Gotta be honest, I don’t think I’m ready for more Zach Braff. I’m gonna need another year or two before I can even think about Zach Braff regularly. A critic wrote something about his bumbling nice dude schtick being the performance equivalent of getting overtaken by a pile of puppies (I believe he may have also…

Overall conclusion- despite variations in how we arrived here, the US and Europe both have a lot of work to do regarding race, and it feels as though racists are becoming more bold in both places .

I’m curious as to whether Europe suffers from the deep denial of racism that permeates American society. What do you think? I think our unbridled belief in individualism really hinders America’s ability to reckon with with systemic racism (if you bring up reparations with my relatives, they bristle almost violently,…

I’m sorry you had to go through that (I feel like that could almost be traumatizing, but maybe standing by and doing nothing would feel terrible too).

There isn’t even reading involved! So easy...

My boss’s wife is a fertility doc and she uses that statistic when guest teaching at a local university. People get pretty weirded out about donating or destroying, so good on you for helping out science!

I’m painfully, annoyingly, blindingly white, you dumbass.

Once people have the kiddos they want with their embryos, they have 3 options: donate unused embryos, destroy remaining embryos, or store them. Something like 90% of people choose to store them indefinitely (I guess destroying and donating are fraught for a lot of people). I’m hopeful that a lot of those embryos were…

That was fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoy hearing from someone else who represents a different cultural point of view, and I appreciate you taking the time for a little back-and-forth! I think-naively or not-Americans generally feel that Europe, though it definitely has its own race issues, is somewhat better off than us.

That was a great rendition of ‘If I Were a Rich Man’, but hearing it without the accent most actors use was odd to my ear. Well, I shouldn’t say that most actors use it, I’ve seen it done a couple times, and quite enjoyed Kirk’s performance on Gilmore Girls. Is it not okay to mimic the accent in the original? Or just…

I think the point you made about French Black rappers is maybe a a bit illustrative of the different connotations the word has in different culture’s lexicons, and perhaps what Baldwin was communicating. In American culture, the word has been reclaimed to some extent by Black musicians, and the community in general.…

The article I posted references research re: TV representations of CPR effectiveness, and how incredibly misleading they are. It’s disturbing to think that a former American lawmaker might actually learn about the world primarily from primetime TV dramas. Read a book, or just the CNN website, once in a while, damnit!

I think perhaps Baldwin was referencing the unique and disgusting heft/connotation that word carries when spoken by white people in the American context (with our specific, terrible history of building a whole country on the backs of kidnapped, enslaved Africans who were not-and still are not, to a certain…

The more you think about it, the more Santorum’s comments feel like those of a completely disingenuous ass.

I hope both you anddiggo are doing ok. That’s a very traumatic experience, and it was probably best for your mental health that you got out of there, especially because there was nothing you could do.

I’m calling my BIL right now. He’s a doctor and he needs to hear this.

This is a useful, realistic way of viewing CPR. I appreciate that so much.

You most definitely are more suited to speak accurately about the usefulness of CPR in a shooting situation than Santorum.

I always wonder if I’m being objective- if I think they’re worse/more underhanded simply because I dislike their views. But stufflike this falls solidly into the ‘definitely worse ‘ camp.