Follicle wars, conformity follies

by David Benjamin “Get a haircut and get a real job/ Clean your act up and don’t be a slob/ Get it together like your big brother Bob … ” —George Thorogood and the Destoyers   MADISON, Wis.—My favorite vignette in America’s endlessly recycling follicle wars appears in Robert Zemeckis’ little-noted but remarkably significant—and fun!—film,…

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Privy counsel

by David Benjamin “… conservatives … argue that the crisis in Americasn schools is … about leftist teachers propagandizing on critical race theory and giving kids new pronouns while denying them safe bathrooms.” —Nicholas Kristoff, The New York Times   MADISON, Wis.—In Nicholas Kristoff’s eloquent assessment of the real problem with American public schools, I…

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Toward a philosophy of the gun

by David Benjamin   “Speaking personally, you can have my gun, but you’ll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding.” —Stephen King   MADISON, Wis.—My gun of choice is a .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight. It’s actually the only gun I’ve ever used. It belonged to…

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The osmotic effect of Mickey Mouse and Miss September

by David Benjamin “…  Our morality is based, in large part, on mystical dogma, not reason, our lives are governed by superstition and prejudice rather than knowledge. Self-sacrifice is prized above self-interest and self-esteem. Society is placed above the individual. And the goal of happiness is lost in a labyrinthine maze of emotional responses, self-doubts,…

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CES ’24: ‘Ah feel ya, man.’

by David Benjamin   “… Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it again in my arms/ Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it/ Whoa, oh, again” — Morris Albert   LAS VEGAS—Watching a relay team of Sony, Honda and Microsoft execs at a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) “press conference”…

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“… the lilt of language listening to lines …”

by David Benjamin    “…  The humanities are like the great old Paris Flea Market where, amidst masses of junk, people with a good eye found cast away treasures … They are like a refugee camp where all the geniuses driven out of their jobs and countries by unfriendly regimes are idling …”  ― Allan…

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Israel, Hamas and the revolutionaries of Ed 101

by David Benjamin   “… We may graduate our students, confer degrees that certify their qualifications as the best and brightest. But we have clearly failed to educate them. We have failed to give them the ethical foundation and moral compass to recognize the basics of humanity…” — Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost for global…

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The conscience of the news

by David Benjamin    MADISON, Wis. — My first assignment in journalism, as a college-student stringer for the Rockford (Ill.) Morning Star, was a murder. Alas, it was no mystery. A guy had been killed in a bar fight in Beloit, Wisconsin. The killer was in jail. My editor wanted me to go over to…

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Parents: Got a life?

by David Benjamin  “Schoolboys are a merciless race, individually they are angels, but together, especially in schools, they are often merciless.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov   MADISON, Wis.— Let’s try to overlook the screaming irony of the Republican Party fighting for “parents rights” after winning a fifty-year crusade against women’s rights to control…

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Mad as hell and still taking it

by David Benjamin  ““ … Trump has energized a segment of America whose values and traditions are mocked as bigoted, backward or too religious. The world is hurtling past them at breakneck speed. Their belief that Trump is their last, best hope to avoid being left in the dust is partly disturbing, partly endearing and…

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