David Brooks expects poor people to learn moral lessons from people like him. It has never occurred to him that people like him might need to learn moral lessons from the poor. Thus when he writes for himself and for people like himself, his columns read like a knock-off of Ecclesiastes, but when he writes about other (non-wealthy, non-white) people, his columns read like a glib, ignorant knock-off of Proverbs. Read more
The remainder of Steve Plank's e-mail -- three pages long -- has nothing to do with the disappearance of more than a billion people, including every child and infant on the planet. Instead, Buck's editor speculates about what he sees as the really important stories -- stories about Jews, international bankers, the U.N., and international Jewish bankers at the U.N. Plank suspects that those Jewy Jews are up to something. Read more
The uncoolness of Q Ideas, I think, stems from its desire to attain insider status -- its need for permission and approval and influence. Insider status always depends on a willingness to accept the rules of the insiders, which means a willingness to keep the outsiders outside. And excluding outsiders is the definition of uncool. Excluding outsiders precludes the possibility of coolness. Read more
I have this Amos Lee song stuck in my head, so now I'm trying to get it stuck in yours. Plus: The specific wrongness of John Hagee; Scott Walker's Cheese Shop Sketch; Intelligent Falling; and the fear that unites KJV-only fundies with their "inerrantist" cousins. Read more
I used to think that the audience supporting any given conspiracy theory was made up of three distinct kinds of people: Cynics, true believers, and hobbyists. That's in the past tense because I no longer quite believe that. What I'm starting to believe, instead, is that any individual supporter of any given conspiracy is made up of all three of those things. Read more
Franklin Graham rails against the X-Men as an "attempt to indoctrinate our young people" into greater acceptance of those who are different. That's not wrong, it just doesn't mean what he thinks it does. Plus: The history of a song that made history, a maister-wonk on R+L=J, the benefits of abstinence-only sex ed, and a top-notch addition to Patheos' team. Read more
I finally saw that big Oscar-nominated Bradley Cooper flick -- the one where he played a gun-crazed sociopath killer. What does it say about us, as a people and as a society, that we treat remorseless killers who live for violence as heroes? That's an important question and an important conversation. But my main take-away from the film was the strength of Cooper's performance as an actor. This wasn't a mere portrayal, but a transformation. Read more
"When they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. " Read more
Texas Republican slaps down right-wing nonsense: "I am horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my governor doesn't have the backbone to stand up to those who do. I'm not sure which is worse." Plus: Privatized red-lining, Wanksy to the rescue, Bill Lindsey, Mallory Ortberg, and the 10,000th (10 millionth?) example of so-called pro-lifers demonstrating that they're more concerned with controlling women that whatever else it is they claim to be concerned about. Read more
The lesson, I suppose, is that our heroes are allowed to be selfish because they are our heroes. Other people, like poor Chris Smith, are not. So just like the peripheral characters who die for their "sins" in a slasher movie, we know that Smith is doomed. The next time we see him we can expect he'll be dead, another bloodied corpse in the woods of Camp Crystal Lake. Read more
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