Culturally Determined

Owen rates Trump’s wrestling moves! ... What Trump learned from professional wrestling ... Is wrestling sport or theater? ... Why do many people sneer at wrestling? ... Heroes and villains in politics and wrestling ... Could Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson win in 2020? ...

Julius Caesar, Donald Trump, and Shakespeare in the Park ... Is the outrage over the play justified? ... Jack ponders the role of corporate arts funding ... Making a values-based case for federal funding of the arts ... Just how feminist is Wonder Woman? ... The resonance of DC vs. Marvel in the modern context ...

David’s new book, Killers of the Flower Moon, about a forgotten series of murders ... The racist “guardianship system" to control the wealth of the Osage people ... The elusiveness of history ... Lost evidence of crimes that David brought to light ... How the descendants of victims shaped David’s book ... What David is working on now ...

Punching “Nazis”: Good or bad? ... Does assaulting Richard Spencer give him more power? ... The “Proud Boys” vs. “Antifa” confrontation as a case study ... The college campus free speech debate ... The case for caring less about campus protests ...

How Facebook is trying to fix its fake news problem… ... …and why it doesn’t want human editors ... Facebook’s flirtation with virtual reality ... Does Zuckerberg have political ambitions? ... How the election changed the way Silicon Valley thinks ... Will Facebook reign forever? ...

Megan’s inside take on the possible Writers Guild strike ... How Megan got her start writing for television ... The secret pattern that all stories share ... The creativity—and craziness—of Community ... That special something of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ... Megan’s advice for aspiring television writers ...

Why Chris joined Wall Street, and why he left ... The front-row kids vs. the back-row kids ... Racism in the presidential election ... Will Trump voters stay with Trump? ... How to win over "the back-row" ... McDonald's as a community center ... Ways to revive a community ...

Phoebe’s new book, The Perils of “Privilege” ... The origins of "check your privilege" ... How internet culture fuels the privilege wars ... Anti-Semitism and Jewish privilege ... The three types of attacks on White Feminism ... Lena Dunham, queen of privilege? ... What Trump means for the privilege wars ...

Is pop culture worse than it used to be? ... What pop culture will stand the test of time? ... Dan critiques the Netflix model ... Why better is not always better ... What television best captures the zeitgeist today? ... Social disintegration: 1968 vs. 2016 ...

Helen's critique of the meritocracy ... A brief history of meritocracy ... Helen's advice to the ruling elite: Know thyself ... Aryeh and Helen as meritocratic newcomers ... Is meritocracy the worst system, except for all others? ... Charming WASPs vs. grade-grubbing meritocrats ...