Blogcritics Author: Robert K. Blechman

The Elementary Structures of Politics

Robert K. Blechman — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:50:52 EDT

In selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain suggests that women are commodities for political exchange.
John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running “mate” was both profound and perverse. By selecting a woman who is both unknown and unqualified to serve in national office, John McCain is not asking us to view his choice in terms of her own personal merits or any pre-existing attitudes we may have towards her known...

Reel World Politics

Robert K. Blechman — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 22:23:32 EDT

Cinematic sub-texts shape campaigns of strategy vs. substance.
We are only half-way through the Republican Convention and there are still two months to go before Election Day, but the underlying cinematic metaphors in use by each Presidential campaign are already apparent. Although the main stream media tend to discuss election winners and losers in terms of horse racing metaphors, it is clear that for this...

What We Know About The Joker

Robert K. Blechman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:38:31 EDT

Ruminations about the man behind the masque.
Though this past weekend’s top performing movie is titled The Dark Knight, it might easily have been called "The Clown Prince." Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker, already hailed as Oscar-worthy, owes more to Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice than it does to previous Batman malefactors. Ironically, Keaton was the first...

George Carlin, Google, and Community Values

Robert K. Blechman — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:23:58 EDT

Taboos change as new communications media determine what is accessible and what is not.
More often than not, commentary on the recent death of comedian George Carlin centers on his famous "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV" routine and his confrontation with the FCC. If you haven't heard it yet, gather your children to your side and check it out on YouTube. Carlin's "seven words," which he correctly...

Beating Golf Clubs Into Swords

Robert K. Blechman — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:20:24 EDT

President Bush chooses war over golf.
In a recent interview with Politico, President Bush admitted that he had given up golf in deference to the families who have lost a loved one in Iraq."I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can...

Education in the Age of Secondary Orality

Robert K. Blechman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:56:21 EDT

We now can retrieve video, audio, text and photos at will � without resorting to memorization or physical texts.
The first humans lived under conditions of primary orality. Individual memory was the only way to transmit cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Learning was based on oral modes with parables, puns, poesy and music central tools of the "educational" system. For example, in oral cultures a person’s word was his bond....

Something Wiki This Way Comes

Robert K. Blechman — Wed, 9 Apr 2008 06:11:57 EDT

Educating the Millennial Generation requires an understanding of the biases of previous media and how they impact our educational institutions.
Something wiki this way comes.If you spend any time browsing the YouTube, you've probably seen the Media Ecological videos produced by Kansas State University Professor of Cultural Anthropology Michael Wesch. In his videos, Dr. Wesch focuses his camera on text written and re-written on pads of paper, computer screens or student flash cards. ...

Randi Rhodes and The First Amendment

Robert K. Blechman — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 21:52:42 EDT

Air America Radio suspends Randi Rhodes for using the "W" word.
In the 1919 case Schenk v. The United States, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech doesn't permit someone to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded theater. That interpretation of our Constitutional rights was brought up to date today when the management of Air America Radio suspended...

This Just In: Women Are Dim

Robert K. Blechman — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 12:35:44 EST

Sometimes, a woman is her gender's own worst advocate.
Sunday's Washington Post didn't see anything wrong with running an Op Ed piece by Charlotte Allen, "We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?”Allen argues that all women are dumb because some scream at a Barack Obama rally; some watch Grey's Anatomy; some get into car accidents; and some, evidently, accept tripe as Op Ed...

Makeup Your Mind: Reflections On Cosmetics And Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue

Robert K. Blechman — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:23:53 EST

A level playing field may apply in sports, but not in gender relations.
Sports Illustrated's annual paean to impossible feminine perfection celebrates an arbitrary nature/culture distinction between men and women that reflects a deep-seated cultural misogyny and perpetuates an uneven playing field in the battle of the sexes. Until our society matures to the point where women don't have to wear makeup to be considered...