Category Archives: Pop-Culture

Heroism Stripped

Aesthetics, Britain, Feminism, Gender, Human Accomplishment, Pop-Culture, Sex

An anonymous sage said that “expectations tend to be self-fulfilling”: Expect nothing and you’ll get nothing. In the West, if kids so much as dial 911 in an emergency, they are decorated for bravery. So, it’s hardly surprising that evincing narcissism, self-adoration and bad taste has been elevated and recast as heroic, honest and gritty.

Going by the MailOnline’s sensibility, the au naturel uglies below are really “brave mothers and daughters [who] bare all – and reveal their hopes and fears about ageing” [sic]. I give you your new heroines. Scroll down for an eyeful.

The Tarts and “Tards” of Hollywood

Conservatism, Feminism, Gender, Hollywood, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Pop-Culture

The following is from “The Tarts and “Tards” of Hollywood,” my latest column:

“…Hollywood had its Golden Age, back when well-written scripts reflected well-developed, multifaceted characters. Today, Tinseltown is a monolithic, left-liberal automaton, marching in thematic unison, and subjecting the viewer to the same impoverished, error-riddled, preachy themes.

The evidence is in. Activism and abreaction have replaced acting, and sermons have supplanted stories in the repertoire of the pretty, pea-brained community.

A giant digit wagging above a captive audience: that’s Hollywood.

The conservative-minded masochist comes to the cinema fully prepared to confront and forfeit his “fascist” sympathies. For example, in the 2008 flick “Conspiracy,” the battle is between the forces of absolute evil and pure good, in the border state of another “evil” governor.

Representing the open-border sensibility is Val Kilmer, a superhuman, super-good, Iraq war veteran. Standing in for the border-control, stark-raving crazies is an all-American, Arian, gang of war-profiteering developers.

Yet, in book-after-book, the “conservative” case against Hollywood consists, mainly, in reiterating the facts of this faction’s liberalism. Unless a protagonist is against G-d or for abortion, conservatives are culturally deaf to the piffle spewed by the pea-brained community.

What do I mean?

On a meta-level, Hollywood’s “angels and demons” productions have helped create a parallel universe willingly inhabited by our countrymen, conservative and liberal alike.

Consider the gender junk percepts. Did not the commentariat, conservatives and liberals, come together over Sen. Rick Santorum’s so-called archaic ideas on women in the fighting force? …”

Read the complete column, “The Tarts and “Tards” of Hollywood.”

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Latest Act in American Vaudeville

America, Intelligence, Media, Pop-Culture, Psychology & Pop-Psychology, The Zeitgeist

American life has a vaudeville quality to it. You learn to shut it out, as you would white noise.

A perennial element of the national freak show is the obscene football scene. Another, it would appear, is the “Mega Millions” lottery. This is major news in mainstream. The queues for tickets are snaking around the country’s neighborhoods.

The odds of a “Mega Millions” jackpot win are 1 in 176 million.

What does it say of those who are placing bets on these odds?

UPDATED: “Trayvon Martin’s Filthy Porno-esque Tweets” (Facts Vs. Context)

Criminal Injustice, Justice, Law, Morality, Pop-Culture

“Trayvon Martin’s Filthy Porno-esque Tweets,” writes the uncompromising Debbie Schlussel, “would make even Larry Flynt blush.”

Read on.

UPDATE (March 29): Eric, you are correct. As I write in my upcoming weekly column, “Granted, Trayvon’s tweets are not germane to the facts of his slaying. They are, nonetheless, telling.” The Courts in recent decades have moved to strip a prosecution or a defense of the legitimate contextual arguments (such as priors) that go to character and motive. For example, the stripper in the Duke lacrosse case was a shady sort who shook down others. This, we are supposed to believe, had no relevance in the Nifonging of the players. So I think a full picture of this boy and his shooter are relevant to the inquiry. I’m for more, not fewer, facts, so long as they are not confused with the facts of the crime.

Check back for the column tonight.