Monday, January 30, 2017

GralInt-El estremecedor relato de una periodista que sufrió un intento de violación en Juan B. Justo y Soler

The following information is used for educational purposes only.



El estremecedor relato de una periodista que sufrió un intento de violación en Juan B. Justo y Soler

Se trata de una zona en la que permanentemente ocurren hechos de inseguridad; la joven de 28 años fue arrastrada por dos hombres que la manosearon

LUNES 30 DE ENERO DE 2017















El paso a nivel de Juan B. Justo y Soler, zona de inseguridad diaria. Foto: Google Street View

Una periodista de 28 años sufrió un violento intento de abuso al costado de las vías del tren en Juan B. Justo y Soler; pleno Palermo. El relato fue escrito por Manuela Fernández Mendy en el sitio de noticias Big Bang News, donde trabaja como editora.


Ayer por la tarde, Manuela circulaba por el paso a nivel de la calle Soler y Juan B. Justo cuando fue abordada por dos jóvenes que la amenazaron con una navaja. Gritó hasta que un hombre que pasaba por allí entró para ayudarla. Los delincuentes escaparon.

En la zona se producen continuamente hechos de inseguridad, producto de un asentamiento que existe al costado de las vías.

A continuación la columna completa:


"Vení, putita": un intento de abuso en el pasillo de Juan B. Justo, en primera persona

El paso a nivel de Soler tiene, tal vez, uno de los murales más lindos que vi en Buenos Aires. "Es tiempo de brillar", reza la frase, adornada con venecitas de colores, que supe retratar y elegir hace casi un año como foto de portada de Facebook. Es uno de los accesos al nuevo "distrito fashion" de Palermo, el "Bronx", para los adiestrados agentes inmobiliarios de la zona. Un shopping que alberga las marcas más exclusivas, el moderno polo científico y su nueva plaza aledaña, a la que suelo llevar con frecuencia a mi sobrina de tres años: el combo que acompañó la "lavada de cara" del viejo corredor ferroviario abandonado de Juan B. Justo.


Todos los días, cuando vuelvo de la redacción, cruzo el colorido paso a nivel de Soler, a veces custodiado por un efectivo de seguridad privada que cuida el estacionamiento emplazado en paralelo a las vías del tren, otras desolado.

Aunque mi cabeza esté inmersa en un océano de dilemas existenciales, o simplemente perdida en alguna canción que tarareo mientras camino, todos los días miro de reojo y con cierta complicidad ese mural. Mi mural.

Un "liviano" episodio de inseguridad, en el que un hombre me corrió a las cinco y media de la mañana por tres cuadras al grito de "sos mía", me había obligado hace un año a abandonar mi habitual caminata matutina y reemplazarla por un fugaz viaje en taxi, de sólo seis cuadras y por el que pago la no tan módica suma de $40 diarios. Entro a trabajar a las seis de la mañana, horario en el que durante gran parte del año la penumbra invade las callecitas de adoquines.

"Mejor prevenir, que curar", suelo excusarme ante los tacheros, en cuyos rostros se puede ver con claridad la decepción de haber aceptado un viaje tan corto. El negocio, claro, son las salidas de los boliches que ofrecen, además, personajes mucho más pintorescos que quien escribe estas palabras.

Ayer a la tarde apagué la computadora. La misma en la que estoy escribiendo ahora. Me despedí de mis compañeros y, a diferencia de mi habitual saludo dominical en el que suelo maldecir con ironía a algún personaje impuesto por la agenda mediática, les dije: "Me voy a vivir". Esas frasecitas que, parafraseando una respuesta que Julio Cortázar le dio al gran Osvaldo Soriano, terminan convirtiéndose en "proféticas". "Después, retrospectivamente, te das cuenta de lo que contenían".

Salí de la redacción, ubicada en el corazón de Palermo, y me fui a vivir. Encendí un cigarrillo en la vereda, acomodé mi cartera y emprendí la misma ruta de todos los días. El destino: el mural, mi mural. Hacía calor, había bandas tocando en la plaza del Polo. Minutos antes, mi mejor amiga me había mandado un mensaje diciéndome que estaba con su hija disfrutando del espectáculo. Pero no llegué a entrar. Un tirón, una navaja y un "vení, putita", me lo impidieron.

Desaparecí de la faz de la tierra. Estaba a diez metros del lugar en el que decenas de personas participaban de un festival al aire libre. Sólo otros cinco me separaban de una de las avenidas más transitadas de la ciudad.

Pero ese domingo, a las siete y diez de la tarde, desaparecí de un tirón de la faz de la tierra. Un hombre me tomó con abrupta violencia de un brazo, el otro me levantó de la cintura y llevó su mano a mi boca. Todavía siento impregnado el olor a óxido que emanaba. Fueron dos precisos movimientos que me sacaron de mi mural y me acorralaron en "el pasillo de Juan B. Justo".

Sentí la navaja rozar mis costillas e instalarse con comodidad en mi cintura. El de gorrita, el mismo que me había deslizado al oído ese repulsivo "putita", sostenía la punzante amenaza contra mi cuerpo, mientras procuraba taparme la boca con firmeza -otra vez, el olor a óxido- y respirarme al oído.

El otro, con la perversión impregnada en sus apagados ojos, me miraba de arriba abajo. "Mamita", se regodeó, mientras comenzó a masturbarse. Se mas-tur-bó: no pienso utilizar un sinónimo suave. Comenzó a deslizar su mano con velocidad sobre su miembro y le pidió a su colega que me sacara las calzas. "Rápido boludo, rápido que acabo".

Nunca me sentí más sola, ni vulnerada en mi vida. Mi cuerpo temblaba, mis manos no me respondían y mis piernas comenzaban a aflojarse. Estaba en trance. Sólo podía pensar en una persona, en lo que necesitaba a esa persona en ese momento. Un escape "feliz" al horror que estaba viviendo.

"Se me cae, se me cae", gritaba el otro, lastimándome con la navaja para que me quedara quieta. Y fue ese filo, el mismo con el que pretendía dominarme y someterme, el que me activó.

Mordí su oxidada mano con el odio condensado de 28 años de abusos de género. Mordí sus dedos, que ahora impregnaban de sabor a óxido mi boca, como si les estuviera devolviendo gentilezas a todos los hombres que, a su manera, me habían sodomizado o sometido. Jefes, ex parejas, compañeros de trabajo, de colegio, de facultad, profesores. Los mordí a todos. Vi sus rostros en mi cabeza y clavé con fuerza toda mi dentadura.

"Puta de mierda", dijo y me soltó con violencia al piso. Empecé a arrastrarme por el corredor de tierra, repleto de preservativos y chapitas de cerveza que me lastimaban las rodillas. El otro, todavía con el miembro al aire, atinó a agarrarme de una pierna y lo logró. Pero grité. Grité fuerte. Su mano, la misma con la que minutos antes se había masturbado, no logró llegar a mi boca. Grité tan fuerte que todavía siento ardor en mi garganta.

Estaba a media cuadra de la salida del pasillo. A media cuadra del mural que todas las tardes me invitaba a "brillar". Escuchaba la música de fondo. Pasó el tren. Seguía arrastrándome y gritando. Ahora eran dos los que, reincorporados, volvían por su presa. Pero hubo un valiente. Hubo un hombre que se metió en el pasaje y los amedrentó con su sola presencia. Y los compadritos, los machos cabríos que se creían invencibles frente a la "debilidad física" de una mujer, corrieron como ratas. Los cagones, salvajes e hijos de puta se escaparon por el pasillo y se refugiaron en el asentamiento ubicado a pocos metros. El mismo al que nadie se anima a entrar, ni la policía que, alertada por los cientos de denuncias que los vecinos presentan a diario, elige mirar para otro lado.

No sé el nombre de la persona que me rescató. Espero que estas líneas le acerquen mi profundo agradecimiento. Tampoco recuerdo bien cómo llegué a mi casa. Sé que me bañé durante casi dos horas para sacarme el olor a óxido que, sentía, se había impregnado en cada centímetro de mi piel. No hice la denuncia. De nada sirve. La complicidad de la comisaría de la zona con las "banditas del pasillo" es conocida en el barrio.

Pero elegí dar batalla desde mi lugar. Elegí convertir mi pluma, o en este caso mi teclado, en un misil. Para que todos recordemos que esos cobardes no sólo son producto de las políticas de Estado que excluyen año a año a miles de personas y a las que como sociedad tenemos la obligación de darles una respuesta, sino que también son hijos, hermanos y nietos. Alguien los crió. Con alguien brindan en Año Nuevo.

Esta mañana volví a caminar la zona, elegí que el temor no me paralizara. Me compré el café de todos los días y vine a trabajar. Ninguno de mis compañeros sabe qué es lo que estoy escribiendo, salvo mi jefe. Elegí dar pelea y, por sobre todas las cosas, seguir brillando, porque no soy, ni pienso ser la puta de nadie.







Fuente:www.lanacion.com.ar

Saturday, January 28, 2017

GralInt-Desnudos con toallas

The following information is used for educational purposes only.




Para reírse un ratito y admirar-¿por qué no?-la destreza

y gracia artística de estos bailarines.

¡Feliz fin de semana!C.M.




Desnudos con toallas (*)



Published on Mar 2, 2014




































Les hommes à poêles - Burlesque / LE PLUS GRAND CABARET DU MONDE



Published on Apr 25, 2015



































Fuente: www.youtube.com/Enviado por MRS (*)

Friday, January 27, 2017

SALUD/GralInt-En un tercio de los pacientes la causa de la enfermedad es emocional y no física

The following information is used for educational purposes only.


En un tercio de los pacientes la causa de la enfermedad es emocional y no física

A todos nos pasa que nuestro cuerpo reacciona físicamente ante las emociones; Pero en algunas casos, este mecanismo llega a extremos que pueden suponer una discapacidad para quien lo sufre

Laura Plitt

BBC Mundo

27 DE ENERO DE 2017












Suzanne O''Sullivan empezó a interesarse por las enfermedades psicosomáticas cuando descubrió que detrás de los síntomas muchos de sus pacientes no había ninguna causa física. 

La neuróloga irlandesa Suzanne O'Sullivan conoció a Yvonne apenas se graduó como médica.


Esta paciente de 40 años había ingresado el hospital el día anterior, después de que un compañero de trabajo le rociara accidentalmente los ojos con un producto de limpieza dejándola ciega.

Sucesivos baños oculares no sirvieron para aliviar el dolor y la irritación de sus ojos, ni para devolverle la vista.


Los exámenes a los que fue sometida durante los seis meses siguientes, sin embargo, coincidían en el resultado: la ceguera no respondía a ninguna causa física.

La discapacidad visual de Yvonne, concluyeron los médicos, era de origen psicosomático. Es decir: su ceguera era una manifestación física de un estrés emocional.





En los siete casos que relata la neuróloga en su libro, los síntomas no respondían a una causa física.. Foto: LA NACION


Enfermedades que afectan a todo el mundo

Yvonne fue una de las primeras de una extensa lista de pacientes con desórdenes psicosomáticos que O'Sullivan vio en sus 20 años de carrera. Su historia y la de otros pacientes forman parte de su libro Todo está en tu cabeza. Historias reales de enfermedades imaginarias.

La neuróloga presenta ese trabajo, premiado en Reino Unido con el prestigioso galardón Wellcome Book Prize, en el Hay Festival en la ciudad colombiana de Cartagena, que BBC Mundo está cubriendo.

Los demás -que llegaban a su consultorio frustrados después de ver a distintos especialistas que no lograban dar en el clavo- presentaban síntomas tan severos como los de Yvonne: unos venían en silla de ruedas, otros presentaban inflamaciones, describían dolores, parálisis, desmayos y convulsiones.

Un factor común aunaba a estos pacientes con dolencias tan agudas como variadas: la falta de una explicación médica para sus síntomas. Y la gran mayoría, sino todos, se negaba a aceptar el origen psicológico de su enfermedad.

Pero no es por azar que estos pacientes acabaron buscando la opinión de O'Sullivan.

Esta es una situación que se repite en casi todos los consultorios médicos, le dice la experta a BBC Mundo.

"Dedico gran parte de mi tiempo a pacientes con convulsiones y, por lo general, de las personas que veo, un tercio sufre convulsiones por causas psicológicas. Pero de acuerdo a estudios, en otras especialidades médicas también un tercio de los pacientes padece síntomas de origen psicológico", comenta O'Sullivan.















El libro, el primero que escribe la neuróloga, recibió en 2016 en Reino Unido el prestigioso premio Wellcome Book Prize. Foto: LA NACION


Tampoco son un mal de la sociedad contemporánea -aunque internet ayuda con la abundancia de información sobre enfermedades y sus síntomas- ni hacen diferencia entre ricos y pobres.

"Pasa en todo el mundo", dice O'Sullivan.

Un estudio de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) llevado a cabo hace algunos años, recuerda, demostró que la prevalencia de enfermedades cuyos "síntomas carecen de explicación médica" es casi idéntica en casi todos los países, independientemente de si son desarrollados o en vías de desarrollo y del acceso que la gente tiene a los servicios de salud.

Síntomas reales

Fue precisamente esta alarmante proporción lo que llevó a la neuróloga a interesarse por el tema y a volcar más tarde su experiencia en el libro Todo está en tu cabeza, que desgrana con humanidad y compasión las historias de algunos de sus pacientes y las dificultades como médica de trabajar en esta zona gris de la medicina que nuestra sociedad estigmatiza.

¿Pero qué lleva a nuestro cuerpo a expresar síntomas de una enfermedad que no tenemos? ¿Por qué enmascaramos con dolor, debilidad o parálisis lo que en realidad son emociones?

"Nuestro cuerpo produce síntomas físicos en respuesta a las emociones todo el tiempo. A mucha gente le tiemblan las manos cuando tiene que hacer una presentación, a otros les late más fuerte el corazón si están ansiosos o hay quienes se sonrojan cuando sienten vergüenza", dice O'Sullivan.

"Es algo que nos pasa a todos. Pero no podría decir por qué en ciertos individuos este mecanismo decide crear una patología. Lo que ocurre es que todos tenemos una forma diferente de lidiar con el estrés".

Tampoco podemos escaparnos de estos síntomas como evitamos una gripe al abrigarnos en invierno, o una lesión muscular, calentando el cuerpo antes de correr.

"No podemos evitar los síntomas físicos frente a una situación de estrés", explica la neuróloga.

"Lo que si podemos hacer es evitar que eso se transforme en una discapacidad. Podés aprender a reconocerlos cuando te ocurren y alterar lo que hacés en respuesta", explica la neuróloga.

Aunque no exista una causa física, recalca, no hay que olvidar que los síntomas son reales para el paciente, y sus consecuencias pueden suponer una discapacidad y que son increíblemente devastadoras.

"No tiene nada"

Y es justamente la falta de una raíz física lo que ha llevado históricamente a que la medicina desestime esta clase de desórdenes, cuando los reconoce.

Esto incluso se ve plasmado en el lenguaje que los médicos utilizan para hablar sobre estas enfermedades.

"Si una persona tiene una discapacidad y los exámenes muestran resultados normales, solemos decir que no tienen nada", cuenta O'Sullivan.

"Los médicos estamos entrenados para enfocarnos en las enfermedades, para encontrarlas. Estamos preocupados por que no se nos escapen (cuando examinamos a un paciente). Si veo a alguien y no me doy cuenta de que tiene una enfermedad, eso generará muchas recriminaciones", le dice la experta a BBC Mundo.

La situación contraria, (pensar que alguien tiene una enfermedad para darse cuenta luego de que era psicosomática) es mucho menos grave, señala.

La atención está tan centrada en la enfermedad, que una vez que se descarta, la tarea pareciera darse por terminada.

Y es esta falta de atención e importancia que se les da estas aflicciones lo que ha contribuido a crear un estigma alrededor de las enfermedades psicosomáticas, de modo tal que al paciente le resulta muy difícil aceptar el diagnóstico, que suele vivir como si se tratase de un insulto.

El diagnóstico que nadie quiere escuchar







Pese a la falta de una enfermedad física, muchos de los pacientes de O''''''''Sullivan están incapacitados para moverse y deben usar una silla de ruedas. Foto: LA NACION 

¿Pero en qué medida no se trata de una etiqueta fácil para catalogar cualquier enfermedad para la que la medicina actual aún no tiene respuesta?

Ese es el temor más común de los pacientes, explica O'Sullivan.

"Sin embargo, el diagnóstico es increíblemente estable. En neurología es muy sencillo hacer mediciones del sistema nervioso. Hay una gran diferencia entre alguien con una parálisis o una convulsión psicosomática y alguien con una enfermedad cerebral".

"Esto te permite hacer una diagnóstico con confianza".

Y cuando se sospecha que una enfermedad puede ser psicosomática y no es así, "la enfermedad se va revelando, aportando evidencia objetiva con el tiempo", asegura O'Sullivan.

Por otra parte, estudios a largo plazo demostraron que el porcentaje de diagnósticos equivocados es sólo del 4%.

La terapia psicológica no es siempre la respuesta

La mayoría de los pacientes que aparecen en el libro de O'Sullivan son derivados a un psiquiatra.

Sin embargo, la neuróloga comenta que el tratamiento psicológico no es necesariamente la indicación en todos los casos.







La enfermedad psicosomática es imaginaria, pero los síntomas son reales. Foto: LA NACION 

"El tratamiento depende de cada individuo y de las causas que provocan los síntomas. En algunas personas, los síntomas surgen a raíz de un trauma psicológico, en ese caso, la recomendación es seguir una terapia psicológica o psiquiátrica".

"Pero en otra gente, los síntomas no están relacionados con un estrés en particular. Pueden estar relacionados en cómo lidiaron con una lesión o una enfermedad", explica la experta.

"Por tanto esa persona no necesita ayuda psicológica en profundidad sino una terapia física que lo ayude a entrenar su cuerpo para regresar a la vida normal, o un curso de terapia cognitiva-conductual para superar el miedo que le provoca retornar a la vida sin la enfermedad".

Pese a que el tratamiento de las enfermedades psicosomáticas es algo que se escapa al campo de la neurología, O'Sullivan no tiene previsto reencaminarse hacia la psiquiatría.

"El problema es que estos pacientes no van a ver a un psiquiatra porque sus síntomas son físicos, van a ver a un médico", afirma la neuróloga.

"Por eso necesitamos doctores que puedan hacer de puente entre la neurología y la psiquiatría. Necesitamos neurólogos que estén interesados en este problema ya que a ellos es a quienes acuden los pacientes".

Y en este sentido, reconoce que en los últimos cinco años ha habido un crecimiento del interés entre los neurólogos, un interés que puede hacer avanzar el conocimiento en este área, crear una mayor aceptación del problema y así paulatinamente se podrá ir desarticulando el estigma.

Antes de terminar, les cuento cómo terminó la historia de Yvonne, la paciente con ceguera emocional que despertó el interés de O'Sullivan.

Después de seis meses de ayuda psiquiátrica y terapia familiar, finalmente recuperó la vista.

Este artículo es parte de la versión digital del Hay Festival Cartagena, un encuentro de escritores y pensadores que se realiza en esa ciudad colombiana entre el 26 y 29 de enero de 2017.

La neuróloga Suzanne O'Sullivan participará en una charla sobre cómo la neurociencia nos permite sacarle más partido a nuestro cerebro junto al cirujano Henry Marsh y el catedrático en psicobiología Ignacio Morgado.











Fuente:http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1979185-en-un-tercio-de-los-pacientes-la-causa-de-la-enfermedad-es-emocional-y-no-fisica

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

GralInt/SOC-Historia de superación

The following information is used for educational purposes only.




Historia de superación

Hizo un volante con una "oferta" por sus servicios de limpieza y terminó en un conmovedor viral
El hombre, de 57 años, lo escribió a mano con muchas faltas de ortografía. Un usuario le sacó una foto, la subió a Facebook y le dio la sorpresa de su vida.




































TRABAJO. Mi nombre es Dany, tengo 57, firmó Torrado debajo del regalo. (Facebook)



Con las mismas expectativas de un náufrago que deja un mensaje en una botella, Daniel Torrado escribió a mano una oferta por sus servicios que terminó en una suerte de "manifiesto viral" para buscar trabajo. "Me especialiso en limpieza de vidrieras. Hoy lanso un verdadero regalo: yo le fresco 1 lavado completo por mes + 1 lavado afuera por semana y lo paga recién en la 4° limpieza. O sea 1 pago por mes vencido. En la ínfima suma de $45 (sic)" , dice la hoja rayada que fotocopió y volanteó por donde pudo.

"Subo esto, me dio mucha ternura y a la vez reflexión. Gente que necesita laburar y no es desagradecida", posteó Nicolás Carballo. Se topó con el cartel en Villa Devoto, le sacó una foto y lo publicó en Instagram y Facebook el miércoles 18 de enero. Hasta esta tarde, el mensaje fue compartido casi 23 mil veces y, desde el jueves, generó más de 150 llamados y 47 clientes en lista de espera para que Daniel limpie sus vidrieras.


"Mi nombre es Dany, tengo 57 años", le dice a Clarín que "es la sorpresa de mi vida. Porque también me llamó mucha gente para ayudarme. Y yo no pedía ayuda, pedía trabajo por un servicio a un precio que no tiene competencia". Pero lo que conmovió a todos fue que por su trabajo pedía menos de lo que se paga en Capital por un café.

Para que sea redituable limpiar tres vidrios de 2,10 metros de ancho por 2 metros de alto por $45, Daniel confiesa que tiene que trabajar cinco veces más "porque, en general, se cobra $ 250 por eso". Se dedica desde 1980 a lo que llama un "rústico emprendimiento" de limpieza. Y recientemente fue abandonado por su socio.

"No se bancó ganar dos pesos y esperar a que crezcamos. Esto es para hacer un dinero en un año, por los precios que cobro, no es para ya", aclara.

En el medio, mecha una anécdota con una clienta surgida del viral. "Me pidió precio, le cerré en $ 70 y mientras limpiaba me agregó una puerta por afuera y adentro. Yo cobro $ 3 pesos por vidrio. Se los regalo por mí a los $ 6... pero, ¿se los tenía que 'perdonar'?", bromea. "La picardía, conmigo, no."

Mirá también: Tras una polémica oferta viral, la dueña del restaurante MÖOI hizo un "contraposteo"

Dany asegura que no sabe recibir caridad: "Trabajar en las vidrieras es lo único que sé hacer y me gusta".

Gracias a la divulgación de su nota, consiguió incluso un encargo que le arrimó $ 1.600 pesos mensuales, o sea $ 400 por semana. "Y voy a hacer todos los que pueda para llegar a un sueldo digno", avisa.

"Hasta me llamó Mónica Ayos. En realidad me llamó Diego Olivera, el marido, y al rato me pasó con ella. Dijo que le conmovió mi mensaje, que tenga ganas de trabajar y que no cobro caro. Me dijo que que cuando vuelva a Buenos Aires me iba a contratar. Yo le dije que no le cobro. Y dijo 'De ninguna manera'. Bueno, un mate le acepto", dice. "La verdad es que no buscaba conmover, simplemente estaba ofreciendo un precio excelente por algo que sale mucho más caro."

Dany se peleó con la hija de su pareja, Marta. Entonces dejó la casa que compartían en Flores y desde abril alquila una pieza en una pensión en Santos Lugares. Tiene tres hijos con su exmujer y el capital de su empredimiento es un Fiesta Max modelo 2009, que usa para transportar los artículos de limpieza hasta cada local: desde Lope de Vega, Beiró, Cuenca, Nogoyá hasta pasando Nazca.

El 7 de diciembre último se le ocurrió el escrito. "Primero hice otro largo, contando toda mi historia. Después lo acorté para los que leen apurados. Evidentemente, transmití igual lo que me pasaba", dice.

Como era de esperar, sus faltas de ortografía generaron bromas en las redes sociales. Daniel, que no tiene Facebook ni smartphone, responde aquí con humor: "Pido disculpas. No me da para los libros. Hice hasta segundo año de un industrial de Martín Coronado y fue un desastre lo que repetí". Y, justo antes de atender otro llamado, revalida sus "3 ventajas": "sé venderme, sé manejar y tengo experiencia en limpiar vidrios. ¡Qué más podés pedir si tenés una vidriera!".


















Fuente: www.lanacion.com.ar

Sunday, January 22, 2017

HEALTH/GralInt-TED Talks-Jennifer Brea: What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose

The following information is used for educational purposes only.




Filmed June 2016 at TEDSummit

Jennifer Brea: What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose



Five years ago, TED Fellow Jennifer Brea became progressively ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness that severely impairs normal activities and on bad days makes even the rustling of bed sheets unbearable. In this poignant talk, Brea describes the obstacles she's encountered in seeking treatment for her condition, whose root causes and physical effects we don't fully understand, as well as her mission to document through film the lives of patients that medicine struggles to treat.
























































Transcript:




Hi.
Thank you.
[Jennifer Brea is sound-sensitive. The live audience was asked to applaud ASL-style, in silence.]
So, five years ago, this was me. I was a PhD student at Harvard, and I loved to travel. I had just gotten engaged to marry the love of my life. I was 28, and like so many of us when we are in good health, I felt like I was invincible.
Then one day I had a fever of 104.7 degrees. I probably should have gone to the doctor, but I'd never really been sick in my life, and I knew that usually, if you have a virus, you stay home and you make some chicken soup, and in a few days, everything will be fine. But this time it wasn't fine. After the fever broke, for three weeks I was so dizzy, I couldn't leave my house. I would walk straight into door frames. I had to hug the walls just to make it to the bathroom. That spring I got infection after infection, and every time I went to the doctor, he said there was absolutely nothing wrong. He had his laboratory tests, which always came back normal. All I had were my symptoms, which I could describe, but no one else can see. I know it sounds silly, but you have to find a way to explain things like this to yourself, and so I thought maybe I was just aging. Maybe this is what it's like to be on the other side of 25.
(Laughter)
Then the neurological symptoms started. Sometimes I would find that I couldn't draw the right side of a circle. Other times I wouldn't be able to speak or move at all. I saw every kind of specialist: infectious disease doctors, dermatologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists. I even saw a psychiatrist. My psychiatrist said, "It's clear you're really sick, but not with anything psychiatric. I hope they can find out what's wrong with you."
The next day, my neurologist diagnosed me with conversion disorder. He told me that everything -- the fevers, the sore throats, the sinus infection, all of the gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiac symptoms -- were being caused by some distant emotional trauma that I could not remember. The symptoms were real, he said, but they had no biological cause.
I was training to be a social scientist. I had studied statistics, probability theory, mathematical modeling, experimental design. I felt like I couldn't just reject my neurologist's diagnosis. It didn't feel true, but I knew from my training that the truth is often counterintuitive, so easily obscured by what we want to believe. So I had to consider the possibility that he was right.
That day, I ran a small experiment. I walked back the two miles from my neurologist's office to my house, my legs wrapped in this strange, almost electric kind of pain. I meditated on that pain, contemplating how my mind could have possibly generated all this. As soon as I walked through the door, I collapsed. My brain and my spinal cord were burning. My neck was so stiff I couldn't touch my chin to my chest, and the slightest sound -- the rustling of the sheets, my husband walking barefoot in the next room -- could cause excruciating pain. I would spend most of the next two years in bed.
How could my doctor have gotten it so wrong? I thought I had a rare disease, something doctors had never seen. And then I went online and found thousands of people all over the world living with the same symptoms, similarly isolated, similarly disbelieved. Some could still work, but had to spend their evenings and weekends in bed, just so they could show up the next Monday. On the other end of the spectrum, some were so sick they had to live in complete darkness, unable to tolerate the sound of a human voice or the touch of a loved one.
I was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis. You've probably heard it called "chronic fatigue syndrome." For decades, that's a name that's meant that this has been the dominant image of a disease that can be as serious as this. The key symptom we all share is that whenever we exert ourselves -- physically, mentally -- we pay and we pay hard. If my husband goes for a run, he might be sore for a couple of days. If I try to walk half a block, I might be bedridden for a week. It is a perfect custom prison. I know ballet dancers who can't dance, accountants who can't add, medical students who never became doctors. It doesn't matter what you once were; you can't do it anymore. It's been four years, and I've still never been as well as I was the minute before I walked home from my neurologist's office.
It's estimated that about 15 to 30 million people around the world have this disease. In the US, where I'm from, it's about one million people. That makes it roughly twice as common as multiple sclerosis. Patients can live for decades with the physical function of someone with congestive heart failure. Twenty-five percent of us are homebound or bedridden, and 75 to 85 percent of us can't even work part-time. Yet doctors do not treat us and science does not study us. How could a disease this common and this devastating have been forgotten by medicine?
When my doctor diagnosed me with conversion disorder, he was invoking a lineage of ideas about women's bodies that are over 2,500 years old. The Roman physician Galen thought that hysteria was caused by sexual deprivation in particularly passionate women. The Greeks thought the uterus would literally dry up and wander around the body in search of moisture, pressing on internal organs -- yes -- causing symptoms from extreme emotions to dizziness and paralysis. The cure was marriage and motherhood.
These ideas went largely unchanged for several millennia until the 1880s, when neurologists tried to modernize the theory of hysteria. Sigmund Freud developed a theory that the unconscious mind could produce physical symptoms when dealing with memories or emotions too painful for the conscious mind to handle. It converted these emotions into physical symptoms. This meant that men could now get hysteria, but of course women were still the most susceptible.
When I began investigating the history of my own disease, I was amazed to find how deep these ideas still run. In 1934, 198 doctors, nurses and staff at the Los Angeles County General Hospital became seriously ill. They had muscle weakness, stiffness in the neck and back, fevers -- all of the same symptoms I had when I first got diagnosed. Doctors thought it was a new form of polio. Since then, there have been more than 70 outbreaks documented around the world, of a strikingly similar post-infectious disease. All of these outbreaks have tended to disproportionately affect women, and in time, when doctors failed to find the one cause of the disease, they thought that these outbreaks were mass hysteria.
Why has this idea had such staying power? I do think it has to do with sexism, but I also think that fundamentally, doctors want to help. They want to know the answer, and this category allows doctors to treat what would otherwise be untreatable, to explain illnesses that have no explanation. The problem is that this can cause real harm. In the 1950s, a psychiatrist named Eliot Slater studied a cohort of 85 patients who had been diagnosed with hysteria. Nine years later, 12 of them were dead and 30 had become disabled. Many had undiagnosed conditions like multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, brain tumors. In 1980, hysteria was officially renamed "conversion disorder." When my neurologist gave me that diagnosis in 2012, he was echoing Freud's words verbatim, and even today, women are 2 to 10 times more likely to receive that diagnosis.
The problem with the theory of hysteria or psychogenic illness is that it can never be proven. It is by definition the absence of evidence, and in the case of ME, psychological explanations have held back biological research. All around the world, ME is one of the least funded diseases. In the US, we spend each year roughly 2,500 dollars per AIDS patient, 250 dollars per MS patient and just 5 dollars per year per ME patient. This was not just lightning. I was not just unlucky. The ignorance surrounding my disease has been a choice, a choice made by the institutions that were supposed to protect us.
We don't know why ME sometimes runs in families, why you can get it after almost any infection, from enteroviruses to Epstein-Barr virus to Q fever, or why it affects women at two to three times the rate of men. This issue is much bigger than just my disease. When I first got sick, old friends were reaching out to me. I soon found myself a part of a cohort of women in their late 20s whose bodies were falling apart. What was striking was just how much trouble we were having being taken seriously.
I learned of one woman with scleroderma, an autoimmune connective tissue disease, who was told for years that it was all in her head. Between the time of onset and diagnosis, her esophagus was so thoroughly damaged, she will never be able to eat again. Another woman with ovarian cancer, who for years was told that it was just early menopause. A friend from college, whose brain tumor was misdiagnosed for years as anxiety.
Here's why this worries me: since the 1950s, rates of many autoimmune diseases have doubled to tripled. Forty-five percent of patients who are eventually diagnosed with a recognized autoimmune disease are initially told they're hypochondriacs. Like the hysteria of old, this has everything to do with gender and with whose stories we believe. Seventy-five percent of autoimmune disease patients are women, and in some diseases, it's as high as 90 percent. Even though these diseases disproportionately affect women, they are not women's diseases. ME affects children and ME affects millions of men. And as one patient told me, we get it coming and going -- if you're a woman, you're told you're exaggerating your symptoms, but if you're a guy, you're told to be strong, to buck up. And men may even have a more difficult time getting diagnosed.
My brain is not what it used to be.
Here's the good part: despite everything, I still have hope. So many diseases were once thought of as psychological until science uncovered their biological mechanisms. Patients with epilepsy could be forcibly institutionalized until the EEG was able to measure abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Multiple sclerosis could be misdiagnosed as hysterical paralysis until the CAT scan and the MRI discovered brain lesions. And recently, we used to think that stomach ulcers were just caused by stress, until we discovered that H. pylori was the culprit. ME has never benefited from the kind of science that other diseases have had, but that's starting to change. In Germany, scientists are starting to find evidence of autoimmunity, and in Japan, of brain inflammation. In the US, scientists at Stanford are finding abnormalities in energy metabolism that are 16 standard deviations away from normal. And in Norway, researchers are running a phase-3 clinical trial on a cancer drug that in some patients causes complete remission.
What also gives me hope is the resilience of patients. Online we came together, and we shared our stories. We devoured what research there was. We experimented on ourselves. We became our own scientists and our own doctors because we had to be. And slowly I added five percent here, five percent there, until eventually, on a good day, I was able to leave my home. I still had to make ridiculous choices: Will I sit in the garden for 15 minutes, or will I wash my hair today? But it gave me hope that I could be treated. I had a sick body; that was all. And with the right kind of help, maybe one day I could get better.
I came together with patients around the world, and we started to fight. We have filled the void with something wonderful, but it is not enough. I still don't know if I will ever be able to run again, or walk at any distance, or do any of those kinetic things that I now only get to do in my dreams. But I am so grateful for how far I have come. Progress is slow, and it is up and it is down, but I am getting a little better each day.
I remember what it was like when I was stuck in that bedroom, when it had been months since I had seen the sun. I thought that I would die there. But here I am today, with you, and that is a miracle.
I don't know what would have happened had I not been one of the lucky ones, had I gotten sick before the internet, had I not found my community. I probably would have already taken my own life, as so many others have done. How many lives could we have saved, decades ago, if we had asked the right questions? How many lives could we save today if we decide to make a real start?
Even once the true cause of my disease is discovered, if we don't change our institutions and our culture, we will do this again to another disease. Living with this illness has taught me that science and medicine are profoundly human endeavors. Doctors, scientists and policy makers are not immune to the same biases that affect all of us.
We need to think in more nuanced ways about women's health. Our immune systems are just as much a battleground for equality as the rest of our bodies. We need to listen to patients' stories, and we need to be willing to say, "I don't know." "I don't know" is a beautiful thing. "I don't know" is where discovery starts. And if we can do that, if we can approach the great vastness of all that we do not know, and then, rather than fear uncertainty, maybe we can greet it with a sense of wonder.
Thank you.
Thank you.



GralInt-TED Talks-Ashley Judd: How online abuse of women has spiraled out of control

The following information is used for educational purposes only.





Filmed October 2016 at TEDWomen 2016

Ashley Judd: How online abuse of women has spiraled out of control



Enough with online hate speech, sexual harassment and threats of violence against women and marginalized groups. It's time to take the global crisis of online abuse seriously. In this searching, powerful talk, Ashley Judd recounts her ongoing experience of being terrorized on social media for her unwavering activism and calls on citizens of the internet, the tech community, law enforcement and legislators to recognize the offline harm of online harassment.


















































Transcript:





[This talk contains graphic language and descriptions of sexual violence] [Viewer discretion is advised]
"Ashley Judd, stupid fucking slut."
"You can't sue someone for calling them a cunt."
"If you can't handle the Internet, fuck off, whore."
"I wish Ashley Judd would die a horrible death. She is the absolute worst."
"Ashley Judd, you're the reason women shouldn't vote."
"'Twisted' is such a bad movie, I don't even want to rape it."
"Whatever you do, don't tell Ashley Judd. She'll die alone with a dried out vagina."
"If I had to fuck an older woman, oh my God, I would fuck the shit out of Ashley Judd, that bitch is hot af. The unforgivable shit I would do to her."
Online misogyny is a global gender rights tragedy, and it is imperative that it ends.
(Applause)
Girls' and women's voices, and our allies' voices are constrained in ways that are personally, economically, professionally and politically damaging. And when we curb abuse, we will expand freedom.
I am a Kentucky basketball fan, so on a fine March day last year, I was doing one of the things I do best: I was cheering for my Wildcats. The daffodils were blooming, but the referees were not blowing the whistle when I was telling them to.
(Laughter)
Funny, they're very friendly to me before the opening tip, but they really ignore me during the game.
(Laughter)
Three of my players were bleeding, so I did the next best thing ... I tweeted.
[@ArkRazorback dirty play can kiss my team's free throw making a -- @KySportsRadio @marchmadness @espn Bloodied 3 players so far.]
It is routine for me to be treated in the ways I've already described to you. It happens to me every single day on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Since I joined Twitter in 2011, misogyny and misogynists have amply demonstrated they will dog my every step. My spirituality, my faith, being a hillbilly -- I can say that, you can't -- all of it is fair game.
And I have responded to this with various strategies. I've tried engaging people. This one guy was sending me hypersexual, nasty stuff, and there was a girl in his avatar. I wrote him back and said ... "Is that your daughter? I feel a lot of fear that you may think about and talk to women this way." And he surprised me by saying, "You know what? You're right. I apologize." Sometimes people want to be held accountable. This one guy was musing to I don't know who that maybe I was the definition of a cunt. I was married to a Scot for 14 years, so I said, "Cunt means many different things in different countries --
(Laughter)
but I'm pretty sure you epitomize the global standard of a dick."
(Laughter)
(Applause)
I've tried to rise above it, I've tried to get in the trenches, but mostly I would scroll through these social media platforms with one eye partially closed, trying not to see it, but you can't make a cucumber out of a pickle. What is seen goes in. It's traumatic. And I was always secretly hoping in some part of me that what was being said to me and about me wasn't ... true. Because even I, an avowed, self-declared feminist, who worships at the altar of Gloria --
(Laughter)
internalize the patriarchy. This is really critical. Patriarchy is not boys and men. It is a system in which we all participate, including me.
On that particular day, for some reason, that particular tweet after the basketball game triggered something called a "cyber mob." This vitriolic, global outpouring of the most heinous hate speech: death threats, rape threats. And don't you know, when I was sitting at home alone in my nightgown, I got a phone call, and it was my beloved former husband, and he said on a voice mail, "Loved one ... what is happening to you is not OK."
And there was something about him taking a stand for me that night ... that allowed me to take a stand for myself. And I started to write. I started to write about sharing the fact that I'm a survivor of all forms of sexual abuse, including three rapes. And the hate speech I get in response to that -- these are just some of the comments posted to news outlets. Being told I'm a "snitch" is really fun.
[Jay: She enjoyed every second of it!!!!!]
Audience: Oh, Lord Jesus.
Ashley Judd: Thank you, Jesus. May your grace and mercy shine.
So, I wrote this feminist op-ed, it is entitled, "Forget Your Team: It Is Your Online Gender Violence Toward Girls And Women That Can Kiss My Righteous Ass.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
And I did that alone, and I published it alone, because my chief advisor said, "Please don't, the rain of retaliatory garbage that is inevitable -- I fear for you." But I trust girls and I trust women, and I trust our allies. It was published, it went viral, it proves that every single day online misogyny is a phenomenon endured by us all, all over the world, and when it is intersectional, it is worse. Sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion -- you name it, it amplifies the violence endured by girls and women, and for our younger girls, it is worse.
It's clearly traumatizing. Our mental health, our emotional well-being are so gravely affected because the threat of violence is experienced neurobiologically as violence. The cortisol shoots up, the limbic system gets fired, we lose productivity at work.
And let's talk about work. Our ability to work is constrained. Online searches of women applying for jobs reveal nude pictures of them, false allegations they have STDs, their addresses indicating that they are available for sex with real examples of people showing up at this house for said sex.
Our ability to go to school is impaired. 96 percent of all postings of sexual images of our young people ... girls. Our girls. Our boys are two to three times more likely -- nonconsensually -- to share images.
And I want to say a word about revenge porn. Part of what came out of this tweet was my getting connected with allies and other activists who are fighting for a safe and free internet. We started something called the Speech Project; curbing abuse, expanding freedom. And that website provides a critical forum, because there is no global, legal thing to help us figure this out. But we do provide on that website a standardized list of definitions, because it's hard to attack a behavior in the right way if we're not all sharing a definition of what that behavior is. And I learned that revenge porn is often dangerously misapplied. It is the nonconsensual sharing of an image used tactically to shame and humiliate a girl or woman that attempts to pornography us. Our natural sexuality is -- I don't know about yours -- pretty gorgeous and wonderful. And my expressing it does not pornography make.
(Applause)
So, I have all these resources that I'm keenly aware so many people in the world do not. I was able to start the Speech Project with colleagues. I can often get a social media company's attention. I have a wonderful visit to Facebook HQ coming up. Hasn't helped the idiotic reporting standards yet ... I actually pay someone to scrub my social media feeds, attempting to spare my brain the daily iterations of the trauma of hate speech. And guess what? I get hate speech for that. "Oh, you live in an echo chamber." Well, guess what? Having someone post a photograph of me with my mouth open saying they "can't wait to cum on my face," I have a right to set that boundary.
(Applause)
And this distinction between virtual and real is specious because guess what -- that actually happened to me once when I was a child, and so that tweet brought up that trauma, and I had to do work on that.
But you know what we do? We take all of this hate speech, and we disaggregate it, and we code it, and we give that data so that we understand the intersectionality of it: when I get porn, when it's about political affiliation, when it's about age, when it's about all of it. We're going to win this fight.
There are a lot of solutions -- thank goodness. I'm going to offer just a few, and of course I challenge you to create and contribute your own. Number one: we have to start with digital media literacy, and clearly it must have a gendered lens. Kids, schools, caregivers, parents: it's essential. Two ... shall we talk about our friends in tech? Said with dignity and respect, the sexism in your workplaces must end.
(Applause)
(Cheers)
EDGE, the global standard for gender equality, is the minimum standard. And guess what, Silicon Valley? If L'Oréal in India, in the Philippines, in Brazil and in Russia can do it, you can, too. Enough excuses. Only when women have critical mass in every department at your companies, including building platforms from the ground up, will the conversations about priorities and solutions change.
And more love for my friends in tech: profiteering off misogyny in video games must end. I'm so tired of hearing you talk to me at cocktail parties -- like you did a couple weeks ago in Aspen -- about how deplorable #Gamergate was, when you're still making billions of dollars off games that maim and dump women for sport. Basta! -- as the Italians would say. Enough.
(Applause)
Our friends in law enforcement have much to do, because we've seen that online violence is an extension of in-person violence. In our country, more girls and women have been murdered by their intimate partners than died on 9/11 and have died since in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. And it's not cool to say that, but it is true. We care so much geopolitically about what men are doing over there to women over there ... In 2015, 72,828 women used intimate partner violence services in this country. That is not counting the girls and women and boys who needed them. Law enforcement must be empowered with up-to-date internet technology, the devices and an understanding of these platforms -- how they work. The police wanted to be helpful when Amanda Hess called about the death threat she was getting on Twitter, but they couldn't really when they said, "What's Twitter?"
Our legislators must write and pass astute legislation that reflects today's technology and our notions of free and hate speech. In New York recently, the law could not be applied to a perpetrator because the crimes must have been committed -- even if it was anonymous -- they must have been committed by telephone, in mail, by telegraph --
(Laughter)
The language must be technologically neutral.
So apparently, I've got a pretty bold voice. So, let's talk about our friends ... white men. You have a role to play and a choice to make. You can do something, or you can do nothing. We're cool in this room, but when this goes out, everyone will say, "Oh my God, she's a reverse racist." That quote was said by a white man, Robert Moritz, chairperson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, he asked me to include it in my talk.
We need to grow support lines and help groups, so victims can help each other when their lives and finances have been derailed. We must as individuals disrupt gender violence as it is happening. 92 percent of young people 29 and under witness it. 72 percent of us have witnessed it. We must have the courage and urgency to practice stopping it as it is unfolding.
And lastly, believe her. Believe her.
(Applause)
This is fundamentally a problem of human interaction. And as I believe that human interaction is at the core of our healing, trauma not transformed will be trauma transferred.
Edith Wharton said, "The end is latent in the beginning," so we are going to end this talk replacing hate speech with love speech. Because I get lonely in this, but I know that we are allies. I recently learned about how gratitude and affirmations offset negative interactions. It takes five of those to offset one negative interaction, and gratitude in particular -- free, available globally any time, anywhere, to anyone in any dialect -- it fires the pregenual anterior cingulate, a watershed part of the brain that floods it with great, good stuff. So I'm going to say awesome stuff about myself. I would like for you to reflect it back to me. It might sound something like this --
(Laughter)
I am a powerful and strong woman, and you would say, "Yes, you are."
Audience: Yes, you are.
Ashley Judd: My mama loves me.
A: Yes, she does.
AJ: I did a great job with my talk.
A: Yes, you did.
AJ: I have a right to be here.
A: Yes, you do.
AJ: I'm really cute.
(Laughter)
A: Yes, you are.
AJ: God does good work.
A: Yes, He does.
AJ: And I love you. Thank you so much for letting me be of service.
Bless you.
(Applause)




POL/SOC/PSYCH/GralInt-TED Talks-Robb Willer: How to have better political conversations

The following information is used for educational purposes only.





Filmed September 2016 at TEDxMarin


Robb Willer: How to have better political conversations



Robb Willer studies the forces that unite and divide us. As a social psychologist, he researches how moral values — typically a source of division — can also be used to bring people together. Willer shares compelling insights on how we might bridge the ideological divide and offers some intuitive advice on ways to be more persuasive when talking politics.























































Transcript:

So you probably have the sense, as most people do, that polarization is getting worse in our country, that the divide between the left and the right is as bad as it's been in really any of our lifetimes. But you might also reasonably wonder if research backs up your intuition. And in a nutshell, the answer is sadly yes. In study after study, we find that liberals and conservatives have grown further apart. They increasingly wall themselves off in these ideological silos, consuming different news, talking only to like-minded others and more and more choosing to live in different parts of the country.
And I think that most alarming of all of it is seeing this rising animosity on both sides. Liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, more and more they just don't like one another. You see it in many different ways. They don't want to befriend one another. They don't want to date one another. If they do, if they find out, they find each other less attractive, and they more and more don't want their children to marry someone who supports the other party, a particularly shocking statistic.
You know, in my lab, the students that I work with, we're talking about some sort of social pattern -- I'm a movie buff, and so I'm often like, what kind of movie are we in here with this pattern? So what kind of movie are we in with political polarization? Well, it could be a disaster movie. It certainly seems like a disaster. Could be a war movie. Also fits. But what I keep thinking is that we're in a zombie apocalypse movie.
(Laughter)
Right? You know the kind. There's people wandering around in packs, not thinking for themselves, seized by this mob mentality trying to spread their disease and destroy society. And you probably think, as I do, that you're the good guy in the zombie apocalypse movie, and all this hate and polarization, it's being propagated by the other people, because we're Brad Pitt, right? Free-thinking, righteous, just trying to hold on to what we hold dear, you know, not foot soldiers in the army of the undead. Not that. Never that.
But here's the thing: what movie do you suppose they think they're in? Right? Well, they absolutely think that they're the good guys in the zombie apocalypse movie. Right? And you'd better believe that they think that they're Brad Pitt and that we, we are the zombies. And who's to say that they're wrong? I think that the truth is that we're all a part of this. And the good side of that is that we can be a part of the solution.
So what are we going to do? What can we do to chip away at polarization in everyday life? What could we do to connect with and communicate with our political counterparts? Well, these were exactly the questions that I and my colleague, Matt Feinberg, became fascinated with a few years ago, and we started doing research on this topic. And one of the first things that we discovered that I think is really helpful for understanding polarization is to understand that the political divide in our country is undergirded by a deeper moral divide.
So one of the most robust findings in the history of political psychology is this pattern identified by Jon Haidt and Jesse Graham, psychologists, that liberals and conservatives tend to endorse different values to different degrees. So for example, we find that liberals tend to endorse values like equality and fairness and care and protection from harm more than conservatives do. And conservatives tend to endorse values like loyalty, patriotism, respect for authority and moral purity more than liberals do. And Matt and I were thinking that maybe this moral divide might be helpful for understanding how it is that liberals and conservatives talk to one another and why they so often seem to talk past one another when they do.
So we conducted a study where we recruited liberals to a study where they were supposed to write a persuasive essay that would be compelling to a conservative in support of same-sex marriage. And what we found was that liberals tended to make arguments in terms of the liberal moral values of equality and fairness. So they said things like, "Everyone should have the right to love whoever they choose," and, "They" -- they being gay Americans -- "deserve the same equal rights as other Americans." Overall, we found that 69 percent of liberals invoked one of the more liberal moral values in constructing their essay, and only nine percent invoked one of the more conservative moral values, even though they were supposed to be trying to persuade conservatives. And when we studied conservatives and had them make persuasive arguments in support of making English the official language of the US, a classically conservative political position, we found that they weren't much better at this. 59 percent of them made arguments in terms of one of the more conservative moral values, and just eight percent invoked a liberal moral value, even though they were supposed to be targeting liberals for persuasion.
Now, you can see right away why we're in trouble here. Right? People's moral values, they're their most deeply held beliefs. People are willing to fight and die for their values. Why are they going to give that up just to agree with you on something that they don't particularly want to agree with you on anyway? If that persuasive appeal that you're making to your Republican uncle means that he doesn't just have to change his view, he's got to change his underlying values, too, that's not going to go very far.
So what would work better? Well, we believe it's a technique that we call moral reframing, and we've studied it in a series of experiments. In one of these experiments, we recruited liberals and conservatives to a study where they read one of three essays before having their environmental attitudes surveyed. And the first of these essays was a relatively conventional pro-environmental essay that invoked the liberal values of care and protection from harm. It said things like, "In many important ways we are causing real harm to the places we live in," and, "It is essential that we take steps now to prevent further destruction from being done to our Earth." Another group of participants were assigned to read a really different essay that was designed to tap into the conservative value of moral purity. It was a pro-environmental essay as well, and it said things like, "Keeping our forests, drinking water, and skies pure is of vital importance." "We should regard the pollution of the places we live in to be disgusting." And, "Reducing pollution can help us preserve what is pure and beautiful about the places we live." And then we had a third group that were assigned to read just a nonpolitical essay. It was just a comparison group so we could get a baseline.
And what we found when we surveyed people about their environmental attitudes afterwards, we found that liberals, it didn't matter what essay they read. They tended to have highly pro-environmental attitudes regardless. Liberals are on board for environmental protection. Conservatives, however, were significantly more supportive of progressive environmental policies and environmental protection if they had read the moral purity essay than if they read one of the other two essays. We even found that conservatives who read the moral purity essay were significantly more likely to say that they believed in global warming and were concerned about global warming, even though this essay didn't even mention global warming. That's just a related environmental issue. But that's how robust this moral reframing effect was.
And we've studied this on a whole slew of different political issues. So if you want to move conservatives on issues like same-sex marriage or national health insurance, it helps to tie these liberal political issues to conservative values like patriotism and moral purity. And we studied it the other way, too. If you want to move liberals to the right on conservative policy issues like military spending and making English the official language of the US, you're going to be more persuasive if you tie those conservative policy issues to liberal moral values like equality and fairness.
All these studies have the same clear message: if you want to persuade someone on some policy, it's helpful to connect that policy to their underlying moral values. And when you say it like that it seems really obvious. Right? Like, why did we come here tonight? Why --
(Laughter)
It's incredibly intuitive. And even though it is, it's something we really struggle to do. You know, it turns out that when we go to persuade somebody on a political issue, we talk like we're speaking into a mirror. We don't persuade so much as we rehearse our own reasons for why we believe some sort of political position. We kept saying when we were designing these reframed moral arguments, "Empathy and respect, empathy and respect." If you can tap into that, you can connect and you might be able to persuade somebody in this country.
So thinking again about what movie we're in, maybe I got carried away before. Maybe it's not a zombie apocalypse movie. Maybe instead it's a buddy cop movie.
(Laughter)
Just roll with it, just go with it please.
(Laughter)
You know the kind: there's a white cop and a black cop, or maybe a messy cop and an organized cop. Whatever it is, they don't get along because of this difference. But in the end, when they have to come together and they cooperate, the solidarity that they feel, it's greater because of that gulf that they had to cross. Right? And remember that in these movies, it's usually worst in the second act when our leads are further apart than ever before. And so maybe that's where we are in this country, late in the second act of a buddy cop movie --
(Laughter)
torn apart but about to come back together. It sounds good, but if we want it to happen, I think the responsibility is going to start with us.
So this is my call to you: let's put this country back together. Let's do it despite the politicians and the media and Facebook and Twitter and Congressional redistricting and all of it, all the things that divide us. Let's do it because it's right. And let's do it because this hate and contempt that flows through all of us every day makes us ugly and it corrupts us, and it threatens the very fabric of our society. We owe it to one another and our country to reach out and try to connect. We can't afford to hate them any longer, and we can't afford to let them hate us either. Empathy and respect. Empathy and respect. If you think about it, it's the very least that we owe our fellow citizens.
Thank you.
(Applause)






Thursday, January 19, 2017

EDUC/GralInt-El empresario chino que ofrece 8 millones de dólares a quien proponga el mejor proyecto educativo

The following information is used for educational purposes only.




El empresario chino que ofrece 8 millones de dólares a quien 

proponga el mejor proyecto educativo



¿Las condiciones? Potencial para transformar la educación y la posibilidad de que pueda replicarse en distintas partes del mundo

Matt Pickles

BBC Mundo

19 DE ENERO DE 2017 








Foto: LA NACION


El galardón otorgado por el Premio Yidan será de casi US$8 millones y su objetivo es encontrar dos proyectos que tengan el potencial de "transformar" la educación en el mundo.


La suma de dinero que se entregará como reconocimiento es la mayor concedida en competencias educativas.

El concurso fue creado por un acaudalado empresario chino, Charles Chen Yidan, quien quiere premiar iniciativas que tengan el potencial de ser replicadas en distintas partes del planeta.


La fortuna de Yidan proviene de Tencent, una compañía que fundó en 1998 y que ofrece servicios de entretenimiento y teléfonos móviles, entre otros, a través de internet.

El anuncio ha interesado a universidades, gobiernos y grupos de investigación.


Instituciones como la Universidad de Harvard y el Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts (MIT), ambos en Estados Unidos, han enviado varias propuestas.

El ganador, sin embargo, no tiene por qué provenir de una universidad con la reputación de las anteriores. El proyecto de una institución pequeña también puede ser seleccionado.

"Cualquiera puede recibir el galardón, siempre y cuando su idea pueda replicarse en otras regiones", afirma Yidan.

Los orígenes



El empresario, de 45 años, es una de las personas más acaudaladas en China. En 2013, sin embargo, decidió retirarse de la compañía que ayudó a crear para dedicarse a actividades filantrópicas en el campo de la educación.







Foto: LA NACION


Su interés en el área proviene de su familia. Su abuela era analfabeta, pero siempre insistió en el que padre de Yidan recibiera una buena educación.

El millonario chino estudió química aplicada en la Universidad de Shenzhen y realizó una maestría en derecho económico en la Universidad de Nanjing, ambas instituciones se encuentran en China.

La "tremenda presión" que sintió cuando estaba estudiando para presentar los exámenes gaokao, que deben rendirse en el país para ingresar en instituciones de educación superior, también influyó en su filosofía con respecto a la educación.

Fue así como fundó el Instituto Wuhan, un centro educativo en su país, cuyo objetivo es centrarse en el desarrollo integral de la persona, en vez de dedicarse a la memorización y a las evaluaciones.

La institución apunta a capacitar a estudiantes habilidosos para que puedan insertarse en la industria tecnológica china.

Los ejecutivos que trabajan en Tencent ayudaron a diseñar el currículo, también dan clases y participan en el reclutamiento de estudiantes.

De esta forma, dice Yidan, se garantiza que al egresar, los alumnos tengan los conocimientos que buscan los empleadores.

El objetivo del premio es que contribuya al mejoramiento de la educación.






Foto: LA NACION


PREMIOS EDUCATIVOS


Premio Global al Maestro de la Fundación Varkey: US$1 millón Premio WISE de la Fundación Qatar: US$500.000

Pero como el alcance de la institución es limitado, el millonario decidió crear el premio para ayudar a mejorar la calidad de la educación en distintas partes del mundo.

Yidan espera que el galardón contribuya a que gobiernos y universidades le presten atención a las tendencias educativas del futuro.

"Hemos descubierto que no importa si la persona viene de un país en vías de desarrollo o uno desarrollado, tampoco en qué continente se encuentre, sus preocupaciones son similares", dice Yidan.

Los ganadores serán seleccionados por un comité independiente de expertos en educación a cargo de Koichiro Matsuura, exdirector general de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco).

Su objetivo es seleccionar propuestas innovadoras y sostenibles que cambien las estructuras educacionales tradicionales y que permitan responder a los retos educativos en el futuro.

Yidan considera que los conocimientos de los maestros retirados también son importantes para mejorar la educación global. Por eso es necesario encontrar la forma de aprovechar su experiencia.

El empresario piensa que la recolección de big data (concepto que se refiere al almacenamiento de grandes cantidades de información) relacionada con los estudiantes contribuye a mejorar y personalizar su educación. También opina que la tecnología generará cambios significativos en el área.

Algunos, sin embargo, no están convencidos de que un premio en metálico sea la mejor manera de mejorar la calidad y el acceso a la educación.

Diferencias


Dan Sarofian-Butin, fundador de la Escuela de Educación y Políticas Sociales de la Universidad Merrimack, en Massachusetts, EE.UU., opina que el dinero no es la forma de lograr cambios.

"En vez de otorgar una suma puntual en una oportunidad, espero que el Premio Yidan ayude al mantenimiento de las iniciativas a lo largo de un período de tiempo", señala.






Foto: LA NACION



Se refiere al caso de programas de televisión como Dragons' Den y Shark Tank, series que se transmiten en Reino Unido y Estados Unidos, respectivamente, en las que los participantes le hacen propuestas de negocio a un panel que los ayuda al desarrollo de su idea.

"Lo que obtienen los ganadores en esos casos no es solo el dinero, también se benefician de la experiencia, los contactos de los empresarios que los patrocinan y la exposición nacional que obtienen".

Y añade: "Por eso, un concurso educativo con verdadera influencia, debería concebir un mecanismo de sostenibilidad, guía y conexiones laborales".

Andreas Schleicher, director educativo de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), considera que la competencia es un incentivo para la innovación en el sector.

"En las encuestas que hemos realizado entre los maestros, menos de un cuarto ha dicho que sus innovaciones serían reconocidas. El sistema existente en la actual implica que, incluso si hay buenas ideas, éstas no se aprovechan", indicó.

Las nominaciones para el Premio Yidan se aceptarán hasta marzo y los nombres de los ganadores se conocerán en septiembre.







Fuente:www.lanacion.com.ar

R.I.P.Loalwa Braz

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                                                            Loalwa Braz






















Kaoma - Lambada (1989)











































Source: www.youtube.com


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

GralInt-Phrases:18-01-2017

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                                               Phrases








Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.







No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.









Easy reading is damn hard writing.




















To the untrue man, the whole universe is false- it is impalpable- it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself is in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist.
























Source:Quotes by Nathaniel Hawthorne/Google Images

ChatGPT, una introducción realista, por Ariel Torres

The following information is used for educational purposes only.           ChatGPT, una introducción realista    ChatGPT parece haber alcanz...