Rape Jokes, War, and Media
by Justin Wilcox I encountered a CNN article ostensibly on the Daniel Tosh “rape joke” controversy titled “When Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny.” Like all commentary I’ve encountered on this recent incident with Daniel Tosh, it contained no hard facts. It started off with qualifiers such as “according to” and “reportedly,” while acknowledging that all of [...]
Let The Special Illegals Stay, Send the Rest Away
While I was eating lunch in a restaurant today the TV was blaring, and I saw the following story on CNN: Valedictorian Fights to Stay in the U.S. The version that I saw was slightly different. It did have the same newscaster who butchered the young woman’s last name that time as well (in a [...]
Never Let Them Take Our Dignity
Dignity. I’ve noticed that many things in American society are geared toward taking away people’s dignity to keep them in line. Want help from a social program these days? That will require jumping through many hoops. Want a job? Be sure to remain cheerful and compliant. Maybe it’s just that I’ve read both Bright-Sided: How [...]
The Larger Problem Behind Child Slavery and Halloween Candy
I recently came upon an article on good.is about candies one can buy for Halloween that don’t use child slavery. Apparently, child slaves made my Halloween candy, so I should stop buying it. The articles are well intentioned. No one with a soul wants to support child slavery. I find myself wondering if fruity Halloween [...]
New Poems!
A lot of new topics are swimming in my mind. I haven’t written you an essay, but I penned you these poems. They are very much in the spirit of what you would see here, only in poetry form instead of prose. Many are new. Please read. Until next time, take care and fight the [...]
The Union of Capitalism and Democracy
Capitalism and Democracy are not actually compatible civics. They have been staying together, somehow, for all these years, but they should most definitely get divorced and die alone. I think my metaphor has started becoming morbid and not quite fitting. What I mean to say is that Democracy relies on the assumption that the public [...]
Our Days of Pure Bewilderment
I am constantly asking myself: what makes the people of The United States so insane? What makes America different from other places? Do all the crazy people immigrate here from elsewhere? These days the immigrants seem to be the sane ones. Some people think it’s the food we eat. Too much corn. I don’t know [...]
Keep the Passion; Don’t Get Worn Down
Passion is deeply important in life. Without a passion for something people lose sight of things. They lose the will to go on, to keep struggling. Generally speaking, I don’t enjoy reality television. Sometimes, however, I do enjoy an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, which is the one in which Chef Gordan Ramsey tries to help [...]
Leadership Worship
When the enemy attacks in movies, who is the one person the characters can kill to bring down the whole opposition? The leader. Somehow, when the leader goes, it’s all so much pie. Would it really be that easy? Shouldn’t they be able to replace him with the vice president or equivalent? Leadership is both [...]
The Threat of Anti-Abortion Terrorism
Since I happened to catch The Assassination of Dr. Tiller on MSNBC awhile back, I have wanted to write an entry on it. As it turns out, it is available to watch online on their website. If you want to watch it, I would recommend it. It’s a 45 minute documentary about Dr. George Tiller, [...]
