This is an interesting story, only in that it continues a conversation that took place when that white guy was cast as MLK. Story here:

So what again is the claim made against Galloway? I thought it was sexual assault? This article makes it seem as if it was “sexual misconduct,” a 2-year affair with a student, that got him fired.

I believe the death penalty is the humane choice in this instance. But then, I don’t believe that “life” pierces circumstances to shine as a inherent, abstract good. Life in prison would be torture for this kid, as it is for most, but certainly for him. I remember when Jeffrey Dahmer was given life, and I thought that…

“I thought he was someone who was just rooting for my success and wanted to help”

They rewrote the character and the rewritten character was not Asian, and that was all completely within their rights to do. I have no problem with the Magnificent Seven, a reimagining of The Seven Samurai, or Ran, a reimagining of King Lear. Appropriation, of one sort or another, is the lifeblood of art. And artists,…

This is the battle, at its essence. I’m not sure it’s winnable. The battle is this, people live in the ahistorical present and their ethics are of the Kantian, categorical kind; grounded in reciprocity and the preeminence of the individual. They are taught the golden rule in preschool and it stuck. The proposition…

You have no idea of what “the point of art” is. Art can have many points, or no point. No, what you have an opinion, one that is in fact not shared by most artists. Few would agree that art’s obligation to the coherent vision of the artist is subordinate to a “message” it is required to send to some niche of the “real…

I don’t think it is that simple. Generally, people who fight for social justice are wary of the idea of the free and unencombered agency of the individual. The argument for implicit bias, for example, largely dismisses that notion. And in this case, I think it is a stretch to say that any woman’s desire to wear a…

His face screams fetal alcohol syndrome to me.

Nobody did. Barbies dimensions are an expression of a cultural problem, not a cause of that problem. Muddled thinking gets this stuff mixed up, and there’s the crit lit practice of parsing things on a granular level and indulging in speculation that has no science behind it at all. That said, Barbie’s dimensions are…

Ok, after all those posts, I need an example of a movie that you found “amazing.” I’m not defending this movie, which I haven’t seen. But I do like naturalistic movies, and if you’re dismissing it because Harry Potter isn’t in it or something along those lines, then I know where you’re coming from.

Has everyone read this letter from Medeliene Thien?

I don’t think we should focus on the white working class and exclude work class people of color. They would both benefit from the same policies. And I don’t think the issue of policing minority populations can be put on the back burner. But the (real) microaggressions suffered by otherwise successful women and POC in…

Absolutely right. An inclusive economic message is what is needed, one that crosses ethnic and gender lines. Somehow, the race became dominated by identity issues, and while those are important, it is strategically dumb to make that the tip of the spear. Here’s a truth, a truth demonstrated by the Obama presidency…

No, no, no. This was not just a war between demographics. It’s easy to forget, because of all the tribalism on both sides, but the economy, the environment, the safety net, peace abroad, all of these are important issues that might destroy the livelihood or quality of life of any person, regardless of race. So white…

Really interested in how this next season plays out. The first season was easily the best season of any of the Marvel TV franchises, better than Daredevil and better than Luke Cage, which actually disappointed me in the latter half of the season.

This is a compelling take. We have been so habituated to the “character” narrative that in acts of powerful cognitive dissonance, we find a way to believe or disbelieve what we need to in order to vote for a person as the better “character,” when really, we don’t care about character. At our best, we care about…

I read Aunjanue Elli’s article, and she seemed to ground her argument in the movie’s historicity, but there’s a real problem with that.  Like most fiction, it lies to tell the truth.  There is truth there.  But it is not historical truth, strictly speaking, because the movie is in fact not historically accurate.

Is that desire for connection, the kind we feel with our best, most intimate friendships, and our sexual desires inextricable? In other words, most of us believe that sex is part of some other plane emotional connection, but is that really an essential aspect of sex, or an expectation and/or learned association we…

Kim is Armenian, a flavor of “white” yes, but this is not the aesthetic she chooses to portray.