This is what a consistent message looks like. Via theeconomist:
The Economist first put Silvio Berlusconi on the cover in 2001, when we ran an investigative story looking at his business dealings. Ten years and several libel suits later, he is standing down. Our slideshow remembers this long relationship.
(via kgtl)
Watch Bill O'Reilly and Lupe Fiasco Have It Out With One Another
The lesson? Reality TV can be OK. [via Daily Intel]
Jon Stewart Calls Fox News' Chris Wallace 'Insane'
I canNOT get enough of Jon Stewart on Fox News. Never.
“Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?” Stewart asked at one point during the interview. “The most consistently misinformed? Fox. Fox viewers. Consistently. Every poll.” [via Daily Intel/Fox News]
Always locked and loaded: Luke Scott's free-speaking ways may draw concern, but not to those who know him
[via ESPN]
This guy is one of my favorite people I’ve ever interviewed…And I’m pretty sure I’ve been to that gun range.
“Panic” by The Smiths.
Journalist Nick Kent described “Panic” as a mandate for “rock terrorism”.[4] Musically, the song is based around a rotation between the G and E minor chords that mimicks “Metal Guru” by the glam rock band T.Rex.[3] The song begins with Morrissey mentioning chaos unravelling throughout Britain (specifically naming locales such as Dublin, Dundee, Carlisle and Humberside). In the second part of the song, Morrissey reveals that the source of this chaos is pop music, which in his words “Says nothing to me about my life”. In reaction, Morrissey implores listeners to “Burn down the disco” and “hang the DJ”, the latter lyrics repeated with the addition of a chorus of schoolchildren. Morrissey considered the fact that the song appeared on daytime British radio a “tiny revolution” in its own way, as it aired amongst the very music it criticised.[4] [via Wikipedia]
Believe it or not, this is my favorite Smiths song. So imagine my disappointment to find out it may or may not be…racist?
“Panic” drew fire from critics who construed Morrissey’s lyrics to have a racist connotation, due to their disparagement of the “disco” and the “DJ”. The criticism was intensified by comments Morrissey made in a September 1986 Melody Maker interview with Frank Owen, where the singer denounced a “black pop conspiracy”. Marr in particular was incensed by the article and threatened to “kick the living shit” out of the writer if he crossed the band’s path. Marr countered that “disco music” could not be equated with “black music”; he argued, “To those who took offence at the ‘burn down the disco’ line […] I’d say please show me the black members of New Order!”[6] [also via Wikipedia]
Did the Times Take a Sympathetic Stance in Story About Texas Child Rapists?
“Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands … said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months,” explains McKinley. “They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.” These quotes disturbed some readers, especially when combined with a portion of the writer’s intro where he noted:
The case has rocked this East Texas community to its core and left many residents in the working-class neighborhood where the attack took place with unanswered questions. Among them is, if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?
“As if they were tricked into gang raping a child,” Jezebel’s Margaret Hartman seethed. “Any attempt to gain emotional distance on rape by transferring just a tiny portion, just one percent, of the blame onto the victim is an absolute moral wrong,” wrote Slate’s Libby Copeland.
[via Daily Intel]
Pretty damn close.
After Lara Logan’s Sexual Assault, Media Helpfully Discuss Her Hotness
Now that CBS has made public Lara Logan’s sexual assault in Egypt, other media outlets are clamoring to respond — in the most offensive way possible. [via Jezebel]
NYT: "ESPN: Dominating the Man Cave"
Two contests, one question: How much of a man are you?
In part because it’s rarely discussed in mixed company, ESPN may be the most under-acknowledged media powerhouse in the United States. Since its debut in 1979, ESPN has ridden round-the-clock highlights, live events and testosterone-infused commentary into a 3D juggernaut of television, radio, print and digital that arguably constitutes the single greatest cultural force in male identity today. [via NYT]
Simmons vs. Gladwell
“Is this what passes for a moral dilemma in your peer group?” - Gladwell on Simmons’ friend who had given up fantasy sports to spend more time with his young children. [via Deadspin]
What I Didn’t Find in Africa
Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV recounts the story behind his Op-Ed from June 2003 and the series of events that followed its publication. [via NYT]
