Tag Archives: Culture War Correspondence

Culture War Correspondence: Minority Representation

Posted on February 18, 2014 by | 9 comments

EVAN: Gordon’s always been better at the fancy introductions, so I’m going to start by saying that this all began with this image-

See the rest of the image here.

– in which trans women [as well as a few others, I’m sure] tear Joss Whedon apart for answering a question about writing strong female leads with a joke. The problem being, of course, that the joke was trans-exclusionary.

This of course could be expanded into all jokes being trans-inclusionary, at which point Gordon had something to say about the number of trans men and women out there-

GORDON: Current estimates, for the US anyways, are holding at roughly 700,000, give or take, making up just about %0.3 of the population.

As Evan and I discussed in our first reaction to the outcry surrounding Whedon, this places people identifying as transgendered at somewhere above the number of folks hit by lightning and lower than the number of people born with more than five fingers on a hand.

Point being- it’s a very, very small group. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in bizarreness, comics, Culture War Correspondence, lgbt, media, race, religion, television

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Culture War Correspondence: Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 5, 2014 by | 2 comments

EVAN: Loved ones, we bring to you this week a special Valentine’s CWC that is very much in the spirit of the season. Similar to how chocolates and pink and red decorations began being sold in late January we are discussing the holiday, if you can call it that, well ahead of the actual date.

KAT: Yes, good old Valentine’s day. Or as I like to call it, Singles Awareness Day.

Before we started our official CWC I was telling Evan how I’ve spent the last few years of S.A.D. dressing in black to protest Valentine’s Day (and the marketing of love). Only last year my protest was ruined by John proposing to me. Go figure.

EVAN: So inconsiderate, that guy.

While I’m sure many people view S.A.D. as the bitter, single person’s response to February 14th, maybe you want to talk a little more about how you used it as a form of protest? I did mention in the intro how it all starts when the stores switch up their stock-

KAT: Since red and pink tend to be the colours associated with Valentines Day, dressing all in black can make you stand out a fair bit. Honestly, I knew it wasn’t going to make a difference to people around me making a Valentine’s Day purchase, but it makes a statement about how you feel about being single. Don’t get me wrong, being in relationship can be amazing (and has been for me), but I wanted to make it clear that a relationship isn’t necessary in order to have a fulfilling life.

Also, I hate pink…

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Culture War Correspondence, money, relationships

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Culture War Correspondence: How We Would Do TV

Posted on January 29, 2014 by | 2 comments


EVAN: The idiot box, the boob tube, the . . . television receiver . . . TV’s a pretty important part of our culture, and even as I write this the flatscreen is on, showing the Rockets pretty soundly beating the Spurs-

There are also certain ways that things are done, which is apparent as anything else given the upcoming Super Bowl and the so-called “Ad Blitz”. What we’re here to do is explain how we’d do things, were we the ones running the show.

GORDON: Since you brought up commercials, that’s probably a good place to start.

How about declaring a law that the same commercial cannot be shown twice in the same hour? Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in advertisement, advertising, Culture War Correspondence, television

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Culture War Correspondence: Evolution, Creation, and Debate

Posted on January 22, 2014 by | 11 comments

GORDON: Ladies and gentlemen, it has fallen to Kat and I to provide you with today’s topic. Some people would say we arrived at the topic gradually over time, making little changes along the way, others maintain it was created within seven minutes.

It’s evolution and creationism and the place of both in our society.

KAT: Exactly. So Gordon and I were tossing around some ideas for tonight’s CWC and arrived at this one. It was Gordon’s suggestion, so I thought maybe you (Gordon) wouldn’t mind describing why it came to mind.

GORDON: Well, it was posted in my Facebook feed that Bill Nye, acclaimed figure of the scientific community, will very shortly be debating creationist Ken Ham on the subject of creation vs. evolution. What really caught my attention though, and lead to me suggesting the topic, was that the person who had posted it was saying it was a shame that Bill Nye was doing this- that this debate would just legitimate something that had no standing.

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in Christianity, Culture War Correspondence, education, religion, science

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Culture War Correspondence: The Internet’s Disenchantment with Jennifer Lawrence

Posted on January 15, 2014 by | 10 comments

KAT: Friends, readers, earthmen, lend us your eyes for another Culture War Correspondence. This week Evan and I will be discussing Jennifer Lawrence. It may sound like a broad topic, but maybe Evan can expand for us why she recently came to his attention.

EVAN: Well, in general there’ve been a number of articles, like this one on Salon, that hint at an impending wave of internet backlash towards J-Law [I will not be referring to her like that again]. This has been backed up by comments on popular image hosting website imgur that sum up to, “still?” and/or “okay, we get it.”

But before we really delve into all of that I think it’d be good if we both answered the question: How do you feel, generally, about Ms. Lawrence?

KAT: Well, I’ve written about her in the past and my opinion tends to be generally the same. She seems authentic to me, and while I realize no one can be truly authentic in the public eye, I enjoy seeing a celebrity in the news that I can relate to.

How about you? Continue reading →

10 Comments

Posted in celebrity, Culture War Correspondence, feminism, film, food, health, interview, media

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Culture War Correspondence: Atheist Churches

Posted on January 8, 2014 by | 7 comments

GORDON: Brothers and sisters, we are gathered together today in the eyes of…

well, nothing. Today’s discussion will cover the growing number of atheist churches in the West.

EVAN: That may seem like a ludicrous concept to any and all of you, so I think before the two of us really begin discussing this movement that originated in the UK [of course] I think it would be good for us to share what our first impressions were of that term.

So, Gordon, what did you imagine an atheist church was, or would be like?

GORDON: Well, my immediate reaction to the concept was that it’d all be some kind of satire, like Pastafarianism, though the more I thought about how one would actually function, the more I kept returning to some kind of a cross between a support group and a study group.

Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in bizarreness, Culture War Correspondence, Europe, morality, religion

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,