How turning voters off politics helps US pollies get elected – will it work in Australia too?
Intriguing analysis in this post from Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post, although Jay Rosen notes that he doesn’t cover the complementary role played in this game by the news media playing up the confected outrage.
Sunday Singalong: The Breeders
Once upon a time there was this perfect punk rock band and it was The Pixies. Then The Pixies broke up, partly because Kim Deal kept getting side-lined in the band and partly because Frank Black had ‘temperamental genius’ staked out, and when they broke up you could tell everyone assumed it was a man’s [...]
Sunday Star Wars: I find your lack of dancing…disturbing
Darth Vader vs Emperor Palpatine dance-off – this is a thing now. Please treat this as a general whimsy and weirdness thread – what have you spotted in the wild recently that you feel you just have to share?
Friday Hoyden: Kathrine Switzer
In 1967 an angry race official tried to stop Kathrine Switzer from running the Boston Marathon. He failed, she changed her society.
LNP staffer quits after anti-feminist rant in email
He sent an email to a Queensland feminist about the superiority of men, telling her to “get a life” and calling her a “sourpuss” for writing an opinion piece about the need for more women in parliament. Some media advisor, eh?
Roseanne Barr wants the US presidential debate back on topic #righteousrant
Roseanne Barr on Ann and Mitt Romney and the Mommy Wars: “why bring out this fake issue again now? Could it be to divert the conversation from the continued restrictions being placed on women’s reproductive rights and make us forget that both parties are socialists for their own causes…?” – and Daily Beast puts this righteous rant from a woman who is running for POTUS in the Entertainment section.
Look what I found: a picture of mass murderer Breivik that doesn’t play to his script
Why can’t you do better than all those fist-salute photos, media? Why are you publishing the shot that he wants people to see?
Sunday Singalong: M.I.A.
To prove that I am not just about the 90′s, here’s M.I.A. for Sunday Singalong. M.I.A. is the thrillingly clever Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam: a British musician, painter, and director of Sri Lankan descent. She readily incorporates politics into her music and interviews, with her most frequent causes being that of refugees and anti-racism, but she [...]
Sunday Series: Discworld
It’s been a couple of years since an entirely gratuitous Terry Pratchett thread, and a Twitter discussion asked about favourite Pratchett novels, with a focus on readers new to Pratchett. What think you?
It Gets Better: a message from Australian comedians
I’ve long made pained expressions whenever I hear that “high school is the best years of your life” pablum expressed, and I was one of those people who did actually have a pretty good time at high school…I know now how lucky I was. After high school, LIFE GETS BETTER.
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