Posts tagged as Opinion
Our Dying Soap Operas Deserve Public Funding
Surely you've heard the recent news that long-running daytime soap operas “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” are being canceled. Sad. Yet not that sad because no one watches American daytime soaps anymore, right? READ MORE
Our Debt: Why Rich People Should Be Worried Too
Back in the days before the great bull market began to charge in August of 1982, there was a soothsayer called Joe Granville. He was the Mad Money Jim Cramer of his day, a showman and exhibitionist whose performances included walking on water (across a swimming pool in Tucson, dressed in a tuxedo) and a piano-playing chimp. Despite that his demeanor wasn't what you would expect of a great financial brain, he attracted a large following of investors for his $250-a-year financial letter (about $615 in today's money), partly because, as People magazine explained, he had called four major stock-market turns in two years. His reputation grew to the point that when he issued a "sell everything" fax to his premium subscribers in January 1981 the market dropped 2½% on its busiest trading day to that point in history. READ MORE
I Have A Cold
About ten days ago, I found myself thinking, Hey, here it is February and I haven't yet gotten sick this winter. Of course, even just thinking this was as good as eating a double-scoop ice-cream cone where the ice-cream was replaced by germs. Or having a large, germ-covered housefly fly straight down my throat and directly into my lungs and buzz around in there splotching its hairy, germ-covered body repeatedly against my vulnerable alveoli. Or going outside soon after a shower, while my hair was still wet, having forgotten a hat, and walking fifteen blocks in twenty-degree weather. That last one is what I did, the very next day. READ MORE
Sympathy for the Bullies: Our New Villains
Pity the poor bullies: it is not easy being the cultural villain of the moment. (Just ask Mexicans, or Muslims!) The Google Trends spike over the last year for "bullying" is impressive, and it's all around us: the car ad that was recut to change a kid fleeing bullies into merely a friendly race between youngsters; the members of the Westboro Baptist Church being described as bullies (rather than, say, insane bigoted cultists, which would apparently be less damning!); and, of course, the Times Styles section on bullying in kindergarten. The government's Secretary of Education threw a "Bullying Prevention Summit"! There's a "Stop Bullying Now!" program! 45 states have anti-bullying laws! And so all this attention either reflects or has caused a shift in the connotation of the word "bully." Calling someone a bully now has the kind of rhetorical force that it seems less like a description and more like an indictment that must be answered. It's not just an accusation; it's an identification of imminent threat. That's new. And looking at how we came to hate bullying provides a case study in how cultural attitudes and debates slowly change-and also makes me wonder if we shouldn't be a little more leery in how we choose to assign blame. READ MORE
The "Bad Dad, Good President" Theory
I have been sort of developing this theory on modern presidencies and how the successful ones have all been held by men with distant or completely absent fathers, while the failures were men who came from stable and prosperous upbringings. READ MORE
The Youngs Confront Their Oversharing: Blogs B4 Boyfriendz
Millennial rules for dating and blogging: "I have probably ruined countless relationships with my penchant for oversharing and the somewhat naïve belief that honesty trumps all else. Writing is my one true love. Everyone else-from sweet, corn-fed boys with curly hair to rough older men with adroit hands-will always come second. I'm probably not as sorry about that as I should be." Jesus Christ, you kids, no one is going to be able to run for Senator in twenty years!
'My War': Bradlee Dean's Popular Struggle Against Those Criminal, Child-Molesting Gays
On Thursday, October 21, Plymouth, Minnesota will play host to a movie premiere. The film, part one of a five-part documentary series, is billed as a look "at the heart of our nation to bring us back to our foundation to see what it was established upon-the blood and sacrifice of those who were willing to pay the ultimate price (their lives) for our freedom." Promotions for the film define it as "perfect for all ages" and "a night for the entire family!" READ MORE
Penis Pictures: Do They Really Work?
A reader asks: "Does texting cock shots ever actually work? Like, are there regular dudes who get ladies doing this? Are there ladies who actually welcome it? Because all I would think is that the guy is a total perv (or messing with me, in which case I'd just think he was an asshole). But maybe I'm just a prude?" It's a good question! Also, are there points for style?
Glenn Beck as America's Professor
Recently I decided to check in with Glenn Beck. (I do this semi-regularly with all the various cable news talk shows out of a sense of responsibility, though I never last more than about 10 minutes at a stretch.) I was not optimistic. Based on the clips I'd been exposed to by people who don't like Glenn Beck, I expected a mix between a revival meeting, a Klan rally, and the McCarthy hearings. Instead, I got Glenn in front of a blackboard, lecturing about...Calvin Coolidge. READ MORE
