Culture Warriors category archive
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
As my two or three regular readers know, I’m a bit of a mystery buff.
I’ve recently reread one of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels, Champaign for One, which was first published in the mid-1950s. Prominent in the plot is a “home for unwed mothers,” a place where expectant unwed mothers could go to hide their shame until their children were born and given up for adoption, once a common practice. (The one featured in the story, the Grantham Institute, was no Magdalene Laundry by any means, but a gracious and humane institution, but that’s neither here nor there. A true Magdalen Laundry does feature in one of Kerry Greenwood’s Phrynne Fisher stories.)
Rebecca Watson fears a return on such institutions (Magdalene Laundries, that is, not Grantham Institutes) may be in the offing.
CRT: Corrosive Racist Tactics 0
Writing at Above the Law, Chris Williams explains how the right-wing is using their made-up anguish oover “critical race theory” as a Trojan horse to fuel the culture war and recruit new adherents. Here’s a tiny bit of his piece:
Originalist Sin 0
Joe Patrice looks into the belly of the “originalist” Trojan Horse and sees (gasp!) . . . well, no surprises here.
A Culture of Cry Babies 0
Noam Shpancer looks at dis coarse discourse and concludes that Americans need to grow the heck up.
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.