pop culture
The headline rundown: Modern popular culture topics in the realm of politics, legislation and activism.
A Political Act
How do you lampoon an election that already routinely veers into absurd territory? That’s a challenge that Trevor Noah, the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, faces nightly, as he discusses an election cycle of scandals, leaks, bigotry, and fear-mongering—a cycle where even the most unprecedented happenings have become mundane. A South African television and radio host and comedian, Noah has been the host of The Daily Show since 2015. Being the child of a Xhosa mother and Swiss-German father, his childhood in Johannesburg under apartheid’s Immorality Act had a large impact on his life and future in comedy. This is explained in his autobiographical comedy book Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, which become a #1 New York Times Bestseller and named one of the best books of the year after being published in 2016. Noah's mixed-race ancestry, his experiences growing up in Soweto, and his observations about race and ethnicity are leading themes in his comedy. His typical humor genres include political/news satire, deadpan, and black, insult, and observational comedy. This he carried over to The Daily Show after the retirement of his predecessor and one of his comedic influences Jon Stewart, integrating political and ethnic humor.
By Kayla Bloom7 years ago in The Swamp
The Normalization of Extreme Violence
Extremism and all the other -isms that exist out there are not usually pretty things. They instigate us, embroil us, and fuel us with unhealthy emotions: for most of us, rage (at the idiocy of the fundamental ideal) and sadness mixed in with a little bit of fear (would be classified as the healthy response, by most psychologists).
By Elric Pankston7 years ago in The Swamp
The Heroism Resulting from the El Paso Walmart Shooting
These are some very dark times indeed for El Paso, Texas, and our thoughts and prayers definitely go out to all who have been affected by the shooting at the Walmart there. We could discuss the shooter, and we could discuss his motives, but above all else, the man is a coward for killing 20 innocent lives and injuring many more. We probably shouldn't give this man the notoriety he craves for this terrible act. On the other hand, one of the things we could also discuss would be the acts of heroism we saw during this horrific incident. Here are some examples of how the human spirit cannot be quashed even in the most difficult of times:
By Vaden Chandler7 years ago in The Swamp
Jinger Duggar Is Not Free, and Her Husband Is Dangerous
Over a decade ago, Jinger Duggar’s father and mother, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, propped themselves up as the paragon of conservative Christian parents by showcasing their family’s sheltered lifestyle on TV. It was the perfect medium to sell their specific brand of fundamentalist Christianity to the masses: they got to decide which aspects of their lives were filmed, and editing could be used to cut out anything they didn’t want their viewers to see.
By Treva Bowdoin7 years ago in The Swamp
LGBT+ Community & LGBT+ & Women vs Cis-Hetero (Conservative) Men
The United States is the land of the free, an excellent place. If you ask anyone who is not a 'cis-hetero male.' Gay men have been targeted for centuries, for things such as AIDS, homosexuality being a disease, etcetera etcetera. People in the LGBT+ community were attacked for who they were, and were never payed attention to unless it was with hatred. Of course, the United States has gotten to a point where people being fired, killed, and sent to conversion therapy for being gay is not as common as before, but it still happens all over the US, besides states that have banned such things from happening.
By Daniel Moon7 years ago in The Swamp
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and Christian Privilege: This Exact Attitude Is Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Exists
Mike Pence has once announced, without irony, that “Christians are the most persecuted people in the world.” While I could write a 5000-word article on how much utter nonsense that statement is, this is not the subject of the article you’re reading now. Even now I must put bridles on the controversial things I want to say, because I bet many of the readers here are Christians. But am I going to promise that you are not going to be offended by the arguments I write? No. That would not be an honest partaking of such sensitive topics.
By CT Idlehouse7 years ago in The Swamp
Why Hate Speech Cannot Exist in America
As a teenager in a public school in California, I am constantly surrounded by leftist opinions. With my conservative views, I can find it quite frustrating when people are spouting their opinions with no facts to back them up.
By Eliza White7 years ago in The Swamp
That's Racist
Recently the actor Orlando Jones, who plays Mr. Nancy on American Gods, posted a video on his Instagram. The video shows a white woman, Corinne Terrone, screaming racial slurs at a black man, named Eric. There was something he said in his caption that stuck out to me. "The issue is my white friends think they know more about racism than me... they know more about something they've never experienced than I do and we can't discuss how that's racist without them losing their minds."
By Catherine Agati7 years ago in The Swamp
