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Figure I.1. Bill Watterson, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection (1994). It is revealing (and probably no coincidence) that Calvin’s proposed title refers to gender (a jab at the perceived denseness of, among other critical ventures, early ’90s feminist theory). Calvin is working on a book report while Hobbes looks on. The dialogue reads: [Calvin] “I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog! Want to see my book report?” [Hobbes takes Calvin’s book report and reads its title] “‘The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes.’” [Calvin] “Academia, here I come!”
Figure 1.1. Example of discussions from Daily Strength forum on chronic pain A discussion thread, showing three posts, from the website Daily Strength. Names/aliases of participants have been redacted by the author. The first post reads: “HELLO SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE SCREAMING LOUD, BUT CANNOT THE NEIGHBOURS WOULD COMPLAIN, DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE SCREAMING BECAUSE OF THE CHRONIC PAIN? SOME DAYS ARE REALLY HARD, WISH I COULD GO AND LIVE IN A PLACE WHERE I CAN JUST SCREAM.” Below this message, there is an option for visitors to give this participant a virtual “Hug” via a mouse click. The second post (Reply number 1) reads: “[Name of above participant] what is causing your pain? Sometimes it helps to take some breaths. Does heat or ice work? Do you have anything for pain management? Wish you better and less pain.” The third post (Reply number 2) reads: “yep . . . this morning I woke up almost screaming before I caught myself. I must have slept with my foot cocked wrong, the nerve pain had my whole foot on fire . . . .i’m not a screamer so I bit the pillow and banged it against the footboard until it settled . . . .I guess I fell back to sleep at some point. I think screaming can be helpful, maybe bury you [sic] face in the pillow and let it go . . . .it can’t hurt . . .”
Figure 1.2. A sculpture called Hope and Confidence in one of the waiting rooms at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Placed here in 1991, it was created by the American sculptor and plastic surgeon Dr. Burt Brent as a gift for his mentor Dr. Radford C. Tanzer. Do you see two hands of a single person, clenched together pleadingly and hopefully? Or do you see the respective hands of two people (say, patient and doctor) coming together in a gesture of care and outreach? This sculpture, bronze in hue and standing about two feet tall, shows a pair of hands clasped tightly together. The hands are textured with subtle indentations and curves, representing the wrinkles (and wear-and-tear) of the human body.
Figure 2.1. Cards, sold on Etsy, intended for academics (notably graduate students). The card on the left reads, “I’m sorry you cried in front of your advisor,” while the one on the right reads, “Guh—Ah, so . . . I don’t know how to—Uh. Feelings, right?” The card on the left shows a brown squirrel lying in distress on its side, holding its head with its little hands; the caption above it reads: “I’m sorry you cried in front of your advisor.” The card on the right shows a yellow duck holding a green umbrella; its caption reads: “Guh—Ah, so . . . I don’t know how to–Uh. Feelings, right?”
Figure 3.1. My friend Michaela Bronstein brought this to my attention: the Harvard library bookplate for Heather Love’s Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History specifies a fund “to portray a positive image of homosexuality and gay men and gay women”—which is by no means what Love, in her rigorous book, straightforwardly portrays. In an email exchange, Michaela remarked how she saw this as an example of a “clash between academic paranoia and institutional optimism.” This shows the front matter of a book, Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History, by Heather Love. The Harvard library bookplate contains Harvard’s insignia (with the word “Veritas”), below which runs the following: “From a fund established by Douglass Roby, A.B. 1965, to portray a positive image of homosexuality and gay men and gay women.”
Figure 4.1. Senate Committee on Intelligence report, 53 (my highlights) Figures 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 show pages (with my highlights) from the Senate Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA torture practices under the George W. Bush administration. The document is moderately redacted (black bars over sensitive text). My highlighted text for Figure 4.1 reads: “CIA Headquarters authorized the proposed interrogation plan for al-Najjar, to include the use of loud music (at less than the level that would cause physical harm such as permanent hearing loss), worse food (as long as it was nutritionally adequate for sustenance), sleep deprivation, and hooding.” . . . “More than a month later, on September 21, 2002, CIA interrogators described al-Najjar as ‘clearly a broken man’ and ‘on the verge of complete breakdown’ as result of the isolation.” . . . “Isolation in total darkness; lowering the quality of [al-Najjar’s] food; keeping him at an uncomfortable temperature (cold); [playing music] 24 hours a day; and keeping him shackled and hooded.”
Figure 4.2. Senate Committee on Intelligence report, 136–37 (my highlights) My highlights read: “Janat Gul was subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, including continuous sleep deprivation, facial holds, attention grasps, facial slaps, stress positions, and walling, until he experienced auditory and visual hallucinations. According to a cable, Janat Gul was ‘not oriented to time or place’ and told CIA officers that he saw ‘his wife and children in the mirror and had heard their voices in the white noise.’”
Figure 4.3. Senate Committee on Intelligence report, 428–29 (my highlights) My highlights read: “The CIA asserted to the OLC that loud music and white noise, constant light, and 24-hour shackling were all for security purposes, that shaving was for security and hygiene purposes and was conducted only upon intake and not as a ‘punitive step,’ that detainees were not exposed to an ‘extended period’ of white noise, and that CIA detainees had access to a wide array of amenities. This information is incongruent with CIA records.” . . . “The CIA had used music at decibels exceeding the representations to the OLC. The CIA had also used specific music to signal to a detainee that another interrogation was about to begin. Numerous CIA detainees were subjected to the extended use of white noise.”
Figure 4.4. Prue in Charmed (left) retreats from the world and (right) returns to fight the good fight. Closed captions in original. The image on the left shows Prue in Charmed crying and huddled in a corner in her basement, with the closed captions, “I can’t. The pain, the noise.” The image on the right shows Prue, re-emerged and ready to fight, fists raised in front of an expression of calm determination.
Figure 4.5. Carrie in Homeland watches the interrogation of a suspected terrorist. In her own home, CIA agent Carrie in Homeland sits, hunched over, watching a television screen that shows the remote live feed of the interrogation of a suspected terrorist. The terrorist, barely visible on the small screen, is bathed in sensorily disorienting light (and alternating darkness) while he is subjected to loud music (and alternating silence).
Figure 4.6. Torture sequence in Grand Theft Auto V—pulling teeth In this torture sequence from Grand Theft Auto V, the interrogator (player) looms ominously over the seated detainee, who has two wires attached to his chest (for delivering electric shocks); the detainee’s caption reads: “Not the pliers.” In the top-left corner of the screen, the game offers the instruction: “Hold RT [a controller button] to grip a tooth.”
Figure 4.7. Torture sequence in Grand Theft Auto V—waterboarding In another torture sequence from Grand Theft Auto V, the detainee is now hooded and on his back (but still strapped to a chair). The interrogator (player) holds a red container of water, on the verge of pouring it over the detainee’s face. In the top-left corner of the screen, the game offers the instruction: “Hold L [a controller stick] to pour water.”
Figure 4.8. (left) Approaching crowds on the playground (loud and blurry stimuli) and (right) moving away from crowds in Auti-Sim Screen captures from the simulation Auti-Sim. The left image shows an extremely grainy representation of the first-person protagonist’s vision of the world (two classmates, a swing in the distance, some trees in the background). The right image, absent of the grainy distortion, is what the protagonist can “achieve” by moving far away from other classmates and the noise they make; an empty swing in front of the protagonist underscores the sense of isolation (or, perhaps, relief).
Figure 5.1. Page 3 of the “Briefing on the LRAD by New York City Police Department: Special Operations Division/Disorder Control Unit” (January 2010) This is a chart from the “Briefing on the LRAD by New York City Police Department: Special Operations Division/Disorder Control Unit.” The heading reads: “Some examples of sound levels for comparison, in decibels (dB).” The items are: Whisper, 30 dB; Normal speech, 60 dB; Telephone Dial Tone, 80 dB; Vacuum Cleaner, 85 dB; Sustained exposure may cause hearing loss, 90–95 dB; Subway at 200 feet, 95 dB; Motorcycle, 105 dB; Power Saw, 110 dB; Sandblasting, 115 dB; Pain may begin, 120–125 dB; Shot gun, 120 dB; Short term exposure can cause permanent damage, 140 dB; LRAD sustained at maximum power/audio, 146 dB; Ear drum breaks, 160 dB.
Figure 5.2. Protest and LRAD at the 2009 Pittsburgh G-20 Summit. Note the striking diversity of people’s protective actions against the LRAD: some cover their ears tightly, while others do not (choose to) cover their ears at all. A vehicle carrying an LRAD on its roof moves through the streets of Pittsburgh during the protests at the 2009 G-20 Summit. A group of about 35 police officers march behind the vehicle, while journalists and civilians are caught in front of the vehicle and its mounted LRAD’s blast zone. Some people cup their ears tightly (with the palms of their hands); some place fingers in their ears; and some do not cover their ears at all.
Figure 5.3. Cartoon by Alex Matthews (2007) In this comic strip, two doctors stand over Humpty Dumpty, body visibly cracked and lying (under a blanket) on an operating table. Some of Humpty Dumpty’s shards lie on the floor below. One of the doctors is on the phone, and the caption reads: “Yes your Majesty, all of your horses and all of your men. It’s a long shot, but it might just work.”