Dextromethorphan (DXM) is a cough suppressant in over-the-counter cold and cough medicines. It affects NMDA, and sigma-1 receptors in the brain, all of which have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. In 2022, the FDA approved a formulation of it combined with bupropion named Auvelity to serve as a rapid acting antidepressant in patients with major depressive disorder.

It is in the morphinan class of medications with sedative, dissociative, and stimulant properties (at lower doses). Dextromethorphan does not have a significant affinity for the mu-opioid receptor activity typical of morphinan compounds and exerts its therapeutic effects through several other receptors. In its pure form, dextromethorphan occurs as a white powder.

When exceeding approved dosages, dextromethorphan acts as a dissociative hallucinogen. It has multiple mechanisms of action, including actions as a nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a sigma-1 receptor agonist. Dextromethorphan and its major metabolite, dextrorphan, also block the NMDA receptor at high doses, which produces effects similar to other dissociative anesthetics such as ketamine, nitrous oxide, and phencyclidine.

It was patented in 1949 and approved for medical use in 1953.

Medical uses

Cough suppression
The primary use of dextromethorphan is as a cough suppressant, for the temporary relief of cough caused by minor throat and bronchial irritation (such as commonly accompanies the flu and common cold), or from inhaled particle irritants, as well as chronic cough at a higher dosage. Dextromethorphan is available alone in the form of cough syrup and pills as well as in combination with other agents.

Pseudobulbar affect
In 2010, the FDA approved the combination drug dextromethorphan/quinidine under the brand name Nuedexta for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect (uncontrollable laughing/crying). Dextromethorphan is the actual therapeutic agent in the combination; quinidine merely serves to inhibit the enzymatic degradation of dextromethorphan and thereby increase its circulating concentrations via inhibition of CYP2D6.

Major depressive disorder
The combination medicine dextromethorphan/bupropion is approved for major depressive disorder under the brand name Auvelity.

Contraindications
Because dextromethorphan can trigger a histamine release (allergic reaction), atopic children, who are especially susceptible to allergic reactions, should be administered dextromethorphan only if absolutely necessary, and only under the strict supervision of a healthcare professional.

Adverse effects
Side effects of dextromethorphan at normal therapeutic doses can include:

A rare side effect is respiratory depression.

Neurotoxicity

Dextromethorphan was once thought to cause Olney's lesions when administered intravenously; however, this was later proven inconclusive, due to lack of research on humans. Tests were performed on rats, giving them 50 mg or more every day for as long as a month. Neurotoxic changes, including vacuolation, have been observed in posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices of rats administered other NMDA receptor antagonists such as PCP, but not with dextromethorphan.

Dependence and withdrawal
In many documented cases, dextromethorphan has produced psychological dependence in people who used it recreationally. It is considered less addictive than other common cough suppressants, such as the weak opiate codeine. Since dextromethorphan also acts as a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, users report that regular recreational use over a long period of time can cause withdrawal symptoms similar to those of antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. Additionally, disturbances have been reported in sleep, senses, movement, mood, and thinking.

Overdose
Adverse effects of dextromethorphan in overdose at doses 3 to 10 times the recommended therapeutic dose:

At doses 11 to 75 times the recommended therapeutic dose:

Episodic acute psychosis can occur when high doses of dextromethorphan are taken for recreational use, and an abundance of psychiatric symptoms can result, including dissociation and other PCP-like symptoms.

Interactions
Serotonin syndrome may result from the combined use of dextromethorphan and serotonergic antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) or monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOIs). Further research is needed to determine whether doses of dextromethorphan beyond those normally used therapeutically are needed to produce this effect. In any case, dextromethorphan should not be taken with MAOIs due to the possibility of this complication. Serotonin syndrome is a potentially life-threatening condition that can occur rapidly, due to a buildup of an excessive amount of serotonin in the body.

Patients who are taking dextromethorphan should exercise caution when drinking grapefruit juice or eating grapefruit, as compounds in grapefruit affect a number of drugs, including dextromethorphan, through the inhibition of the cytochrome P450 system in the liver, and can lead to excessive accumulation of the drug which both increases and prolongs effects. Grapefruit and grapefruit juices (especially white grapefruit juice, but also including other citrus fruits such as bergamot and lime, as well as a number of noncitrus fruits) generally are recommended to be avoided while using dextromethorphan and numerous other medications.

Pharmacology

Pharmacodynamics

Dextromethorphan has been found to possess the following actions (<1 μM) using rat tissues:

 Uncompetitive antagonist of the NMDA receptor via the MK-801/ site
  and  blocker (cf. serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor)
 Sigma σ1 receptor agonist
 Negative allosteric modulator of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
 Ligand of the serotonin 5-HT1B/1D, histamine H1, α2-adrenergic, and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors

Dextromethorphan is a prodrug of dextrorphan, which is the actual mediator of most of its dissociative effects through acting as a more potent NMDA receptor antagonist than dextromethorphan itself. What role, if any, (+)-3-methoxymorphinan, dextromethorphan's other major metabolite, plays in its effects is not entirely clear.

Pharmacokinetics
Following oral administration, dextromethorphan is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, where it enters the bloodstream and crosses the blood–brain barrier.

At therapeutic doses, dextromethorphan acts centrally (meaning that it acts on the brain) as opposed to locally (on the respiratory tract). It elevates the threshold for coughing, without inhibiting ciliary activity. Dextromethorphan is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and converted into the active metabolite dextrorphan in the liver by the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2D6. The average dose necessary for effective antitussive therapy is between 10 and 45 mg, depending on the individual. The International Society for the Study of Cough recommends "an adequate first dose of medication is 60 mg in the adult and repeat dosing should be infrequent rather than qds recommended."

Dextromethorphan has an elimination half-life of approximately 4 hours in individuals with an extensive metabolizer phenotype; this is increased to approximately 13 hours when dextromethorphan is given in combination with quinidine. The duration of action after oral administration is about three to eight hours for dextromethorphan hydrobromide, and 10 to 12 hours for dextromethorphan polistirex. Around one in 10 of the Caucasian population has little or no CYP2D6 enzyme activity, leading to long-lived high drug levels.

Metabolism

The first pass through the hepatic portal vein results in some of the drug being metabolized by O-demethylation into an active metabolite of dextromethorphan called dextrorphan, the 3-hydroxy derivative of dextromethorphan. The therapeutic activity of dextromethorphan is believed to be caused by both the drug and this metabolite. Dextromethorphan also undergoes N-demethylation (to 3-methoxymorphinan or MEM), and partial conjugation with glucuronic acid and sulfate ions. Hours after dextromethorphan therapy, (in humans) the metabolites (+)-3-hydroxy-N-methylmorphinan, (+)-3-morphinan, and traces of the unchanged drug are detectable in the urine.

A major metabolic catalyst involved is the cytochrome P450 enzyme known as 2D6, or CYP2D6. A significant portion of the population has a functional deficiency in this enzyme and are known as poor CYP2D6 metabolizers. O-demethylation of dextromethorphan to dextrorphan contributes to at least 80% of the dextrorphan formed during dextromethorphan metabolism. As CYP2D6 is a major metabolic pathway in the inactivation of dextromethorphan, the duration of action and effects of dextromethorphan can be increased by as much as three times in such poor metabolizers. In one study on 252 Americans, 84.3% were found to be "fast" (extensive) metabolizers, 6.8% to be "intermediate" metabolizers, and 8.8% were "slow" metabolizers of dextromethorphan. A number of alleles for CYP2D6 are known, including several completely inactive variants. The distribution of alleles is uneven amongst ethnic groups.

A large number of medications are potent inhibitors of CYP2D6. Some types of medications known to inhibit CYP2D6 include certain SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants, some antipsychotics, and the commonly available antihistamine diphenhydramine. Therefore, the potential of interactions exists between dextromethorphan and medications that inhibit this enzyme, particularly in slow metabolizers.

Dextromethorphan is also metabolized by CYP3A4. N-demethylation is primarily accomplished by CYP3A4, contributing to at least 90% of the MEM formed as a primary metabolite of dextromethorphan.

A number of other CYP enzymes are implicated as minor pathways of dextromethorphan metabolism. CYP2D6 is more effective than CYP3A4 at N-demethylation of dextromethorphan, but since the average individual has a much lower CYP2D6 content in the liver compared to CYP3A4, most N-demethylation of dextromethorphan is catalyzed by CYP3A4.

Chemistry
Dextromethorphan is the dextrorotatory enantiomer of levomethorphan, which is the methyl ether of levorphanol, both opioid analgesics. It is named according to IUPAC rules as (+)-3-methoxy-17-methyl-9α,13α,14α-morphinan. As its pure form, dextromethorphan occurs as an odorless, opalescent white powder. It is freely soluble in chloroform and insoluble in water; the hydrobromide salt is water-soluble up to 1.5 g/100 mL at 25 °C. Dextromethorphan is commonly available as the monohydrated hydrobromide salt, however some newer extended-release formulations contain dextromethorphan bound to an ion-exchange resin based on polystyrene sulfonic acid. Dextromethorphan's specific rotation in water is +27.6° (20 °C, Sodium D-line).

Synthesis
Several routes exist for the synthesis of Dextromethorphan. Even though many of the syntheses have been known since the middle of the 20th century, researchers are still working today to further develop the synthesis of Dextromethorphan and, for example, to make it more environmentally friendly.

This includes the synthesis by means of ionic liquids.

Racemate separation
Since only one of the stereoisomers has the desired effect, the separation of a racemic mixture of hydroxy N- methyl morphinan using tartaric acid and subsequent methylation of the hydroxyl group is a suitable method. By using (D)-tartrate, the (+)-isomer remains as the product.

This synthetic pathway was patented by Roche in 1950.

Traditional synthesis
The traditional synthetic route uses Raney nickel and has been further improved over time, for example by the use of ibuprofen and AlCl3.

Overall, it is a cost-effective method with moderate reaction conditions that is easy to handle and suitable for industrial production.

Grewe's cyclization

Grewe's cyclization is easier to handle in terms of the chemicals used, produces higher yields and higher purity of the product.

Improved Grewe's cyclization
Formylation prior to cyclization avoids ether cleavage as a side reaction and yields higher than without N-substitution or N-methylation. In this example, the purification was done by formation of a brucine salt.

This process has also been patented by Roche.

History
The racemic parent compound racemorphan was first described in a Swiss and US patent application from Hoffmann-La Roche in 1946 and 1947, respectively; a patent was granted in 1950. A resolution of the two isomers of racemorphan with tartaric acid was published in 1952, and dextromethorphan was successfully tested in 1954 as part of US Navy and CIA-funded research on nonaddictive substitutes for codeine. Dextromethorphan was approved by the FDA in 1958 as an over-the-counter antitussive. As had been initially hoped, dextromethorphan was a solution for some of the problems associated with the use of codeine phosphate as a cough suppressant, such as sedation and opiate dependence, but like the dissociative anesthetics phencyclidine and ketamine, dextromethorphan later became associated with nonmedical use.

During the 1960s and 1970s, dextromethorphan became available in an over-the-counter tablet form by the brand name Romilar. In 1973, Romilar was taken off the shelves after a burst in sales because of frequent misuse. A few years later, products with an unpleasant taste were introduced (such as Robitussin, Vicks-44, and Dextrotussion), but later the same manufacturers began producing products with a better taste. The advent of widespread internet access in the 1990s allowed users to rapidly disseminate information about dextromethorphan, and online discussion groups formed around use and acquisition of the drug. As early as 1996, dextromethorphan hydrobromide powder could be purchased in bulk from online retailers, allowing users to avoid consuming dextromethorphan in syrup preparations.

FDA panels considered moving dextromethorphan to prescription status due to its potential for abuse, but voted against the recommendation in September 2010, citing lack of evidence that making it prescription-only would curb abuse. Some states have restricted the sale of dextromethorphan to adults or put other restrictions on its purchase in place, similar to those for pseudoephedrine. As of January 1, 2012, dextromethorphan is prohibited for sale to minors in the State of California and in the State of Oregon as of January 1, 2018, except with a doctor's prescription. Several other states have also begun regulating sales of dextromethorphan to minors.

In Indonesia, the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM-RI) prohibited single-component dextromethorphan drug sales with or without prescription. Indonesia is the only country in the world that makes single-component dextromethorphan illegal even by prescription and violators may be prosecuted by law. National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN RI) has even threatened to revoke pharmacies' and drug stores' licenses if they still stock dextromethorphan, and will notify the police for criminal prosecution. As a result of this regulation, 130 medications have been withdrawn from the market, but those containing multicomponent dextromethorphan can still be sold over the counter.

Society and culture

Marketing
It may be used in generic labels and store brands, Benylin DM, Mucinex DM, Camydex-20 tablets, Robitussin, NyQuil, Dimetapp, Vicks, Coricidin, Delsym, TheraFlu, Charcoal D, Cinfatós and others. It has been used in counterfeit medications.

Recreational use

Over-the-counter preparations containing dextromethorphan have been used in manners inconsistent with their labeling, often as a recreational drug. At doses much higher than medically recommended, dextromethorphan and its major metabolite, dextrorphan, acts as an NMDA receptor antagonist, which produces dissociative hallucinogenic states somewhat similar to ketamine and phencyclidine.

It may produce distortions of the visual field – feelings of dissociation, distorted bodily perception, excitement, and a loss of sense of time. Some users report stimulant-like euphoria, particularly in response to music. Dextromethorphan usually provides its recreational effects in a non-linear fashion, so that they are experienced in significantly varied stages. These stages are commonly referred to as "plateaus". These plateaus are numbered from one to four, with the first having the mildest effects to fourth being the most intense. Each plateau is said to come with different related effects and experiences.

The first plateau is said to induce music euphoria and mild stimulation, likened to that of MDMA. The second plateau is likened to a state of being on moderate amounts of alcohol and cannabis at the same time, featuring euphoria, sedation and minor hallucinations. The third plateau induces a significant dissociative state which can often cause anxiety in users. Reaching the fourth plateau is said to cause extreme sedation and a significant hallucinatory state as well as complete dissociation from reality. Teenagers tend to have a higher likelihood to use dextromethorphan-related drugs as they are easier to access, and an easier way to cope with psychiatric disorders.

Research
The combination drug dextromethorphan/quinidine (AVP-923), traditionally used to treat pseudobulbar affect, is under investigation for the treatment of a variety of other neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions including agitation associated with Alzheimer's disease, among others. In 2013, a randomized clinical trial found that dextromethorphan may reduce the overall discomfort and duration of withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid use disorder. When combined with clonidine, dextromethorphan reduced the overall time needed for withdrawal symptoms to peak by 24 hours while reducing severity of symptoms compared to clonidine alone.

References

External links

Antitussives
Dissociative drugs
Enantiopure drugs
Morphinans
Mu-opioid receptor agonists
Nicotinic antagonists
NMDA receptor antagonists
Oneirogens
Phenol ethers
Prodrugs
Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors
Sigma agonists
Methoxy compounds

Dextromethorphan


The Goodwin Hotel, is a historic hotel and apartment building located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Known for its distinctive English Queen Anne terracotta facade, the building was originally developed as an apartment building by brothers James J. Goodwin and Rev. Francis Goodwin and opened in 1881. It was designed by Francis Kimball and was modeled on buildings Rev. Goodwin had seen being constructed at the time in England. Kimball, of the firm of Kimball & Wisedell, was the architect for the Day House in Hartford, which also has an English Queen Anne design. The Goodwin Building was expanded in 1891 to Ann Street and in 1900 to Pearl Street. It was a very prestigious address at the time, with even J.P. Morgan living there during his visits to the city of his birth.

In 1985-1986, the building's Arts and Crafts style interior was gutted to prepare for the structure's incorporation into a new office tower, Goodwin Square, completed in 1989. The facade was preserved, incorporated into the 1980s Goodwin Square office tower built within the original building's footprint. It is the anchor structure within a National Register of Historic Places historic district that includes three adjoining buildings from the same time period. That same year, the Goodwin Hotel opened in the former apartment building.

The hotel operated within the Goodwin Square complex, but closed on December 29, 2008, after losing money for several years. The building's owners hoped to lease it to another operator for as little as $1 a year to keep the historical inn open, but no deal could be reached.  The doors initially had to be chained shut, as they had never needed to be locked for the previous 19 years.

After foreclosure in 2013, the Goodwin Square complex entered a period of limbo before being bought by a Wilton real estate firm in May 2015. Westport Capital Partners, which together with two co-investors bought the hotel and adjoining skyscraper in an online auction for $17.6 million. The hotel portion of the complex was sold to a hospitality group based in Stamford, Greenwich Hospitality, which owns and operates numerous hotels in the region, under the brands Hotel Zero Degrees and Delamar Hotels. After a complete renovation, the hotel reopened in June 2017. The flagship restaurant has been renamed Harlan Braserrie and opened at the same time.

See also
Goodwin Square
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut

References

Hotels in Connecticut
Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut
Hotels established in 1989
Hotel buildings completed in 1881
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford, Connecticut
Queen Anne architecture in Connecticut

Goodwin Hotel


Maxine Mackler Chesney (born October 29, 1942) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Early life and education

Chesney was born on October 29, 1942, in San Francisco, California. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1967. She was an attorney, Office of the San Francisco District Attorney, California from 1968 to 1979. She was a trial attorney from 1968 to 1969. She was a senior trial attorney from 1969 to 1971. She was a Principal trial attorney from 1971 to 1976. She was a Head trial attorney in 1976. She was an Assistant chief deputy from 1976 to 1979.

Judicial career

Municipal court judge
Chesney was a judge on the San Francisco Municipal Court, California from 1979 to 1983. She was a judge on the Superior Court of California, City and County of San Francisco, appointed and subsequently elected from 1983 to 1995.

Federal judicial service
In 1994, Chesney was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by John P. Vukasin, Jr., but the United States Senate took no action on the nomination. However, President Clinton successfully resubmitted the nomination on January 24, 1995, and Chesney was confirmed by the Senate on May 8, 1995, receiving her commission on May 10, 1995. She took senior status on June 30, 2009.

Notes

References

California state court judges
District attorneys in California
1942 births
Living people
Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
UC Berkeley School of Law faculty
UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
Lawyers from San Francisco
American women legal scholars
American legal scholars
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
20th-century American women judges
21st-century American women judges

Maxine M. Chesney


OpenELEC (short for Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center) is a discontinued Linux distribution designed for home theater PCs and based on the Kodi (formerly XBMC) media player.

OpenELEC applies the "just enough operating system" principle. It is designed to consume relatively few resources and to boot quickly from flash memory. OpenELEC disk images for the Raspberry Pi series and Freescale i.MX6 based devices are also available.

The OpenELEC team released OpenELEC 4.0 on 5 May 2014, and this version features updated XBMC 13.0 with further updated important parts of the operating system as well as the Linux kernel updated to version 3.14 and additional device drivers. OpenELEC 4.0 also switched its init system to systemd.

In March 2016, OpenELEC was forked after "creative differences", taking most of its active developers at the time to join the new LibreELEC project.

Description
OpenELEC provides a complete media center software suite that comes with a pre-configured version of Kodi and third-party addons with retro video game console emulators and DVR plugins. OpenELEC is an extremely small and very fast-booting Linux based distribution, primarily designed to boot from flash memory card such as CompactFlash or a solid-state drive, similar to that of the XBMCbuntu (formerly XBMC Live) distribution but specifically targeted to a minimum set-top box hardware setup based on an ARM SoCs or Intel x86 processor and graphics.

History
Since 2011, the OpenELEC team usually releases a new major version, following the Kodi release schedule.

Since 2014, specifics builds supporting a set of Graphics/GPU chipsets (ION, Fusion, Intel,...) are deprecated. And since version 6, x86 builds are deprecated too. Builds are currently available for x86-64 systems (as "Generic Build"), Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 2, Raspberry Pi 3 and the first generation Apple TV.

Systems
On 5 February 2013, OpenELEC announced that they had jointly developed, with Arctic, a manufacturer of computer cooling systems based in Switzerland, a passively cooled entertainment system – the MC001 media centre, based on the Kodi 12 (OpenELEC 3.0) platform.  They also announced plans to provide further builds for the ARCTIC MC001 systems on their next release.

Pulse-Eight sells both custom and off the shelf hardware products primarily designed for Kodi, such as remote controls, HTPC systems and accessories, including a HTPC PVR set-top-box pre-installed with Kodi that they call "PulseBox" Pulse-Eight also offers free performance tuned embedded versions of Kodi that they call Pulse, which is based on OpenELEC and a custom PVR-build of Kodi meant to run on dedicated HTPC systems.

Xtreamer Ultra and Xtreamer Ultra 2, manufactured by the South Korean company Unicorn Information Systems, are nettops based on Nvidia graphics and Intel Atom processors and pre-installed OpenELEC and Kodi software. The first-generation Xtreamer Ultra uses Nvidia Ion chipset with a 1.80 GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom D525 CPU, while the Xtreamer Ultra 2 uses discrete GeForce GT 520M graphics with a 2.13 GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom D2700 CPU.

Receptions
Dedoimedo reviewed openELEC in 2014:

Nathan Willis from LWN.net wrote review of OpenELEC 5 in 2015:

One of DistroWatch Weekly editors, Jesse Smith, wrote in review of OpenELEC 5.0.8 in 2015:

See also

 LibreELEC
 Comparison of video player software
 Comparison of PVR software packages

References

External links

ARM operating systems
Digital video recorders
Embedded Linux distributions
Free media players
Free mobile software
Linux-based devices
Mobile Linux
Mobile operating systems
Multimedia software
Satellite television
Television technology
Linux distributions
Just enough operating systems

OpenELEC


The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, specializes in interactive exhibits with the goal of helping both children and adults discover the scientist within them by promoting science literacy through experimentation, exploration, and education.

History

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum was founded in 1978, with approval from the city of Ann Arbor, as a touring collection of exhibits built by local specialists and volunteers. The museum opened at its permanent location in 1982 in the city's historic brick firehouse with 25 exhibits on two floors, one staff person, and ten volunteers.

During the museum's first year of operation, it welcomed 25,000 guests. Children and adults both expressed great curiosity and enthusiasm, which pushed the museum to accelerate its expansion plans. Four years later, the museum opened the third and fourth floors of the firehouse with the help of a Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant. In 1993, the museum purchased several adjoining buildings, which led to the introduction of expanded facilities and educational programs in October 1999. Five separate grants received over several years from the National Science Foundation funded the creation of new exhibits, including "How Things Work" and "Solve-It Central", which toured through many science museums throughout the United States and Canada.

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum now features over 250 interactive exhibits on subjects including physics, geology, math, music, and technology while entertaining over 200,000 visitors each year. More than just a local attraction, the now over 40,000 square foot museum has become a regional destination that draws more than 60 percent of its visitors from outside the Ann Arbor area. The Detroit Free Press named it the Best Museum in 2003, and the museum has also received national recognition by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Association of Science and Technology Centers.

Outreach programs
The Outreach Program began in 2000 to give children an opportunity to explore science in a classroom, library, festival, or youth center setting. The program covers a broad range of science topics, including biology, ecology, physics, chemistry, and math. All programs address objectives outlined in the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations and include pre- and post-visit activities.

Types of outreach programs
Single Visit Workshops are for Pre K-8th grade classrooms. Series Workshops last anywhere from 3–12 weeks for classes that wish for more in-depth science exploration. Family Fun Science Nights include interactive science and math activities geared towards the whole family, encouraging parental involvement in their children's learning. The Virtual Distance Learning Program uses videoconferencing to engage students in an interactive program, and includes materials and a Teacher's Guide to help prepare for experiments in the classroom. The museum's latest program, Energy on the Road, is sponsored by the DTE Energy Foundation and plans to teach students about renewable energy.

News and recognitions

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum has received numerous awards, grants, and publicity for its innovations and immersive learning experience, including a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA)

This museum's influences go farther than just those who visit. In 2013, the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum partnered with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, both in Ann Arbor, to help fund and implement the Healing Through Hands-On Science program. This program helps bring science and health related activities and exhibits to the museum and to the hospitals themselves to provide a more enriching stay. It also helps to provide fun activities for the siblings and families of patients at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital who may otherwise miss out on them from being out of school.

The museum has also paired up with the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Michigan to win an Editor's Award for outstanding exhibitions at the Maker Faire in 2010 which was held at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. The students and faculty of the Mechanical Engineering department presented the inverted pendulum, much like those in a human transporter Segway, to highlight the importance of feedback controls and balance in systems. This exhibit can now be found at the museum and features a vertical pendulum that is driven by a motor at the end of a horizontal arm and uses sensors to keep the pendulum in its inverted position.

Among many of the other technology and science driven exhibits at the museum is the Ferrofluid Magnetoscope. This world-renowned interactive exhibit was created by Ann Arbor inventor Michael Flynn who debuted the first version of the magnetoscope at the Work Gallery in the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Flynn has also showcased his creation around the world in Scotland, Ireland, and Italy. The Ferrofluid Magnetoscope at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is one of only 250 that are available for viewing.

The museum building, the former Ann Arbor Central Fire Station, was built in 1882.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Museum exhibits
Permanent exhibits

Concourse
An open lobby that visitors can engage in many fun activities including  whisper dishes, the tornado, Building in a Building, Liquid Galaxy, The Inverted Pendulum and the water table.

All About You
An exhibit that explores the human body. Visitors can climb aboard a full-sized Huron City Ambulance, hear their heartbeat and measure Physical fitness.

Preschool Gallery
An area designed for children four years old and younger.  Visitors can splash into the water tables, dress up like fire fighters and play on a child-sized fire engine.

Legacy Gallery
Displays a variety of simply machines to present how seemingly complex systems work.  Visitors can learn how traffic lights work, and the magnetisms behind Teslas Egg of Columbus.

Michigan Nature Discover Room
A pure Michigan experience that includes a soundscape, an interactive nature wall, native lake fish and geology samples.  Major funding for this exhibit provided by Hooked on Nature and the James A & Faith Knight Foundation with additional support from Friends of the Museum. Murals by Robert Zuboff and the scientific illustration students from the University of Michigan.

World Around You
A gallery intended to spark the imagination of visitors.  This exhibit features The Bubble Capsule, magnet exhibits, and a climbing wall.

Lyon's Country Store Exhibit
This exhibit recreates a country store setting from the 1930s.  It is one of the area's few exhibits that allows visitors to handle real, historic artifacts once found in general stores nearly a century ago.  Inside the Country Store you can see how an old-fashioned cash register worked, listen to period music on a Victrola-like speaker, play a game of checkers on an old checkerboard set atop a barrel, and see old toys and games that children enjoyed decades ago. The store is a tribute to Bob Lyons, an avid collector of historic memorabilia and a founder of the Museum back in 1982.

DTE Energy Foundation Light and Optics
Visitors can experience the characteristics of light and optics by playing the stringless Laser harp, breaking white light into the spectrum of colors it's made of, or catching your shadow on the wall.  Visitors can also watch how refraction bends light and distorts images, see how objects look different under light emitted by different materials, and observe how [Photon polarization|polarizing] light can change its brightness and color.

Media Works
This exhibit helps visitors discover the science of television and telecommunications.

New exhibits

Blast Off
Allows visitors to fill a rocket with pressurized air and launch a rocket into the air.  Designed by Creative Machines, you can test how much pressure it takes for a rocket to reach our ceiling. Each rocket locks into place and fills with a variable amount of air pressure.

Recollections
As you dance to a variety of music, a camera senses your movements and transforms them into colorful images on a screen.

Block Party II
The Block Party is a creative construction site for junior architects and engineers.  Visitors can build towers and structures by using foam blocks.

Magnetoscope
Allows people to manipulate magnetic fields to create amazing patterns in ferrofluid.  Guests turn one of the cranks clockwise or counterclockwise to raise and lower the magnets and observe the fluid as it changes shape and shows changes in the magnetic field.

References

External links

 Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
 Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations

Museums established in 1978
Science museums in Michigan
Museums in Ann Arbor, Michigan
1978 establishments in Michigan
Michigan State Historic Sites in Washtenaw County, Michigan
Children's museums in Michigan

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Whataboutism or whataboutery (as in "what about…?") denotes in a pejorative sense a procedure in which a critical question or argument is not answered or discussed, but retorted with a critical counter-question which expresses a counter-accusation. From a logical and argumentative point of view it is considered a variant of the tu-quoque pattern (Latin 'you too', term for a counter-accusation), which is a subtype of the ad-hominem argument.

The communication intent is often to distract from the content of a topic (red herring). The goal may also be to question the justification for criticism and the legitimacy, integrity, and fairness of the critic, which can take on the character of discrediting the criticism, which may or may not be justified. Common accusations include double standards, and hypocrisy, but it can also be used to relativize criticism of one's own viewpoints or behaviors. (A: "Long-term unemployment often means poverty in Germany." B: "And what about the starving in Africa and Asia?"). Related manipulation and propaganda techniques in the sense of rhetorical evasion of the topic are the change of topic and false balance (bothsidesism).

Some commentators have defended the usage of whataboutism and tu quoque in certain contexts. Whataboutism can provide necessary context into whether or not a particular line of critique is relevant or fair, and behavior that may be imperfect by international standards may be appropriate in a given geopolitical neighborhood. Accusing an interlocutor of whataboutism can also in itself be manipulative and serve the motive of discrediting, as critical talking points can be used selectively and purposefully even as the starting point of the conversation (cf. agenda setting, framing, framing effect, priming, cherry picking). The deviation from them can then be branded as whataboutism.

Both whataboutism and the accusation of it are forms of strategic framing and have a framing effect.

Etymology
The term whataboutism is a portmanteau of what and about, is synonymous with whataboutery, and means to twist criticism back on the initial critic.

Origins
According to lexicographer Ben Zimmer, the term originated in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Zimmer cites a 1974 letter by history teacher Sean O'Conaill which was published in The Irish Times where he complained about "the Whatabouts", people who defended the IRA by pointing out supposed wrongdoings of their enemy:

Three days later, an opinion column by John Healy in the same paper entitled "Enter the cultural British Army" picked up the theme by using the term whataboutery: "As a correspondent noted in a recent letter to this paper, we are very big on Whatabout Morality, matching one historic injustice with another justified injustice. We have a bellyfull [sic] of Whataboutery in these killing days and the one clear fact to emerge is that people, Orange and Green, are dying as a result of it." Zimmer says the term gained wide currency in commentary about the conflict between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland. Zimmer also notes that the variant whataboutism was used in the same context in a 1993 book by Tony Parker.

In 1978, Australian journalist Michael Bernard wrote a column in The Age applying the term whataboutism to the Soviet Union's tactics of deflecting any criticism of its human rights abuses. Merriam-Webster details that "the association of whataboutism with the Soviet Union began during the Cold War. As the regimes of [Joseph] Stalin and his successors were criticized by the West for human rights atrocities, the Soviet propaganda machine would be ready with a comeback alleging atrocities of equal reprehensibility for which the West was guilty."

Zimmer credits British journalist Edward Lucas for beginning regular common use of the word whataboutism in the modern era following its appearance in a blog post on 29 October 2007, reporting as part of a diary about Russia which was re-printed in the 2 November issue of The Economist. On 31 January 2008 The Economist printed another article by Lucas titled "Whataboutism". Ivan Tsvetkov, associate professor of International Relations in St Petersburg also credits Lucas for modern uses of the term.

Use in political contexts

Soviet Union and Russia

Although the term whataboutism spread recently, Edward Lucas's 2008 Economist article states that "Soviet propagandists during the cold war were trained in a tactic that their western interlocutors nicknamed 'whataboutism. Any criticism of the Soviet Union (Afghanistan, martial law in Poland, imprisonment of dissidents, censorship) was met with a 'What about...' (apartheid South Africa, jailed trade-unionists, the Contras in Nicaragua, and so forth)." Lucas recommended two methods of properly countering whataboutism: to "use points made by Russian leaders themselves" so that they cannot be applied to the West, and for Western nations to engage in more self-criticism of their own media and government.

Following the publication of Lucas's 2007 and 2008 articles and his 2008 book The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West, which featured the same themes, opinion writers at prominent English language media outlets began using the term and echoing the themes laid out by Lucas, including the association with the Soviet Union and Russia. Journalist Luke Harding described Russian whataboutism as "practically a national ideology". Writing for Bloomberg News,
Leonid Bershidsky called whataboutism a "Russian tradition", while The New Yorker described the technique as "a strategy of false moral equivalences". Julia Ioffe called whataboutism a "sacred Russian tactic", and compared it to accusing the pot of calling the kettle black.

Several articles connected whataboutism to the Soviet era by pointing to the "And you are lynching Negroes" example (as Lucas did) of the 1930s, in which the Soviets deflected any criticism by referencing racism in the segregated American South. The tactic was extensively used even after the racial segregation in the South was outlawed in the 1950s and 1960s. Ioffe, who has written about whataboutism in at least three separate outlets, called it a "classic" example of whataboutism. Some writers also identified more recent examples when Russian officials responded to critique by, for example, redirecting attention to the United Kingdom's anti-protest laws or Russians' difficulty obtaining a visa to the United Kingdom. In 2006, Putin replied to George W. Bush's criticism of Russia's human rights record by stating that he "did not want to head a democracy like Iraq's," referencing the US intervention in Iraq. In 2017, Ben Zimmer noted that Putin also used the tactic in an interview with NBC News journalist Megyn Kelly.

The Soviet government engaged in a major cover-up of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. When they finally acknowledged the disaster, although without any details, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) then discussed the Three Mile Island accident and other American nuclear accidents, which Serge Schmemann of The New York Times wrote was an example of the common Soviet tactic of whataboutism. The mention of a commission also indicated to observers the seriousness of the incident, and subsequent state radio broadcasts were replaced with classical music, which was a common method of preparing the public for an announcement of a tragedy in the USSR.

The term receives increased attention when controversies involving Russia are in the news. For example, writing for Slate in 2014, Joshua Keating noted the use of "whataboutism" in a statement on Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, where Putin "listed a litany of complaints about Western intervention."

China

A synonymous Chinese-language metaphor is the "stinky bug argument" (), coined by Lu Xun, a leading figure in modern Chinese literature, in 1933 to describe his Chinese colleagues' common tendency to accuse Europeans of "having equally bad issues" whenever foreigners commented upon China's domestic problems. As a Chinese nationalist, Lu saw this mentality as one of the biggest obstructions to the modernization of China in the early 20th century, which Lu frequently mocked in his literary works. In response to tweets from Donald Trump's administration criticizing the Chinese government's mistreatment of ethnic minorities and the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials began using Twitter to point out racial inequalities and social unrest in the United States which led Politico to accuse China of engaging in whataboutism.

Donald Trump

In early 2017, amid coverage of interference in the 2016 election and the lead up to the Mueller Investigation into Donald Trump, several people, including Edward Lucas, wrote opinion pieces associating whataboutism with both Trump and Russia. "Instead of giving a reasoned defense [of his health care plan], he went for blunt offense, which is a hallmark of whataboutism", wrote Danielle Kurtzleben of NPR, adding that he "sounds an awful lot like Putin."

When, in a widely viewed television interview that aired before the Super Bowl in 2017, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly called Putin a "killer", Trump responded by saying that the US government was also guilty of killing people. He responded, "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country's so innocent?" This episode prompted commentators to accuse Trump of whataboutism, including Chuck Todd on the television show Meet the Press and political advisor Jake Sullivan.

Use by other states
The term "whataboutery" has been used by Loyalists and Republicans since the period of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The tactic was employed by Azerbaijan, which responded to criticism of its human rights record by holding parliamentary hearings on issues in the United States. Simultaneously, pro-Azerbaijan Internet trolls used whataboutism to draw attention away from criticism of the country. Similarly, the Turkish government engaged in whataboutism by publishing an official document listing criticisms of other governments that had criticized Turkey.

According to The Washington Post, "In what amounts to an official document of whataboutism, the Turkish statement listed a roster of supposed transgressions by various governments now scolding Turkey for its dramatic purge of state institutions and civil society in the wake of a failed coup attempt in July."

The tactic was also employed by Saudi Arabia and Israel. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "the [Israeli] occupation is nonsense, there are plenty of big countries that occupied and replaced populations and no one talks about them." In July 2022, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman engaged in this tactic by raising the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers during the Iraq War, after US President Joe Biden raised the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government, during a conversation with Mohammed as part of Biden's state visit to Saudi Arabia.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif used the tactic in the Zurich Security Conference on February 17, 2019. When pressed by BBC's Lyse Doucet about eight environmentalists imprisoned in his country, he mentioned the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Doucet picked up the fallacy and said "let's leave that aside."

The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has been accused of using whataboutism, especially in regard to the 2015 Indian writers protest and the nomination of former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to parliament.

Hesameddin Ashena, a top adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted about the George Floyd protests: "The brave American people have the right to protest against the ongoing terror inflicted on minorities, the poor, and the disenfranchised. You must bring an end to the racist and classist structures of governance in the U.S."

Analysis

Psychological motivations
The philosopher Merold Westphal said that only people who know themselves to be guilty of something "can find comfort in finding others to be just as bad or worse." Whataboutery, as practiced by both parties in The Troubles in Northern Ireland to highlight what the other side had done to them, was "one of the commonest forms of evasion of personal moral responsibility," according to Bishop (later Cardinal) Cahal Daly. After a political shooting at a baseball game in 2017, journalist Chuck Todd criticized the tenor of political debate, commenting, "What-about-ism is among the worst instincts of partisans on both sides."

Intentionally discrediting oneself
Whataboutism usually points the finger at a rival's offenses to discredit them, but, in a reversal of this usual direction, it can also be used to discredit oneself while one refuses to critique an ally. During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, when The New York Times asked candidate Donald Trump about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's treatment of journalists, teachers, and dissidents, Trump replied with a criticism of U.S. history on civil liberties. Writing for The Diplomat, Catherine Putz pointed out: "The core problem is that this rhetorical device precludes discussion of issues (e.g. civil rights) by one country (e.g. the United States) if that state lacks a perfect record." Masha Gessen wrote for The New York Times that usage of the tactic by Trump was shocking to Americans, commenting, "No American politician in living memory has advanced the idea that the entire world, including the United States, was rotten to the core."

Concerns about effects
Joe Austin was critical of the practice of whataboutism in Northern Ireland in a 1994 piece, The Obdurate and the Obstinate, writing: "And I'd no time at all for 'What aboutism' ... if you got into it you were defending the indefensible." In 2017, The New Yorker described the tactic as "a strategy of false moral equivalences", and Clarence Page called the technique "a form of logical jiu-jitsu". Writing for National Review, commentator Ben Shapiro criticized the practice, whether it was used by those espousing right-wing or left-wing politics; Shapiro concluded: "It's all dumb. And it's making us all dumber." Michael J. Koplow of Israel Policy Forum wrote that the usage of whataboutism had become a crisis; concluding that the tactic did not yield any benefits, Koplow charged that "whataboutism from either the right or the left only leads to a black hole of angry recriminations from which nothing will escape".

Usage in the Soviet Union and Russia

In his book The New Cold War (2008), Edward Lucas characterized whataboutism as "the favourite weapon of Soviet propagandists". Juhan Kivirähk and colleagues called it a "polittechnological" strategy. Writing in The National Interest in 2013, Samuel Charap was critical of the tactic, commenting, "Russian policy makers, meanwhile, gain little from petulant bouts of 'whataboutism. National security journalist Julia Ioffe commented in a 2014 article, "Anyone who has ever studied the Soviet Union knows about a phenomenon called 'whataboutism'." Ioffe cited the Soviet response to criticism, "And you are lynching negroes", as a "classic" form of whataboutism. She said that Russia Today was "an institution that is dedicated solely to the task of whataboutism", and concluded that whataboutism was a "sacred Russian tactic". Garry Kasparov discussed the Soviet tactic in his book Winter Is Coming, calling it a form of "Soviet propaganda" and a way for Russian bureaucrats to "respond to criticism of Soviet massacres, forced deportations, and gulags". Mark Adomanis commented for The Moscow Times in 2015 that "Whataboutism was employed by the Communist Party with such frequency and shamelessness that a sort of pseudo mythology grew up around it." Adomanis observed, "Any student of Soviet history will recognize parts of the whataboutist canon."

Writing in 2016 for Bloomberg News, journalist Leonid Bershidsky called whataboutism a "Russian tradition", while The National called the tactic "an effective rhetorical weapon". In their book The European Union and Russia (2016), Forsberg and Haukkala characterized whataboutism as an "old Soviet practice", and they observed that the strategy "has been gaining in prominence in the Russian attempts at deflecting Western criticism". In her book, Security Threats and Public Perception, author Elizaveta Gaufman called the whataboutism technique "A Soviet/Russian spin on liberal anti-Americanism", comparing it to the Soviet rejoinder, "And you are lynching negroes". Foreign Policy supported this assessment. In 2016, Canadian columnist Terry Glavin asserted in the Ottawa Citizen that Noam Chomsky used the tactic in an October 2001 speech, delivered after the September 11 attacks, that was critical of US foreign policy. Daphne Skillen discussed the tactic in her book, Freedom of Speech in Russia, identifying it as a "Soviet propagandist's technique" and "a common Soviet-era defence". In a piece for CNN, Jill Dougherty compared the technique to the pot calling the kettle black. Dougherty wrote: "There's another attitude ... that many Russians seem to share, what used to be called in the Soviet Union 'whataboutism', in other words, 'who are you to call the kettle black?

Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev told GlobalPost in 2017 that the tactic was "an old Soviet trick". Peter Conradi, author of Who Lost Russia?, called whataboutism "a form of moral relativism that responds to criticism with the simple response: 'But you do it too. Conradi echoed Gaufman's comparison of the tactic to the Soviet response, "Over there they lynch Negroes". Writing for Forbes in 2017, journalist Melik Kaylan explained the term's increased pervasiveness in referring to Russian propaganda tactics: "Kremlinologists of recent years call this 'whataboutism' because the Kremlin's various mouthpieces deployed the technique so exhaustively against the U.S." Kaylan commented upon a "suspicious similarity between Kremlin propaganda and Trump propaganda". Foreign Policy wrote that Russian whataboutism was "part of the national psyche". EurasiaNet stated that "Moscow's geopolitical whataboutism skills are unmatched", while Paste correlated whataboutism's rise with the increasing societal consumption of fake news.

Writing for The Washington Post, former United States Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul wrote critically of Trump's use of the tactic and compared him to Putin. McFaul commented, "That's exactly the kind of argument that Russian propagandists have used for years to justify some of Putin's most brutal policies." Los Angeles Times contributor Matt Welch classed the tactic among "six categories of Trump apologetics". Mother Jones called the tactic "a traditional Russian propaganda strategy", and observed, "The whataboutism strategy has made a comeback and evolved in President Vladimir Putin's Russia."

Russophobia allegation
The practice of labelling whataboutism as typically Russian or Soviet is sometimes rejected as russophobic. Glenn Diesen sees this usage as an attempt to delegitimize Russian politics. As early as 1985, Ronald Reagan had introduced the construct of "false ethical balance" to "denounce" any attempt at comparison between the US and other countries. Jeane Kirkpatrick, in her essay The Myth of Moral Equivalence (1986) saw the Soviet Union's whataboutism as an attempt to use moral reasoning to present themselves as a legitimate superpower on an equal footing with the United States. The comparison was inadmissible in principle, since there was only one legitimate superpower, the USA, and it did not stand up for power interests but for values. Glenn Diesen sees this as a framing of American politics, with the aim of defining the relationship of countries to each other analogously to a teacher-pupil relationship, whereby in the political framework the USA is the teacher. Kirkpatrick invoked Harold Lasswell's understanding of the enforcement of an ideological framework using political dominance to analyze the semantic manipulations of the Soviet Union. According to Lasswell, every country tries to impose its interpretive framework on others, even by the means of revolution and war. For Kirkpatrick, however, these interpretive frameworks of different states are not equivalent.

Defense

Contextualization
Some commentators have defended the usage of whataboutism and tu quoque in certain contexts. Whataboutism can provide necessary context into whether or not a particular line of critique is relevant or fair. In international relations, behavior that may be imperfect by international standards may be quite good for a given geopolitical neighborhood and deserves to be recognized as such.

Distorted self-perception
Christian Christensen, Professor of Journalism in Stockholm, argues that the accusation of whataboutism is itself a form of the tu quoque fallacy, as it dismisses criticisms of one's own behavior to focus instead on the actions of another, thus creating a double standard. Those who use whataboutism are not necessarily engaging in an empty or cynical deflection of responsibility: whataboutism can be a useful tool to expose contradictions, double standards, and hypocrisy. For example, one's opponent's action appears as forbidden torture, one's own actions as "enhanced interrogation methods", the other's violence as aggression, one's own merely as a reaction. Christensen even sees utility in the use of the argument: "The so-called 'whataboutists' question what has not been questioned before and bring contradictions, double standards, and hypocrisy to light. This is not naïve justification or rationalization [...], it is a challenge to think critically about the (sometimes painful) truth of our position in the world."

Lack of sincerity
In his analysis of Whataboutism, logic professor Axel Barceló of the UNAM concludes that the counteraccusation often expresses a justified suspicion that the criticism does not correspond to the critic's real position and reasons.

Abe Greenwald pointed out that even the first accusation leading to the counteraccusation is an arbitrary setting, which can be just as one-sided and biased, or even more one-sided than the counter-question "what about?" Thus, whataboutism could also be enlightening and put the first accusation in perspective.

Idealization
In her analysis of whataboutism in the US Presidential Campaign, Catherine Putz notes in 2016 in The Diplomat Magazine that the core problem is that this rhetorical device precludes discussion of a country's contentious issues (e.g., civil rights on the part of the United States) if that country is not perfect in that area. It required, by default, that a country be allowed to make a case to other countries only for those ideals in which it had achieved the highest level of perfection. The problem with ideals, he said, is that we rarely achieve them as human beings. But the ideals remain important, he said, and the United States should continue to advocate for them: "It is the message that is important, not the ambassador."

Protective mechanism
Gina Schad sees the characterization of counterarguments as "whataboutism" as a lack of communicative competence, insofar as discussions are cut off by this accusation. The accusation of others of whataboutism is also used as an ideological protective mechanism that leads to "closures and echo chambers". The reference to "whataboutism" is also perceived as a "discussion stopper" "to secure a certain hegemony of discourse and interpretation."

Deflection
A number of commentators, among them Forbes columnist Mark Adomanis, have criticized the usage of accusations of whataboutism by American news outlets, arguing that accusations of whataboutism have been used to simply deflect criticisms of human rights abuses perpetrated by the United States or its allies. Vincent Bevins and Alex Lo argue that the usage of the term almost exclusively by American outlets is a double standard, and that moral accusations made by powerful countries are merely a pretext to punish their geopolitical rivals in the face of their own wrongdoing.

Left-wing academics Kristen Ghodsee and Scott Sehon argue that mentioning the possible existence of victims of capitalism in popular discourse is often dismissed as "whataboutism", which they describe as "a term implying that only atrocities perpetrated by communists merit attention." They also argue that such accusations of "whataboutism" are invalid as the same arguments used against communism can also be used against capitalism.

Scholars Ivan Franceschini and Nicholas Loubere noted the prevalence of whataboutist arguments as well as essentialist counterarguments  in the context of political debates between China and the US. They argue that it is not whataboutism to document and denounce authoritarianism in different countries, and noted global parallels such as the role Islamophobia played in China's Xinjiang internment camps and the US's War on terror and travel bans targeting Muslim countries, as well as influence of corporations and other international actors in the documented abuses which is becoming more obscured. Franceschini and Loubere conclude that authoritarianism "must be opposed everywhere", and that "only by finding the critical parallels, linkages, and complicities can we develop immunity to the virus of whataboutism and avoid its essentialist hyperactive immune response, achieving the moral consistency and holistic perspective that we need in order to build up international solidarity and stop sleepwalking towards the abyss."

Whataboutism in proverbs and similes
Jesus' statement, "Let he who is without fault cast the first stone" (John 8:7), the similar parable of the beam in the eye (Matthew 7:3) and proverbs based on it such as "He who sits in a glass house should not throw stones" are sometimes compared to whataboutism. Nigel Warburton sees the difference in the fact that the point of view in the Bible and in Proverbs is different from that in politics. Jesus is in the right to remind the sinner of his own guilt, because he himself has no guilt, he is on the side of good. Although a wrongdoer can sometimes be in the right by pointing out an actual shortcoming, this does not change the difference in principle.The whataboutery move seems to rest on the false assumption that wrongdoing is mitigated if others have done something similar, and the feeling that accusers need to be innocent of the crime of which they are accusing others. 'You think I'm doing something terrible, so look around you at all the others doing much the same as me. What is more, you don't have a credible position from which to attack me.' At best that is just self-serving rationalisation, but as a tactical move it can work.

See also

 Ad hominem
 Antanagoge
 Character assassination
 Clean hands
 Discrediting tactic
 Fallacy of relative privation
 False equivalence
 Genetic fallacy
 Physician, heal thyself
 Poisoning the well
 Precedent
 Psychological projection
 Race card
 Russian political jokes
 Selection bias
 Tankie
 The Mote and the Beam
 Two wrongs don't make a right
 Victor's justice

References

Further reading

External links

Analogy
Cold War terminology
Hypocrisy
Propaganda in Russia
Propaganda in the Soviet Union
Soviet phraseology
Relevance fallacies
Articles containing video clips

Whataboutism


The Ethiopian Democratic Party () is a political party in Ethiopia. The result of no less than five mergers of liberal and conservative liberal opposition parties, it could trace its roots to the Ethiopian Democratic Union, which mounted armed monarchist resistance to the Derg in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Haile Selassie I. In the legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin, as it was then known, was part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, that won 52 out of 527 seats in the Council of People's Representatives. It won no seats in the 2010 elections.

Founding, mergers, and consolidation
In October 1999 the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) was registered following "40 weeks of political discussion". In mid-2000, the party held its first congress, electing Admassu Gebeyehu, Hailu Araya and Lidetu Ayalew as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and General Secretary, respectively.

In September 2003, the EDP merged with the Ethiopian Democratic Union, becoming the United Ethiopian Democratic Party. Mengesha Seyoum became the party's honorary chairman, but played little role in the party administration, living in exile, and the post was quietly abolished.

In September 2004 it merged with the Ethiopian Medhin (Salvation) Democratic Party founded by former Foreign Minister Goshu Wolde and became the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin. In early 2005 it absorbed the short-lived Ethiopian Democratic Action Group of Sophia Yilma, daughter of former Minister of Finance Yilma Deressa. In August 2005 Lidetu Ayalew was elected Party President, Sophia Yilma Vice President, and Mushe Semu Secretary General.

Merger history
The following is an illustration of the party's mergers and name changes.

Electoral performance

It agreed to contest the 2005 parliamentary elections as part of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), winning 52 seats. It was one of the few to take their seats in parliament, splitting with the remainder of the coalition.

There were soon inner power struggles within the CUD, however. Former Chairman Hailu Araya had backed the leadership of Berhanu Nega, but was defeated in the Party Congress in August. Lidetu and Mushe were suspended from the CUD Central Council in October, and the party central committee voted to leave the coalition.

Lidetu was a victim of character assassination and defamation following the 2005 elections by the former CUD leaders. However, the election campaign in 2010 revealed that Lidetu and his party were not behind the unsuccessful unity. Despite this vindication, the party did not win any seats in the election, with the opposition overall winning only one seat.

UEDP-Medhin at present uses its original name EDP – Ethiopian Democratic Party. In March 2011, Mushe Semu became party president, succeeding Lidetu.

Political positions
The EDP is one of the few Ethiopian parties with non-leftist origins, and had ties with the pre-revolutionary establishment. Correspondingly, it takes strong exception to the "ethnic federalist" and "democratic developmentalist" ideology of the ruling EPRDF.

Approach to governance and politics
The EDP is strongly opposed to the policy of Ethnic federalism and the division of Ethiopia on ethnic lines, supporting the restoration of the traditional provinces of Ethiopia within a federalist structure. It also supports the establishment of an independent judiciary, the observance of rule of law and human rights, as well as the strengthening of the rights of the federal regions. It rejects ethnic politics and as well as the general left-wing discourse of Ethiopian government.

However, it is supportive of peaceful opposition and opposes armed struggle against the present government, condemning the endorsement of Berhanu Nega for the establishment of an armed resistance (later actualised as the "Ginbot 7 Popular Force") against the EPRDF government. It was this refusal to support armed struggle that was behind much of the allegations that the EDP was insufficiently opposed to or in collaboration with the EPRDF in the run-up to the 2010 elections.

Economic positions
Opposing the state interventionist policies of the government, the party contends that government policies have weakened the Ethiopian private sector and hampered prospects for long-term growth. It opposes continued state ownership of land and supports the reform to allow for private ownership of land, as well as increasing the property rights of smallholders.  It is opposed to the price controls imposed to counter the high rate of inflation, saying that expansionary fiscal policies were to blame, and that punishing lending requirements on the private sector- private banks are required to set aside 27% of their lending for treasury bonds to fund large infrastructure projects- were hampering the economy, a position supported by the IMF, World Bank, and pro-business Ethiopian organisations like the Chamber of commerce and Capital Ethiopia.

Party leaders

Ethiopian Democratic Union
Leul Ras Mengesha Seyoum (1974–1978)

Ethiopian Democratic Party
Ato Admassu Gebeyehu (2000–2005)
Ato Lidetu Ayalew (2005–2011)
Ato Mushe Semu (2011–2013)
Dr. Chane Kebede (2013–2019)
Ato Adane Tadesse (2019–present)

References

1974 establishments in Ethiopia
2019 disestablishments in Ethiopia
Centrist parties in Africa
Defunct political parties in Ethiopia
Ethiopian Civil War
Ethiopian nationalism
Federalist parties in Ethiopia
Liberal parties in Ethiopia
Nationalist parties in Africa
Political parties disestablished in 2019
Political parties established in 1974
Rebel groups in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Democratic Party


Teuku Mohammad Hasan (EVO: Teoekoe Moehammad Hasan; 4 April 1906 – 21 September 1997) was an Indonesian politician and national hero from Aceh, who served as the first and only governor of Sumatra from 1945 until 1948. He also served as a cabinet minister in Sjafruddin Prawiranegara's emergency cabinet and was a member of both the Senate of the United States of Indonesia (USI) and the Provisional People's Representative Council (DPRS) of the Republic of Indonesia.

Born to an aristocratic family in present-day Aceh, Teuku Mohammad Hasan studied law at Leiden University. During his time there, he joined the Perhimpoenan Indonesia association, becoming involved in the Indonesian independence movement. After graduating in 1933, he returned to Aceh, and became active in the Islamic organization Muhammadiyah. During the Japanese occupation, he was a member of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence. Following the proclamation of independence, he was appointed governor of Sumatra by the Central Indonesian National Committee. After the fall of the Indonesian government in Yogyakarta, he took part in the emergency government (PDRI) headed by Sjafruddin Prawiranegara. In the PDRI, he filled the position of minister in the ministries of Home Affairs, Religious Affairs, and Education.

Following the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference and the end of national revolution, Teuku Mohammad Hasan served as a senator in the USI. During his time in the senate, he was elected deputy speaker to Melkias Agustinus Pellaupessy. After the dissolution of the USI and the establishment of a unitary state, he served as a member of the DPRS. In the DPRS, he advocated for oil companies operating in the country to be nationalized. He left the DPRS in 1955, and worked for the ministry of Home Affairs. During the New Order regime, he left politics entirely, and focused on education instead. In 1984, he founded the Veranda of Mecca University in Banda Aceh. He died in Jakarta, on 21 September 1997. In 2006, he was named a national hero by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Early life
Muhammad Hasan was born on April 4, 1906, as Teuku Sarong, into an aristocratic family in Sigli, Aceh. His father, Teuku Bintara Pineung Ibrahim was an Ulèë Balang in Pidie (Ulèë Balang was an aristocratic class in Aceh who led a district).

He went to Volksschool (Common School) in Lampoeh Saka from 1914-1917. In 1924 he studied at Dutch-language Europeesche Lagere School (RLS), After graduating in 1924, he studied at Koningin Wilhelmina School (KWS) in Batavia (now Jakarta) before attending Rechtshoogeschool (Law High School).

Netherlands
He went to the Netherlands at age 25 to study Law at Leiden University.

During his time in Netherlands, he joined Indonesian student organization Perhimpunan Indonesia and became an independence activist with other Indonesian students like Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir.

He graduated as Master of Laws in 1933.

Independence struggle
Hasan returned to Indonesia, and landed in Ulèë Lheuë Sea Port, Kutaradja (now Banda Aceh) in 1934. His activities brought suspicion by the Dutch authorities, who confiscated his books and other possessions.

He was active in Islamic organization Muhammadiyah. During this era, they started schools and a female branch of the organization, Aisyiah.

His other education activity was establishing Perguruan Taman Siswa Aceh Chapter in Kutaraja, on 11 July 1937. He served as chairman, with Teuku Nyak Arif as secretary.

He made a scholarship foundation Atjehsche Studiefonds (Aceh Students Foundation) for supporting poor students.

He chaired Perkumpulan Usaha Sama Akan Kemajuan Anak (Mutual Struggle Association for Children Development, or abbreviated as PUSAKA) attempting to build a school similar to Dutch's Holland Inlandsche School.

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies  (1942 - 1945), he was chairman of Koperasi Ladang Pegawai Negeri (Field Cooperative for the Civil Servants) in Medan

He was a member of the Sumatran Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) and subsequenntly the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence. This body was chaired by Sukarno, who declared Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945, two days after Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces at the end of the Pacific War.

Governor of Sumatra
He was appointed by the newly created Republic of Indonesia Government as the first Governor of Sumatra on August 22, 1945.

Emergency Government
In December 1948, the Dutch launched their Second Police Action and focused their attack on Yogyakarta. Sukarno and Hatta chose to remain in the city and were arrested.

Hearing the president was arrested, Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, the Minister of Welfare, who was in Bukit Tinggi met Hasan, then Governor of Sumatra and Colonel Hidayat, Commander of Army and Territory of Sumatra on December 19, 1948. and established the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI), on December 22, 1948,  in Bukittinggi, Sumatra. Sjafruddin served as chairman of the emergency cabinet.

Hasan was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the PDRI, Minister of Home Affairs, Education & Culture and Religious Affairs ad interim.

PDRI leaders moved around West Sumatra in an effort to evade arrest by the Dutch who wanted to abolish the group. In 1949 the PDRI government contacted the leaders of Indonesian forces in Java and the sixth Republic of Indonesia government ministers in Java who had escaped arrest.

Based on the Roem–Van Roijen Agreement, on July 13, 1949, Dutch troops were to be pulled from Republic of Indonesia regions and their leaders were to be freed. The PDRI would therefore no longer be required, and Sjafruddin Prawiranegara disbanded the PDRI and returned the mandate to the President of Republic of Indonesia

Oil companies nationalization
In 1951, as chair of Trading and Industry Commission of DPRS (People's Representative Council), he advocated for oil company nationalization in Indonesia. His motion was accepted on August 2, 1951. Some Dutch oil companies were integrated into Permina (1957) and Pertamin (1961). Both companies were merged in 1968 as Pertamina.

Later life
Hasan established Serambi Mekkah University in Banda Aceh, and writing books. One of his book is Sejarah Perminyakan di Indonesia (published by Yayasan Sari Pinang Sakti, 1985).

Teuku Muhammad Hasan died on September 21, 1997, in Jakarta.

Recognition
In 1990, University of North Sumatra honored him with Doctor Honoris Causa.

Hasan was recognized as National Hero of Indonesia by Republic Indonesia Government on dated November 3, 2006.

A street in Banda Aceh is named after him.

References

External links
  Kepustakaan Presiden RI
 Wayback Machine TEUKU MUHAMMAD HASAN MENTERI PENDIDIKAN "DARURAT"
  Sejarah Pertamina

1906 births
1997 deaths
Acehnese people
BPUPK
Government ministers of Indonesia
Indonesian collaborators with Imperial Japan
Indonesian Muslims
Leiden University alumni
Members of Senate of the United States of Indonesia
National Heroes of Indonesia
People from Sigli
Politicians from Aceh
PPKI
Rechtshogeschool te Batavia alumni

Teuku Mohammad Hasan


STS-108 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle  Endeavour. Its primary objective was to deliver supplies to and help maintain the ISS.

STS-108 was the 12th shuttle flight to visit the International Space Station and the first since the installation of the Russian airlock called Pirs on the station. Endeavour delivered the Expedition 4 crew to the orbital outpost. The Expedition 3 crew returned to Earth on Endeavour.

While at the station, the crew conducted one spacewalk and attached the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station so that about 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) of equipment and supplies could be unloaded. The crew later returned Raffaello to Endeavours payload bay for the trip home.

Crew

Cargo

SSAF-UF-1 carried the Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM-2) 'Raffaello' (2nd flight) 4th MPLM flight overall. Also the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker (MACH-1) MPESS Hitchhiker experiment bridge: with CAPL-3, Starshine-2, SEM-11 & 15, G-0761, Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD)
& COLLIDE-2. As well as the Lightweight MPESS Carrier #2 (LMC) carrying: SEM-12, G-0785, G-0064 and G-0730.

Launch highlights
The launch of Endeavour on 29 November 2001 was rescheduled for 4 December 2001 to allow sufficient time for the Expedition Three crew on the space station to successfully complete a spacewalk to clear an obstruction on the latching mechanism on the Russian Progress supply vehicle.

The launch 4 December was postponed due to unsatisfactory weather conditions in the KSC area. Launch controllers counted down to the T-5-minute point and held until the remainder of the window expired. The scrub had to be called after Astronaut Office Chief Charles Precourt, flying the Shuttle Training Aircraft, detected precipitation in a cloud mass that moved into the Complex 39 area shortly before launch.

Endeavour lifted off 5 December 2001 at 17:12 EST on the final Space Shuttle mission of 2001 to deliver three tons of supplies and a fresh crew to the International Space Station, and return home a crew that spent four months in space.

In addition to a new station crew and supplies, Endeavour carried a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America, as well as a small satellite that involved more than 25,000 students in 26 countries.

Mission highlights

The hatches were opened between Endeavour and the ISS Destiny Laboratory at 22:42 UTC 7 December 2001, enabling the ten crew members to greet one another. The Expedition 3 crew officially ended their 117-day residency on board the International Space Station 8 December  as their custom Soyuz seat-liners were transferred to Endeavour for the return trip home. The transfer of the Expedition 4 seat-liners to the Soyuz return vehicle attached to the station marked the official exchange of crews.

Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin used the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle payload bay and attach it to a berth on the station's Unity node. The crews began unloading supplies the same day.

EVA
EVA: 4 hours, 12 minutes – On 10 December 2001, Endeavour astronauts Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani completed a four-hour, 12-minute spacewalk to install insulation on mechanisms that rotate the International Space Station's main solar arrays. The two spacewalkers stopped at a stowage bin to retrieve a cover that had been removed from a station antenna during an earlier flight, and after its return to Earth, may be reused. Godwin and Tani also performed a "getahead;" task, positioning two switches on the station's exterior to be installed on a future shuttle mission, STS-110. The spacewalk completed a record year with 18 spacewalks conducted: 12 originating from the shuttle and six from the station.

Maintenance and re-supply
Mission managers extended Endeavours flight to a duration of 12 days to allow Endeavour's crew to assist with additional maintenance tasks on the station, including work on a treadmill and replacing a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module.

The astronauts and cosmonauts completed the transfer of more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and material from Endeavours mid-deck and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. The transferred items included more than 850 pounds of food, 1,000 pounds of clothing and other crew provisions, 300 pounds of experiments and associated equipment, 800 pounds of spacewalking gear, and 600 pounds of medical equipment. In turn, the crew packed up the Raffaello module with items bound for a return trip to Earth.

IMU failure
On 12 December 2001, the crew and Mission Control noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. Only two of the three IMUs were on line at the time, with the third unit off line to save electricity. The IMU that experienced a problem, designated IMU 2, was immediately taken off line and the third IMU brought on line. IMU 2 operated well after that, but it remained off line and was considered failed by flight controllers. The loss of one IMU had no impact on Endeavours mission, and the other two units operated in excellent condition.

A formal change of command ceremony took place 13 December as Expedition 3 ended its residence and Expedition 4 began theirs.

Reboost and departure
Flight controllers planned slight changes to Endeavour'''s departure from the station 15 December 2001, allowing time for a small jet firing by the shuttle to boost the station's future path away from a piece of space debris that could pass near the complex. Mission Control was notified that a spent Russian rocket upper stage launched in the 1970s could pass within three miles of the station if Endeavour did not perform the engine firing. With the shuttle reboost, the station was predicted to pass more than 40 miles away from the debris.

Because the scheduled reboost used additional propellant, Endeavour did not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, the shuttle undocked from the station, performing a quarter circle flyaround of the complex to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it fired its engines in a final separation burn at 12:20 am EST, beginning its departure from the orbiting outpost.

Scientific experimentsEndeavours middeck carried home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition 3's stay on the station. These included the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS).

The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition 4, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.

Experiments in Endeavours payload bay were returned for investigators around the world. The Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) carried a wide array of experiments, including the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, the Collisions into Dust Experiment-2, the Capillary Pump Loop, and the Space Experiment Module (SEM). The SEM carried experiments from Argentina, Portugal, Morocco and Australia, as well as experiments from U.S. schoolchildren. Several other canisters in Endeavours payload bay also carried student experiments.

On its return to Earth, Endeavours crew deployed a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will be tracking STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE's 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Honoring victims of the September 11 attacks
STS-108 was the first Space Shuttle launch following the September 11 attacks, and remembering it would become a focus of the flight. Security was increased at Kennedy Space Center for press and visitors for the launch, and press activity was more tightly controlled.

In the early morning hours of 12 September 2001, New York City Police Sergeant Gerald Kane and Detective Peter Friscia, assigned to the office of Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, retrieved a large American flag that was tattered and torn and wrapped around a flag pole near in corners of Church and Chambers Street amidst the devastation of the World Trade Center site.
That American flag, a USMC flag recovered from the Pentagon, an American flag that flew over the State Capital in Harrisburg, PA on the day of 11 Sept., the 23 shields (badges) of the fallen NYPD officers; patches, posters and an emblem from the FDNY, patches from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and 6,000 small American flags to honor those lost and those that served in the response and recovery efforts for 9/11 were all flown aboard Endeavour.

The 6,000 smaller flags were later given to families that lost loved ones on 9/11 and the flag retrieved from the World Trade Center site is maintained by the Office of the New York City Commissioner of Records.

Spacewalks

 Godwin and Tani – EVA 1
 EVA 1 start: 10 December 2001 – 17:52 UTC
 EVA 1 end: 10 December 2001 – 22:04 UTC
 Duration''': 4 hours, 12 minutes

Images

See also

 List of human spaceflights
 List of International Space Station spacewalks
 List of Space Shuttle missions
 List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
 Outline of space science

References

External links

 NASA mission summary
 STS-108 Video Highlights

Space Shuttle missions
Spacecraft launched in 2001

STS-108


Chinu Modi ( ), (30 September 1939 – 19 March 2017), also known by his pen name Irshad (Gujarati: ઈર્શાદ), was a Gujarati language poet, novelist, short story writer and critic from Gujarat, India. Educated in languages, he taught at various institutions and established himself as a poet and author. He was a recipient of several awards including Sahitya Akademi Award, Vali Gujarati Award and Narsinh Mehta Award.

Life

Early life

Modi was born in Vijapur on 30 September 1939 to Chandulal and Shashikantaben. His family belonged to Kadi. He completed his primary education in Vijapur and secondary education from Sheth Hasanali High School in Dholka near Ahmedabad. He completed his matriculation in 1954.

He completed a B.A. in Gujarati and History in 1958 from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, an LL.B. in 1960 from Sir L.A. Shah Law College in Ahmedabad, and an M.A. in Gujarati and Hindi subjects in 1961 from Gujarat University. He earned a Ph.D. in 1968 from Gujarat Vidyapith for his research Gujarati Bhashama Khandakavya (narrative poetry in Gujarati language). His guide for Ph.D. was Mohanbhai Shankharbhai Patel.

Career

He joined H. A. Arts College in Ahmedabad and worked from 1961 to 1963. He taught at colleges in Talod and Kapadvanj later. In 1965, he joined Swaminarayan Arts College in Ahmedabad and taught until 1975. He served as a scriptwriter at Indian Space Research Organization, Ahmedabad from 1975 to 1977. In 1977–1978, he worked with Mansa College and Sabarmati Arts College. He joined L. D. Arts College in 1978 as a part-time professor. In 1994, he joined School of Languages, Gujarat University as a Reader and retired in 2001. He had also served as Dean-in-charge of Department of Journalism, M. S. University, Baroda from 1992 to 1994. He worked as a freelancer in field of advertising for few years.

He was a chairman of Kriti Film Cooperative Society from 1979 to his death. He was awarded Writer Fellowship from Department of Culture, New Delhi in 1979.

Death
He suffered from acute breathlessness. After a heart attack on 16 March 2017, he was admitted to HGC hospital located at Mithakhali, Ahmedabad as he was suffering from multiple organ failure. On 19 March 2017, he returned to his home at Paldi, Ahmedabad where he died in the evening. His body was donated to NHL Medical College as per his wish.

Works
Modi was a pioneering poet and also an acclaimed playwright, critic, fiction writer and translator. His works are translated into English, Hindi and other Indian languages and his plays are staged several times.

He had written both metrical and non-metrical form of poetry. His main contribution was in ghazal poetry. Along with ghazals, he had written in various genres; geet, sonnet, free verse and Khandakavya (long narrative poem).

He started writing poetry in 1955. Vyatan (1963) was his small and first poetry collection. His other poetry collections which consist of metrical and nonmetrical poems are Urnanabh (1974), Shapit Vanma (1976), Deshvato (1978), Kshano Na Mahelma, Darpan Ni Galima (1975), Irshadgadh (1979), Afawa (1991), Inayat (1996) and Nakashanagar (2001), Vi-nayak (1996), Ae (1999), Saiyar (2000), Shwetsamudro (2001), Gatibhas (2012), Agha Pachha Shwas (2007) and Khara Zaran. Bahuk (1982), based on Nalakhyan of Mahabharata, is a long narrative poem written by him. Kalakhyan (2003) is also long narrative poem composed in the Akhyana-style. His all muktak poetry, a subgenre of ghazal poetry, was published as A-mrut Muktako in 2016.

Modi is noted in Gujarati literature for his experimental plays. Dayal Na Pankhi (1967) is his first collection of one-act plays composed in a verse form and absurd style, followed by Callbell (1973), Hukam Malik (1984), Jalaka (1985), Ashwamedh (1986), Raja Midas (1992). Jalaka centred around the Jalaka, a character from the Ramanbhai Nilkanth's Raino Parvat while Ashwamedh deals with extreme lust of woman and her sexual interaction with Horse. His other plays are Navalsha Heerji (1995), Khalifano Vesh Yani Aurangzeb (1993), Naishadhray (1996), Shukdan (2000), Memory Lane (2008), Matsyavedh (2006), Dholido (2008), Buddhidhan (2008), Natyavali (2014). His Shukdan is a Gujarati adaptation of Edmond Rostand's French tragi-comedy Cyrano de Bergerac and it is directed by Chintan Pandya.

Modi debuted in novel with Shaila Majmudar (1966; an autobiographical novel), followed by Bhaav-Abhaav (1969), Bhavchakra (1975), Leela Naag (1971), Hang Over (1985), and Pahela Varsad No Chhanto (1987), Kalo Angrej (1992), Manas Howani Mane Cheed (1996), Pichho (2004), Lisoto (2000), Daheshat (2004), Chukado (2004), Padchhayana Manas (2008), Nindrachar (2008).

Dabi Muththi Jamani Muththi (1986) and Chhalang (1997) are his collections of short stories.

Mara Samkalin Kavio (1973) and its expanded edition Be Dayaka: Char Kavio (1974) are a criticism of poetry of Manilal Desai, Ravji Patel, Labhshankar Thakar and Manhar Modi. His thesis Khandkavya-Swaroop ane Vikas (1974), Krishnalal Shridharani (1979) and Madhyakalin Gujarati Kavitanu Mulyankan (2008) are his other works. He edited Chandravadan Mehta's selected poetry in Chadho Re Shikhar Raja Ramna (1975). He also edited ghazal collections, Gami Te Gazal (1976) and Gujarati Pratinidhi Gazalo (1996). He had translated Vasantavilas, a medieval Gujarati fagu. He co-edited Madhya Yugin Urmikavyo (1998), a compilation of medieval Gujarati poems, with Chimanlal Trivedi.

Jalsa Avtar (2014) is his memoir.

He started Hotel Poetry Club, also known as, Hotel Poets Group, where he used to encourage young friends to read, write and to critique.

Awards

Modi won the Ushnas Prize (1982–1983) for his book Bahuk. He received the Kalapi Award in 2000, the Narsinh Mehta Award in 2008 and the Vali Gujarati Award in 2010. He was awarded the Teansmedia Award in 2004. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati writers in 2013 for his gazal collection Khara Zaran.

Personal life

He married Hansa on 21 June 1958 who predeceased him on 2 March 1989. They had a daughter, Nimisha Bhatt, and two sons, Ingit Modi and Utpal Modi.

See also
 List of Gujarati-language writers

References

External links

1939 births
2017 deaths
20th-century Indian novelists
20th-century Indian poets
20th-century Indian short story writers
Gujarati-language writers
Indian male novelists
Indian male poets
Indian male short story writers
People from Mehsana district
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati
Dramatists and playwrights from Gujarat
Deaths from multiple organ failure
Indian male dramatists and playwrights
Novelists from Gujarat
20th-century Indian male writers

Chinu Modi