Last week, I saw several people I follow on Twitter link to a post in the Marginal Revolution blog: Why Has TV Replaced Movies as Elite Entertainment? My first thought was, “That’s wrong.” Then I realized that the issue is that the word “elite” has multiple connotations. It means superior (higher in status, better in [...]
A Roundup of My Views on the Culture Wars
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy This segment on The Rachel Maddow Show last night reminded me that I have written a number of times over the past decade on the Culture Wars that America periodically goes through. I thought it might be useful to link to some of [...]
Do not worship false dichotomies
I’ve mentioned many times before of my keen interest in the culture wars (e.g. see here). But something has changed. For example, in the Fifties, the lines were clear. Rock ‘n’ roll was the devil’s music and a tool of anti-American forces. Patti Page and Perry Como were on the side of goodness and patriotism. [...]
Whose standards?
A recent article in WaPo made me think of two of my Spot-on columns: my article on Shilpa Shetty’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother came to mind, because of the later controversy when Richard Gere kissed her, and my piece on Dinesh D’Souza, because he claims that his home country of India is having its [...]