HMM: Unlike 1995, Americans say they would blame GOP, Democrats equally for shutdown. I suspect this reflects two things: Obama’s political skills being inferior to Bill Clinton’s, and the traditional media having less power.
“The country’s elites – of both political parties and across the political spectrum – have been wrong on just about everything they have done since the end of the Cold War.”
Glenn Reynolds suggests that Chance should sue, as “Enormous damages would ensure greater circumspection.” As true as that might be, Glenn must know that’s an unlikely outcome,...there really isn’t a case for libel, and therefore no damages — as enraging as that might be.The only accountability we can apply to these outlets in this case is the shame of getting it wrong and the damage to their credibility that results. Perhaps with enough of that kind of damage, networks won’t be so quick in the future to run with a suspected gunman’s name, or his supposed political influences, and so on. As this episode showed, though, the media doesn’t seem to learn from their past mistakes.
“It is a gross mistake to suppose that self-esteem is always a good quality, the more of it the better.”
“GOP’s massive new lie:
The truth about Obama’s second term It's factually and morally wrong to say his agenda is doomed if war vote loses.”
What if there was a secret group of individuals who formed a cult and had access to the dirtiest secrets of the biggest corporations in the world? What if their intention was to bring down pharmaceutical companies that knowingly kill millions of people with their drugs’ side effects? Would you side with the cult for their quasi noble albeit vengeful intentions, or would you expose the cult and let the law take its course?
This impossible choice is faced by the protagonist of The East,...
Where to even begin? Ms. Karasik relates her experiences being a 14 year old girl, saying that she and her classmates thought about sex just as much as the boys. She also goes on to claim that girls were having sex with teachers in high school and college and nobody really got hurt. She generously allows that teachers who are caught “having sex with” (i.e. raping) their students “should be removed from their jobs” but only until they complete “rehabilitation.”
I remain puzzled as to how this managed to make its way onto the pages of the Washington Post, but it has.
How is society “damaged” by protecting children from predatory teachers? Karasik doesn’t actually say, other than to imply that Morales might not have committed suicide had the criminal case not been pending. Despicable. Oh, and maybe students would be more likely to discuss sexual issues with school counselors.
I repeat, this was published in the Washington Post. How low can we go? I am afraid we are going to find out.
"One could argue that the AMA and Big Pharma, with their endless pockets and insurmountable lobbying power, have fought their battle against natural medicine, chiropractors, and any other voices of marginal dissent so unfairly for so long that the most effective response is necessarily one-sided. But if you're appealing to the reason of the consumer, and if you intend to respect the intelligence of your audience, sacrificing intelligent debate for the sake of impassioned delivery reduces the intellectual substance of your arguments drastically."
"In reality, though the FDA did warn AIDS patients about one of Woodroof’s drugs in particular, they seem to have largely taken a 'look the other way' approach with Woodroof and his club."
Pop is suffering from the same malady as the art world, which is stuck on the tired old rubric that shock automatically confers value. But those once powerful avant-garde gestures have lost their relevance in our diffuse and technology-saturated era, when there is no longer an ossified high-culture establishment to rebel against. On the contrary, the fine arts are alarmingly distant or marginal to most young people today.
Unfortunately, the media spotlight so cheaply won by Cyrus will inevitably spur repeats of her silly stunt, by her and others. Image and profile now rule the music industry. At a time when profits are coming far more from touring than from CD sales, performers are being hammered too early into a marketable formula for cavernous sports venues. With their massive computerized lighting and special-effects systems, arena shows make improvisation impossible and stifle the natural rapport with the audience that performers once had in vaudeville houses and jazz clubs. There is neither time nor space to develop emotional depth or creative skills.
Pop is an artistic tradition that deserves as much respect as any other. Its lineage stretches back to 17th century Appalachian folk songs and African-American blues, all of which can still be heard vibrating in the lyrics and chord structure of contemporary music. But our most visible young performers, consumed with packaging and attitude, seem to have little sense of that thrilling continuity and therefore no confidence in how it can define and sustain their artistic identities over the course of a career.
