Archive for the ‘Society’ Category
Brendan O’Neill debating over-population in the New York Times
In his “Dot Earth” blog for the New York Times, journalist Andrew Revkin yesterday wrote about his recent correspondence with spiked editor Brendan O’Neill on the issue of over-population. It’s brief, but a great read nonetheless. The post is called “Deconstructing a bestiary of Malthusian ‘miserabilists'”, and Revkin quotes O’Neill as saying: An NGO that arrives in poor Africa […]
MLK Day
Remembering Martin Luther King on his Day. Remarkable man. This video is of King speaking in Montgomery, Alabama in March 1965. It reminds us of one of his great talents: his oration. Such poetry in his powerful words, such passion, and made all the more important because he was backed by a real struggle. Note how the lyrics of the Battle […]
Football and a nation of wusses
The trend in American society in recent years towards risk-aversion and excessive safety-first concerns are undermining an American institution known for toughness: football. I was nearly knocked over by last week’s news that, for the first time in its history, the National Football League called off a game because of weather. A game in Philadelphia between the local […]
San Francisco bans fast-food toys, introduces “Crappy Meals”
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c San Francisco’s Happy Meal Ban www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook Here is the Daily Show’s take on the San Francisco council’s banning of toys in Happy Meals at McDonalds and at other fast-food […]
PC version of Huck Finn removes the word “nigger”
New South Books plans to publish a new, PC-sanitized edition of Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, reports Publishers Weekly. It replaces the word “nigger” with “slave”, and makes similar edits to other words deemed offensive. This is lunacy. PW writes: ” For decades [Huckleberry Finn] has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional […]
27 million reasons to cheer: more babies and immigrants keep population rising
Guest Post by Alex Standish In 2010 there were 27 million more Americans than in 2000. This is a good sign. It shows that America is still a vibrant, dynamic society, even if the rate of growth (9.7 percent) is slower than the rate in the 1990s (13.2 percent). Any country that is adding […]
2010’s Heroes and Zeroes
Today’s spiked reviews the year 2010 with a series of articles. In the lead article, “A year of intellectual rebels and misanthropic moaners,” spiked readers and writers name their heroes and zeroes of the year. Here are mine: HERO: Diane Ravitch, whose bestselling book The Death and Life of the Great American School System made her the most […]
People would rather see celebrities “dead” than donate to AIDS charity
The “Digital Death” campaign from AIDS charity “Keep a Child Alive” has got to be one of the most sanctimonious celebrity campaigns ever. It is also turning out to be one of the biggest flops ever. Various celebrities, from Kim Kardashian (famous for… being Kim Kardashian) to Swizz Beatz (huh? or am I just out […]
Diane Ravitch responds to Bill Gates
Bill Gates has spent a lot of his money in support of trendy school reforms, and education historian Diane Ravitch has become recognized as probably his most articulate opponent in this area. In an interview with the Washington Post, Ravitch has some great replies to questions from Gates. Here is her response to Gates’ question, “Does […]
“Don’t touch my junk”
Will John Tyner become the latest American folk (mass media) hero for uttering those words? As you will learn from this video, Tyner refused to be scanned by one of the new, full-body Advanced Imaging Technology machines at San Diego airport. He then resisted a TSA agent’s attempt to swipe his hand over his body, including […]