|
By Elton Beard There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide people into two kinds and those who don't. I don't. |
AintNoBadDude
A Level Gaze
Amygdala
Atrios
Blah3
Blue Streak
Body and Soul
Brad DeLong
CalPundit
Daily Kos
Demosthenes
Digby
Electrolite
GeekPol's evil twin
get donkey!
Lean Left
LiberalDesert
LiberalOasis
Looking Glass
Lying Media Bastards
MadKane
MaxSpeak WebLog
NakedWriting.com
NathanNewman.org
Pandagon.net
Rittenhouse Review
Road to Surfdom
Roger Ailes
RuminateThis
Scoobie Davis Online
Scribbler
SideShow
Sisyphus Shrugged
Skippy
Talk Left
Talking Dog
TBOGG
Team Murder
This Modern World
uggabugga
Whiskey Bar
[Age Before Beauty]
Abu Aardvark
alicublog
All Spin Zone
AMERICAblog.org
american street
Angry Bear
Anonymous Liberal
Angry Liberal
A Spork
Aunt Elinor Fights Crime
Baghdad Burning
Big Brass Blog
Bitch. Ph.D
BlogD
Bloggasm
bloggy
Blue Gal
Bob Harris
Booman Tribune
Bottle Of Blog
brainhell
Brown Bag Blog
Broad View, The
busy, busy, busy (II)
Byrd's Brain
Ceteris Paribus (E)
Chase me, ladies
Claudia Long
coeruleus
corrente
Cowboy Kahlil
Crooked Timber
Crooks and Liars
Cynical-C Blog
David E's Fablog
Demagogue
Democratic Daily
Democratic Veteran
Dependable Renegade
different strings
Discourse.net
Drunken Monkey
D-Squared Digest
Drug WarRant
Economist's View
Elayne Riggs
elementropy
Emphasis Added
everythingsruined
Ezra Klein
Fafblog
Fanatical Apathy
Feministing
firedoglake
First Draft
Funny Farm, The
Glenn Greenwald
Hamster
Hairy Fish Nuts
Hellblazer
Hitchens Watch
Interesting Times
James Wolcott
Juan Cole
Julie Saltman
JuliusBlog
Kathryn Cramer
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Left Coaster
Left End
Left I on the News
Liquid List
Mahablog
Making Light
Majikthise
Mark A. R. Kleiman
Martini Republic
Matthew Yglesias
Meta and Meta
MF Blog
mfinley.com
Michael Bérubé
micah holmquist
Miniver Cheevy
Mortaljive
MyDD
mykeru.com
Needlenose
Night Light
Next Blog Blog
No More Mr. Nice Blog
Nitpicker
Norbizness
Orcinus
Pacific Views
Pharyngula
Philosoraptor
Pink Chimpanzee
Politics in the Zeros
Poor Man, The
Proteus454
Pro-War.com
Reading A1
Reading and Writing
Remain Calm
Riba Rambles
Rising Hegemon
RoguePlanet
Rox Populi
Sadly, No!
Sasha Undercover
Satirical Political
Scott Rosenberg's
Scriptoids
Seeing The Forest
Shakespeare's Sister
Shrill Blog
Skull/Bones 2004
Slacktivist
Smythe's World
SteveAudio
SubIntSoc.net
Suburban Guerrilla
SullyWatch
The Talent Show
Think Pogress
Thomas Friedman is
Tiny Revolution
Tristram Shandy
Unfogged
Upper Left
Wampum
War and Piece
World O'Crap
| ARCHIVE | ARCHIVE | ARCHIVE |
| Tuesday, January 21, 2003 |
 |
| Newt Gingrich |
Public opinion surveys around the world consistently show that many people overseas find Americans overbearing, aggressive and domineering. Often this is ascribed to American foreign policy that is said to have offended so many. As it turns out, the problem may not be in Washington at all.And:Instead, think Hollywood.
A new study demonstrates that, thanks to Tony Soprano, "Sex and the City" and young pop divas, Hollywood has given us our unflattering image.And the clincher:
When the statement was made that "many American women are sexually immoral," teens in Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and South Korea agreed much more frequently than teens in China and Pakistan.Now, the Hoover Institution's Peter Schweizer is hawking yet another of his signature Ronald Reagan fetish tomes, while disgraced former congressman Newt Gingrich needs to keep hope alive by seeing his name in print every so often, so this piece by the two of them is not to be taken too seriously. And as is typical for an article that is mostly pure Gingrich - grandiose and incoherent - there are a few gems, like "we need public diplomacy programs that put the world in touch with real Americans, not celluloid Americans", and "entertainment has consequences". But mostly, the article is just a piece of the concerted attack on "Hollywood" now taking place in direct response to the recent surge of not-pro-war celebrities.
One thing, though. How is it that Gingrich and Schweizer get away with discerning a certain something that for liberals and leftists is taboo, unmentionable? Listen:
"These results suggest that pop culture, rather than foreign policy, is the true culprit of anti-Americanism," Melvin DeFleur says.Why should we worry about what foreign teenagers think about us? Aside from the fact that these young people will soon be adults and influence politics in their countries, the DeFleurs point out that teens "are the ones who are trained and equipped to conduct terrorist acts."
 |
To top that off, Gingrich recommends appeasement as well. Instead of fighting for the right of Americans to determine our own cultural destiny, he would have us give up our own art and entertainment, censor and suppress our most popular performers, just to satisfy the bizarre demands of those who would terrorize us. But if we do that, just who will have won?
If anyone was handing out awards to those who suggest that American actions may be a cause of terrorism, or who advocate a policy of appeasement, Gingrich and Schweizer would surely merit a prize or two.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Busy, busy, busy. What bokononists whisper whenever they think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is. |
|
Home Archives |
|
Players
Altercation
BuzzFlash.com
Cursor
Daily Howler
Media Matters
Huffington Post
Talking Points
Tapped
TPM Cafe
truthdig
truthout
Boutique
Agonist
Best of the Blogs
The Daou Report
Failure Is Impossible
FreewayBlogger
Idiocentrism
Info Clearing House
Jesus' General
Jon Swift
Lefty Directory
Memeorandum
Neal Pollack
Rational Enquirer
Reality Control
Ambient Alert
Official Simulator
Orwell Search
Get Me Rewrite!
Tiny Polemics
Temple of GWB
Stand Down
UnaBlogger
Unknown News
Wall St. Follies
Open Letters To...
Chris Matthews
Tim Russert
Washington Post
Roll your own
me-zine
