until 1989. In an earlier article, they also noted the relationship between the recognition of these genres and how commercially successful they had become. </p>
<p>While Watson and Anand didn’t try to prove that the Grammys are often selected on the basis of prior sales, I would argue that this is also the case. </p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.grammy.com/nominees/search">“general field” categories</a> – Record, Album and Song of the Year, and Best New Artist – are open to music in all genres, no classical artist or recording has ever won in any of these categories. It’s probably not a coincidence that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Grammy_Awards_for_classical_music">classical music</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Jazz_Instrumental_Album">jazz</a> have <a href="http://thejazzline.com/news/2015/03/jazz-least-popular-music-genre/">a very poor market share</a>. On the other hand, 2016’s Best Album, Taylor Swift’s “1989,” had already <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6620398/taylor-swifts-1989-5-million-fastest-selling-album-decade">sold five million copies</a> by July 5, 2015. And Adele’s “25,” nominated for this year’s Best Album award, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4070240/Adele-named-Billboard-s-Artist-Year-time-conquering-charts-25.html">sold over nine million copies</a> in 2016 alone.</p>
<p>The general field awards have been somewhat more generous to jazz, where there have been occasional winners in every category except the Best Song. Most recently, vocalist-bassist <a href="http://www.esperanzaspalding.com/">Esperanza Spalding</a>, in 2011, became the first and only jazz musician to win <a href="https://smoothjazzbuzz.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/esperanza-spalding-has-won-the-grammy%C2%AE-award-for-best-new-artist/">Best New Artist</a>. </p>
<p>But then there’s the 1978 Grammys. It’s hard to believe that there wasn’t a better new talent that emerged that year than Best New Artist winner Debby Boone. The daughter of 1950s pop icon Pat Boone, her recording of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b07-yKnKRMQ">“You Light Up My Life”</a> topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 10 weeks prior to the Grammys – the peak of an up-and-down career. Boone and her fellow nominees – pop and rock stars Andy Gibb, Foreigner, Shaun Cassidy and Steven Bishop – hardly inspire confidence that selections are based more on artistry than sales. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, many artists and critics have knocked the Grammys for being a purely money-making enterprise, with little relationship to artistic accomplishment.</p>
<p>When Pearl Jam won the award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996, the band’s lead singer Eddie Vedder <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/grammy-the-movies-20080208">commented from the stage that</a> “I don’t know what this means. I don’t think it means anything.” </p>
<p>In 1991 <a href="http://www.craveonline.com/music/129524-the-grammys-top-10-bashers-boycotters">Sinead O'Connor</a>, even though she won for Best Alternative Musical Performance and was nominated for other categories, nonetheless boycotted the ceremony and refused the award – the first artist to do so – citing its “extreme commercialism.”</p>
<h2>Less popular genres get the shaft</h2>
<p>Looking beyond the big categories inspires more doubt that the Grammys are about quality music.</p>
<p>In 2012, the Grammys underwent a <a href="https://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/press-release/apr-06-2011-914-am">major restructuring of award categories</a>, which were reduced from 109 to 78. Ethnic music categories suffered the most, especially <a href="https://www.grammy.com/nominees/search">American roots music</a>. Organizers consolidated a range of distinct regional traditions into a single catchall – Best American Roots Performance – replacing separate categories for Best Native American Music Album, Best Hawaiian Music Album, Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album and Best Polka Album. The result? Even with the presumption of qualified judges, it’s now impossible to make serious comparisons on the basis of quality. </p>
<p>Some <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/11/entertainment/la-et-grammy-protest-20120211">protested</a> the decision at the 2012 ceremony, arguing that the change was rooted in racism, economics and an assault on small, independent labels. As Scott Billington of Rounder Records (a roots label affected by the restructuring) <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/11/entertainment/la-et-grammy-protest-20120211">said</a>, “It does seem a little bizarre to have Hawaiian records competing with polka.” </p>
<h2>Can the Pulitzer Prize act as a model?</h2>
<p>By contrast, the <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/225">Pulitzer Prize in Music</a> appears to have little or no relationship to market share. Whether or not the judging process is entirely fair, there’s at least the impression that the seek to reward cultural – not commercial – accomplishment. </p>
<p>The prize is chosen not by a vote of hundreds of industry professionals but by a small panel of experts: musicians, presenters and critics. The prize was long awarded exclusively to classical music and composers. But the guidelines were changed in 2004 expressly to admit music across all genres, including works represented by recordings rather than notated scores. </p>
<p>Since then, avant-garde jazz composer-performers Ornette Coleman (2007) and Henry Threadgill (2016) <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/225">have received the prize</a>, in both cases on the basis of recordings. “Special citations” for lifetime achievement have also been won by popular singer-songwriters Bob Dylan (2008) and, posthumously, Hank Williams (in addition to numerous jazz and classical composers).</p>
<p>Unlike the Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize has even, on occasion, been awarded to little-known composers, such as <a href="http://carolineshaw.com/">Caroline Shaw</a>, who, as a 30-year-old student, won the 2013 prize for “Partita for 8 Voices,” an a cappella composition release on the small, independent label <a href="http://newamrecords.com/about/">New Amsterdam</a>. </p>
<p>There’s plenty to criticize about the Pulitzer Prize for Music, which still has its own genre bias, favoring classical music with an occasional nod to jazz. The prize has been faulted for being “academic” and out of touch with the public. But preoccupation with album sales is surely not a concern. </p>
<p>At least in the classical music and jazz categories, the Grammys deserve credit for uniformly awarding critically acclaimed artists. And because voters are required to select no more than nine categories when they vote (in addition to the general fields), the classical and jazz categories likely attract voters most familiar with these genres.</p>
<p>So are the Grammys really about good music? </p>
<p>Sometimes, but not often enough.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Lubet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After winning his Grammy in 1996, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder said, ‘I don’t think this means anything.’ Was he right?Alex Lubet, Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/413272015-05-18T10:17:33Z2015-05-18T10:17:33ZHow many ways can politicians ‘lie’? How a class led to a ‘truth’ report card for the 2016 election<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81606/original/image-20150513-2483-y5nte.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How often do politicians lie? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=EEIqf_pCfDs6JUL0McquJw&searchterm=politicians%20lie&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=256701232">People image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I regularly teach a course called <em>The Sociology of Television & Media</em> in which my students and I critically explore newscasts, entertainment programming and (both commercial and political) advertising. The theme that I use as a touchstone throughout the class is: What happens when, as a society, we begin to mix fantasy and reality together in mass media? </p>
<p>We discuss how a range of troubling outcomes emerge for a public that has difficulty telling truth from fiction. <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/horkheimer/">Max Horkheimer</a>, a German-Jewish sociologist, argued that this is part of what led to the rise of Nazism in Germany. </p>
<p>Once we lose our ability to detect lies, we become vulnerable to demagogues.</p>
<h2>Six categories of rhetoric</h2>
<p>About halfway through the semester, I have students deconstruct political ads, and we discuss practical resources for navigating the web of truths, half-truths and outright lies that proliferate unhindered during each election cycle.</p>
<p>One resource that I offer is <a href="http://politifact.org">Politifact.org’s</a> Truth-o-Meter. Students fact-check politicians’ statements to determine how much, if any, truth is contained therein (they actually won a <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/">Pulitzer Prize</a> for their work fact-checking the 2008 election).</p>
<p>The first, and perhaps most important, takeaway from their work is that modern political statements cannot accurately be rated as simply “true” or “false.” So sophisticated has the art of mixing truth and lies become that the scale <a href="http://politifact.org">Politifact</a> currently uses includes six separate categories of political rhetoric: true, mostly true, half true, mostly false, false and “pants on fire” (for statements that aren’t just false but also completely ludicrous - and yet still stated as truth). </p>
<p>In essence, while there is still but one way to tell the truth, there are now at least five times as many acceptable ways to lie.</p>
<p>For example, John Boehner’s May 3 2015 statement on <em>Meet The Press</em> that <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/may/03/john-boehner/john-boehner-we-spend-more-money-antacids-we-do-po/">“we spend more money on antacids than we do on politics”</a> is rated simply “false.” Fact-checking reveals that in the US, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/10/overall-spending-inches-up-in-2014-megadonors-equip-outside-groups-to-capture-a-bigger-share-of-the-pie/">we spent somewhere between US$3 billion and US$7 billion on elections in 2014</a> (depending on what money streams you include), while we spent less than $2 billion on antacids in the same year. </p>
<p>Boehner’s team was apparently trying to compare <em>global</em> sales of antacids (including all seven billion people on the planet) to <em>US</em> spending on elections (about 320 million of us) - a false comparison.</p>
<p>On April 23 2015, Hillary Clinton provided a good illustration of a statement that rates as a “half truth.” When addressing the Women in the World Summit in New York City, Clinton asserted that the US ranks <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/may/05/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-says-us-ranks-just-65th-world-gend/">“65th out of 142 nations”</a> when it comes to equal pay for women. The statistic comes from the <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/introduction-2/">World Economic Forum’s 2014 Global Gender Gap Report</a>. </p>
<p>However, the primary measure generated by this report ranks the US 20th in gender equity. The ranking of 65th is taken from a subcategory in the report that relies on a survey of perceptions of executives rather than hard numbers. So, while it is technically true, it may actually be overstating the severity of the gender pay gap comparison.</p>
<h2>Whom can we trust?</h2>
<p>The second takeaway, though it may not be much of a surprise, is that there are_ no _politicians in this country that exclusively tell the truth. Every single one, to a greater or lesser extent, spins, bends, twists or breaks the truth.</p>
<p>Perhaps this is the price of power in our modern democracy, but we should find it at least a little troubling.</p>
<p>So where does this leave us? Well, knowing that every one of our politicians lies, the most important question, in my mind, becomes: Who is most often telling the truth and who is lying to us repeatedly in order to gain our support? </p>
<p>In other words, whom can and whom can’t we trust?</p>
<p>With this question in mind, I had my students add up the raw numbers for 25 major politicians (based on <a href="http://politifact.org">Politifact’s</a> fact-checking over the past eight years) and write the results up on the board in rank order from most to least honest based on the data. The results were intriguing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81607/original/image-20150513-2494-c9gjo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can we tell when politicians are lying to us? The short answer is no.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=h2pDbuXIcO8mUjxjIshkDQ&searchterm=lies%20&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=140770462">Lies image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the prototype point system was not particularly sophisticated (two points for each true statement, one point for each mostly true statement, zero for half-truths, etc.), the numbers revealed that many well-known politicians were abusing the truth far more than they were embracing it.</p>
<p>When I asked the class what they thought of the results, one student raised her hand and replied, “I’m not shocked.” Many of the others immediately nodded their heads in agreement. </p>
<p>I wondered if we’ve become so accustomed to the bending and breaking of the truth that we no longer expect truth from our leaders. Now we’re teaching the next generation not to expect it either.</p>
<p>After seeing these preliminary results, I was hooked.</p>
<h2>Generating ‘honesty’ report cards</h2>
<p>I quickly returned to my office and began running the numbers on a total of 42 politicians (Republicans and Democrats) with the greatest name recognition and included every current presidential hopeful who has expressed some level of interest in running in the 2016 presidential election, to boot.</p>
<p>As of May 5 2015, only 37 of the 42 politicians included have made 10 or more statements that have been fact checked in Politifact’s database, so I immediately set aside the other five politicians as having too small of a statement sample to consider in the results (the possibility for error being too significant). </p>
<p>I decided to grade our politicians the same way that I would grade my students if their assignment was to tell the truth. </p>
<p>They receive an A+ (100) if they actually tell the whole truth, a B (85) if what they say is mostly true, a C (75) if they tell a half-truth, a D (65) if what they say is mostly false, an F (55) if it is plainly a lie, and no credit (0) if they fail to take the assignment seriously at all (“pants on fire”). </p>
<p>Each politician’s <em>Honesty Score</em> is then calculated based on the overall percentage of their statements that are true, false or somewhere in between. The results are as follows (hold on to your socks): </p>
<p><em>0 A’s, 3 B’s, 22 C’s, 9 D’s, and 3 F’s.</em></p>
<p>As of May 2015, according to a synthesis of <a href="http://politifact.org">Politifact’s</a> fact-checking of actual statements over the past eight years:</p>
<p><strong>The two most honest 2016 presidential hopefuls are:</strong></p>
<p>Republican: Jeb Bush [B-]</p>
<p>Democrat: Hillary Clinton [B-]</p>
<p><strong>The two least honest 2016 presidential hopefuls:</strong></p>
<p>Republican: Ted Cruz [D-]</p>
<p>Democrat: Lincoln Chafee [C]</p>
<p><strong>The only three politicians to receive failing grades:</strong></p>
<p>Michele Bachmann [F], Herman Cain [F], Donald Trump [F]</p>
<p><strong>Our three most powerful current representatives:</strong></p>
<p>Barack Obama [C+], John Boehner [C-], Mitch McConnell [C]</p>
<p><strong>The most honest politician in the US:</strong></p>
<p>Cory Booker [B-]</p>
<p>You can take a look at the results for yourself:</p>
<p><strong>2016 Presidential Hopefuls</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81247/original/image-20150511-19566-1gcdnl9.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>Notable Democrats</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81246/original/image-20150511-19537-iq7fkx.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>Notable Republicans</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81245/original/image-20150511-19521-1rkaw1p.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Keep in mind, this kind of data tells us nothing about the views the candidates hold, or their policies, or even what kind of a leader they may ultimately turn out to be. </p>
<p>It does, however, tell us something important about how often they tell the truth to the public, and that should be something we hold them accountable for. It will be interesting to see how these same political leaders fare six months or a year from now when the races have really started to heat up, particularly those who look like they may be viable presidential candidates. </p>
<p>As teachers, caught up in our own subject matter, we easily forget that our students are hungry to apply what they’re being taught in our classes to something meaningful in their own lives.</p>
<p>It is our obligation to offer each generation a sense of social responsibility, hope for the future and the practical tools that will allow them to build it for themselves.</p>
<p>Something like a yearly Honesty Report Card might serve us well at this point in our democracy’s evolution. At the very least, let’s use this idea as a starting point for some kind of political unity in this country. </p>
<p>Whether you are liberal or conservative, can’t we at least agree that our politicians should start telling us the truth?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellis Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There may be only one way to tell the truth, but there are at least five ways to “lie.” And our politicians seem to be the master of this art. A scholar decides to teach this to his students.Ellis Jones, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.