Culture Warriors category archive
The Crack Down Cracks Apart 0
Johns Hopkins University professors Susan Sherman and Saba Rouhani examine research that shows that “zero tolerance” policing not only doesn’t reduce crime, it can actually exacerbate it.
Follow the link for their evidence.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
At the Des Moines Register, Marty Ryan writes of the current movement among some, mostly on the right, to ban books that tell truths which challenge the prejudices of make said book-banners feel uncomfortable. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest.
President Ronald Reagan’s attorney general, Edwin Meese, established the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography in 1986. It was commonly known as The Meese Commission. At the end, the commission issued a bulky two-volume report, much of it consisting of detailed narrations of the plots of pornographic movies dutifully set down by FBI agents who’d been assigned to view them – at taxpayers’ expense, of course.” Not one of those FBI agents turned into a sexual predator. However, the commissioners believed dysfunctional predators who had testified to the commission that “Porn made me do it.” It was laughable. More laughable was the fact that former Attorney General John Ashcroft had blue drapes made to cover the bare breasts of Lady Justice.
Lies and Lying Liars 0
Sam and his crew call out Dennis Prager’s lies.
Aside:
I’m so old that I remember when AIDS was referred to as “GRID (gayrelated immunodeficiency disease.”
Misdirection Play: the Hawley Smut Act 0
Josh Hawley certainly has an active fantasy life.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Brian Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, considers a piece by the Smithsonian Institute’s Jon Grinspan and suggests that it should be required reading. Here’s a bit of Greenspun’s article:
Vaccine Nation 0
The state of Iowa sanctions endangering public health in the name of the Lord.
Real Big Men 0
Warning: Language.
A Turning Point without a Turn 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear sees an historical parallel.
The Harvest 0
The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts reminds Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk that those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind.
A Victimless Crime 0
Words fail me.
“But There’s No Other Possible Explanation” 0
Parenthoodlums 0
Aside:
You’d think they’d have figured out not to tangle with Jen Psaki by now.
All the History that Fits 0
Oklahoma wants to outlaw historical fact.
It Was All about the Benjamins 0
Dartmouth professor Randall Balmer tells the story of the rise of the “religious right.” It’s not what you might think, and certainly not the stories they tell themselves. A nugget:
Follow the link for the rest.
Aside:
Many years ago, I visited Bob Jones U. while researching a paper I was working on for some class I forget which one but most likely a sociology class my senior year.
It was one of the spookiest places I have ever seen.
Easy Marks 0
The editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun is somewhat taken aback by Republicans’ willingness to believe anything. Here’s a bit:
Imagine his fellow legislators’ surprise in learning the findings of the report, including that the vaccine contains a “living organism with tentacles” and is causing the babies of vaccinated parents to be born “transhuman” with “pitch-black eyes.”
Amazing. And, of course, completely insane.
Follow the link for a litany of lunacy.
School Daze, Reprise 0
Today’s local rag took a close look at disruptive behavior, threats of violence, and even occasional acts of violence at school board meetings in these viral times. Adam Laats, a historian at New York’s Binghamton University, was one of the persons cited in the article; he pointed out that this is not a new or isolated phenomenon, but a recurring one in times of stress and change, supporting that point with numerous examples.
One phrase, in particular, caught my eye:
The full article is at the link.
The Call of the Cult 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Darcia F. Narvaez explores the psychology of cults and how they maintain control over their adherents.
(She uses what I consider an absurd term, “totalist,” in the piece, in order to differentiate from the term “totalitarian”; I think she does so in order to include non-governmental entities. But it’s still absurd.)
Here’s a bit:
Mind control occurs thorough an alternation of fear and love within the isolating environment. Followers are threatened by the leader at the same time they are promised love. They are entrapped within the group, glued in anxious dependency to the group, in a constant state of fear arousal but seeking proximity to the group in a failed attempt for comfort.
I commend the rest to your attention.