Yes, that’s a photo of Rand Paul with a “straightedge” punk
symbol on his hand (for punk fans who don’t do drugs or otherwise abuse
themselves or others). My prophecy of
“Conservatism for Punks” is coming true after all (have I mentioned that my
friend Tibbie X is in the band Reagan Youth now and that unlike some current
and former Lower East Side acquaintances of mine, much as I love them all, she likes gentrification?). OK, actually it’s the symbol for the Feb. 27 day of awareness for the anti-slavery “End It” movement opposing residual pockets of slavery in the world, but, hey, it’s all part of a broader struggle for freedom.
Punk/libertarian synergy makes perfect sense, since punk and
libertarianism alike are freedom-loving and anti-fascist (it’s certainly more
badass than this montage
of liberals crying). And let it not
be forgotten that fascism
was a form of socialism -- though it’s true that
connection can be oversimplified. The
impulse to force people into a herd is the root of almost all evil, including
government.
No politician’s perfect, of course -- because they’re
politicians, the lowest human form (no
gods, no masters!) -- but it’s fair to say I like Paul more than juvenile,
sneering, condescending, vicious-sorority-girl-sounding columnist Jennifer
Rubin does. In her recent anti-Paul
column, rooted in her utter shock at
the idea that anyone would want to avoid a new Crimean War with Russia, she
quotes an anonymous Hill staffer saying (equally condescendingly) that the last
time the U.S. tried complete isolationism it didn’t work out so well for
us. When the hell was that? The
1880s?? (And didn’t that period
actually work very well?)
But let’s get back to pop culture, where there are big
developments this week as the Oscars approach.
Here are ten of them:
1. The biggest, plainly, is the launch (despite some kinks
still being worked out) of the libertarian pop culture site LibertyIslandMag,
for which I’m recruiting cartoonists and writing gems like this short story
about time-traveling punks, “No
Future.”
2. Trivia note: the one big scene cut from the story in the
editing process involved Jodie Foster giving an Oscars acceptance speech, but regardless, time travel stories are
always timely.
3. The back-and-forth lately about whether Woody Allen has committed crimes has been
both painful and interesting, but even those inclined to distrust him can’t
dismiss his productivity. He’s directed
a film per year since the year I was born -- well, he skipped ’76, but he made
up for it with the epochal Annie Hall
the next year and later had a couple two-film years. He should do something special when his 50th
film arrives soon -- if he’s not distracted by rumored
marital woes with Soon-Yi.
4. In a reminder that the world would still be filled with
vicious political in-fighting even if only the libertarians remained in it,
there was controversy over Students for Liberty having (Hugo Chavez-idolizing) Oliver Stone speak at their recent
conference. My libertarian colleague
Andrew Kirell thought the outrage was ridiculous and pointed as an example to
Sonny Bunch’s column condemning the Stone appearance -- a column which in turn
approvingly cited me, since I
recently argued libertarians could productively think a bit more like neocons
without losing their souls. And so
enemy and ally are linked like Ouroboros.
(Another odd tension within libertarianism over foreign
policy matters right now is that while libertarians seem pretty clearly to side
with anti-government protesters in Venezuela, a few -- with whom Jennifer Rubin
would be very, very angry indeed -- have become not just anti-interventionist
regarding Ukraine but defenders of the ousted, Russia-allied Yanukovich regime,
in part because they hate the NGOs and Soros-backed organizations allied with
the pro-EU faction in Ukraine even more
than they hate the Russian government and, presumably, ex-KGB heads of
state. Adding to the confusion, I’ve
noticed a few leftists mistakenly getting the impression that Putin’s new U.S.
fans are neoconservatives -- like
Jennifer Rubin! -- rather than some paleoconservatives and
paleolibertarians. Well, perhaps a world
war will clarify things, whether it starts in Crimea or Syria.)
5. As is well known, I’d prefer libertarians stay focused on
economic issues, but AlterNet’s Lynn
Parramore has the economy all figured, apparently: It’s all about boobies.
6. In other gender news (h/t Chris Stamper, not to be
confused with Doug Stamper), behold the hipster-goth-freakazoid who is NYC’s most
desired straight woman according to the weirdoes using dating site OKCupid. I am not nearly weird enough for this town and
must try harder.
7. To compensate for sounding like a square gender-wise
there, here’s a link to a
clip that includes a couple of my favorite Ellen Degeneres jokes, which were right there in the first half of
her first network appearance, twenty-eight years ago on The Tonight Show (you can skip the second half of the clip, though
her chat with Johnny Carson -- not to be confused with her imaginary chat with
God moments earlier -- does contain one marvelously succinct feminist moment).
8. Speaking of foreign policy threats, this week saw the
final issue of the Star Trek: Khan
comic book miniseries, revealing that in the J.J. Abrams timeline, as intended
by the writers from the original 1960s Star
Trek series, Khan (apparently)
conquered a third of the Earth back in the 1990s, nuking a couple major cities
in the process. I like them depicting
Khan this way again. The Abrams universe
doesn’t exactly match the traditional Star Trek timeline -- why should it match
the real world’s?
9. Actor Roger Hill, who played another charismatic
conqueror, namely multi-gang-leader Cyrus
from the movie The Warriors, passed
away this month (h/t Janet Harvey).
Maybe we should all honor Cyrus’s passing by seeing another
Peloponnesian War-inspired film, 300:
Rise of an Empire, next week.
Widowed queen turned Xerxes-allied warrior Artemisia really fought --
very well -- in the battle of Salamis, you know, so the film isn’t solely based on comic books.
I also think they should have Miley Cyrus do a cameo as a
member of Cyrus’s family (“Now dance your unique dance for me, Cyrus, and sing
of the glory of the Persian Empire!”), but you can’t have everything.
10. And if we survive the next couple months, there’s Godzilla,
Spider-Man, X-Men, and Seth MacFarlane’s comedy Western all awaiting us for a wonderful May -- including the final issue
of the comics miniseries The Star Wars
and the start of shooting on Episode VII, which will be released next
year.
But when I’m not enjoying those things, assume I’m gradually
tinkering with this site’s permanent elements to make them look a bit more
presentable (or possibly doing things over at LibertyIsland) -- though I will
at least pop back in here for one more (especially surreal) movie note in a
couple weeks.
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