(Photo: Peggy Noonan)
Here are some my favorite American journalists who rarely fail to amaze me with their wit and erudition, powerful prose, and clarity of thought.
Peggy Noonan
She writes for the Wall Street Journal. Her Friday columns is a must reading for me. She used to be Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. A devout Catholic and a committed Republican that I trust, despite the fact that I’m neither.
Her recent comments on Hillary Clinton’s turbulent candidacy should be enough to give you a sense of her depth and brilliance as a political commentator: (more…)
This has been on my mind for some time now. It is said that as you age, your taste buds change. As they change, we start to enjoy other foods and dislike ones that previously we had loved. There have been scientific studies conducted that support this and we, as a society, have accepted this. In addition to the change in my taste buds, other things have changed. When I was a young boy, my hair was almost white and now it is a very dark blonde. Some might even say it is light brown. I’m not so much concerned with the physical changes I have undergone over the past decade or two as I am with the mental changes.
The most notable mental alteration is the metamorphosis in my preferences of the opposite sex. I can remember when I was a senior in high school (RHS ‘96….whoo whoo Go Raiders!) and in a moment of pure enlightenment, I realized that every girlfriend I had ever had was blonde-haired and blue eyed. Many would write this off as a classic case of the Oedipus complex. Sure, I hated my father, who didn’t. And yes, I loved my mother, but not in *that* way. I think that it stems more from lack of exposure to other sects of our culture. I ended up forcing myself to date brunettes, Asians, redheads, and all sorts of other women. It worked. (more…)
Marlon Brando upset a lot of people with his specific interpretation of the Nazi officer Lt. Christian Diestl in Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions (1958).
The politically incorrect Brando tried to infuse the Dieslt character with a heroic sub-text.
He even suggested that at the end of the movie he should come down from the mountain where he was hiding with arms open, like a Christ figure.
Montgomery Clift, who was playing the American infantryman Noah Ackerman, threatened he would walk off the set if Brando did that. (more…)
One of the most influential books of the late '50s and '60s was a book called The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution by British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow.
It basically lamented the lack of communication between the "two cultures" – Science and Humanities.
I see the same split continuing today.
On the one hand we have the Internet and a Communication Revolution more powerful in its global impact than the "Industrial Revolution" of the 19th century.
We are busy like bumblebees configuring our smart phones and wi-fi networks, setting up our web sites, and leaving behind us as many electronic breadcrumbs as we can. (more…)
Call it what you will, tv show creators are constantly stretching the boundaries of what society will accept and even enjoy. Some of you are thinking that this is going to be a moral rant, which it is, but it’s more than that. It’s an evaluation of pop culture’s obvious decline.
Producers have at least some idea of what the people want. They know that shows challenging the intellect are doomed to flop, so they stick with what sells: sensationalism. I’m referring to that which is sensational, makes you blink or catch your breath, entices you, scares you, and so on. Today’s programs feed off of your emotions, off of your desires. The problem is that desire is fickle. It’s not an objective, logical, or intelligent thing. No, far from it.
What was surprising and scary and sensational and provocative yesterday is less surprising today. People absorb all these images, sounds, stories, and ideas and they want to be thrilled again and again. That’s what it is. One way or another, people want to be thrilled. But you do the same thing over and over, and they’re not thrilled anymore. They’ve seen and heard and felt that before too many times. You’ve gotta push further to keep it on the edge, to show them what they haven’t seen before, to thrill them with something new.
So you’ve got 3 CSIs, NCIS, House MD, The Badge, Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, South Beach, Desperate Housewives, Without a Trace, Ghost Whisperer, Bones, Boston Legal, and other shows i don’t even know about. Every single show i just mentioned has pushed the boundaries of blood and gore, sexual content, graphic violence, brutality, and provocative language.
Look at the number of shows that picture corpses entrails. Look at the anatomically correct body parts strewn across floors and tables. Watch the crime reenactments where you can see people brutally beaten or attacked. Look at how dark and realistic the meth labs, the prostitutes, and the criminal world is portrayed. Look at what it takes to make a show successful today…
This is our popular culture. Statistics show that we are barely in the top 20 most intelligent nations. I believe it. We don’t even stop to think about what we’re pushing ourselves towards. We have the choice of what to do with our time. i remember a time when people didn’t need to be accessible by phone, fax, or email 24/7.
Here’s a homework assignment for all you youngsters (you qualify if you figured out how to get here):
Watch a few different shows from 5 years ago. Then watch a few from 10 years ago. Then 15. Then 20. Know what you’ll notice? More dialogue, more wit, somewhat fewer cliches, and practically no brutal violence or visible sexual content.
Am i a 60s buff with a chip on his shoulder? Hardly. Pop culture has been transformed from sugar-coated daydreams to dysfunctional family to sadistic, brutal fantasy.
Does that sound like the progress of an ever-evolving society to you? Sounds to me like a country that missed the reality bus and wandered into hell.
(Photo: Peggy Noonan)
