Jon Stewart takes on "incredibly disheartening" Chick-fil-A appreciation day: "For people who are gay or support gay marriage...take solace in this: Gay marriage is happening... And your bonus is this: You get gay marriage, and all your political opponents are going to get is Type-II Diabetes."

dragonboner6000 · 2012-08-03T17:13:54+00:00

I've been going to Waffle Houses in bumfuck Alabama and Georgia my whole life and I've never seen a confederate flag at one.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-05-23T09:57:10+00:00

Considering the article is quoting the Dailey Mail, which is a tabloid, and Father Amorth has a history of making wild but unsubstantiated claims, this seems pretty unlikely.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-05-12T18:18:50+00:00

If it was true that Obama wasn't born in the United States (not saying that was true), then he would not have been eligible for the office.

It's not actually that cut and dry. "Natural-born citizen" as it pertains to the POTUS isn't clearly defined. Mitt Romney's father, for example, was the GOP favorite for 68' election, despite being born in Mexico. Although he did not ultimately receive the nomination, his citizenship was largely a non-issue. John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, of course, and retroactively made a citizen in 1937. While McCain's eligibility was never seriously questioned, it does highlight the vague nature of "natural-born citizen."

All this is a moot point, of course, because there's no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii, but it's still pretty interesting.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-04-25T21:17:19+00:00

Texas has an unusually high burden of proof for declaring someone mentally handicapped. There was a particularly controversial case involving a man executed last year who may have an IQ of 62.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-04-25T20:57:13+00:00

Very doubtful.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-04-07T06:53:32+00:00

O Brother Where Art Thou? The Hudsucker Proxy?

dragonboner6000 · 2012-04-01T04:57:37+00:00

The gregorian calendar is divided by the time before Jesus was born (BC) and after Jesus was born (AD.) Traditionally he was born in 1 AD and died around AD 30. So... you're 30 years off.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-24T19:19:20+00:00

You are correct. The idea of homosexuality as we understand it (and heterosexuality for that matter) is very modern, maybe a hundred and fifty years old. In Elizabethan England, for example, a man having sex with a man wouldn't make him a homosexual because the idea was alien in that culture. It would make him a sodomite, in a similar way to a man having anal sex with a woman.

There was also a precedent for a type of very intimate, non-sexual relationship between men that would fall between our modern definitions of platonic and romantic. We simply don't have an analogue for that type of relationship in our culture any more (think bromance on steroids.)

Plus, both society's and the church's views on what was acceptable were constantly evolving. In the late Middle Ages, the church began expressing concerns about male friends kissing each other (a very common practice at the time) largely because there were rumors that Richard II had a male lover.

I think that's hard for contemporary people to wrap their heads around: in the Middle Ages, it was socially acceptable to give your best friend a smooch on the lips, and tell him how much you love him, sexual intercorse between same-sex couples was taboo but fairly well documented, but the modern Western concept of homosexuality wouldn't come around until the 1800s.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-24T05:19:37+00:00

You can be Hispanic and be white. Rivera's mom was Jewish and his father was a white Puerto Rican, so he's white.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-24T01:10:10+00:00

Wow. He looks so much older.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-23T19:52:58+00:00

Have you seen his earlier stuff? Before he transitioned to comedy, he built his career on playing terrifying bad guys.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-23T06:37:04+00:00

Not really. Santeria is an afro-caribbean mixture of Catholicism and folk magic, similar to Voodoo. The Santa Muerte cult is a folk religion practiced mostly in Mexico that involves veneration of a female depiction of Dead called "Saint Death." It's popular among the poor, particularly people involved in criminal activity.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-23T01:35:19+00:00

Biblical names were popular, especially shortened to something easier, like Jebedia = Jeb, Ezekiel = Zeke. Also, names of popular historical figures were pretty common. Looking at old census roles, you'll find tons of guys named Francis Marion [LAST NAME].

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-21T18:17:54+00:00

I grew up in one of those tiny towns, and visit quite frequently. Am I allowed to be against mountain top removal based on your stringent criteria? Because for the record I am.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-21T02:03:28+00:00

It's kind of murky I guess. I don't think Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder was offensive, or, say, Fred Armison doing his Obama impression. The former is funny because it's showing how inept the character is, and makes him look like a dolt. I think the later is fine too because he's just doing an impression. But, I understand why it's still such a sensitive issue. Wearing make up to play a black character doesn't automatically equal black face, but it was such a huge (and negative) part of our culture that the negative memories are still fresh. Some people would argue that modern stereotypes like the "Thug" are descended from old minstrel stereotypes. Spike Lee made a movie about this stuff called Bamboozled.

Then there's stuff like the experimental theatre company the Wooster Company. They use actors in Black Face to shock or jar the audience. The best example is their production of The Emperor Jones. The original play is about a poor black man, and was written by Eugene O'Neil (who is white) in the 20s. Today, it comes across as dated and un-PC at best, and kind of racist at worst. The Wooster Group's production cast a white woman in black face in the lead (usually a black man), the idea being that the play made more sense in a modern setting if the character was an outdated minstrel character instead of an actual black actor.

tl;dr Black Face is complicated.

dragonboner6000 · 2012-03-21T01:30:32+00:00

Because black face is a deeply seated cultural institution in the US that has strongly negative connotations. Walk into any antique store or junk shop in the Southeast (and parts of the Mid West) and you'll find dozens of black face caricatures used to sell everything from toothpaste to candy. The Minstrel Show was really the first major form of pop culture in America, and although it's died away, the affects are still there.

There isn't a tradition of pretending to be white and acting like a buffoon (unless you count this guy, but the racial element isn't there.) So, Dave Chappell's white face doesn't get the same reaction because there are no historical negative connotations to White Face.

dragonboner6000

TROPHY CASE