Culture Warriors category archive
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
At the Washington Monthly, Paul Finkelman argues that Florida Governor DeSantis and his “Don’t Say Gay” law stand squarely in the middle of a long tradition of suppressing speech in the American South, a tradition which, like so many of the negative aspects of our society, ultimately reaches back to racism and slavery.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Mandating Molestation, Reprise 0
Sam and his crew discuss the Republican war on trans persons.
Aside:
The number of trans people is minuscule.
The number of people driven absolutely bonkers by the very idea of trans people is appalling.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Florida Man wants to resurrect Pravda with a Southern accent.
The blatant obviousness of it does rather take one aback, does it not?
Short Attention Span Theatre, Florida Man Dept. 0
Farron points out, “You gotta pay attention the follow through.”
He has a point. Too often in the haste to chase breaking news, neither the media nor its audience and readers pay attention to the rest of the story.
Birth of a Nation 0
Thom discusses the origins of today’s Republican Party.
Aside:
Would that I were as optimistic as he.
Chaos Agents 0
The Arizona Republic’s Elvira Diaz explains.
Our Own Tower of Babel 0
In a fascinating discussion, David interviews Jonathan Haidt about what led to our becoming a society of stupid (hint: “social” media isn’t).
Read Haidt’s article.
(Missing word found.)
Suffer the Children 0
. . . and again we are reminded that that phrase is not scripture, but, rather, Republican policy.
Ragged Individualism 0
University of South Florida Professor Murad Antia notes that, the United States had 12.5 times more deaths from COVID-19 than did Japan as a percentage of population. Indeed, he notes that Florida, with a population about one-fifth Japan’s, had more deaths than Japan.
He looks at some of the cultural issues which he suggests contributed to this. Here’s a snippet:
Here, on the other hand, we have a lot more freedom to do as we like, with dire consequences sometimes. Americans seem to favor individual rights over collective rights. In times of collective crises like World War II, collective rights have taken precedence, but only temporarily. In a nation where “rugged individualism” is infused in its DNA, individual rights eventually take precedence. We witness it in debates over gun control, education, climate change and health care.
(Broken tag fixed.)
A Notion of Immigrants Meets the Court that Eschews Precedent 0
The writer of a letter to the editor of the Roanoke Times poses an inquiry.
Courting Disaster, Reprise 0
Jesse Robison, writing at the Idaho State Journal, considers the proposed? pending? Supreme Court decision the abrogating women’s rights to abortions. He notes several arguments against that decision, but I think this gets to the heart of the matter:
It’s all about barefoot and pregnant, folks.
Follow the link for his other observations.