The Fundamental Difference Between Sanders and Trump
Published: Alternet (January 31, 2016), Salon (January 31, 2016), The Good Men Project (January 21, 2016) As the 2016 presidential election gathers steam, it’s tempting to compare the Bernie Sanders surge among Democrats with the Donald Trump phenomenon among Republicans. After all, both candidates are marshalling support from the ideological grassroots in their respective parties (the left in...
Enough about Hillary Clinton’s damn emails!
Published: The Good Men Project (January 30, 2016) 815 words into the Associated Press's recent 949 word piece on Hillary Clinton's email scandal, one will find a passage that should appear at the very beginning: The FBI also is looking into Clinton's email setup, but has said nothing about the nature of its probe. Independent experts says it's unlikely Clinton will be charged with wrongdoing,...
Marvel’s Trump agenda: Maybe it’s no accident that fans have to push for equality and diversity at every turn
Published: Salon (January 29, 2016) How should progressives respond to the recent news that Marvel Comics CEO Ike Perlmutter donated over $1 million to a Donald Trump event intended to draw viewers away from the Republican presidential debate? As a start, they should remember these words of wisdom from one of Marvel’s most iconic superhero franchises: “With great power comes great...
When did incompetence become okay?
Published: The Good Men Project (January 26, 2016) Have we decided, as a society, that professional incompetence is something we must tolerate? Indeed, dare I say, that it is even acceptable? This isn’t an entirely rhetorical question. Most people are happy to pay lip service to the importance of reliability and efficiency, and there is little question that Americans are second-to-none when it...
“Star Wars” fans, unite: The only way to fight #WheresRey trends is to stop buying the toys
Published: Salon (January 25, 2016) After it became apparent that the character of Rey had been excluded from game sets for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” critics quickly accused Lucasfilm – which was purchased by Disney in 2012 – of making sexist assumptions when developing its product line. Although Hasbro denied these claims in a statement to Entertainment Weekly about their “Star Wars...
Amy Schumer and the rise of Internet vigilance
Published: The Daily Dot (January 23, 2016) If there is any silver lining to the Amy Schumer plagiarism scandal, it is that it establishes one of the ways in which the Internet can be an unequivocal force for good. Thanks to social media and online activism, the days in which the powerful can rip off the powerless with impunity are long gone. Just to recap: Three female comedians have accused...
Bloomberg is Not the Answer in 2016
Published: Salon (January 22, 2016), The Good Men Project (January 16, 2016) Apparently former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is thinking of running for president as a third-party candidate. The New York Times reports that Bloomberg commissioned a private poll to see how he would fare if the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton and the Republicans nominate Donald Trump, which seems likely...
Technology should help, not hurt the workforce
Published: The Daily Dot (January 21, 2016) Calling the recent boom in digital technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology the “fourth industrial revolution,” the World Economic Forum, determined that by 2020—just a few years from now—as many as 7.1 million jobs may be lost in the world’s richest countries through redundancy and automation. In particular, the forum, which is...
Right Wing Terrorism and the Obama Brand
Published: The Good Men Project (January 19, 2016) Since the start of his presidency, conservatives have been quick to lambast Barack Obama for not being tough on Islamic terrorists. Unfortunately for both them and the rest of America, a spoiled rancher and his political cohorts have now provided them with one of their ultimate moral tests – namely, whether their staunch anti-terrorist posturing...
The media’s dangerous Hillary-centrism: Why our obsession with frontrunners is hurting the Democratic Party
Published: Salon (January 19, 2016) The most important moment of Sunday night’s Democratic presidential debate involved not what was said, but what moderator Lester Holt made sure his audience would never get to hear. After permitting Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to offer lengthy replies to a question on the drug epidemic, he cut off Martin O’Malley and moved to a commercial break despite...
There’s a new, refreshing trend in online bullying
Published: The Daily Dot (January 14, 2016) If there is a single major social problem that best captures the pros and cons of our Internet-driven world, it is the issue of bullying. On one hand, the Internet has become notorious in recent years as a breeding ground for bullying behavior. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, about half of young people have experienced some form of...
My Unpronounceable Hungarian Last Name
Published: The Good Men Project (January 14, 2016) Let me tell you something about my last name. Even though it’s spelled “Rozsa,” it is pronounced ‘Roja.’ Being Hungarian, the ‘zs’ is pronounced in the same way that one would articulate an ‘s’ in ‘pleasure’ or ‘leisure,’ not as a ‘z’ in ‘zebra’ or ‘s’ in ‘hose,’ such as English would lead you to believe. For the first thirty years of my life,...
Kim Davis, Donald Trump, and the Maddening Paradox of Ignoring the Obnoxious
Published: The Good Men Project (January 12, 2016) The Internet is understandably indignant that Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, has been invited to appear at President Obama's State of the Union. Insofar as they are outraged at this doffing of a symbolic hat to a walking symbol of homophobia, they are absolutely correct. At...
Marvel’s Spider-Man is the first sign of the apocalypse!
Published: The Good Men Project (January 9, 2016) Okay, I don't really mean that. There has been so much written about the upcoming Spider-Man movie that I felt a little hyperbole would help attract your attention. If you're reading this, though, that means I wasn't wrong... so let me explain why the inclusion of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, in fact, a terrible thing for...
Donald vs. Kanye in 2020?
Published: The Good Men Project (January 7, 2016) For the record, I don't believe Donald Trump is going to be our next president. Similarly, I would be shocked if the Democratic Party nominated Kanye West as their presidential candidate in 2020, despite his declared intention to run. That said, I can't help but wonder... What if? What if Trump manages to stave off Ted Cruz and win the Republican...
One year after the Charlie Hebdo attack, we are still #JeSuisCharlie
Published: The Daily Dot (January 6, 2016) January 7th marks the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris that left 12 dead and 11 wounded. As we reflect on the greater meaning of the tragedy that occurred that day, a series of complex lessons present themselves, encompassing many of the most crucial issues facing the United States today—from the importance of defending free...
The Sexist Criticisms of Kylo Ren
Published: The Good Men Project (January 5, 2016) Warning: This entire article is one big spoiler! If you want to understand why men are reluctant to discuss their emotions, look no further than the response to Kylo Ren from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." On Twitter, there is a popular (and media-lauded) account called "Emo Kylo Ren," in which the Star Wars antagonist makes comments like "Darth...