Why Are People So Upset Over ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’?
Published: The Good Men Project (March 7, 2015) co-authored with Liskula Cohen This is an article by two people who haven't seen or read Fifty Shades of Grey. That's why---and we can't stress this enough---this is NOT a review of Fifty Shades of Grey. It is, instead, an attempt to understand the controversy from the perspective of two total outsiders (and written from Liskula Cohen's...
Why Michael Brown’s parents are suing Ferguson for justice
Published: Daily Dot (March 6, 2015) Michael Brown's parents announced this week that they are planning on filing a civil wrongful death lawsuit over their son's death “very shortly.” Coming on the heels of the ongoing lawsuit against New York City by Eric Garner’s family, it’s easy to inaccurately characterize this story as a symptom of our nation’s allegedly lawsuit-happy society (although...
Why We Want To Believe Conspiracy Theories
Published: Good Men Project (March 5, 2015) Matthew Rozsa holds conspiracy theorists to the same standard of skepticism that they claim to use. ___ Maybe it was my mistake. After all, what kind of person expects to hear intelligent political analysis from two drunks in an alley? Granted, it was the alley adjacent to my house, and while I was nowhere near as inebriated as my two new...
The NSA is still spying on you – so why did Americans stop caring?
Published: Daily Dot (March 4, 2015) America is rapidly approaching a new phase in its history, and virtually no one seems to care. The first sign became apparent on Saturday, when a federal court approved the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of the telephone records of American citizens. In theory, this shouldn’t mean very much; the controversial program needs to be re-approved every...
Sneaky Homophobes Are Undermining Gay Rights Progress
Published: Good Men Project (March 3, 2015) Matthew Rozsa explains how bigotry and lack of honor go hand-in-hand. ___ To understand why public trust in our government and political parties has reached historic lows, simply look at the latest maneuver by social conservatives to squelch gay rights. True, it seems self-evident that supporting discrimination is always despicable, regardless of...
Why teens are joining ISIS
Published: Daily Dot (March 3, 2015) A New York Times article published last week drew attention to the growing trend among affluent, intelligent, and socially well-adjusted young women joining ISIS or other Islamic terrorist organizations. This phenomenon struck the Grey Lady as particularly curious because, as a lawyer for the families of one of the girls put it: “It is those young people who...
Dating with Asperger’s: A new documentary follows a lonely Aspie’s search for love
Published: Salon (March 2, 2015) co-author: Liskula Cohen Asperger's syndrome can make dating a challenge, but loneliness proves more a debilitating hurdle in this new film This review was written by Matthew Rozsa, who is a high-functioning autistic, and Liskula Cohen, who is not, so that it could incorporate both perspectives. There is a universality to the suffering captured in “Aspie Seeks...
How Leonard Nimoy made Spock an American Jewish icon
Published: Salon (February 27, 2015) Nimoy transformed the classic intellectual self-questioning archetype into a dashing "Star Trek" action hero I suspect I can speak for most American Jews when I say: Before I’d watched even a single episode of “Star Trek,” I knew about Leonard Nimoy. Although there are plenty of Jews who have achieved fame and esteem in American culture, only a handful have...
My Top 3 Pet Peeves (That Are Actually A Big Deal)
Published: Good Men Project (February 26, 2015) Matthew Rozsa shares the three pet peeves that bug him the most. Someone has to do it, right? ___ It’s strange writing an article about pet peeves. Normally I try to write about topics that have significant consequence, and a pet peeve by definition is an annoyance that can be easily brushed off. Except sometimes they can’t. There are certain...
Why old white Republicans keep mansplaining women’s vaginas
Published: Daily Dot (February 25, 2015) When yet another old white man nationally embarrasses himself with his ignorance about how women’s bodies work, it isn’t enough to hold them up for richly deserved derision, as the Internet is wont to do. We must also learn a very important lesson: namely, that their poor understanding of experiences outside their own frame-of-reference demonstrates why...
What John Oliver doesn’t understand about America’s justice system
Published: Daily Dot (February 24, 2015) John Oliver’s eloquent rant about corruption from this weekend’s edition Last Week Tonight about the American judiciary has been going viral since the show aired Sunday night. “What he revealed was truly disturbing,” wrote Sarah Gray of Salon. Forrest Wickman of Slate echoed this sentiment, observing that “as a British immigrant, John Oliver has often...
February 2015 Has Been A Historic Month for Science
Published: Pixable (February 24, 2015) This has been a historic month for science. Even if all scientific progress crawls to a stop this week, the knowledge we’ve already acquired since February 1, 2015 is likely to have a direct impact on all of our lives. Among the lessons we’ve learned: 1. The theory of the Big Bang may be false (Source: Flickr/nasamarshall) In a paper published by Physics...
Sean Penn’s Big Mistake and What We Should Learn From It
Published: Good Men Project (February 24, 2015) Sean Penn forgot that behaviors which may seem appropriate in private are often inappropriate in public. ___ For those of you who haven’t heard, two-time Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn is under fire for a racist joke he made during the Oscars on Sunday. As he presented “Birdman” director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu with the award for Best...
The biggest problem with virtual reality is us
Published: Daily Dot (February 23, 2015) Are we approaching the dawn of the virtual reality age? “You’re looking at the future,” declared Chris Cox, the chief product officer at Oculus VR, in reference to his company’s virtual reality headset being purchased by Facebook, “and it’s going to be awesome.” Recent reports indicate that the company is developing its own virtual reality version of the...
When They Laughed at Rape…
Published: Good Men Project (February 19, 2015), Salon (February 22, 2015) Matthew Rozsa discusses how an off-hand observation during a speech illustrated an important point about rape culture. ___ Every so often, a single experience will instantaneously illuminate an aspect of the human condition to a person who had previously failed to viscerally grasp it. Such was the case for me earlier this...
Anti-vaxxers shouldn’t use my autism to justify their bad choices
Published: Quartz (February 18, 2015) I still remember the first article I ever wrote about growing up with Asperger’s Syndrome. It was compelled (I’m reluctant to say inspired) by some of the controversial reports that circulated after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting claiming gunman Adam Lanza had an autism spectrum disorder. Two years later, confusion and misinformation about autism...
Maturity: Learning It’s Not About You
Published: Good Men Project (February 14, 2015) Matthew Rozsa discusses three ways in which being mature can be reduced to a single lesson: It isn’t about you. Everything you need to know about maturity can be boiled down to one lesson: It’s not about you. I’d like to claim credit for this realization, but the accolades belong to my close friend Rosalia. A valuable sounding board if there ever...