The Vices and Virtues of Ignorance in These Times
In Understanding Ignorance, philosopher Daniel DeNicola invites us to explore the meaning and implication of what we don’t know, which may be as complex as knowledge itself.
Culture
Jazz’s Historical Agenda as Protest Music in the Stellar ‘Brassroots Democracy’
The excellent Brassroots Democracy details the beautiful and bleak ways that jazz music created the soundtrack of an emancipatory movement that lasts to this day.
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Punk Is a Virus That’s Infected Everything
Tracing punk’s mutations, Iain Ellis’ Punk Beyond the Music is a robust and kaleidoscopic survey of this once-outsider subculture’s continuing, pervasive influence.
Alanis Morissette and the Division and Commodification of Women in 1990s Rock (excerpt)
This excerpt from the forthcoming book, Why Alanis Morissette Matters leaves a most righteous “trail of carnage” in its wake.
Asian American Pop Culture Stands on the Shoulders of a Giant Robot
Today’s Asian American pop culture stands on the shoulders of Giant Robot, a beloved zine that published an eclectic mix of artists and subjects.
The DNC Misses a Beat: A Political History of Migration through Latinx Pop Songs
What should we understand as the connection between politics, people, and places? Can Latinx pop songs be trusted to represent us?
Language Is a Virus, and People Could Die
The COVID pandemic seemed to accelerate the spread of new viral media, but viruses mutate, pop culture replicates, and everything’s a cover song.
Listen Up Gen Xers: Satan Ain’t (Taylor) Swift
I first heard about Slayer in a church in Mississippi. The sermon warned of metal’s Satanic influence. Now we old head-banging Gen Xers are afraid of Taylor Swift?
The US Military’s Secret War on Comic Books
During wartime past, even war-themed comic books designed to help the US military’s reputation were the victims of friendly fire. Ominously, that has changed.
Blaxploitation Movies and Music Are the Story of the 1970s
Blaxploitation signaled the moment ghetto culture and the Black vernacular hit the American mainstream, paving the way for rap, hip-hop, disco, and modern sports.
Godzilla the Union Buster
There’s a bitter irony in how Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, produced by a notorious union-busting production company, is celebrated for its message of collective strength.
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The Art of Psychological Warfare
From marketing manipulation to all-out psychological warfare, Stories Are Weapons clarifies how our world – and worldview – is seldom our own.