Recent events have seen a rival of our national discussion on police, racial minorities, and the seemingly unending instances of violence being inflicted by the former on the latter. In light of this, we here at Culture War Reporters thought it might be helpful for everyone to break down this complex (or perhaps not so complex) issue with colorful boxes and simple choices.
The bathroom use of transgender people has been a topic that’s hard to avoid, especially on social media. Here in Canada, the following video began to circulate after Alberta’s 61 school boards decided to “revise regulations and hash out new policies by March 31 to protect the rights of LGBTQ students and teachers, support gay-straight alliances and create a safe learning environment.”
And in the U.S., the American Family Association recently began a boycott of Target after the organization stated that transgender visitors should be allowed to use the bathroom they feel most comfortable in. Meanwhile, several States have attempted to pass bills that would force “transgender people to use restrooms that don’t match the gender they live every day”.
Along with the debate, a variety of memes have popped up on both sides of the conversation. While it irritates me to see the particularly popular Chuck Norris-themed meme belittle transgender experiences, I thought trans activists were easily holding their own in the meme department by reminding readers of how difficult it can be to spot a transgender person, and therefore how ridiculous it is to police who enters which bathroom.
Unfortunately, there have already been several cases of bathroom policing, where women who aren’t deemed feminine enough are challenged for entering their bathroom (as might be expected, the video below includes some strong language).
Posted in crime, feminism, gender, lgbt, politics
Tagged Bathroom, bathrooms, cis-gender, discrimination, Equality, female, gender, Girls, lgbt, male, memes, non-binary, protect, rap, safety, Sexual Assault, target boycott, trans, Transgender, transgender bathroom use, women
It can’t be easy making a biopic.
Err to much on the side of leniency and you get a sappy, self-congratulatory, and ultimately meaningless popcorn flick. Err to much on the side of harsh truth and you’ll often get a vicious hatchet job.
Now try doing that while the main character’s still alive.
Suddenly there’s the additional burden of being honest and fair and avoiding litigation at the hands of the offended and his or her legions of lawyers.
Now try doing that with eleven characters at once.
Against all odds, Straight Outta Compton does just that.
Posted in America, art, bizarreness, business, celebrity, crime, Culture War Report, film, history, music, race, review
Tagged 80s, 90s, antisemitism, Arabian Prince, beating, biopic, criticism, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, fuck tha police, gangsta rap, hiphop, Ice Cube, Jerry Heller, LA riots, MC Ren, misogyny, no vaseline, NWA, pac, police, police brutality, race, racism, rap, rodney king, ruthless records, Snoop Dogg, Straight Outta Compton, Tupac, Tupac Shakur, Violence, wu-tang clan
These are the facts:
Michael Brown is dead and Darren Wilson, the man who shot him, has been acquitted by a jury.
The public seems to have latched onto this, interpreting the court’s decision as being not only evident of Wilson’s “innocence” but Brown’s guilt.
But guilt over what?
The past days have seen a reversal of public opinion on Michael Brown, with many online posting gifs of the alleged petty theft he committed shortly before his death. Captions have included statements like “a reminder of who Michael Brown really was” and comments as to his size and stature.
Readers, am I the only one who doesn’t think Michael Brown should be tried over how tall he was? Continue reading
Posted in America, crime, film, internet, media, money, music, news, race, Youth
Tagged 5 things black people need to start doing, Alice Cooper, behavior, Bill O'Reilly, black, C. Delores Tucker, cnn, crime, Darren Wilson, Don Lemon, FBI, Ferguson, gangsta, hip hop, marilyn manson, media, Michael Brown, misogynistic, misogyny, money, murder, music, police, rap, Statistics, thug, thuggish, video games, Violence, white, young black men
GORDON: Friends, Romans, Countrypersons! Lend us your ears! We come to try out a new twist on our weekly discussions!
EVAN: Given Kat’s absence that I mentioned prior, I took a page from what’s been going on over at Marvel to really shake things up hereabouts [while still keeping the spirit of the blog you all love so much].
So Gordon and I got to brainstorming a feature to replace Culture War Correspondence for now [?], and what we settled on was a riff on a little something called “Defending Your Sh*tty Taste”, a podcast on Cracked.com.
GORDON: As the name would suggest, “Defending Your Sh*tty Taste” simply entails each of us bring up one or more cultural elements- shows, music, trends, etc.- which are generally despised, devaluated, or looked down upon by the general public, and proceeding to talk about what value we see in ’em and why we personally enjoy ’em.
EVAN: Before we get started in earnest, I think it would be good to lay down some ground rules, and sort of explain the general format.
Like you said we’ll each be bringing up our own topics [which we’re well aware have their problems] and extolling their virtues. It will be up to the other person to point out the flaws. What I’m going to insist on is that we solely target the cultural element itself, not bringing up or comparing anything else [ex: “But as a communist doesn’t this conflict with your belief that _____?”]
GORDON: I’d also point out that this isn’t really a debate. We’re not here to bash each other’s pleasures, no matter how sick and indecent they might be… Evan.
Posted in cartoons, Comedy, language, morality, music, Surprise Witness, television
Tagged cartoons, clever, comedy, crude, defense, Eminem, Family Guy, humour, jokes, lyrics, music, rap, Seth MacFarlane, Surprise Witness, wordplay
A couple nights ago I heard something blaring outside my window. My apartment complex is situated next to a high school football field, so I didn’t think anything of it until the sound started getting clearer. I walked over to my window and looked out to see a truck with a flat trailer hitched up behind it, carrying a sound system, floodlights, a microphone, and a guy singing an (awful) Christian rap/altar-call hybrid.
Again.
Yeah, these guys have been through before. I’m not sure if it’s a monthly thing, or if they go for it whenever they can sneak in (I’m pretty sure the management, slum-lords though they are, haven’t signed off on this).
For the most part they just roll up and down the streets in the complex at a couple miles an hour and shout through the loudspeakers that we have got to accept the Jesus into our hearts as lord and savior and…
Well, that’s about it really. And it’s junk like this which is the subject of today’s post. Continue reading
Posted in advertising, bizarreness, Christianity, morality, religion
Tagged altar call, Christian, Christianity, Culture, discussion, film, james 2:16, loudspeaker, manipulation, music, pamphlet, rap, salvation, save, subculture, tactic, tract
First off, let me tell you that I like rap music. As I said in a previous post, I unabashedly love the King Fantastic Remix of “Drive It Like You Stole It.” On the other end of the spectrum, I also have a huge appreciation for artists like Macklemore who use the genre to tackle issues like drug abuse and homosexuality [while sounding good doing it].
I will also be one of the first to admit that rap music has also preached the messages of commercialism and misogyny, and that is not something I can get behind. Every now and then, however, a rap artist will push those boundaries enough for the media to get attention [and no, I don’t mean LL Cool J providing the bridge to that song about racism that’s kinda racist]. Continue reading
Posted in feminism, media, music, sex, Shame Day
Tagged apology, artist, bridge, date rape, Drive It Like You Stole It, Icky Icky Poo, King Fantastic, lyric, Macklemore, molly, music, Perez Hilton, Protest, rap, rap music, rape, rape culture, rapper, Reebok, Rick Ross, Rocko, shame day, This is concerning!!!, UltraViolet, women's rights group, You Don't Even Know It (U.O.E.N.O.)
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