Marty Kaplan describes the symptoms and gives a name to "the very real nausea that culture (to use a kind word for it) can cause": Attention Sickness. First the BIG THING was ANNA NICOLE. Then it was WAR FUNDING. Then it was SANJAYA, and vote-for-the-worst sadism. Then it was CANCER, and…
American culture celebrates the quick fix. Diet pills like Trimspa and Ephedra enjoyed massive popularity despite their health risks because many people want to look healthy without actually living healthfully. Take a diet pill, pop a multivitamin instead of getting nutrients through food, starve yourself- it doesn’t matter how you…
Howard Zinn recently spoke on patriotism on DemocracyNow: Patriotism to me means doing what you think you're country should be doing. Patriotism means supporting your government when you think it's doing right, opposing your government when you think it's doing wrong. Patriotism to me means really what the Declaration of…
We’ve had a horrible tragedy back here in the United States. Thirty-three students are dead at Virginia Tech, with many others wounded. Our papers are going to spill a lot of ink on this story, as they should. But on the other side of the world, multitudes of innocent civilians…
This one-minute video (which I found on Dispatches from the Culture Wars) raises dozens of questions (many of them having nothing to do with the subject being discussed between this mother and son). But this video also succinctly illustrates the way that mindless dogma can give wings to stupidity and…