Yes, it's quite American, and not just constrained to Obama. It may also be here to stay.

It's very disappointing, especially considering how excited we all were in 2008.

I think it does. The need to feel alive is partially a need to feel fully in the present without alienation or sadness.

It's understandable. Canadians have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to the importance of our national politics.

Joke appreciated, though I do think that the pageant backed the cherrypicking of relevant tweets.

Yes, absolutely. I've found that particularly true in my own niche of Pakistani Muslims.

Interesting point! We'll see what happens in the United States in the coming decades to frame that.

Noted, and changed. Thanks for that!

Thank you, b_b, I really appreciate that. Keep reading, and keep commenting!

Civil rights have been uneven, yes. Upper-class women certainly have an easier time with this in the United States, particularly if they're white, and there are still struggles. I think it is important to appreciate progress where and when it does occur, while having the perspective to push internationally.

Sometimes, numbers don't tell the whole story, unfortunately. Market pressures affect women everywhere, for instance, in ways that aren't always studied or elaborated. But particularly with sexual assault, there is so much pressure to not report, from which numbers can be dependably taken, that we have to be a little looser about it.

I don't believe so, we just have to be more abstract. Sexual violence intersects with different cultures in various violent ways, which is ultimately superficial in a market-driven world. I think that many people would find that many of the dismissive comments by Hindu nationalists on the subject echo the dismissive comments of American and British folks who don't take rape seriously either.

But ultimately, acting as though it's "orders of magnitude higher" in other countries always exists simultaneously to erasing the problem in Western states. The issue needs to be resolved internationally, with broad-based initiatives by multiple governments, because it is a problem in how socioeconomic trends occur on a global scale. It just shows up differently in different places.

This assumes that Western countries have no problem with sexual violence and misogyny, which is not the case. This is an international problem, I simply focused my approach on South Asia. However, many of the trends discussed are equally at play in the United States.

Exactly, I hint on that here-- "Can we really talk about her representing diverse beauty standards, when the selection process of Miss America contains a bikini competition that privileges very specific aesthetic qualities, regardless of skin tone and heritage?"

Outrage should be met and taken seriously when it was legitimate, and here it was. If anything, a snarky and entitled response to something this serious isn't appropriate.

Well I wrote in this article that Third Culture Kids are no different from refugees, immigrants, and other cross-cultural populations in that their "third culture" combines elements of the two into something new. Ideally, this would mean that they see even more value in social welfare, because they can identify with larger numbers of people.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always turn out that way-- third culture kids can trap themselves into one cultural performance in order to ensure a lost sense of community, or identify solely with other TCK's which deprives their ability to empathize with larger groups of people. That is why it is so important to tackle the financial aspect of the identity-- it's also about privilege, which must be tackled if humanity is to be experienced to the fullest.

Yes, this is why TCK's are distinct from other groups. The idea of being in the cosmopolitan middle class replaces nationalism, which is one of the reasons they are so frequently hailed as perfect global citizens for a market-driven era.

Insomniasexx hits the point here. The problem is that Penny Arcade made this an issue of personal pride, rather than admitting that they made people feel unsafe, rectifying the mistake as much as possible, and moving on. A huge part of rape culture is exactly that: feeling personally offended at the idea that you could be participating in it, and condemning people who point it out to you. That goes for racism and classism too.

I apologize for that! The correction has been made. Thanks for pointing it out!

The problem is that going to PAX isn't really a choice for some indie developers because of the phenomenon it has become. That is part of the reason that this response was so irresponsible.

I'm sympathetic to that perspective.

Author here! I don't really see it as relocation, since what I desire is a job that allows me to go back and forth between Pakistan, Yemen, and whatever country that has an institution which gives me patronage. I do have very firm attachments to my friends, though, but I've lost my pretenses about "home." Though nearly all of that has to do with my PTSD rather than moving around-- I have family members who would say that they want stability because they never had it before, and others who say that they need to feel more in flux, which could just mean living in a city.

It's dependent upon U.S. politics when President Obama is attempting to avoid a domestic battle about him being cowardly or whatever else. Or is attempting to avoid domestic divisions, such as when he didn't have a comprehensive inquiry on the Iraq war.

I think part of the problem is that news media is for-profit instead of being a non-profit enterprise.

@thenewgreen Hey, author here! I would absolutely agree that the differences between different areas of the country when it comes to racism aren't that astonishing. Except that Northerner city-folk (like in the Northeast Corridor) like to define their post-racialism against the South.

Yes, and they are especially revolting in democratic states.