Culture Briefs

PC news

“The feminization (and psychotherapization) of American culture so influences the newsroom now that gut feelings are too often treated with the respect of hard facts. …

“[A] small army of skeptics has begun attacking media fear-factor hype recently. The latest volley comes from the magicians Penn & Teller. …

“’I think the media spends a lot of time fooling itself,’ said Penn Jillette. … ’They put out this garbage, and then people watch it because there’s nothing else on, and they think they’re being believed,’ Jillette continued. …

“Journalists are typically nervous about the un-PC idea that masculine and feminine behavior have any basis in biology, for instance. No, no, they insist; it’s the culture. So are stallions rarely used as riding horses because the mares get their more docile nature from leafing through ’How To Please a Man’ articles in Cosmopolitan?”

—Catherine Seipp, writing on “Media Need a Chill Pill,” Tuesday in National Review Online at www.nationalreview.com

BOLSHEVIK U.

“[T]HE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AT THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IS FORMALLY ENGAGED IN DISTRIBUTING A PROPAGANDA FLYER OPPOSING THE ACADEMIC BILL OF RIGHTS. THE FLYER IS A REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE … PUBLISHED BY THE REVOLUTIONARY WORKER … A SELF-IDENTIFIED COMMUNIST ORGANIZATION. IT IS BEING DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE SCHOOL’S PUBLIC POLICY OFFICE AND HAD BEEN POSTED THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING ON PROFESSORS’ PERSONAL BOARDS AND OFFICE DOORS.

“TITLED ’BEWARE THE ACADEMIC BILL OF RIGHTS,’ THE ARTICLE SPECIFICALLY ATTACKS CONSERVATIVES AND CHRISTIANS, AND ORIGINATES FROM AN ORGANIZATION THAT ADVOCATES ’LAYING THE BASIS TO WAGE AND WIN … THE FUTURE REVOLUTIONARY CIVIL WAR WHENEVER THE CONDITIONS DO RIPEN FOR SUCH A STRUGGLE.’ …

“THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY, USA, IDENTIFIES ITSELF AS, ’A POLITICAL PARTY THAT CAN LEAD SUCH A STRUGGLE, A POLITICAL PARTY THAT SPEAKS AND ACTS FOR THOSE WITH NOTHING TO LOSE BUT THEIR CHAINS.’ …

“THIS LATEST ATTACK AGAINST CONSERVATIVE STUDENTS, OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED BY THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, SERVES AS ULTIMATE PROOF THAT INSTITUTIONAL, LEFTIST BIAS EXISTS ON OUR CAMPUSES TODAY DESPITE THE CONTINUED DENIALS BY UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS.”

—BRITTON ALEXANDER, WRITING ON “GEORGIA TECH SPREADS COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA,” THURSDAY in Front Page at www.frontpagemag.com

Folksy Phil

“Perhaps the most surprising evidence on daytime TV of the growing thirst for moral direction … is the phenomenal success of Dr. Phil McGraw — surprising because, as a TV personality, Dr. Phil was the creation of Oprah Winfrey, the medium’s icon of touchy-feely nonjudgmentalism. Whereas the telegenic Winfrey is as reluctant to censure as she is generous with hugs and kisses, Dr. Phil is at once folksy and hard as nails, trading in rigorous standards and never timid in laying out the consequences that follow for those who try to slide by in life without meeting them.

“’You are conning yourself; you are conning your husband; you are conning your family, but you ain’t conning me,’ he sternly told a woman whose repeated infidelities threatened her marriage. …

“Though McGraw’s show covers human folly in many dimensions … the host is at his most compelling when addressing Americans’ chronic unseriousness about the meaning and obligations of marriage, especially where children are concerned.”

—Harry Stein, writing on “Daytime TV Gets Judgmental,” in the spring issue of City Journal