As someone who slides into the backend of the Gen-X generation, my view of the Rev. Jesse Jackson has always been basically the same. My charitable view of Jackson had been that he is a gifted speaker with a great deal of media savvy; that he cares deeply for people, but sometimes offers dubious solutions
READ MOREEdward Bernays is often referred to as the “father of public relations” and was one of the great proponents of propaganda in the 20th century. According to his biography, “During World War I, he was an integral part – along with Walter Lippmann – of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda machine
READ MOREEd Rensi, the former president of McDonald’s USA, wrote an article that appeared in Forbes recently in which he argued that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour could cost about a million jobs in limited service restaurants. Rensi, who worked at McDonald’s for three decades before he became Chief Executive Officer,
READ MOREIf you’re family, you burden each other. And that’s a good thing, once one understands what it means. This past weekend, First Things posted on Facebook an article they had originally published in 1991 entitled “I Want to Burden My Loved Ones.” That sounds awful, to be sure. But it was written by one of
READ MOREIt took Edmund Burke a very little time to decide that French Revolutionary philosophy posed a massive threat to civilization and social stability throughout Europe. By the end of his life, eight years after the storming of the Bastille, his fears of Jacobin contagion had led him to ask for a secret grave, removed from
READ MOREDetermining what constitutes an appropriately “feminist” position these days can be a confusing endeavor. For example: Does porn exploit women? Or does it liberate them? Depends who you ask. Two “feminists” might give different answers. You might get called a misogynist for even asking the question. It gets even more confusing when feminism comes into
READ MOREIs it good for parents to have lots of help raising their children? Often it is, and sometimes it’s even necessary. Of course, it depends on who’s helping, how they help, and why the help given is needed. But does it follow that the value of good help casts doubt on the benefits of being
READ MOREOn the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, all lovers of the beauties of the English language and all lovers of the glories of great literature will be in celebratory mode. Here at Aquinas College in Nashville we’re having an all-day Shakespeare Celebration with actors and academics brushing shoulders with college and high-school
READ MOREI admit I laughed hard when I stumbled on this joke by Warren Holstein a few months ago: Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Year’s Resolutions: 1) Win war on gluten. 2) Expand Goop brand. 3) Condescend less to rabble. 4) Delete all Coldplay. I laughed so hard because the joke skewers so accurately. And we actually
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