Culture

Saving the Real American Dream in 2020 0
- Culture
- January 16, 2020
In Mark Helprin’s humorous and insightful novel Freddy and Fredericka, Freddy, the bumbling Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, and his spoiled wife Fredericka, are dispatched on a special mission: to conquer the United States of America. Wearing “modesty panels of golden rabbits’ fur,” they parachute into New Jersey at night and set off
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The Dehumanizing Horror of Facebook Tag Groups 1
- Culture
- January 16, 2020
When I was in high school, I had a classmate who obsessively sorted everyone in the school into made-up categories. It seemed like every week, he would invent new sets of criteria by which to group us. For reasons I couldn’t fully explain, I hated it. It was only years later, when employers started asking
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The Impulses Driving Transgender ‘Vandals’1
- Culture
- January 15, 2020
Want to know some surprising facts about transgenderism? Physician Michael Laidlaw has some to offer in a recent article for Public Discourse: More than 60 gender clinics have opened in the U.S. since 2007. The transgender student population is growing. Surveys show “as many as 3 percent of school kids now identify as transgender.” One
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Treasures in the Trash: Signs of Our Abundant Life 0
- Culture
- January 15, 2020
Here I am visiting with my son, his wife, and their children in Asheville, North Carolina. This morning I was outside enjoying the dawn and the crowing of the roosters when I looked with new eyes at the yellow recycling bins at the edge of their driveway. Soon I was rooting through that bin, pulling
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‘Jack Ryan’ Gets Four Pinocchios on Venezuela 0
- Culture
- January 15, 2020
Despite Venezuela’s track record of seizing the means of production of a multitude of industries?, there are still those who have trouble calling Venezuela a socialist state. The denials are getting more creative. The most recent comes in Jack Ryan, Amazon Prime’s hit show starring John Krasinski as the protagonist from Tom Clancy’s best-selling books.
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Why Hipsters Just Might Save Romance 0
- Culture
- January 14, 2020
I recently interviewed a lovely lady for my local newspaper who was organizing our hometown’s upcoming Christmas celebration. She noted regretfully how children no longer experience the thrill of looking forward to the surprises Santa will bring. “Kids don’t have to wait for anything anymore,” she observed. “They’re used to getting everything now.” That remark got
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