Culture Warriors category archive
All in the Family 0
Farron visits Eric Trump’s fantasy world.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
A reference in a Philo Vance mystery led me to pull out my old copy of The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology* the other day.
As I was idly thumbing through it, it occurred to me that there are many similarities in the events it recounts and the current Republican-fed hysteria over “grooming,” trans kids, and LGBTQ+ in general. Both are based on fiction, feed on ignorance and fear, and persecute the innocent and faultless, while empowering the despotic and tyrannical, who cynically exploit them.
I’m sure more parallels will come to me over time.
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*I’ve had the book for years. I got it in connection with a research paper I was doing back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch makes a strong case that Texas Governor Abbott is simply being mean for the sake of mean.
I think a pretty strong case can be made that, if the majority of immigrants at our Southern border were white like me, they’d not be greeted with such hostility.
Gutting Out the Vote 0
At AL.com, Kyle Whitmire dissects the deception. Here’s how he starts his article:
Follow the link for the evidence.
Speaking of Questions . . . . 0
May it be that persons who loudly pat themselves on the back while proclaiming their patriotism, wear American flag do-rags while waving the Stars and Bars, and call for the imprisonment of those who do not look or think like them, may it be that those persons do mot fully embrace the concept expressed by the Founders that, in the phrasing of their day, “all men are created equal”?
Real Big Men 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, David Salvail is just asking a question.
Precedented 0
Al.com’s John Archibald considers the current kerfuffle over books and libraries and suggests that it’s a case of life imitating art. Here’s a bit of his article:
Trouble. With a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool.
Forgive me if you don’t know the reference from “The Music Man.” It’s not just a show for the ages. Turns out it’s one for the aged.
In it the music man realizes that if he is to gain the trust of the townspeople of River City he must manufacture a threat, stoke fear and lather up loathing for a common foe. In his case, the perfect foe was a pool hall.
And today, Archibald goes on to argue, it’s libraries.
Thought Police 0
Farron discusses a Virginia pol who wants to ban children from libraries if they are not accompanied by adults. (You can learn more about this from a report in the local newspaper.)
When I was kid in elementary school, the local bookmobile would visit my school regularly. I forget now whether it was every week or two weeks or what, but, when it came, it was the highlight of my day. I would regularly check out several books because I liked to read and learn. I would check out fun books and I would check out learning books, and I would read them all before the bookmobile’s next visit.
And now comes clowns (I thought of several other terms to use, but I’ll stick with “clowns”) like this who would deny school children the opportunity to read and learn because they fear that, if children read something, they might learn something. And that, if the children learn something, they might recognize the lies they are being told.
Methinks persons who fear truth are amongst those most to be feared.
Aside:
I can’t blame Farron for getting this wrong, but it’s not “Boat-tort” County. It’s Botetourt (bot’-te-tot) County, named after Lord Botetourt.
I’m a Virginian. I know my state and its history, both the good and the bad.
Precedented 0
Gene Lyons sees a precursor of the laughing misnamed “Moms for Liberty.” Here’s a bit from his article; follow the link for the rest. You’ll be glad you did.
Back in the ‘70s, when a former Miss Oklahoma named Anita Bryant and the Rev. Jerry Falwell were running a similar scam, they used to say that because “homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children … they must recruit our children.” That’s not actually true, of course, but it sounded right to a lot of yokels.
But back to the Moms. I love how they call it “Liberty” when they’re demanding censorship and conformity.
Have Cake, Eat It Too 0
Apparently, Texas believes in the “right to life,” except when it doesn’t.
Just go read it. See if you can wrap your brain around it.
I certainly cannot.
Establishmentarian Thought Police 0
You may have heard of “little libraries,” those tiny enclosures containing books that persons put in their yards to make books available to their neighbors. There are some in our neighborhood, in fact.
Now comes the wife of an Arkansas pol to appoint herself little library censor, sneaking about substituting Bibles for books that she doesn’t think others should read.
And, in more news of closed minds closing others’ minds . . . .
Decoding de Code 0
At the Hartford Courant, David Holohan explains “woke.”