Matt Philbin
Latest from Matt Philbin
Here’s an outside-the-box -- not to say crazy (if you’re even allowed to say crazy anymore) -- suggestion for the gang at the American Psychology Association: If you’re going to issue what Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse calls an “an indictment … of rigid, traditional masculinity,” you might want to talk to some “traditional” men first. That way, you won’t be blindsided when some folks think your research belongs under the scientific classification of “crap.”
For more than a year Hollywood has been working on the role of a lifetime, playing an idealistic, naive industry suddenly shocked -- shocked! -- to learn it’s full of pervs and casting couch horndogs. The performance, including tears, almost believable surprise and deft use of hashtag props has mostly earned rave reviews from critics who call it a “brave” performance.
Christians, stop what you’re doing. You’ve gotten Christianity all wrong. Theologians, Doctors of the Church, saints, martyrs and mystics -- not to mention the countless generations of believers -- you’ve mucked it all up. Oh, don’t feel too bad. You haven’t had the benefit of doctrinal and spiritual guidance from a guy who writes comic books for a living.
You have to respect the proficiency and determination of a lefty to get one last whine in before 2018 limps to its end and the new year dawns with all it’s fresh possibilities for new grievances. Julia Ioffe, a correspondent for GQ, is one such intrepid complainer. It seems some people have had the effrontery to wish her a Merry Christmas.
In a 1995 encyclical, Pope John Paul II famously called modern Western society a “culture of death.” So it was inevitable that we’d end up with a pop culture of death as well.
Kudos to Sports Illustrated.for coming up with a creative new awards ceremony format in which a real-life heroine is introduced by the actress who played her on TV. That’s the only possible rationale for having Christine Blasey Ford involved in a ceremony honoring Rachel Denhollander.
Lena Dunham’s back in the news -- never glad tidings for civilization. The creator of HBO’s Girls has issued her latest mea culpa, apologizing for defending a male colleague from an accusation of rape last year. Dunham wrote an open letter to actress Aurora Perrineau in The Hollywood Reporter, seeking forgiveness for doubting Perrineau’s allegations against Girls writer/producer Murray Miller
Huffington Post performed an excellent service the other day by documenting the tweets of liberals watching Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Many of the tweets were funny. Some appeared earnest. Each illustrated the cultural gulf between the America of 1964 and today.
If you’ve watched The History Channel, you know that “ancient aliens” probably built the Pyramids and Stonehenge and maybe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (and why wouldn’t little green men have little green thumbs?)
Congratulations to The Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards, who on Nov. 15 covered himself in glory by earning the Post’s coveted Triple Crown. With one brief piece, Richards earned Self-Hating White Liberal of the Week; and Dog Whistle Discerner; and won the “Politicize This!” Challenge.
Imagine a CNN personality claiming to be mystified by the “daily Trump-fest.” This is, after all, the network of Brian Stelter, who never misses an opportunity to whine that Trump is “poisoning the American people” against the media. But let’s pretend that Christiane Amanpour really does lack all self-awareness and, perplexed, she recently turned to journalism mentor Jon Stewart for guidance. “I mean, every single newspaper, every radio station, every bit of social media …” she complained to the former Daily Show host in an interview that included comic Dave Chappelle.
The left’s Meltdown of Kavanaugh Rage Pot Luck & Hootenanny has certainly been entertaining. Cory Booker’s Concern Face alone was worth the price of admission.
I saw today that the Buffalo Wild Wings chain has introduced pumpkin spice wings. I only mention it to observe that a) it’s an abomination against nature and nature’s God and b) the Estrogen Industrial Complex’s emasculation-by-pumpkin-spice project is proceeding apace. When somebody figures they can make a buck tarting up the ultimate bar food with nutmeg (nutmeg!), we’re not too far from the day when “Guy-Time” will mean curling up with a flavored coffee and dreaming of Paris.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has given the planet 10 years to live. Or something. This has upset the sort of people who know the IPCC exists and are given to taking its pronouncements seriously. You know, the kind of earnest souls who give thought to bovine gassiness.
In writing this column over lo these many months, I’ve heard from lots of people that “Alt-Left” is a lousy formulation for this collation of progressive pieties, liberal licentiousness, bohemian bric-a-brac and Bolshevik bossiness. The common complaint is that there is nothing “alt” about the beliefs and behavior it documents. Having sex with shrubbery, whining about “white people shampoo” or casting black magic spells on Donald Trump -- it’s all the stuff of the lefty mainstream.
More bad news for the NFL. According to Variety, viewership of the first three weeks of the 2018 season “are down an average 2% in total viewers from where they were at the same point in 2017.” Of course, ratings in the same period of 2017 nosedived 8%-10%.
It’s heartening to see a healthy respect for religious liberty being kindled at, of all places, The University of Wisconsin at Madison. There, young scholars have at long last come to the understanding that the practice of religion cannot be confined to worshipping at set hours and in set places. The religious observer mustn't be required to leave his faith in the pews. He must be free to take it to the ice cream shop!
Los Angeles has only one “LGBT-focused coffee shop.” This is surprising news to me, but then I believe pumpkin spiced latte is Big Coffee’s fiendish plot to turn America into a nation of jittery, fem Pajama Boys.
Remember when liberals in the media disdained everything about the Catholic Church? Simpler times. Then Pope Francis came along and muddied things. He talks about climate change, castigates capitalism and plays verbal footsie with lefty Catholic hobby-horse issues like divorce and gay acceptance. This Francis guy, they think, might be one of us.
It was supposed to be an inspirational advertising tagline, not a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” is the phrase Nike used to introduce unemployed QB Colin Kaepernick as the face of it’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign.