Culture

Privileges on Demand

By Justin Katz | March 4, 2010 |

Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds all right-wing conservative to say, but it’s difficult not to fear for the future of our country with this sort of thing in the news: Students and activists have staged demonstrations in recent months at public colleges across California to protest deep budget cuts that have led to steep…

Movie Briefs

By Marc Comtois | March 2, 2010 |

While it has it’s inaccuracies, The Hurt Locker is a movie I’d heartily recommend. The most impressive parts of the film for me were those depicting the stressful situations the soldiers were in while doing their job, ie; everyday life for a U.S. combatant in Iraq circa 2004. On a completely different note, I also…

Politically Correct and Unreliable

By Justin Katz | March 2, 2010 |

Have you heard the one about the government employment site that refused to allow discrimination against unreliable employees? CAMPAIGNERS reacted with anger last night after it was claimed a Jobcentre worker had refused to display an advert for a “reliable worker” because she felt the phrase discriminated against unreliable applicants. … The mother of two…

Everybody Needs a Dad

By Justin Katz | March 1, 2010 |

In a recent column, Julia Steiny ran through various ways in which fathers are, in general, distinguishable from mothers. Here’s a sample: … dads bring other huge contributions. For one thing, they play. That fatherly roughhousing that most kids love actually aids brain development. Play has been proven to enhance learning, and dads usually play…

The Sky Is Blue; Sexual Content Encourages Sex

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2010 |

The unfortunate thing is that parents must learn the truth of this through experience. Authoritative parents also restrict their children’s exposure to sexual content in the media (music, television, movies and Internet). It is well documented that exposure to explicit sexual images and lyrics accelerates the onset of sexual debut among adolescents. Authoritative parents will…

A Cultural Turnaround Based on Experience

By Justin Katz | February 18, 2010 |

Here’s an interesting result from a survey of U.S. Catholics done by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, appearing in an article in the Rhode Island Catholic, but not apparently online anywhere: “The youngest Catholics … look a lot more like the pre-Vatican II [than the] Vatican II…

Unabashed Plug of a Rescuing Providence Post

By Monique Chartier | February 17, 2010 |

It didn’t make me cry, dammit. By the way, as Michael will soon be going Hollywood, he needs to begin assembling his entourage. Let’s see. A makeup person, a hair person, a wardrobe consultant. A scheduler and a couple of gophers. An agent, back in a glass-and-chrome office, making rapid fire phone calls and chain…

The American Difference

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2010 |

Per his usual habits, Mark Steyn makes a significant observation that has gone largely unremarked: … I’ve been saying for months that the difference between America and Europe is that, when the global economy nosedived, everywhere from Iceland to Bulgaria mobs took to the streets and besieged Parliament demanding to know why government didn’t do…

On the Culture of Snow

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2010 |

Matt and I pondered the cultural causes of snow-aversion on the Matt Allen Show, last night. Is it related to global warming (or lack thereof)? Is it related to the Internet and video games? Stream by clicking here, or download it. I actually think it’s a softening of our regional character. We once braved the…

The Difference a Pope Makes

By Justin Katz | February 10, 2010 |

In keeping with the theme of confidence as a prerequisite to true tolerance, Joseph Bottum explores the way in which the authority represented by the papacy gives the Roman Catholic Church a theological coherence that has preserved its voice in modern society: For a long while, Americans thought Catholicism was an un-American form of religion,…