Culture wars

[mac]

The Republicans defend the Kentucky County clerk's right to use her faith to be a bigot. What is the saying about an unexamined life?

[MalibuGuru]

I told you a couple of months ago that soon they'd be forcing Christians at the barrel of a gun to do what they command. You scoffed at me. Here we are. What progress!

[mac]

Maybe you should quit too. Or read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

[swchandler]

I'm glad that US District Judge Bunning sent Davis to jail. Some religious folks are way beyond sensible, particularly when they have the audacity and twisted mindset to think that their religious beliefs give them the right to freely and publicly discriminate against others. Even Supreme Court Justice Scalia called this woman's BS. If she can't perform the job she was elected to, she should quit and find another job.

[nw30]

The war on women?
More like the feminization of the U.S. male, sports is bad. I guess cowgirls are not welcome along with their favorite saying "Cowgirl up!", that's probably too masculine.
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Vanderbilt Women's Center to Lecture Men on 'Healthy Masculinities'

Ashley Rae Goldenberg | August 31, 2015 4:00pm ET

Vanderbilt University’s Women’s Center will be hosting a week-long event dedicated to lecturing men about what it means to have “healthy masculinity.”

The “Healthy Masculinities Week” is sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, which claims to be devoted to “Celebrating Women” while “Empowering All.”

The mission of the Women’s Center is to affirm a “space for all members of the Vanderbilt community that acknowledges and actively resists sexism, racism, homophobia, and all forms of oppression while advocating for positive social change.”

The “core values” of the Women’s Center includes the idea that, “progress toward gender equality calls all of us to be champions for change” while simultaneously claiming to “celebrate the unique differences among all persons and work to build community in diversity.”

“Healthy Masculinities Week” hopes to encourage men to “[e]xplore healthy masculinity through various lenses,” such as “American society, the gay and bisexual community, fraternities, and more.”

The first event as part of the “Healthy Masculinities Week” is called, “The Macho Paradox: Why some men hurt and how all men can help.” The title is a reference to a book by Jackson Katz, who is a self-proclaimed “anti-sexist activist” and the speaker for the event.

The full title for Katz’s book is, “The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help.” It is unclear why the word “Women” was removed from Vanderbilt’s event listing.

According to a review for Katz’s book, “Katz explores those aspects of American culture that promote violence against women, focusing separate chapters on pornography, prostitution, and other sex-related businesses as well as sexual violence in the military, the music industry, and athletics.” It also “offers advice on how men can ally with women to curb violence and change those aspects of the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude on male aggressiveness and masculinity that can lead to violence and abuse.”

In 2012, Katz gave a TED talk with the title, “Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue.” In his talk, Katz asserts we need to “change the socialization of boys and the definitions of manhood that lead to these current outcomes [violence against women].”

Other events as part of “Healthy Masculinities Week” include “Maintaining ‘Bro’ Status: Fraternity men discuss masculinity and mental health,” “Masc 4 Masc: Policing masculinity in the gay and bi communities,” “Masculinity XXL? The portrayal of manhood in Magic Mike,” and a screening and discussion of the film, “The Mask You Live In.”

The advertisement for “Healthy Masculinities Week,” which was emailed to members of the student body, includes a portrayal man with a thought bubble, thinking, “Don’t cry,” “Have sex,” “Major in business,” “Play sports,” and “Man up.” Allegedly, these are examples of unhealthy masculinity.

Vanderbilt’s “Healthy Masculinities Week” is scheduled to run from Sept. 10-17.

In addition to the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, “Healthy Masculinities Week” is also sponsored by a host of other departments at Vanderbilt, including Vanderbilt Athletics, Dean of Students Project Safe Center, Women’s and Gender Studies, Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, Office of Greek Life, Office of LGBTQI Life, Bishop Joseph Black Cultural Center, and the Interfaith Council.

The Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center did not respond to a request for comment on the major topics covered during the event.

http://www.mrctv.org/blog/vanderbilt-womens-center-lecture-men-healthy-masculinities

[mac]

I'll subsidize your attendance--you need a little reeducation, the first try didn't work real well.

[nw30]

Sweet, thanks for the subsidy, I'll take full advantage of it.
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Humanity washed ashore: Outpouring of grief continues for Syrian toddler Aylan, three, after images of his dead body on a Turkish shoreline shocked the world

Social media users have been creating poignant artworks based on the death of young Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi

The three-year-old's tiny body was pictured washed up on Turkey's Bodrum beach yesterday afternoon

He drowned alongside his mother Rehan, 35, and brother Galip, five, trying to reach the Greek island of Kos

Artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has made a sand sculpture of the image of Aylan lying face down which horrified the world

For the heart breaking pics~
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222829/Outpouring-grief-continues-images-Syrian-toddler-Aylan-Kurdi-s-dead-body-Turkey.html#ixzz3koarKZ38

Are we going to do anything about it, considering that we had a hand at creating this situation? I doubt it, on a government scale, but the privateers will, they can go beyond our current government culture.

[mac]

But wait--all the right wingers here and in Europe hate refugees fleeing political violence. How soon we forget World War II.

[MalibuGuru]

Achtung

[nw30]

Yet another example of unintended consequences, brought on by knee jerk reactions.
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Renewed calls for gun control laws spur sales

Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 6:25 a.m. EDT September 5, 2015

WASHINGTON — Renewed calls for more restrictive gun laws, following a succession of fatal shootings in the United States, immediately appear to be generating a boost for the gun industry.

Newly released August records show that the FBI posted 1.7 million background checks required of gun purchasers at federally licensed dealers, the highest number recorded in any August since gun checks began in 1998. The numbers follow new monthly highs for June (1.5 million) and July (1.6 million), a period which spans a series of deadly gun attacks — from Charleston to Roanoke — and proposals for additional firearm legislation.

While the FBI does not track actual gun sales, as multiple firearms can be included in a transaction by a single buyer, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System's numbers are an indicator of a market upswing in the face of growing anxiety about access to guns.

"Whenever there is a call for gun control, sales increase,'' said Larry Keane, general counsel for the firearm industry trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation. "Unfortunately, this is a pattern that repeats itself.''

For the rest~
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/04/gun-sales-new-legislation-sales/71703118/
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This is a huge door you opened mac, "Culture wars", we are surrounded by them, examples are everywhere. Hopefully you didn't want your thread to focus on just one example, cause that ain't going to happen, not with the title you chose.