Dispatches From the Culture Wars – February 28, 2023
- Covid and Workers’ Power
- Unbanning Books
- War American Style
- High Schoolers in Action
- Indigenous Peoples Day in Anchorage
- Child Marriage and Trans Rights
- Dilbert’s Daddy Has a Race Problem
- The National Gun
- The Great Ohio Rail Disaster
- Seymour Hersh’s Scoop Has a Big Hole
By James Meadway
openDemocracy
The pandemic called into question the core ideologies of work and capitalism. Strikers have enjoyed public support in both the US and the UK. The ‘Great Resignation’ of 2021 was another symptom of this change in people’s relationship to the work they performed, pre-dating the shift into collective action.
By Lexi McMenamin
Teen Vogue
The Florida-based Dream Defenders got to work, connecting with leftist publishers including Haymarket Books, Verso, and PM Press, to distribute books and literature to Florida students. Dream Defenders have planned walkouts, demonstrations, and teach-ins across Florida.
By Andrea Mazzarino
TomDispatch
As a society, it seems to me that we’ve come to view violence rather than other ways of solving problems (including critical thinking and honest conversation) as the new normal. There are alternative responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, other than sending endless billions of dollars in arms to that country. A green-energy plan could have helped starve President Vladimir Putin from his post long ago.
High Schoolers in Action
- Walkouts Over Anti-LGBTQ Legislation By Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Christopher Leach, Lexington Herald Leader
- Dorchester MA Students Present Demands By Seth Daniel, WBUR
- Fierce in Florida By Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News
Indigenous Peoples Day in Anchorage
By Emily Goodykoontz
Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage will celebrate Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples Day as municipal holidays after the Assembly on Tuesday voted unanimously to add both as paid days off for city employees. Indigenous Peoples Day honors Alaska Native and Native American history and is often observed in lieu of Columbus Day.
Child Marriage and Trans Rights
By Molly Sprayregen
LGBTQ Nation
Wyoming Republicans continue to propose anti-trans legislation under the guise of protecting youth. But despite the GOP’s supposed concern for the safety of children, the state’s GOP is waging a campaign against a bill that would prohibit child marriage. The legislature is currently considering several anti-trans bills.
Dilbert’s Daddy Has a Race Problem
By Oliver Darcy
CNN
Newspapers across the country dropped the “Dilbert” comic strip over the weekend after the creator of the satirical cartoon went on a racist tirade, calling Black Americans a “hate group” and suggesting that White people should “get the hell away” from them. The move came after Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind “Dilbert,” effectively encouraged segregation in a shocking rant on YouTube.
By Sharon Zhang
Truthout
House Republican has introduced a bill that would make the AR-15, which has been used in many of the nation’s most horrific mass shootings, the “National Gun of the United States,” positioning it alongside official symbols like the bald eagle and Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner” in representing the U.S.
The Great Ohio Rail Disaster
- Railway Workers Have Their Say By Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network
- MAGA Grabs the Narrative By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International
- Industry Cover-up By Adam Lowenstein, The Guardian
Seymour Hersh’s Scoop Has a Big Hole
By Natalia Antelava
Coda Story
Did the United States blow up the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea? Seymour Hersh, a well known U.S. investigative journalist, made the claim last week. Hersh’s story is a case study in modern-day disinformation. But if we just dismiss Hersh’s story as bad journalism, we risk missing its impact.