After a plane crash that killed two people in San Francisco this weekend, AirTalk discusses how much information pilots should give to passengers in emergencies. As a passenger, how much would you want to know about the situation? Then, we'll have an update on the clashes between protesters in Egypt and talk about how the formation of Asian communities in Southern California differ from the rest of the country. Later, do male victims of sexual harassment experience assault differently than females? Also, how can singing make you happier? To find out, we'll talk to the author of "Imperfect Harmony."
Do passengers have the right to in-flight entertainment if the news could induce panic?
When Asiana Flight 214 crashed upon landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, some 27 other flights were put in holding patterns in the sky above while emergency responders dealt with the situation on the ground. Aboard those flights, and countless other planes mid-flight across the country and around the world, passengers could well have been watching the drama on the ground unfold as it happened. In-flight entertainment systems and wi-fi connections on flights give passengers a real-time connection to what’s transpiring on the ground below, which is great if they’re watching the finals at Wimbledon, but it raises questions, if the activity they’re monitoring is a plane crash or another even that could send panic.
What is the best protocol for pilots and crew when the news is full of something that could fill their passengers full of dread? Do they pull the plug on in-flight media? Or do passengers have the right to know what’s transpiring on the ground below?
Guests:
Peter Goelz, Former managing director, National Transportation Safety Board where he coordinated disaster response and directed investigative activities at several aviation accidents; Currently, Senior Vice President, O'Neill and Associates, a lobbying firm
Captain Ross "Rusty" Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting and a former United Airlines pilot
Clashes between Egyptian protesters and the army put further uncertainty on the country’s future
Protests erupted in Egypt’s capital on Monday morning as opposing political camps clashed with Egyptian soldiers and police. At least 51 people were killed and more than 300 were injured when the Egyptian army open fire on supporters of Mohamed Morsy, according to Reuters. Interim leader Adly Mansour read a statement on national TV that he had ordered an investigation into the deaths. The Muslim Brotherhood is now urging Egyptians to rise up against the army, a move that could further divide the country. There are conflicting reports on how the violence started.
Supporters of Morsi said troops attacked their encampment for no reason. On the other hand, the military, said it was under attack first by a gunman who killed two police officers. The clash lasted three hours, according to the Associated Press. Soon after, Al-Nour party, a conservative Islamist party, announced it was removing its support of the new government because of this event.
With the escalating clashes, will the military impose stricter control? Will this further complicate Egypt’s relations with western allies?
Guest:
Borzou Daragahi, covers North Africa and the Middle East for the Financial Times
How does the formation of Asian American communities in Southern California differ from the rest of the country?
Asian Americans make up the third largest ethnic minority group in the U.S. and a third of them, about 5.6 million, live in California. In SoCal, the San Gabriel Valley and Westminster in Orange County are two Asian enclaves that readily come to mind – they are so big and dense that they sometimes feel more like their own individual region than merely an ethnic neighborhood. A new report co-authored by two Brown University researchers finds that the Asian Americans are almost as segregated from the white Americans as they were 20 years ago.
The trend is especially true when the Asian American population is divided into different ethnic groups. The report also finds that Asian American segregation was more prominent in Los Angeles and New York. “The Asian pattern is separate but equal (or even more than equal), raising questions about the prospect or value of their residential assimilation in the future,” wrote John Logan, who co-authored the report.
Ethnic neighborhoods tend to attract and are bolstered by new immigrants, but does the same impulse to segregate hold for second- or third-generation Asian Americans?
Interview Highlights
John Logan
On how Asian Americans compare to earlier immigrant groups coming to the U.S.:
There are a lot of similarities among the immigration we're seeing today and what we had a hundred years ago, at that time there were some immigrant groups who started off as working class people but very quickly became middle class and experienced real mobility. I think we're finding that to be true among Asian immigrants today.
On if the growth of Asian communities such as the San Gabriel Valley and Monterey Park in SoCal is a common phenomena:
There are, of course, some communities around the country that have a similar experience. In the New York area for example, the area around Flushing Queens became very Asian over a 20-year period and of those they were predominately Chinese. The more common phenomenon is not so extreme, it's not the majority Asian neighborhood but the exceptionally Asian neighborhood, which means on average a neighborhood that's 25 or 35 percent Asian.
On generational dynamics that come into play in different Asian American communities:
The study I did is based off census data — and not based on interviews — but it does show some very useful trends. … We discovered that immigrant Asians of each group tend to live in almost exactly the same kind of neighborhoods in terms of the racial composition as the second and later generations. That's partly because the new immigrants are drawn to those enclaves that were previously established by an earlier generation — but also because they're just friendly places in terms of their culture.
Another very important point is that these patterns hinge very much on the specific group. … We particularly know that Vietnamese have lower education, for example; there are some other Asian national origin groups that in fact on average are doing better in terms of income and in terms of education so theres's a great deal of diversity among Asians.
Joanna Lee
On if generational and country of origin differences effect living patterns:
What we have been seeing in Southern California is that the number of Asian Americans has been increasing dramatically since 1965 when discriminatory immigration laws were eliminated, and so the past decade's data has shown Asian Americans as the fastest growing racial group in the county. Now we're home to about 1.5 million Asian Americans, but predominately the Asian American community here in Los Angeles is foreign born.
Asian Americans are faring worse than whites across multiple measures of income, and that's becausethey are predominately immigrant communities. There are higher poverty rates and higher proportions of low income than whites. Typically second generations have higher income, are typically less likely to be limited in English proficiency, and may have more choices where to live. At the same time, there are these cultural expectations, even economic restraints that keep these second generation Asians in the same communities.
On if second generation Asian Americans see moving out of immigrant dominant areas as a desirable thing:
There are a lot of diverse reasons for why Asian Americans want to or can move out of the area where they grew up. The economy has played a huge role. There are a lot of folks who are unemployed in the community (that has kept folks closer to home) and want to help out their immigrant parents. A lot of parents rely on their children who speak English to help out with the household. Asian American households typically have more people who are working in the family so those may be factors for why folks stay closer to home.
Separate but equal: Asian nationalities in the U.S.
Guests:
John Logan, Professor of Sociology and the Director of Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences at Brown University
Joanna Lee, Senior Research Analyst of the Demographic Research Project at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, formerly the Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Do male victims of sexual harassment experience the assault differently than females?
Earlier this month a Redlands area female teacher was arrested for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old male student, whose child she is now allegedly bears. Another female teacher in Brea was arrested for sleeping with a male student in June. An LAist article reporting on the former case seems to echo a familiar tone in describing sexual assault cases with teenaged male victims, a tone that often treats the crime more lightly than if the gender roles were swapped (the LAist piece has a tongue-in-cheek mention of a potential Lifetime movie being made about the female teacher).
It’s a tone that seems to forgo any concern for the male victim’s well being, and meanwhile seems to suggest that if older male perpetrators of sex crimes are evil predators, than older woman perpetrators are strange and comical anomalies.
In reality these cases are almost certainly more nuanced than these simple media narratives -- and there’s also the dynamics of male on male or female on female sexual harassment to consider -- but to what extent does the narrative actually hold? Are male teenaged victims of sexual assault less “victimized” by these crimes than females?
Guests:
David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire.
Dr. Richard Gartner, a psychologist and psychoanalyst specializing in male sexual abuse, and Founding Director of Sexual Abuse Service at the William Alanson White Institute for Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York City.
Can singing together make us happy?
Stacy Horn has spent years singing in an amateur choir, the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York. While Horn claims to not have an exceptional voice or to be particular religious,singing in a choir makes her happy. And she's not alone. More than 30 million adults sing in choirs in the United States. Why do so many people volunteer their time to singing together?
That's a question Horn aims to answer in her book "Imperfect Harmony." In it, she tells of her experiences singing and gets into the scientific benefits of singing with other people--some studies show that learning music can counteract the impact of aging. Singing has been know to relieve tension headaches and is even said to help people with asthma to breathe.
Why does music have such an impact on people? Can singing increasing happiness?
Guest:
Stacy Horn, author of “Imperfect Harmony: Finding happiness singing with others” and member of the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York