Political Culture »
Political Culture: Patriotism and the Mind-Body Problem
To no one’s surprise, Republicans this week trotted out what promises to be one of their primary lines of attack against Barack Obama in the fall, should he win the nomination: the notion that
Read More »Political Culture: Films They Won’t Be Celebrating on Oscar Night
Looking back on a year that many critics hail as one of Hollywood’s best ever, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that many of this season’s Oscar-nominated films bear political undercurrents. There Will Be
Read More »Political Culture: Songs for the Stump
Silly Republicans: Don’t you know heartland rock is for Democrats? We seem to go through this every election cycle: Another GOP contender tries to trade his corporate-shill reality for some Reagan-Democrat populist cred, appropriates
Read More »Political Culture: Rise Up With Fists — 21st-Century Protest Songs
While driving through L.A.’s Laurel Canyon on Super Tuesday, I let Jesus take the wheel for a moment as I steered my iPod past the singer-songwriter types who once called the canyon home. In
Read More »Political Culture: No Sex, Please, We’re American
Last week the Federal Communications Commission harrumphed briefly to life, handing down one of its outrageous and seemingly arbitrary fines to a broadcast network that dared show a bit of live flesh. It was
Read More »Political Culture: Rudy and the First Amendment, Part Two
“In Rudy Giuliani’s New York, where the curtain is being lowered on civil rights and civil liberties, anyone who dares to challenge the Mayor, this joyless man with the angry visage who throws out
Read More »Political Culture: Rudy and the First Amendment, Part One
“Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great
Read More »Political Culture: “November” Spawns a Monster
“Why do they hate me?” wails Nathan Lane as the fictional (but not too fictional) President Charles H.P. Smith, early in David Mamet’s new political comedy November. The reply comes without hesitation from Dylan
Read More »Political Culture: The Bush Administration’s Funny Games
Py Korry’s excellent piece the other day about the John Woo torture memo got me thinking about, of all things, a movie trailer that I saw repeatedly over the holidays while haunting the local
Read More »Political Culture: Colbert/Stewart ’08 — Now More Than Ever
Forget Times Square, forget the BCS, forget Iowa, forget Dave and Jay’s returns last Wednesday: 2008 officially gets underway Monday night, when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert return to Comedy Central. How they’ll fare
Read More »