Links, Monday 21st April

"Before we start talking about genetic differences, you gotta come up with a system where there's equal opportunity. *Then* we can have that conversation." Upworthy

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More on the subject of intellectual property:

"the publisher doesn’t like to use public domain images. Why not? What could be better than free? The problem is that the bundlers insulate a publisher from lawsuits but when we use a public domain image the publisher is open to lawsuit if a mistake has been made and that makes them fearful. The general lesson is that strong IP shrinks the public domain not just because it keeps things out of the public domain but also because it makes the public domain appear to be uncertain and dangerous." Marginal Revolution

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"One of the decisive factors in any bail decision is whether the accused will endanger the safety of the public or any particular person. It is interesting in this respect that trigger-happy Pistorius was awarded bail so swiftly, while, for example, Victor Nkomo, who was charged with aiding a casino robbery in 2005, and who never handled a gun, has been denied bail repeatedly.

Researchers of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa concluded in 2008 that bail was granted to only 3% of accused on first appearance before a judge in Johannesburg and Mitchell’s Plain. According to Legal Aid South Africa, there are approximately 10,000 people languishing in South African jails who have been awarded bail but were unable to pay the often small amount." Daily Maverick

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Ow, my brain. 

"On Sunday, the City Press reported that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) had had informal discussions about the possibility of a post-election coalition government in Gauteng should neither party win an outright majority." Mail & Guardian

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It's easy to get sentimental about "mom and pop" spaza shops, but the reality is that supermarkets often provide better products at lower prices. And often offer higher wages to employees as well. Mail & Guardian

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More about the police:

"So-called crowd psychology has provided substantial insights into these sometimes very subtle but potentially highly consequential dynamics, described here from an ethnographic perspective. It shows how police intervention is absolutely crucial to what happens at a gathering; how police in fact have the possibility to either give people the sense that movement is possible or rather that a horizon is closed; and how police are mainly responsible themselves in creating an escalating hostility." WISER

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A piece about the imposition of (Christian) religion in South African public schools. Mail & Guardian

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"The largest strike in China’s history has entered the sixth day, defying state attempts to repress workers struggling against economic and social injustice. Police arrested several organizers of the strikers at the Yue Yuen factory, which produces shoes for Nike and Adidas." Revolution News

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[TW: sexual violence; also spoilers up to current GoT]

"It’s hard to shake the idea that Game Of Thrones, the show, doesn’t see a problem with pushing a scene from complicated, consensual sex to outright rape. It would be easier to accept that idea if it were clear what the show was trying to do with those changes. Rape is a tricky thing to use as character development, for either the victim or the rapist; doing it twice raises a lot of red flags. It assumes that rape between characters doesn’t fundamentally change the rest of their story—and it assumes that the difference between consent and rape is, to use the parlance, a “blurred line.”" AV Club

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Tyler Cowen's review of the Piketty book. I'm not sure I agree on all fronts (having not yet read the book, in any case), but some interesting points. Foreign Affair

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A good rebuttal of some of the (many, many) problems with the Pollitt piece on sex work. 

"... the nature of a product is irrelevant to how we should theorize, legislate, or organize the labor involved in producing it. Workers are not socially accountable for whatever may come from their work. To accept otherwise encourages the over-identification with work that management finds so efficient in getting us to do more for less. It allows capital to extract not only time, but also ethical responsibility from workers. It sets the labor movement up for just the sort of hierarchy of workers Pollitt advocates." Jacobin