Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that you are walking down the street, and you pass a small boy sitting on the curb. He looks to be about eight years old. You do a double-take when you notice that he has a cricket in his hand. Just as you pass, he grasps the cricket by the legs and yanks them off. How do you respond? Perhaps you would think, “That’s a little cruel. I guess boys will be boys.” Would you even stop to say anything to the boy? Maybe so, but maybe not.
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Ross Douthat Reviews ‘Funny People’
You may remember Judd Apatow as the producer of “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year Old Virgin.” Yesterday, Ross Douthat reviewed the new Apatow movie “Funny People” for The New York Times. Douthat’s worldview analysis is spot-on. He writes: ‘We’re conservative right up until the moment that it costs us.
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Mohler Comments on Polyamory
If polyamory is a new term for you, here’s a definition: “engaging in loving, intimate relationships with more than one person — based upon the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.” Albert Mohler comments on Newsweek‘s recent report about the burgeoning polyamorous movement, and he concludes with this: ‘Perhaps the best way to understand this new movement is to understand it as a natural consequence of subverting marriage. We have largely normalized adultery, serialized marriage, separated marriage from reproduction and childbearing, and accepted divorce as a mechanism for liberation. Once this happens, boundary after boundary falls as sexual regulation virtually disappears among those defined as “consenting adults.” ‘The ultimate sign…
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John Hughes (1950-2009)
John Hughes died suddenly yesterday of a heart attack. Hughes was a filmmaker whose heyday was in the 1980’s. His credits include “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Home Alone,” and many more. I don’t know anything about John Hughes personally. All I know are his movies because they were quintessential expressions of popular culture in the 1980’s. I wouldn’t say that his movies defined a generation so much as they reflected it. And that was his genius. Somehow this guy made movies that rang true with young people. Ben Stein (who had a famous bit part in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) said this about Hughes:
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Keeping the Courts out of the Marriage Debate
Robert George has a must-read opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. He argues that the Supreme Court should stay out of any effort to redefine marriage. The Supreme Court sparked the fire of a culture war in its Roe v. Wade decision, and the court would do so again if they were to issue a decision on marriage. Instead, George argues, the matter should be resolved democratically. He concludes with this: ‘Because marriage has already been deeply wounded, some say that redefining it will do no additional harm. I disagree. We should strengthen, not redefine, marriage. But whatever one’s view, surely it is the people, not the courts, who…
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A Really Bad Way To Avoid Church
Last Sunday, the seven year-old boy in this video took his parents’ car and got chased by police for several miles before driving himself back home. Why did he do it? Because he didn’t want to go to church. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
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The Wedding Dance
You know it’s a bona fide YouTube sensation when Matt and Meredith cover it on the “Today Show.” The interview above tells the story behind this spectacle and has excerpts from the original video. Below you can see where they recreated the dance for the “Today Show” this morning.
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A Critical Look at Cronkite’s Legacy
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial that offers a critical look at the journalistic legacy of Walter Cronkite. This one is worth reading in full, but here’s an excerpt: “The most important moment in his career came when he departed from the newsman’s role to play editorialist… “Without the authority that derives from that trust, reporters get careless about objectivity, weakening the audience’s trust even further. “The glory of Walter Cronkite’s career is that he did more than anyone to earn his viewers’ trust and establish his profession’s authority. The tragedy is that he also did more than anyone else to undermine them.”
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Feel My Pain
Carl Trueman writes with poignancy and verve. His essays on Reformation21 are always must-reads. His latest one on whining is no exception. You’ll need to read the whole thing, but here’s the conclusion: ‘Expressions of hurt are too often really something else: cowardly attempts by representatives of a cosseted and self-obsessed culture to make themselves uniquely important or, worse still, to bully and cajole somebody they dislike to stop saying things they don’t want to hear or which they find distasteful.  My advice to such is akin to that of the counselor in the Bob Newhart sketch: Stop it! If somebody’s writing or speaking hurts you, ask yourself “Why?”, don’t…
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Russell Moore Takes on ‘Orphan’ Movie
Russell Moore guest-hosted “The Albert Mohler Program” (AMP) yesterday and took on the negative stereotyping of the new horror movie “Orphan.” It was a timely show, and you should listen to it. Below is the audio and description of the program from the AMP website. “How to Protect Orphans from Hollywood” [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/totl/2009/AMP_07_07_2009.mp3] “Why are people so afraid of orphans? Orphans often find themselves demonized by Hollywood, and it’s happened again with the release of a new horror film about a deranged orphan girl called, Orphan. Why is it that the least of these are so easily preyed upon by those who should protect them? Guest host Dr. Russell Moore discusses…