It occurs to me that it’s been too long since we actually had an actual “report” here, rather than rabid opinion piece. To that end, we’re going to be examining the state of Arizona’s recent assault on its Mexican-American ethnic studies programs. This story isn’t the freshest (or a full-on report; baby steps, people), but with relatively new developments, and how little attention the story was given in general, it’s worth reviewing.
In spring of 2010, Arizona decided to ban ethnic studies classes in its public schools for grades K-12 (HB [House Bill] 2281). Of course, by “ethnic studies”, the state of Arizona meant “Mexican-American/Chicano” studies, and as Tuscon school board member Michael Hicks clarified:
“Honestly, this law won’t be applied to any other of our [ethnic studies] courses. It was strictly written for one course, which is the Mexican-American studies program.”
-Interview with The Daily Show’s Al Madrigal, 04/02/12 Continue reading
Posted in America, education, history, literature, news, politics, race, Youth
Tagged ALA, American Library Association, Arizona, Atzlan, Banned, Banned Books, bigotry, board, border, Chicano, cornell west, Daily Show, fence, guadalupe hidalgo, hate groups, HB 2281, hispanic, history, immigrant, internment camp, interview, Jan Brewer, Latino, manzanar, Mexican-American, Mexican-American studies, Michael Hicks, Native American, Phillis Wheately, Poster, race, racist, school, segregation, Shakespeare, slavery, South West, Southern Poverty Law Center, southwest, state of Arizona, studies, Tuscon, white, white supremacist, Zapata
Last week saw the death of Family Guy‘s Brian Griffin. One of the most central characters in the show, it’s needless to say that everyone was caught off-guard and most everyone, one way or another, wasn’t too happy about the decision.
When Evan covered it last week, he pointed out that Family Guy creator (and vocal talent) Seth MacFarlane has been suspected by some as having killed off Brian as an act of sabotage; intending to either run the show into the ground or shock the audience into returning as the shows ratings continue to decline. One way or another, Evan thought it was a pretty bold move, and wrote “…I think I’m going to applaud their decision.”
I disagree. Continue reading
Posted in art, cartoons, Comedy, Fame Day, television
Tagged American Dad, animation, Barry, death, Family Guy, GIF, hitchhike, Independent Movie, indie movie, Life of Brian, McFarlane, review, Road trip, S9E06, Schmuely Lonstein, Seth MacFarlane, Seth McFarlane, Snot, Steve, steve smith, the cleveland show, The Life of Brian, Toshi Yoshida, writing
EVAN: I think it’s pretty fair to say that you all like being online. I mean, if you didn’t then how did you ever find yourselves in a place where you typed the words “dr.lizard vs killer croc” into Google and found our blog? Really, the internet has everything we could ever want or need save for physical sustenance, but what about . . . love?
Today Kat and I will be discussing what the deal is with what the cool kids are calling “online dating” and that the uncool kids are calling . . . well, frankly I don’t know.
KAT: I’m pretty sure they also call it online dating.
EVAN: I’m not sure how you could possibly know that, but I’m going to give you the benefit of a doubt and assume that an uncool kid told you.
KAT: Yeah… exactly. Continue reading
Posted in Culture War Correspondence, internet, relationships, sex, Youth
Tagged ChristianMingle, Culture War Correspondence, dating, eHarmony, Facebook, Friends, internet, love, OkCupid, online dating, socializing, stigma, young people
I once had a friend tell me that, in her opinion, being a teenager didn’t stop until you were 23. And that made me feel a little bit better, because teenagers do a lot of dumb things. In general, a lot of dumb things that don’t take into account how they can and will affect the lives of others. For example, the following “prank”:
From one angle, I guess the idea of freaking out shoppers with an over-the-top pratfall, pushed further by an explosion of the liquid of your choice, is kinda funny. From another, more empathetic viewpoint there’s the unavoidable fact that the people working at these supermarkets are going to have to clean up your mess. These people don’t make a lot of money, why are you making their lives more difficult? I mean, dang. Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, internet, morality, Shame Day, Youth
Tagged attack, bombing, death, empathy, entertainment, funny, jewish, knockout, knockout game, knockout king, milk gallon prank, polar-bear hunting, polar-bearing, punching, shame day, teenagers, viral video, Youth
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Culture War Reporters 
I’m Not Sad About Nelson Mandela Dying
Death, or the thought of death, has been on my mind as of late. Seriously, though, we’ve had two posts in just as many weeks on the demise of a cartoon character, and before that a CWC discussing funerals which was brought on by the passing of Gordon’s grandfather. There was also actor Paul Walker’s fatal car accident two weeks ago.
Which is why, in a way, the following status on Facebook yesterday didn’t really shock me:
There’s going to be a lot of Facebook in this post; you have been warned.
In part it’s because the fact that people do die has kind of been on my mind, but also because the last time I heard anything about Nelson Mandela he was in the hospital for lung problems. Naturally I was concerned about him and probably even prayed for the guy, but honestly no more than I put in a good word with the Lord for the homeless Chinese woman I saw begging yesterday [I had no change to give her, before you jump to the conclusion that I’m a prayer-over-action kind of person]. Continue reading →
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Posted in Africa, internet, news, politics, race
Tagged :(, apartheid, civil rights, comments, death, Facebook, grief, internet, karma, legacy, mortality, mourning, Nelson Mandela, race, race relations, racism, reddit, sad, sadness, south africa