Wednesday, October 7, 2009

"New New Media" on Culture Wars



One of the best past guests on Culture Wars returns for the October 10 episode!


Check out Fordham professor Paul Levinson as he talks about twittering, blogging, and the reasons to love all the new new media when he discusses his latest book...New New Media.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Action Heroes and Super Heroes!!


All readers can check out the Sunday, October 4, episode of the syndicated PBS talk show, Asian America, where my Culture Wars cohost, Ernabel Demillo, will interview me and author Jeff Yang.

The program airs from 7:30 to 8:00 pm on Channel 25, in the New York tri state area. Or the entire episode can be seen after the 4th by visiting the show's web page.

Tune in and watch us discuss super heroes, action films, and what super power we would love to have!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

More Culture Wars on podcast!

The October 1st episode of Culture Wars is now available on podcast here!

Check out a fascinating - and somewhat disturbing - discussion of some Journal of American Medical Association statistics on med student misbehavior on social networking!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

UFO abduction expert David M. Jacobs on WSPC Culture Wars!


You definitely want to check out the podcast of the latest episode of Culture Wars right here.

Ernabel Demillo and I had an excellent discussion with Temple University Professor, Dr. David M. Jacobs, one of the most prominent experts on the UFO abduction phenomenon and a historian of the UFO controversy.

Check out this new book!


I just needed to put in a quick plug for a new book by one of the best guests we had appearing on Culture Wars this year.

Karen Sternheimer, USC sociologist and debunker of the media-made-kids-killers/drug-addicts/sex-maniacs nonsense has just come out with her new book, Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture: Why Media is Not the Answer. Check it out and just calm down, let junior play with video games, listen to that rap song, and just get over your media paranoia!!

Paranoia can ruin your health!!!

And listen to all the Culture Wars podcasts right here.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Culture Wars 9/17/09

An all new Culture Wars radio show is less than 24 hours away!

Listen live from 12:05 to 12:45 Eastern time as Ernabel Demillo and I give our take on some of the most colorful headlines and look at the lives of journalists covering some of the most dangerous hotspots in the world.

What makes someone cover a war? The action? The excitement? The money? The journalistic ideals? Join us as we talk to guest Todd Baer and find out.

Listen live at www.spc.edu/WSPC

And listen to our past podcasts at www.culturewars.libsyn.com

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

OK, enough is enough!



Well, I, for one, am getting a little tired of the ongoing saga of all the outrage over Rep Joe Wilson’s “You lie” outburst last week. As you can read in the story here, Wilson has just been officially rebuked by the House of Representatives for his breach of decorum and, mainly, for his refusal to apologize on the House floor.

This whole circus, in the meantime, is inspiring a lot of sanctimonious ruminations about the state of American culture and just how much of a “coarsening” of the culture is going on. Others still – Democratic others, to be sure – are shaking their dismayed heads over the Wilson outburst being just another example of how ugly and dangerous the debate over health care is turning into. This is just one more example, they say, after the nasty and loud “town hall” screaming matches going on all across the country about health care.

It’s about time – especially for the Congressional Democrats – to get over it and put a cork in all the righteous outrage over a coarse culture and the disappearing decorum.

Was Wilson out of line yelling at the president the way he did? Yes.

Should he have apologized to Obama? Sure.

Which he did and now it’s time to move on. Congress has much more important things it should be troubling itself with than the lack of decorum. As I recall, by the way, it wasn’t entirely civil and proper to start booing George W. Bush during a State of the Union address either. And other than decorum, I think a major problem this country could possibly be facing is that enormous deficit our grandkids will be paying off. That’s something to get worked up and worried about, not Wilson’s refusal to apologize yet again.

And let’s also stop romanticizing a past of perfect civility and good manners in American politics. Because it never existed!! If this was the early nineteenth century, the president just might have challenged Wilson to a duel over the public insult.

As for the anger over health care, the loud town hall debates, and the insults hurled at Obama from the right-wing…Sure, many of the charges and name calling are ridiculous and out of line. But, then again, such constitutional provisions as the right to free speech, assembly, and the right to petition the government give everyone the right to vent their anger at lawmakers. In a lot of places in the world, people would be arrested and killed if they insinuated half the things the conservative right has yelled at Obama.

And, then again, perhaps concern, fear, and anger might even be warranted with the sort of debt this country is sinking into and an administration whose health care plans have, for far too long, remained vague about how to pay for an overhaul of the system and still maintain quality health care.

For those looking for the root causes of all the anger and rancorous debate, perhaps it’s the fact that the president had one too many comic books written about him and YouTube videos made where he is portrayed as a superhero, a savior, and a messiah, and too many fluff pieces written about his wife's sleeveless dresses. Perhaps this seemingly endless public honeymoon is to blame for his vague healthcare promises and seemingly flip declarations that he was certain that the healthcare overhaul would all be done by this fall, no problems, no concerns, no disagreements, no debate. The president’s time to be a celebrity is over and it’s time to be a leader in a democracy that allows for such sticky and uncomfortable rights as debate, criticism, and the public airing of anger and mistrust of the government.