Game of Gender Relations
Over on PolicyMic, Julia Rhodes writes, ‘Game Of Thrones’ and ‘Mad Men’ Make Women Characters Out to Be Mothers, Whores, and Little Else. I’m not a frequent Mad Men watcher, but I’m really into Game of...
View ArticleGeorge Packer and the End of Technology Criticism
[The real point of this blog post is just to encourage you to read George Packer's article (ungated version here. But c'mon, subscribe to the New Yorker already). It's the best thing you'll read this...
View ArticleCrime, News Coverage, and Institutional Racism
If there’s anything that pretty much everyone should agree on in light of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin story, it’s that the story shows how deeply divided we remain as a country. At least as...
View ArticleBlurred Lines: Offensive, but Probably Not Copyright Infringement
At least in my circles, it’s pretty much taken for granted that Robin Thicke’s megahit “Blurred Lines” is shamelessly offensive. I can’t imagine telling a woman “You the hottest bitch in this place!” I...
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Hashtag Rage
Two students in my graduate seminar sent me this Jimmy Fallon clip yesterday. It’s pretty funny. But this isn’t a post about Fallon and Timberlake. It’s a post about a brief rant a subjected my...
View ArticleThe Real Threat to the US Economy
In the majority of media coverage about the shutdown and debt ceiling, the press has bent over backward to imply that there is plenty of blame to go around. This is false equivalency of the highest...
View ArticleDavid Brooks Is Not a Good Person
David Brooks is not a good person. I’m often mildly offended by Brooks’s writing. I think he’s (mostly) a lazy columnist who dresses up culture war outrage with faux social science language. But it’s...
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Another Opinion Columnist Took a Cheap Shot at Upworthy… You’ll Totally Guess...
Every month or two, it seems like the same cranky opinion piece gets written about Upworthy. The latest, “Upworthy’s unworthy politics” comes from Jordan Fraade at Al Jazeera America, bears all the...
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Upworthy Is People
This is meant as a brief follow-up to last night’s post about Upworthy. Jordan Fraade responded to my critique via twitter with the following reply: @davekarpf @Upworthy Anyway, I appreciate the...
View ArticleBill Simmons and ESPN’s Ombudsman: Is Goodell enough of a “certified liar”?
In his column on Bill Simmons’ suspension, ESPN Ombudsman Robert Lipsyte comes off as blissfully unaware of how ESPN’s action looks — parroting and even sanitizing the company line. For those who...
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