Does Sony’s Fear Know No Bounds?
Published: Good Men Project (December 19, 2014) Matthew Rozsa is mad as hell that Sony pulled ‘The Interview.’ But he’s equally horrified by the company’s racist attitudes. ___ If North Korea has shown the world anything, it is that the executives at Sony are abject cowards. This may sound rough, but it needs to be said. And since I’ve already expounded at length upon the free speech issue...
7 things Americans think are more plausible than global warming
Published: Daily Dot (December 18, 2014), Salon (December 20, 2014) Seventy-seven percent of the country believe in angels. Only 40 percent concede climate change is a reality In a video that went viral this week, Bill O’Reilly has spoken, not only for himself but (generously) for the rest of America: “It’s easier to believe in a benevolent God and the baby Jesus than it is about some kind of...
7 Lessons From My Online Dating Experiment
Published: Good Men Project (December 18, 2014) co-author: Liskula Cohen Liskula Cohen and Matthew Rozsa look at how men succeed—and fail—with women in the world of online dating. ___ A few years ago, finding myself in a curious mood, I decided to create two dating profiles on the same site. They were mostly identical—both included information about my personality, likes and dislikes, ambitions,...
What Does Sony’s Pulling ‘The Interview’ Mean For Free Speech?
Published: Good Men Project (December 18, 2014) Matthew Rozsa believes North Korea’s threat to Sony challenges the very essence of our democratic freedoms. ___ Is it too much to expect Americans who expect to profit from the First Amendment to stand up for its underlying ethos? Of course, due emphasis must be placed on the phrase “underlying ethos” in the aforementioned sentence. Although the...
Finding Solace and Light After the Gabby Giffords Tragedy
Published: Good Men Project (December 17, 2014) Matthew Rozsa meditates on what we lost when Gabby Giffords was shot … and what we can still hope for. ___ It would be an understatement to say that I’m not an observant Jew. I don’t keep kosher, only periodically observe the High Holy Days, and didn’t even remember that it was Channukah until I saw this Facebook picture of former Rep. Gabrielle...
Amal Clooney is ‘fascinating’ – but not because of that guy she married
Published: Daily Dot (December 17, 2014) One of the greatest achievements in human history. Barbara Walters wasn’t technically incorrect when she used this phrase to declare Amal Clooney as the most fascinating person of 2014. After all, Walters' choice was a lawyer who has waged many important battles for human rights. Yet as Walters made clear in her segment, her tribute to the woman formerly...
7 ways the CIA torture report made the White House look really, really bad
Published: Daily Dot (December 11, 2014), Salon (December 14, 2014) Americans like to believe its presidents are monsters. The Senate's new report shows just how powerless they are If the public learns the right lesson from the Senate’s release of the torture report, it is that it should never look at the presidency in the same way again. Not because it makes our presidents look like monsters,...
Equality Before The Law – 2014
Published: Good Men Project (December 10, 2014) Matthew Rozsa explains the difference between the perception of equality and the reality of discrimination. ___ A friend recently observed that I’ve developed a reputation for anchoring my editorials with quotes, and as the year 2014 reaches its close, a particularly choice one by Anatole France comes to mind as capturing the zeitgeist of our...
The dangerous double-standard of liberal ‘Social Justice Warriors’
Published: Daily Dot (December 9, 2014) If you’ve logged onto the Internet recently, chances are you’re used to seeing progressives in the role of victim. In addition to its sexist undertones, Gamergate has largely been a right-wing movement, an explosion of cultural reactionary sentiment against feminist criticisms of female representation in video game content and culture. Even the derisive...
Jeb continues a Bush tradition: Capitalizing on GOP obstruction
Published: MSNBC (December 7, 2014) While he remains cryptic about his ultimate intentions, Jeb Bush has let America know that if he runs for president in 2016, he will do so by promising an administration that is “much more uplifting, much more positive, much more willing to be practical” – in short, the complete opposite of the status quo in Washington. It’s a pleasingly conciliatory narrative...
How Facebook made growing up in the White House even more complicated
Published: Daily Dot (December 3, 2014) Anyone criticizing Sasha and Malia Obama needs to do more than just check their partisanship. Instead, they might be well-advised to go one step further and take stock of their philosophy on child-rearing. Although it may be tempting for some to treat the Obama daughters like political figures, they are in fact child celebrities, saddled with all the...
Bill Cosby and the New Meaning of Integrity
Published: Good Men Project (December 3, 2014), Interview on LeGrande Green (December 7, 2014) Matthew Rozsa meditates on the downfall of Cosby and the rise of the new integrity. ___ Let’s talk about the concept of integrity. Since this is an article about Bill Cosby, an influential comedian, it seems appropriate to start with a quote from one of the most influential theatrical comedies in...
The racist #BlackStormtrooper backlash shows the dark side of geek culture
Published: Daily Dot (December 2, 2014) There is a deeper lesson to be learned by the racist backlash against the casting of John Boyega as a major character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s cliché these days to point out that “geek is chic,” but 2014 may be remembered as a turning point for the nerd subculture once associated with social marginalization—namely, the year in which it was...
In defense of the Ferguson rioters
Published: Daily Dot (November 28, 2014) In Ferguson, the streets are on fire, and so are the media as they follow rioters through clouds of tear gas and across lines of National Guard troops. Months after the death of Michael Brown at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson, the people of Ferguson have yet to see justice; But the unrest is bigger than either Wilson or Brown. Here are the nationwide...
3 Reasons Obama’s Immigration Order Will Prove The Haters Wrong
Published: Daily Dot (November 26, 2014) Last week, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley boldly claimed that Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration would cause him to be remembered as “a folk hero to Latino Americans.” While I can’t speak for the collective cultural memory of another ethnic group, Brinkley is right about one thing—President Obama has put himself on the right side of...
Stop comparing the Ferguson riots to the O. J. case
Published: Daily Dot (November 26, 2014) The Internet has the potential to communicate empathy unlike any other form of media in history. Unfortunately, as much of the online response to the Michael Brown shooting and Ferguson riots makes clear, it can also push us in the opposite direction. In a recent article on the role of online activism in mobilizing African-Americans against racial...
Why can’t America control its gun violence epidemic?
Published: Daily Dot (November 25, 2014) co-author: Liskula Cohen There were at least 12 school shootings since December 2012, from Newtown, Conn., to Marysville, Wash. Last week’s attack on Florida State University has made that number even larger. The American fear of guns is real and justifiable. Although I’m best known as a former model, I’m writing about this...