Browsing PBH By Articles

Quit Calling Veterans Just Heroes Or Victims

The Article: Veterans are not just heroes or victims by Eric Liu in CNN Online.

The Text: “Lone Survivor,” based on the true story of an ambushed Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan, was the No. 1 movie in America last weekend. If you haven’t seen it, go see it.

The movie reminded me of a phrase, “citizenship on the cheap,” which has haunted me since I heard retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal utter it last summer. He was launching the Franklin Project, an ambitious initiative to expand national service in America. But he was talking about something deeper — the widening divide between civilians and those coming out of the military.

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Why Just Legalizing Weed Doesn’t Go Far Enough

The Article: Don’t just legalize marijuana, free prior offenders by Matthew Fleischer in The LA Times.

The Text: With pot now legally for sale in Colorado, and Washington state gearing up to follow suit, marijuana legalization activists across the country are pushing hard to replicate these political successes in other states. Voters in Massachusetts could ratify legalized marijuana as early as 2016.

This is undoubtedly a sign of progress. Our nation has capriciously squandered far too many precious national resources combating a green weed that makes people feel good.

As welcome as a more widespread regulated marijuana industry would be, however, one thing that no one seems to be considering is what to do with those already convicted of marijuana crimes. It’s estimated that 750,000 people are arrested every year on marijuana-related charges and up to 40,000 are currently in prison for marijuana crimes.

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MTV, Effective Birth Control?

The Article: So MTV reduces teen pregnancy. Why are we surprised? by Kat Keene Hogue in The Guardian.

The Text: In our polarized age, reality television may be the only thing all of America agrees on: it’s disgusting, fake, bottom-dwelling, voyeuristic trash that rots our minds and brainwashes our kids.

But, despite the hypocrisy, most of America tunes in. For a tenth of the cost of a network drama, reality TV’s repetitive formulas serve horror, humor, and overwrought emotion to tens of millions.

Well, exciting news: we can all feel a little less remorseful about our guilty pleasure. It turns out reality TV can accelerate cultural progress – not just cultural decay.

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How The Court Killed Free Speech On The Internet

The Article: Today, A Federal Appeals Court Killed Free Speech on the Internet by Ben Collins in Esquire.

The Text: Today, a federal appeals court handed over control of free speech on the Internet to a handful of companies. This is why it matters.

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Say you’re an NRA Republican. You’re from Tennessee. The websites you go to on a daily basis are Yahoo for your email and news, ESPN for your sports, and TNGunOwners.com, a message board to talk about your day at the range.

What if one day your access to your email is fine, your Tim Tebow coverage from ESPN is as loud as ever, and TNGunOwners.com inexplicably took 4-to-6 times longer to load? What if you called your Internet service provider and their answer was, “That’s just the way it is now”?

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How Movie Sex Replaced Movie Violence

The Article: The Movie Club by Wesley Morris in Slate.

The Text: So because I’m miserable at scheduling and really good at overscheduling, this has to be my last post. I leave for the Sundance Film Festival today. But before I go I want to pick up a strain from Dana’s post and talk about something very important. Concussion is very smart and often very hot. That was something I felt over and over this year: It was a good year for the libido. Sometimes, it was an actor, sometimes a mood, sometimes a whole movie.

For two or three years toward the end of the last decade violence had replaced sex as the most viable way for characters to communicate with each other. A distributor can better circulate gunfights, shootouts, etc. than it can sex, especially as our movies have become international mega-productions. But this year, you can feel sensuality in both the masterpieces and the crap. The biggest thrill in American Hustle is the way these actors keep burning holes into each other. Amy Adams, who somehow acts her way past all that cleavage, slinks back into Christian Bale’s office, locks eyes with him, and becomes another woman.

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