Culture

What Does the Melting Pot Purify Out?

By Justin Katz | November 29, 2008 |

Mark Patinkin’s column today is of his one-liner variety, and few are the folks likely to agree or disagree with everything that he writes. This item, however, strikes me as to profound to be left without exploration: From the “It’s a great country” archives: I just saw an ad for a dreidel with a picture…

A Surplus of Sarcasm

By Justin Katz | November 25, 2008 |

Over the past few days, there seems to have been an upward ratchet in the amount of sarcasm. I’ve certainly been whacked with some in the comments sections and in personal email (especially from Tiverton teachers). This letter in today’s Providence Journal — even though I share its underlying frustration — makes me think that…

A Tyrannical Mindset

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2008 |

Of course, we can’t tar a social movement with the acts of a few, but at some point, the volume of incidents bespeaks a mindset. One assaulted immigrant may not suffice. One elderly woman mobbed and forced to watch as her cross is stomped may still fall short. I wonder, though, how many vandalized churches…

Apparently Advertising Promiscuity Works

By Justin Katz | November 4, 2008 |

Gee, who’d have thought? Teenagers who watch a lot of television featuring flirting, necking, discussion of sex and sex scenes are much more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get a partner pregnant, according to the first study to directly link steamy programming to teen pregnancy. The study, which tracked more than 700…

Rhode Island and Sex Trafficking

By Justin Katz | October 26, 2008 |

Even as San Francisco contemplates legalizing prostitution, people who pay attention to such things in Rhode Island — where prostitution is already legal — say the regime attracts the sex-slave industry: But in fact, said Wells, slavery is occurring now in neighborhoods around Rhode Island, in the form of the forced prostitution of women and…

When Realities Collide: Surreality

By Justin Katz | October 25, 2008 |

Video games are getting serious: A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband’s digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday. The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data,…

Old Arguments and an Older Profession

By Justin Katz | October 22, 2008 |

It’s jarring to read familiar arguments put forward in the context of prostitution: Proponents say the measure will free up $11 million the police spend each year arresting prostitutes and allow them to form collectives. “It will allow workers to organize for our rights and for our safety,” said Patricia West, 22, who said she…

Carrots Down the Rabbit Hole

By Justin Katz | October 20, 2008 |

The range of protected groups continues to, umm, grow: For years, Swiss scientists have blithely created genetically modified rice, corn and apples. But did they ever stop to consider just how humiliating such experiments may be to plants? That’s a question they must now ask. Last spring, this small Alpine nation began mandating that geneticists…

Don’t Overlook This Part of the Story

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2008 |

It doesn’t pass judgment upon nor level recriminations against Regino Romero — who appears to be doing his best to support his family and do right by his children — to note an easily ignored and often dismissed piece of his story (emphasis added): If money were not so tight, Regino Romero would use the…

Changes in Responsibility and Import

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2008 |

In his two-part (one, two) revisitation of Humanae Vitae, Fr. John Kiley misses the mark in one instance. From part two: [Contraception] destroys unitive intimacy by dividing the couple: the condom places all responsibility on the husband; the pill or diaphragm places all responsibility on the wife. By passing responsibility to one or the other,…