Category Archives: Political Correctness

With the recent Tory triumph in the British parliamentary elections, it is clear that the old, predictable dynamics of politics and public life are gone, at least for the immediate future. As we approach the U.S. presidential election in 2020, it seems likely that, whoever wins, it will not be somebody of moderate views and mild personality.

One note repeatedly struck by pundits is that of the opposition between populists and liberal elites. Such an approach provides a partial explanation for what we see unfolding before us: The lefts failure to achieve popular appeal is surely connected to the fact that it has abandoned traditional economic concepts of oppression for the psychologized categories of identity politics. And so the left now finds itself out of step with traditional workers, for whom jobs are more important than gender-blind bathroom policies or drag queen reading hours. The concerns of the cocktail party set in Chelsea or Manhattan are not the concerns of workers in Huddersfield or West Virginia.

Yet I would suggest that the real division in the politics of the earthly city is not between populists and elites, or the New Left and Everybody Else. It is between those who believe that human nature is a given and those who believe it is merely a social construct. And that distinction cuts across the grain of traditional political taxonomy, given that the latter is as compatible with right-wing libertarianism as with critical theory.

The symptoms are all around us, most obviously in the arbitrary morality of the moment. The NBA boycotts North Carolina over its bathroom policy, yet plays the fawning sycophant to China, a nation with a catastrophic record on human rights. Money may be the key factor, but that rests on a deeper (anti)metaphysical point: It is not that the NBA hypocritically strains at a gnat while swallowing a camel; it is that there is no longer any objective scale beyond the immediate exigencies of the economy by which to judge which are the gnats and which the camels. And what we see on the world stage with corporations like the NBA and nations like China we can all observe in our own small worlds, from those who decry traditional use of pronouns yet glory in abortion rights, to those who vilify political correctness but who are perennially outraged at the smallest perceived linguistic slight directed at themselves.

Our culture is increasingly an anti-culture, marked only by relentless iconoclasm. That is why I write for, and support, First Things. For all of the differences among the writers, it remains committed to showing, by precept and example, that civil discourse and honest, open discussion of the most important issues in this earthly city are vitalbecause there is such a thing as human nature, and therefore there is such a thing as human flourishing, which is not for us simply to invent for ourselves.

Carl R. Trueman is a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College.

Originally posted here:

Arguing for Truth in the Anti-Culture | Carl R. Trueman - First Things

Remembering the Alamo used to be fairly straightforward. The battle of 1836, Davy Crockett, John Wayneokay kids, back on the bus. But ever since 2014, this hallowed Texas monument has become the locus of a notably less cinematic war, all raging around the controversial plan to renovate and redesign it. At first blush, the Alamo master plan presented by Texas land commissioner George P. Bush seems pretty logical and perfectly reverent. Repair some cracks. Create a whole new museum to house the many artifacts that singer and Alamo buff Phil Collins donated, after growing bored of playing the In the Air Tonight drum solo with Jim Bowies knife. Close off the streets in front that have become home to carnivals, demonstrators, half-naked exhibitionists, and, occasionally, the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

But opponents quickly seized on the proposal to relocate the Alamo cenotaph to a new spotone closer to the funeral pyres where the bodies of the fallen Texas revolutionaries were burned, yet much farther away from the Alamo itself. This swelled into a controversy that grew even more complicated after San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg mused in a radio interview that he hoped the newly renovated Alamo would honor both sides. This seemingly throwaway platitudecoupled with some vague promise of healing on the renovation website and Nirenbergs recent removal of a Confederate war memorialhas sparked a raging battle of its own, aimed at the supposed scourge of political correctness thats out to erase Texas history. And that preemptive furor finally culminated last week in the wild accusations that Bush is so intent on telling everyones side of the story, he even wants to erect a statue of the Mexican tyrant Santa Anna, right there on the Alamo grounds.

The charge was leveled by a group that calls itself Save the Alamo and was launched by Bushs onetime political rival for the land commissioner job, Rick Range. And it likely would have remained there, swirling in the eternally screaming abyss of panicky Facebook shares, had Bush himself not brought attention to it through his own social media posts calling the rumor patently false, an outright lie, and quite frankly, flat-out racist.

And the fog of war has only thickened now that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has blundered into this mess. This week, Patrick issued a statement criticizing Bush and his staff, saying theyve derided anyone who disagrees with the Alamo redesign as a small vocal minority who are liars and racists. This is offensive and inaccurate. This is, of course, a rather sweeping mischaracterization of what actually happened, as Bush pointed out in his own official response: Lt. Gov. Patrick has taken my statement out of context, much like the small group of protesters and activists, Bush wrote. To clarify, I stated the accusation that I was erecting a statue of Santa Anna at the Alamo, and protesters continually referring to me with slurs such as Santa Anna Bush online is racist. He then went on to say that Patrick was twisting my words, adding, It is a very dangerous mistake for an elected official with his power to make.

You might think it all would have ended there, with Bush having made it plain that only those specific rumormongers among the plans opponents are the racists. But Patrickthe immortal words of William Barret Travis no doubt ringing in his earsproudly declared he would never surrender or retreat, issuing yet another statement to aver that he did not twist words or float rumors. He also doubled down on his criticism of Bush and the General Land Office for even mentioning those racist attacks in its official statement, saying he was surprised and disappointed.

Patrick is right that not all opponents of the Alamo plan are racists or liars, and that they constitute more than the small, vocal minority named rather dismissively by the General Land Office. Plans to move the cenotaph have been met with numerous protests, public hearings, and last-ditch legislative proposals over the past few years; clearly, its the biggest controversy the monument has seen since that time Ozzy Osbourne peed on it. Still, Bush is right to condemn an outright lieone that was cooked up by the guy who lost an election to him, no less. Patricks attempt to spin that as Bush dismissing all critics is every bit as disingenuous, and a needlessly distracting addition to a debate thats already plenty contentious and confusing. (We havent even touched on the lawsuit filed by descendants of the Native Americans buried thereand who for Bushs sake, hopefully werent among the human remains that were newly unearthed this very week.) Texans want to remember the Alamo, but when this is all over, well be lucky to remember our own names.

With controversies such as the Alamo kerfuffle, its enough to make you wonder why anyone ever wants to run for office. But a new ad from Wendy Davis posits that campaigning can be its own reward, with the former state senator announcing her run for Congress in Texass Twenty-first Congressional District with the rather dubious slogan, Running for office is truly the Gift That Gives Back. Thats true in one regard, at least: its already given Davis plenty of attention, thanks to its topical-ish spoof of that Peloton commercial that briefly unleashed a storm of online mockery and actually tanked the companys stock. In her version of the ad, Davis tries to get back into campaign shape to run against Republican representative Chip Roy. She documents her journey, from 6 a.m. wake-up calls to go talk to voters to (in a fairly loose interpretation of parody) taking video selfies while astride her own Peloton bike.

Its all perfectly cute, in the self-aware way that all commercial spoofs and campaign ads are, though its certainly a muddled message. After all, most of the negative reaction to the Peloton ad was centered on the idea that the woman was something akin to a hostage. She didnt have to be doing this. She only seemed to be committing herself to this pointless slog to prove something to a manor, in the most charitable reading, out of some doing-it-for-the-Gram narcissism. Neither is perhaps the subtext her campaign intended for Daviss reintroduction to politics. Theres also something slightly desperate about the fact that Davis tagged her post with the accounts for both actor Ryan Reynolds and his Aviation Gin, acknowledging the companys own Peloton spoof, but also not-so-subtly asking for his help making it go virala plea that, adding to the overall cringe factor, Reynolds seems to have ignored. Hopefully Daviss team will offer something a little more substantive next time, and resist the urge to dress her up as Baby Yoda.

Also spinning his wheels this week, former presidential candidate Beto ORourke has lately retreated to the familiar, returning to the comforting bosom and lowered stakes of state politics, and concentrating on offering general support for local progressive candidates. So it comes as no surprise that hes wrapped his face in the security blanket of a scruffy unemployment beard, which ORourke seems to grow whenever he no longer has voters to answer to. Good thing, too, seeing as Betos beard tends to be as polarizing as his thoughts on gun control.

Much as it did when he grew it out last January, not long after ORourke lost to (a similarly freshly bearded) Senator Ted Cruz, Betos beard has once again divided the nation over whether its a sign of virility or of depression, a bold reclamation of his free-agent status or some form of post-breakup wallowing. (For his part, Cruz himself approves.) But even more troublinglyand metaphoricallyBetos beard just doesnt seem to be generating the same level of excitement this time around. Even the parody Twitter account @BeardBeto appears to have lost interest long ago, apparently growing disenchanted enough to switch allegiances to [Elizabeth] Warrens Unscented Deodorant. Maybe Betos beard should have stuck closer to his face for a while, until it achieved the fullness it needed before branching out.

While Beto ORourke is out there letting his beard down in the freaky, ramble-tamble of semi-post-political life, maybe hell cross paths with Rick Perry, whos been similarly cut loose to follow his heartno longer answering to The Man, or the people who want to know how he might have helped The Man exact certain political pressures on foreign countries. Indeed, after bidding a perfectly timed farewellto the Department of Energy, Perry seems to have found a new source of his own. Perrys apparently been burning, burning, burning, like a fabulously coiffed Roman candle, hurtling across some sort of mad, Kerouacian journey to the heart of the American dream, only to end up stranded somewhere outside of Cisco.

The setback seems to have been temporary, at least, as Perry says he soon found himself rescued by at least 5 good Texans and one very good dog, a menagerie that swept Perry off the side of the highway and gave him a lift to the airport for his next adventure.

Who knows where Perrys boho odyssey will take him next, or what fellow travelers will join his restless search for kicks? Nothing behind him but Ukrainian lawsuits, nothing before him but cozy rewards from the private sector, as is ever so on the road. Why, this time tomorrow he could be watching a bullfight down Mexico way, or appearing on Fox News, or splitting a can of beans with a railcar hobo, or appearing on Fox News. Heres to the next patch of stars Perry lays his head under. Hopefully its nowhere near Washington, D.C. Or the Alamo.

Continued here:

Bull Session: Remember the Alamo? And Wendy Davis? And That Peloton Ad? - Texas Monthly

Ivanka Trump has ended 2019 in the most Ivanka way possible: conducting a pretend interview with a friendly journalist at a conference that she was not fit to attend.

Over the weekend, the first daughter rounded off a year of tirelessly promoting herself with an appearance at the Doha Forum, which is one of those Davos-like conferences where the rich and powerful get together to hobnob and release huge amounts of hot air into the atmosphere. All in the name of solving the worlds most complex problems, of course.

As usual, Ivanka was one of the least qualified people in the room but also one of the most shameless. While government officials such as Turkeys foreign minister and Rwandas president fielded hard-hitting questions from journalists, Ivanka was interviewed by Morgan Ortagus, a US state department spokeswoman and former Fox News contributor. In other words, Ivanka basically sat down for an interview with her own PR person.

As you can imagine, the questions were brutal. Ortagus delivered sycophantic prompts such as: You were able to put womens prosperity into the national security strategy. That was so important to me that you did that and Id love for you to explain that. Obligingly, Ivanka waxed lyrical about how wonderful she is, while Ortagus oohed and aahed.

Ivankas extraordinarily softball interview raised some eyebrows. Even Vladimir Putin doesnt get interviewed by [the Kremlin press secretary] Dmitri Peskov, complained one Russian journalist. Poor Ivanka was immediately dismissed as Nepotism Barbie by the Twitterati, which was rather below the belt; Barbies daddy never gave her a high-ranking job in the government.

But that is enough snark. Whatever you think of Ivanka, she has achieved an astonishing amount this year. As her father announced recently to the Economic Club of New York, she single-handedly created 14m jobs which is truly remarkable when you consider that the entire US economy has added only 6m jobs under Trump.

Of course, Ivanka has done more than anyone to empower women. In February, she launched the Womens Global Development and Prosperity initiative to help 50 million female entrepreneurs globally. This would be great, were it not for the fact that her daddys government has made enormous cuts to foreign aid and reinstated the global gag rule that means international NGOs are barred from US government health funding if they perform or promote abortions. As Oxfam has noted, Ivankas initiatives wont even come close to making up for the damage done by the Trump administration.

The inspiring thing about Ivanka is that reality never gets in her way. She is blessed with the opposite of imposter syndrome. She is a motivational quote in high heels there is nothing Ivanka thinks she cant do. To be fair, there is little she hasnt done. This year alone, she rubbed shoulders with world leaders at the G20; sashayed into North Korea with her papa and declared the experience surreal; patronised women on a grand tour of Africa; and bought the worlds whitest dog.

It is easy to laugh at her. But if 2019 has taught us anything, it is that the Trump family is having the last laugh. They have weaponised exhaustion. From day one of Donalds presidency, they have eschewed established norms and acted shamelessly. Meanwhile, the rest of us have grown too tired to remain outraged. We have become used to Ivanka placing herself on the world stage. But beware: the woman is a wolf in chic clothing.

Sticking with the Trumps, sad news from the muddy trenches of Manhattan, where I have spent the better part of a decade fighting the war on Christmas. It has been a bloody battle and there have been times when my comrades in the PC army have come tantalisingly close to victory. Alas, our enemy triumphed. We must finally admit defeat: the war on Christmas has been lost. The Trumps and their allies have won. And by God are they smug about it.

We now dont have the political correctness we used to, crowed the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro during a recent interview with Eric Trump (the blond one who looks perpetually confused) and his wife, Lara. People are actually saying: Merry Christmas.

Lara joyously concurred. You can say Merry Christmas again! she exclaimed. Isnt that so nice, Jeanine? Eric agreed that it was just so nice, Jeanine. Its incredible, he enthused, as best his seventh-grade vocabulary would allow. It is nice to say Merry Christmas again This is what the American dream is all about We can sit there with a Santa Claus and with beautiful trees and eat ice-cream. Activities that, of course, were outlawed under Obama.

If you werent a footsoldier in the war, you could be forgiven for not knowing the conflict even existed. Of all the stealth battles that have been fought, the war on Christmas was truly the stealthiest. No one but the devout viewers of Fox knew it was happening. Indeed, according to a study by Fairleigh Dickinson University, watching Fox increased the likelihood someone would believe in the festive conflict by between 5% and 10%. It is almost as if the whole thing was a delusion dreamed up by the right.

But worry not, my friends: all is not lost. The war may be over, but there are plenty more battles to fight. I dont know about you, but I am going to spend the non-denominational holidays recharging my environmentally friendly batteries. And then I am off to fight in the war against men.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Excerpt from:

How Ivanka and Eric Trump conquered the world and rescued Christmas - The Guardian

With Donald Trump, you somehow know that trouble will find him and that impeachment is a question of when rather than if.

Even before being elected into office in 2016, he had made numerous statements (e.g. Mexicans are drug dealers and rapists) and done things (including paying hush money to a porn star) that were beyond the pale, things that could make him, using the parlance of todays generation, canceled.

Once in office, there was no stopping his aversion to political correctness and bad behavior. When a bunch of white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, North Carolina and one protester was killed, he failed to condemn what was a blatant case of racism and white nationalism.

Neither has Trump made any efforts to improve civility while in the White House. He has regularly attacked women, people of color and even some of the most respected figures in American politics. In international fora, Trump professed his admiration for controversial figures and strongmen, including the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And then there are his incessant tweets.

Of course, none of these deviations from the norm has risen to the level of criminality. Its just Trump being Trump, as some of his supporters like to say.

But more than just turning United States politics into an ugly spectacle, Trump has in his almost three years in office delivered blow after blow to American democracy. His effort to withhold military aid to Ukraine until President Volodymir Zelenksy launches an investigation into Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden was a barefaced effort to rig what should be a free and fair US presidential election in 2020.

And if a democracy's health could be measured by the power holders respect for political opponents, free media and independent judiciary and bureaucracy, after three years of Trump, American democracy is not doing well.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump threatened to jail his opponent Hillary Clinton once he got into office. When he picked William Barr as attorney general earlier this year, one of his primary directives was to launch an investigation into possible wrongdoing by the Clintons.

The Ukraine scandal has also brought to light the effort from Trump to pack bureaucracy with yes-men who would do his dirty work and get rid of professional diplomats like Ambassador Marie Yovanonitch. And who could ignore his daily attacks on the media by calling all negative news about him fake news spread by the corrupt media.

For Democratic Party congressmen and congresswomen who cast their yea votes to impeach Trump on Wednesday, the 45th president is a clear and present danger to American democracy; the impeachment process is part of the checks-and-balances mechanism to prevent the rise of a strongman that would even further abuse his political office for personal gain.

What the House has decided may be annulled by the Senate, now packed with Trump-pliant Republican senators. But the momentous vote on Wednesday indicates that democracy is still alive in America. We just dont know for how long.

Originally posted here:

Checking the Donald - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

The Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores for Netflixs The Witcher starring Henry Cavill have arrived.

The Rotten Tomatoes Critic score sits at 62% with an average rating of 6.07 out of 10 based off 26 reviews. There are 16 fresh reviews and 10 rotten reviews.

Heres what the critics are saying:

Dan Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter gives the show a Rotten review. He writes, Will you like The Witcher if youre a curious neophyte? Maybe, but you have to be patient with it, and if thats not your job, the outsized amusements may not be worth the convoluted build-up.

Mike Hale at the New York Times gives the show a positive review. He writes, If it sounds like that could be fun, youre right. The Witcher has a lighthearted sense of humor.

Ed Power at the Daily Telegraph gives the show a 3 out of 5 with a Rotten rating. He writes, The Witcher, by contrast, is more muddled than Machiavellian and also, perhaps, the mother of all missed opportunities.

Kimberly Ricci at Uproxx gives the show a fresh score. She writes, This series might finally make people stop referring to [Henry] Cavill as Superman or ex-Superman and, instead, as a theater-trained actor who made a nerd-fueled passion project which, yes, really has no business being this enjoyable.

Jacob Oller at Paste Magazine gives the show an 8.3 out of 10. He writes, The Witcher is a wildly entertaining treat for newcomers and long-time fans alike.

Alex Abad-Santos at Vox gives the show a 1.5 out 5. He writes, I suppose we, dead baby included, cant be as lucky as Henry Cavills leather, only experiencing The Witcher in tiny doses and getting to do so while being worn to death by the mortal hug of Cavills thighs.

Erik Kain at Forbes gives the show a 9 out of 10. He writes, If youre looking for an original dark fantasy with some horror elements, some bare skin and plenty of blood and gore (and monsters) look no further. The Witcher, I am quite sure, is destined to surprise and delight.

The Audience Score sits at 88% with an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 from 560 reviews.

Heres what viewers are saying.

Joshua S gives the 5 stars. He writes, Perfectly faithful to the canon, and fantastically casted, directed and acted. From a lifelong Witcher fan, this is wonderful.

Sandra G gives the show 5 stars. She writes, This is what I wanted.

Adam K gives the show a half star. He writes, Strange, I dont like it.

Mike K gives the show five stars. He writes, As a fan of the books, its about as good as you could hope for in a streaming series adaptation. Ignore the critics that wanted Game of Thrones 2.0, this isnt that.

Krzysztof S gives the show one and a half stars. He writes, They have cut too much and changed too many characters so most of the fontal story losses most of the meaning. I dont like political correctness. Maybe if I hadnt read the books, I would have given a better mark.

Iris L gives the show 5 stars. She writes, Completely blown away. Cavill is fantastic as Geralt. Definitely a must watch!

Phoe N gives the show 1 star. They write, I like Henry Cavill and appreciate his enthusiasm for this role. Personally, I am turned off by killing an animal in a film if it doesnt have any significance or symbolism. Like when a cat got eaten by a sea creature in an Oscar winner a few years ago. Its in poor taste and unneeded. Apart from that, The Witcher was hyped up so much I expected it to be much better. It was like a Syfy Channel B-series. I cannot see how anyone could compare it to Game of Thrones. If youre a Cavill fanatic or know the books, you might like it. But from the perspective of someone who is unfamiliar, it didnt do it for me. I had no idea about GOT and got hooked on it after the first episode. I got hooked on LOTR. Not The Witcher.

Over on Metacritic, The Witcher has a Metascore of 55 from 14 reviews.

It received 6 positive reviews, 6 mixed reviews, and 2 negative reviews.

Heres what the critics are saying:

William Hughes at The A.V. Club gives the show an 83. He writes, When the worst thing you can say about a series is that every episode ends up being better than the one that preceded it, that leaves an exciting amount of room to grow. Especially when you can see it steadily moving out of the shadow of the show Netflix might have wanted, in favor of the far more interesting series it might actually turn out to be.

Tom Reimann at Collider gives the show an 80. He writes, For all its massive scale, The Witcher is a surprisingly small story centered around three appealing main characters. Its a classic fantasy tale about war and magic and prophecy, with grotesque monsters, supernatural detective work, and political intrigue thrown into the mix. Its all a bit silly, but no more so than Game of Thrones ever was.

Tim Surette at TV Guide gives the show an 80. They write, The barrier for entry with The Witcher is pretty high; between the weird-ass fantasy names, odd story structure, and complicated backstory, its a lot to take on without a little help. I went in knowing very little, but at some point decided f it, Im in, and left wanting to know a lot more. If you can add a new project like The Witcher to your life, you should.

Daniel DAddario at Variety gives the show a 60. He writes, The Witcher also boasts richly expensive visuals and an expansive-seeming world, at least in its first five hoursWhat it lacks, though, is tonal consistency. This is a show with moments of drama and of gruesome violence cut through with a glancing humor that too often feels tossed-off and out-of-place in the world the show has created.

Brian Lowry at CNN gives the show a 45. He writes, Henry Cavill plays the title role in The Witcher, but giving a pulse to this dreary medieval fantasy series is too much of a job even for Superman.

Darren Franich and Kristen Baldwin at Entertainment Weekly gave the show a 0. They wrote, Alas, my destiny is to never watch this borefest ever again.

The User Score on Metacritic currently sits at 6.3 from 321 ratings.

The show received 194 positive ratings, 18 mixed, and 109 negative ratings.

Heres what users are saying:

DizzyStyle gives the show a 4. They write, Actually this isnt bad but Its Witcher. This should be EPIC. Instead they create something usual. Not canonical Misscasting (triss, yen and other girl roles no comments) Poor backgrounds (scenes/actions/graphics) Too mush tolerance for brutal east European fantasyThis film try to please everyone but instead this film just please too much tolerant and casual people.Witch is brutal, no comprise and dark fantasy. But this is just a netflix teleshow.

LeonCorvin gives the show a 1. They write, This is what happens when you push a modern, tolerant agenda into a series on Slavic fantasy and ignore the canon of original books.

MightyMike gives the show a 1. They write, Bad acting backed up by even worst writing. Convoluted plot of the first episode made from various bits and pieces of at least two short stories was just a preview of how much Netflix writers can turn masterpiece into a piece of crap.

This, plus terrible dialogs, utterly craptastic casting choices and just low overall quality of the show force me to pick the lesser evil (which is give this show a 1 and warn all of you!)

Smalo gives the show a 3. They write, Hennry is good as Gerals everything else is not good. The Witcher should be on slavic culture not on western and there this show lost it s soul.I would get 0 score but i will get 3 just because of Hennry.

KUTC gives the show a 10. They write, Awesome season and great start for a long-distance series. Hope people will get that it is an adaptation and a fantasy world. As Sapkowski himself said, when he curated the series along the way, that it never was a clear slavic novels, it is about the story, not about the world or individuals. I hope that this mess that infantiles are causing will end soon and they will see the series for themselves, for a change. Can bet 90% of them never read the books nor played Witcher besides the third one. Long live Withcer. Hope this saga will see its end on a screen and all of the stories will be told.

Starilent gives the show a 5. They write, he story telling is a mass, and some characters are disaster. I dont mind some adaptation differ from the original books, but this adaptation is so bad It lost a lot of good or key parts of books, but used the time to make Yennfer a childish **** ( while I LOVE this character in books and games).And I really doubt that peoples who never read the original books could understand what happened in this show, cause they never explain any necessary information like what witcher is, why they drink that potions, why people hates them, what is the conjunction of sphere, witchers and mages age really slow and could live hundreds of yearsIts a bad thing that you have to read the book or played the game first to enjoy the show.

VonSeux gives the show a 4. They write, Dont you feel disconnected from the show when everything, even light, is post processed, and so Fake? I do not care about book or game fidelity but this is just not good drama.

MrMonsters gives the show a 6. They write, Unfortunately, great production design and amazing fight scenes cannot make up for the shows flat performances and dull dialogue.

Have you see The Witcher yet? What did you think about it? If not do you plan on checking it out?

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Rotten Tomatoes Score Revealed for Netflix's The Witcher Starring Henry Cavill - Bounding Into Comics

On Wednesday, sections of the country and its social media were up in arms after Pernille Vermund, leader of the stridently anti-immigration, right-wing Nye Borgerlige party, used the word perker the Danish languages quintessential ethnic slur in a television documentary.

READ ALSO: Danish party leader uses ethnic slur in TV documentary

Vermund subsequently doubled down on the remark, saying I don't regret it. Let's call things what they are. If you're a negro, you're a negro; if you're aperker, you're aperker, if you're an immigrant, you're an immigrant.

Understandably, that got a reaction.

Natasha al-Hariri, director of the youth organization of the Danish Refugee Council, has called for a broad rejection of Vermunds sentiments.

Should we not show the 400,000 people in Denmark who could be considered perkere that we dont accept this type of derisory, racist remark? It would actually be nice if someone bothered, al-Hariri tweeted.

She is of course completely correct, and as a target of such abuse has a lot more authority to speak on it than I do.

Politicians including Sikandar Siddique, immigration spokesperson with the environmentalist Alternative party, and Social Liberal deputy leader Sofie Carsten Nielsen have in fact spoken out against Vermund and to support al-Hariris view.

Weve been here before though, and the next steps are clear.

Vermund or a like-minded high-profile person will say she can say use the word or any other word she wishes to because in Denmark there is free speech, and that will never be curbed by any kind of censorship.

The 2005 Mohammed cartoons, still a high water mark for Danish cultural tunnel vision, and multiple defences of the use of other words with overtones of racial prejudice neger is the primary example provide the precedents for where were headed here.

READ ALSO:

Its fine, goes the logic, to be politically incorrect and say or do something which has an othering effect on a large segment of your own society, because free speech.

Even if it makes your advanced, stable, pragmatic democracy seem like a tribute act to 19th century parochialism, thats okay. Because free speech.

I get it. Denmark has free speech. Nothing is sacred. You can make distasteful jokes and laugh at inappropriate things. Im all for that, its part of the honest, straightforward mentality that makes Denmark unique.

Its not an excuse to piss people off for the sake of it. That is what Vermund is doing here and what Rasmus Paludan, the leader of a far-right group which, unlike Vermund's, was rejected by the electorate, was prepared to go to far more extreme lengths to achieve.

After making an unprovoked verbal attack on your chosen target community, you can then invoke free speech, make yourself a victim of political correctness and censorship, and use that to try and drive a wedge down the middle of the population.

Weve seen the long term outcome of that kind of thing in other Western democracies which I wont mention here (okay, maybe I will).

Last week did indeed see unpleasant opposing demonstrations in Copenhagen between an Islamophobic organization and counter protestors. But Denmark is too pragmatic overall and its political system too sensible and consensus-driven for it to go down the route of the US or UK.

Furthermore, the country is stable and, while of course far from perfect, doesnt have societal ills of a requisite magnitude that they can convincingly be blamed on any particular segment, either fairly or unfairly.

So retrograde, racially divisive language must instead by justified by the Denmark has free speech argument.

MPs and anyone else using this kind of language in the public debate should realize that what theyre doing is not plain talking. Its plain embarrassing, for them and for Denmark.

Go here to read the rest:

Opinion: Are we about to have another 'free speech' debate in Denmark? If so, Ill pass - The Local Denmark

Whether hes dancing the Cupid Shuffle or wearing a button pledging to Make Americans Think Harder, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang has run anything but a normal presidential campaign. That seems fitting for a political novice whose background in law and technology has given his campaign an unusual top issue: a signature proposal for a universal basic income Yang calls it the Freedom Dividend to mitigate the effects of automation and job loss on the economy. At one debate, Yang even announced that his campaign would give 10 families $1,000 per month for the next year as a case study for his UBI proposal.

And although Yangs support continues to hover in the single digits about 3 percent nationally, on average he is one of seven candidates who made the December debate, and he is also the only candidate of color to make the cut. So heres a look at what we know about Yangs small, but loyal support the Yang Gang and what it can tell us about his presidential bid.

Yangs strength comes primarily from voters under the age of 45, especially those between the ages of 18-to-29. Take Morning Consults large-sample weekly tracking poll where they interviewed more than 13,000 likely Democratic primary voters nationwide from Dec. 9 to Dec. 15. In that survey, Yang received 9 percent support among 18-to-29 year olds, which put him fourth behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (44 percent), former Vice President Joe Biden (18 percent) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (12 percent). So even though Yang had far less overall support in the poll than Sanders (4 percent versus 22 percent), Yang actually had the largest share of supporters under the age of 45 (74 percent compared with Sanderss 69 percent).

Share of overall support for Democratic presidential candidates from primary voters younger than 45 vs. those 45 or older, according to Morning Consults weekly tracking survey

Data for Morning Consult weekly tracking poll conducted Dec. 9-15, with sample size of 13,384 respondents. Only candidates polling at 2 percent or higher were included. Calculations were made with data rounded to the tenths place.

Source: Morning Consult

Additionally, Yang enjoys less overall support among the older half of the 18-to-44 range, with the backing of about 5 percent of 30-to-44 year olds, putting him fifth behind Sanders, Biden, Warren, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

As for why Yang has an outsized appeal among younger voters given his overall standing, he has without question run an internet-savvy campaign, leaning into the meme culture popular among his supporters online. Hes also appeared on well-known podcasts, answered questions from users on Reddit and Quora and promised to give one Twitter user $1,000 per month just for retweeting him, which attracted over 100,000 retweets. But Yang also hasnt shied away from discussing the dark underbelly of technology. Thats an issue that resonates with many young people, who have grown up in an era where tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google have dominated the marketplace and are helping alter the future of work. Yang thinks a UBI is necessary to counteract this sort of economic disruption, especially as things continue to change in the coming years.

Yang, who has been called a doomer because of his outlook, believes President Trump won in 2016 because people were worried about losing their jobs in a fast-changing world. And as young people are most familiar with the ins and outs of new technology, its understandable why a candidate who is heavily engaged with technologys benefits and pitfalls may be so attractive to younger voters.

In addition to Yangs support trending young, it is also very male. For instance, in that Morning Consult survey, Yang earned 11 percent among 18-to-29 year-old men versus just 6 percent among women in that same age group. And according to The Economists polling with YouGov, his support among men in this age group is about 10 percent, while his support among women is in the low-to-mid single digits. Interestingly, differences between men and women largely disappear among older age groups.

Theres also evidence of Yangs appeal to younger male voters aside from the polls, however. For example, an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics in November found that women were less likely than men to contribute to his campaign only 29 percent of Yangs itemized contributions have come from female donors so far. (Only Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has raised less among women donors 24 percent.) Another sign is Yangs share price in betting markets, whose participants are predominantly young men. As of publication, PredictIt prices Yangs shares around 8 cents for winning the Democratic nomination analogous to a slightly less than 10 percent chance despite polling at around 3 percent nationally.

Asian Americans are also a very important part of Yangs base. While Asian Americans will make up only around 5 percent of the primary electorate, Morning Consult found Yang at 19 percent among them, behind only Biden (24 percent) and Sanders (22 percent). And Yangs support among Asian Americans has consistently outdistanced his overall numbers. Back in September, for instance, Yang polled at 8 percent in a survey from AAPI Victory Fund/Change Research of just Asian American and Pacific Islander primary voters even though he was polling at about 2 percent nationally.

Part of this may be because so few Asian Americans have run for president. There were Asian American Hawaiians like Republican Sen. Hiram Fong, who got a handful of votes at the 1964 and 1968 GOP conventions, and Democratic Rep. Patsy Mink, who won a small number of votes in the 1972 primary, but their bids were a long time ago. Granted, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is Indian American, ran for the Republican presidential nomination last cycle, but he struggled to attract more than 1 percent in the polls and suspended his campaign in November 2015, well before any votes were cast. So in the 2020 primary, Yang, along with Sen. Kamala Harris (who is part Indian American but has since dropped out), have perhaps given Asian American voters at long last someone from their constituency to back, which can help explain why so many have rallied to Yangs side.

As a fellow outsider candidate, Yangs appeal also shares some traits with Gabbards in that Yang also broke through in part via nontraditional venues, including outlets that are considered part of the Intellectual Dark Web, a politically amorphous network that generally criticizes concepts such as political correctness and identity politics. Like Gabbard, Yang also hasnt shied away from going on conservative talk shows, doing interviews with Fox News personality Tucker Carlson and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, whereas some Democrats have refused to appear on Fox News. Yangs donor count also exploded after appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the most popular podcasts in the country, which also helped Gabbards campaign.

Still, for being an outsider candidate, Yang doesnt get as much support from Trump supporters or conservatives as Gabbard does. In last weeks poll from The Economist/YouGov, for instance, 25 percent of Trump voters who said they plan to vote in the 2020 Democratic primary said they intended to support Gabbard, versus just 2 percent who said they would support Yang. Similarly, in that Morning Consult poll, Gabbard received 5 percent among very conservative and conservative primary voters (and very little support among more liberal voters), whereas Yangs support was more ideologically balanced, ranging anywhere from 2 to 4 percent across all five ideological groups.

Nor does Yang get as much disproportionately liberal support as another outsider in the race: Sanders. Thats despite notable overlap between Sanderss supporters and Yangs supporters, according to Morning Consults second choice voter data. That Morning Consult survey found that 8 percent of Sanderss supporters picked Yang as their second choice, while a whopping 33 percent of Yangs backers said Sanders was their backup option. Yet in that same poll Sanders got the most support from very liberal and liberal voters (29 percent and 22 percent, respectively) and less from moderate and conservative voters as a whole, so his support was more weighted toward more liberal voters than Yangs.

However, one thing that all three candidates have in common is that all three attract higher levels of support from self-identified independents than Democrats. This isnt exactly a surprise for Sanders, considering he did better among independents than Democrats in the 2016 primary. But in that Morning Consult poll, the trend is obvious: Sanders earned 28 percent support among independents, compared with 21 percent among Democrats, while Yang earned 6 percent support from independents, compared with 3 percent among Democrats. Gabbard also picked up 4 percent among independents and only 1 percent among Democrats. This generally holds up across other polls, too, in which all three candidates get higher percentages among independents than Democrats, though obviously there be will more self-identified Democrats voting in the primary than independents.

With only seven candidates making the cut for Decembers debate, its fair to say that Yangs outsider candidacy has broken through in the Democratic primary in large part thanks to enthusiasm for him among younger voters and Asian Americans.

The question now is whether he can expand his appeal beyond 3 or 4 percent nationally. Raising nearly $10 million in the third quarter certainly helps his case thats real money he can use to build an on-the-ground campaign structure in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. And with an army of small donors, Yang may have a reliable source of money to broaden his reach. Still, the crowded group of four candidates at the top of the polls will make it tough for him to actually win the nomination.

Nonetheless, Yangs continued presence in the primary when other candidates with more traditional resumes have already dropped out speaks volumes to his appeal. Perhaps Thursday night will be an opportunity for him to gain real momentum. After all, despite speaking the fewest words in the last debate, Yangs net favorability improved the most of any candidate on stage in our polling with Ipsos. Maybe dont write Yang off just yet, even if a lot would have to go right for him to break into the top four.

See original here:

What We Know About Andrew Yangs Base - FiveThirtyEight

On Wednesday, Donald Trump will likely be impeached by the House of Representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors against the United States Constitution, American democracy and the rule of law. Even though Trump will certainly be acquitted in the Senate by his Republican minions, his impeachment is long overdue and very much earned.

On Sunday night, the House Judiciary Committee released its 658-page impeachment report, summarizing Trump's crimes:

He has abused his power in soliciting and pressuring a vulnerable foreign nation to corrupt the next United States Presidential election by sabotaging a political opponent and endorsing a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by our adversary, Russia. He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked. Accordingly, President Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

On Monday, Trump released a totally unhinged six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attacking her, the House Democratic majority and the entire impeachment process. It is a truly astonishing document, unlike anything ever previously written (or dictated) by an American president, a semi-literate display of false claims, victimology and grievance-mongering. As Daniel Dale and Tara Subramaniam of CNN have written,"It was on White House letterhead. It read like a string of President Donald Trump's tweets.And it was just as dishonest."

In total, Donald Trump is the nightmare scenario envisioned by the framers. He is precisely why they included impeachment and removal from office in the Constitution as a remedy for a tyrant or other usurper of democracy and the rule of law.

Historian Jeffrey Engel, co-author of Impeachment: An American History, explained this to Sky News:

Their primary examples of when a president would need to be removed from office all involved a president who worked with foreign powers, who came under the influence of foreign powers, and in particular who in some way lied or disseminated in order to achieve office, and then achieve office again, to keep their first commission of crimes from being found out. So I think this is the one that is the closest to what the founders actually feared.

Contrary to warnings by Beltway insiders and others that impeaching Donald Trump would lead to a backlash against the Democrats among voters, so far the opposite appears to have happened.

Since the Ukraine scandal first hit the news, opinion polls have shown a growing level of support for impeaching Trump. In fact, more Americans now support impeaching Donald Trump than supported the impeachment of Richard Nixon in 1974.

Even Fox News, which functions as Trump state-sponsored media, has been forced to admit that almost half of registered voters want to see Trump impeached and removed from office. Their result was very close to the average of 48 percent or so across a range of other polls.

In response, Donald Trump lashed out at Fox News on Twitter condemning their poll as [A]lways inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems. So ridiculous same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!"

Trumps opponents and critics have reason to feel ebullient: Even the network that is Trumps most stalwart defender and ally has evidence that the public mood has turned increasingly hostile toward him.

But Trump should perhaps be happier if he looked more closely. And his detractors should moderate their gloating.

A closer examination of the new Fox News poll shows that support for impeaching Donald Trump is largely a function of extreme political polarization and the power of the right-wing disinformation machine. The presidents Republican voters continue to support him in overwhelming and consistent numbers.

The Fox News poll also shows Trump being defeated by all of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, with Joe Biden leading Trump by seven points. But viewed in a broader context, that poll also indicates thatTrumps overall job approval has remained steady throughout the impeachment process and for most of three years in office.

Writing at the Atlantic, David Graham explores this phenomenon:

The lack of movement over the past few weeks, given the overwhelming evidence, is certainly disheartening. As Michael Tesler writes in The Washington Post, the most persuadable voters arent paying much attention to the impeachment. Most voters are likely following their party affiliation: A long line of social science research shows that when political elites are this sharply divided, the public follows their lead. Partisan messaging is so powerful that Americans tend to adopt their partys standpoint even when that position runs counter to science and objective facts.

Thus the paradox of impeachment politics: Supporting impeachment is anathema for Republicans. Supporting impeachment seems to be hurting vulnerable Democratic politicians, at least marginally. But support for impeachment remains remarkably strong, and also, Trumps approval remains as stable as ever.

Centrist Democrats and their allies in the news media who still insist on dispensing conventional wisdom about the enduring strength of Americas political institutions, and about the inherent decency of Trumps voters, are incapable of accepting a basic fact: Donald Trump is loved by his supporters and has the highest level of base support among any president in the history of modern polling largely because of his disregard and disdain for democracy, the rule of law and basic human decency. Impeachment will not change that fact. In the worst-case scenario, impeachment may make Trump more popular not less. This will happen because of Trump's shared "victim" narrative with his supporters and because Trump's criminality gives his supporters a deviant thrill.

For Trumpers and other conservatives, impeachment by the Democrats embodies the political correctness they pathologically rail against and obsess about.

Donald Trump lies now more than 15,000 times since taking office, as tallied by the Washington Post. His supporters do not care.

Trumps supporters have also told pollsters that they are concerned or wish that he would tone down his crude and other horrible behavior. Yet they also assure pollstersthat their support for Trump is unwavering. Research has shown that the most ardent Trump supporters and other followers of the global right are attracted to chaos and destruction. They view Donald Trump as a tool for advancing that goal.

Although Trump is an unrepentant and avowed sinner, a cruel and greedy man who puts babies and children in cages, and an abusive lecher who has been credibly accused by numerous women of sexual harassment and sexual assault, a recent poll by PRRI shows that white Christian evangelicals are near-unanimous in their support. These so-called Christians have twisted their own mythology to convince themselves that Trump is Gods tool or prophet and therefore fulfills divine purpose in America and around the world.

Trumps dangerous behavior is not some type of outlier or a special and unique case. In many ways, he is the distillation of todays Republican Party and conservative movement, which is dedicated tousing both quasi-legal and illegal means to keep nonwhites and other likely Democratic voters coalition from voting at all.

Social science research shows that many white Americans embrace authoritarianism as a way of maintaining absolute power as a group instead of sharing power with nonwhite Americans in a multiracial democracy. This echoes repeated findings that racism and racial animus overdetermined Trump support, rather than "economic anxiety" among the white working class. Other research shows that white Republicans, and especially Trump supporters, are much more likely to be racist than are white Democrats.

From the end of the civil rights movement forward, American conservatism has become increasingly allied with white supremacy. As such, todays conservatives view Americas multiracial democracy as an existential threat. The election of Barack Obama created a full-on state of white rage and racial paranoia about the browning of America." This victimology and white rage metastasized into the fascist Trump movement.

Political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of the bestselling book How Democracies Die,"explain this in their September New York Times op-ed, Why Republicans Play Dirty:

The growing diversity of the American electorate is making it harder for the Republican Party to win national majorities. Republicans have won the popular vote in presidential elections just once in the last 30 years.

The problem runs deeper than electoral math, however. Much of the Republican base views defeat as catastrophic. White Christians are losing more than an electoral majority; their once-dominant status in American society is eroding.

American democracy faces a Catch-22: Republicans wont abandon their white identity bunker strategy until they lose, but at the same time that strategy has made them so averse to losing they are willing to bend the rules to avoid this fate. There is no easy exit. Republican leaders must either stand up to their base and broaden their appeal or they must suffer an electoral thrashing so severe that they are compelled to do so.

In the Atlantic, George Packer summarizes the Republican Partys corruption and embrace of authoritarianism:

Todays Republican Party has cornered itself with a base of ever older, whiter, more male, more rural, more conservative voters. Demography can take a long time to change longer than in progressives dreams but it isnt on the Republicans side. They could have tried to expand; instead, theyve hardened and walled themselves off. This is why, while voter fraud knows no party, only the Republican Party wildly overstates the risk so that it can pass laws (including right now in Wisconsin, with a bill that reduces early voting) to limit the franchise in ways that have a disparate partisan impact. This is why, when some Democrats in the New Jersey legislature proposed to enshrine gerrymandering in the state constitution, other Democrats, in New Jersey and around the country, objected.

Taking away democratic rights extreme gerrymandering; blocking an elected president from nominating a Supreme Court justice; selectively paring voting rolls and polling places; creating spurious anti-fraud commissions; misusing the census to undercount the opposition; calling lame-duck legislative sessions to pass laws against the will of the voters is the Republican Partys main political strategy, and will be for years to come.

Republicans have chosen contraction and authoritarianism because, unlike the Democrats, their party isnt a coalition of interests in search of a majority. Its character is ideological.

Trump and the Republicans' embrace of authoritarianism and other anti-democratic behavior is a symptom of other, larger problems in Americas political culture as well.

Too many Americans treat politics as a team-sports contest instead of as a serious, important debate where the countrys future and present are being decided by responsible, reflective citizens. As demonstrated by Patrick Miller and Pamela Johnston Conover in their 2015 Political Science Quarterly article Red and Blue States of Mind," 41 percent of respondents who identified with the Democratic or Republican parties believe that winning is more important than policy goals or advancing a particular ideological agenda. Thirty-eight percent of respondents believed that their political parties should use all available means including cheating, censorship, and violence to win.

Given what is known about asymmetrical polarization in America, the sports team logic of the Republican Party, its media and supporters has repeatedly shown itself to be especially toxic to American democracy and society.

In the final analysis, President Donald Trump is being impeached because he is a political thug and a dreadful person. But these contemptible qualities and behaviors are exactly why so many of his followers are so attracted to him. What Democrats and other decent people see as sins, Trumpers instead see as virtues. This dynamic is a function of the political deviancy and moral inversion common to sick societies.

The way most Democrats and liberals understand the power and allure of Trumpism and what lies ahead, after impeachment and the 2020 election is hamstrung by an unwillingness to accept precisely why Trumps hold over his supporters is so absolute and powerful.

When they go low we go high! and other such high-minded incantations will not defeat authoritarians like Donald Trump. If Democrats want to win in 2020 and beyond, they mustfight both harder and smarterthan they have been willing to fight so far.

See original here:

It's a very bad week for Donald Trump but he remains a dangerous foe - Salon

Its not actually a tradition as oldasChristmasitself, it just feels that way.

Every year, as December 25 approaches, certain groups of people take issue with those who sayhappy holidays,seasons greetings or some variant thereof.

So how did this seasonal controversy come about, and how does it manifest itself?

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Initially, the phrase Happy Holidays was adopted either as a way of avoiding offence, or as a catch-all to include other celebrations like New Year, and other religions winter festivals - likeHannukah- along with Christmas.

Theres a caveat to the optimistic message of the songs title. War is over, sing a choir of children over festive tambourines, but only, they add, If you want it. Having analysed the success of his previous single, Imagine, the former Beatle noted, Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey. On this, an anti-Vietnam war protest song wrapped up in sleigh bells, strings and an anthemic melody, he does just that. AP

Getty

Taking Harry Belafontes 1956 hit Marys Boy Child and singing it in medley with new song Oh My Lord, Boney Ms No 1 hit combined Christmas carol-like harmonies with Euro disco, steel drums and a reggae sensibility. It might sound disastrous but somehow it works. AP

Hes gone/2,000 miles/Is very far, sings Chrissie Hynde, above a twanging guitar riff in 2,000 Miles, her serpentine melody stretching each syllable into several. You could easily assume its about two separated lovers, but it was actually written for the bands original guitar player, James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose a year earlier at the age of 25. The song is desperately bleak as is the case with all the best Christmas songs but with a note of festive hopefulness too. The children were singing/Hell be back at Christmas time. AP

Rex

Brenda Lee was just 13 years old when she made herself a rockabilly legend thanks to the recording of this party classic. It always reminds me of scenes in The Santa Clause (one of the best ever Christmas films) where the jaunty number was heavily featured, along with seminal holiday movie Home Alone. RO

Few Christmas songs are as cosy as this one. Dean Martins smooth, rich voice is as warming as a good glass of whisky; paired with sweeping, romantic strings and a chirpy flute, Let it Snow! conjures up images of stockings hanging up over the chimney, a Christmas tree glinting with baubles, and a frost-tinted window with snow falling outside. RO

Getty Images

Though Aled Jones tends to get the credit for this haunting masterpiece, it is actually the voice of choirboy Peter Auty that appears in the climactic scene of the wordless 1982 animation The Snowman. He wasnt credited though, and when his voice broke and Joness version reached number five in the UK charts, he was almost written out of history. In truth, though, whichever version you hear, the songs sweeping grandeur is goosebumps-inducing. AP

Channel 4

Recorded for Bing Crosbys TV special Merrie Olde Christmas, and framed around a strange scripted exchange of banter between the two, this mash-up only came about because Bowie hated the song, Little Drummer Boy, that he had been asked on the show to sing. So songwriters Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, alongside the shows scriptwriter, cobbled together Peace on Earth to serve as a counterpoint, while Crosby performed the intended song. They recorded the resulting medley after less than an hour of rehearsal, and five weeks later, Crosby died. AP

Redferns

Eartha Kitt is the sexiest woman in the world. You dont write Christmas songs that are sexy. How are we going to do that?Poor Phil Springer. Half of the songwriting team behind the super sultry Santa Baby was always slightly resentful that his biggest hit was a festive one. Well, Im grateful for it. Eartha Kitts huskily delivered letter to Santa Claus is undoubtedly the sexiest Christmas song of all time, and has been covered by everyone from Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to Madonna (I dont talk about Madges attempt) and Michael Buble. Yet its Kitts version you find yourself coming back to. RO

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

GETTY IMAGES

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

Reuters

Andy Williams classic brings to mind the kind of big, brash Christmass you see in American films lots of presents, blazing fireplaces and a huge feast but also plays heavily on the importance of spending time with your loved ones. It consistently appears in the top 10s of Christmas song rankings, and more than 50 years in, the 1963 staple shows no signs of wearing out. RO

AP

It was just another anti-war song until Jona Lewie threw a kazoo into the mix. The English singer-songwriter never intended Stop the Cavalry to become a Christmas single, but the festive mention in the line I wish I was at home for Christmas, along with the addition of a Salvation Army brass band and tubular bell, was enough to convince listeners. The song sold 4m copies upon its release and was only kept off the top slot that Christmas because of John Lennons death and consequent position at numbers one and two on the UK singles chart. Lewie told The Guardian in 2015 that he earns more from Stop the Cavalry than the rest of his songs put together. RO

In 1978, Rea thought it was all over. His record contract was done, and his manager had just told him he was quitting. Rea wanted to get home from Londons Abbey Road studios to Middlesborough, but his record company wouldnt pay for a ticket.My wife got in our old Austin Mini, drove all the way down from Middlesbrough to Abbey Road studios to pick me up, and we set off back straight away, he told The Guardian. Then it started snowing. We had 220 and I was fiddling with it all the way home. We kept getting stuck in traffic and Id look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: Were driving home for ChristmasRO

AFP/Getty

Sinatras version of this classic Christmas song opens on his isolated vocals before gradually introducing the swooning choir and tender strings section. And the lyrics: Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Make the Yuletide gay / From now on your troubles will be miles away/Here we are as in olden days/Happy golden days of yore/Faithful friends who are dear to us / Gather near to us once more. RO

AP

One of the best moments on American Idol in 2014 was an exchange between judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, who famously did not get on during the series. As a contestant/Mariah stan [stalker fan] told the star he loved All I Want for Christmas is You and hailed it as the best modern-day Christmas song, Minaj threw a little shade by saying: It sure was, wasnt it?, emphasis on the was very much intended. Careys response was immediate and dismissive: Still is, dahling! She earns a reported 4000,000 in royalties from the track each year, with its lasting popularity testament to just how good a song it is. Its unyielding Christmas spirit and those diminished (infectious) C minor chords combine for the ultimate experience of festive cheer, with a perfect mix of nostalgia and pop sentimentalism thrown in for good measure. RO

AP

George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on this song, where the narrator looks back with sadness on a past relationship. As with Fairytale of New York, you have an upbeat, cheerful rhythm and chirpy instrumentation, against the melancholy of unrequited love in the lyrics, with the suggestion that it was given away too hastily (This year, to save me from tears/Ill give it to someone special). RO

YouTube/WhamVEVO

Some of the best songs combine uplifting instrumentation that contrasts with lyrics that can be downright miserable, and such is the case for Fairytale of New York. It has none of the sickly sweet sentimentality of Mariah Careys All I Want For Christmas Is You or Wham!s Last Christmas.Fairytale of New York is a drunken hymn for those with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. Its narrator, an Irish immigrant, is thrown into a drunk tank to sleep off his Christmas Eve binge. Hearing an old man sing the Irish ballad The Rare Old Mountain Dew, he begins to dream about the past, and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America, only to see their plans of a bright future dashed.Shane MacGowans slurring, bitter delivery of those opening vocals is played out over romanticised piano chords, then to those wonderful, jaunty strings, with Terry Woods mandolin part giving the song an additional Irish brogue. RO

YouTube/Screengrab

Richard (Dick) Smith was suffering from tuberculosis, an illness which had plagued him since a child, from his bed in a sanatorium in Philadelphia. Gazing longingly out of his window at the snow, he wrote a poem describing all the things he would do when he was well again. He was inspired by the views of people playing in the park across the street from his family home on Church Street, where hed lived with his mother, brother and two sisters. His father had died when he was a child. After he was finished, he took the lyrics to his friend Felix Bernard, a professional pianist. A copy of Winter Wonderland found its way to Joey Nash, lead singer of the Richard Himber Orchestra, who recorded it in 1934. Guy Lombardo heard Nashs recording and made a record of his own, which became a hit that December. Smith died in 1935 before Winter Wonderland became a Christmas hit again for Ted Weems, and long before Crosby recorded his, and arguably the most famous, version. RO

STF/AFP/Getty

Theres a caveat to the optimistic message of the songs title. War is over, sing a choir of children over festive tambourines, but only, they add, If you want it. Having analysed the success of his previous single, Imagine, the former Beatle noted, Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey. On this, an anti-Vietnam war protest song wrapped up in sleigh bells, strings and an anthemic melody, he does just that. AP

Getty

Taking Harry Belafontes 1956 hit Marys Boy Child and singing it in medley with new song Oh My Lord, Boney Ms No 1 hit combined Christmas carol-like harmonies with Euro disco, steel drums and a reggae sensibility. It might sound disastrous but somehow it works. AP

Hes gone/2,000 miles/Is very far, sings Chrissie Hynde, above a twanging guitar riff in 2,000 Miles, her serpentine melody stretching each syllable into several. You could easily assume its about two separated lovers, but it was actually written for the bands original guitar player, James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose a year earlier at the age of 25. The song is desperately bleak as is the case with all the best Christmas songs but with a note of festive hopefulness too. The children were singing/Hell be back at Christmas time. AP

Rex

Brenda Lee was just 13 years old when she made herself a rockabilly legend thanks to the recording of this party classic. It always reminds me of scenes in The Santa Clause (one of the best ever Christmas films) where the jaunty number was heavily featured, along with seminal holiday movie Home Alone. RO

Few Christmas songs are as cosy as this one. Dean Martins smooth, rich voice is as warming as a good glass of whisky; paired with sweeping, romantic strings and a chirpy flute, Let it Snow! conjures up images of stockings hanging up over the chimney, a Christmas tree glinting with baubles, and a frost-tinted window with snow falling outside. RO

Getty Images

Though Aled Jones tends to get the credit for this haunting masterpiece, it is actually the voice of choirboy Peter Auty that appears in the climactic scene of the wordless 1982 animation The Snowman. He wasnt credited though, and when his voice broke and Joness version reached number five in the UK charts, he was almost written out of history. In truth, though, whichever version you hear, the songs sweeping grandeur is goosebumps-inducing. AP

Channel 4

Recorded for Bing Crosbys TV special Merrie Olde Christmas, and framed around a strange scripted exchange of banter between the two, this mash-up only came about because Bowie hated the song, Little Drummer Boy, that he had been asked on the show to sing. So songwriters Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, alongside the shows scriptwriter, cobbled together Peace on Earth to serve as a counterpoint, while Crosby performed the intended song. They recorded the resulting medley after less than an hour of rehearsal, and five weeks later, Crosby died. AP

Redferns

Eartha Kitt is the sexiest woman in the world. You dont write Christmas songs that are sexy. How are we going to do that?Poor Phil Springer. Half of the songwriting team behind the super sultry Santa Baby was always slightly resentful that his biggest hit was a festive one. Well, Im grateful for it. Eartha Kitts huskily delivered letter to Santa Claus is undoubtedly the sexiest Christmas song of all time, and has been covered by everyone from Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to Madonna (I dont talk about Madges attempt) and Michael Buble. Yet its Kitts version you find yourself coming back to. RO

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

GETTY IMAGES

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

Reuters

Andy Williams classic brings to mind the kind of big, brash Christmass you see in American films lots of presents, blazing fireplaces and a huge feast but also plays heavily on the importance of spending time with your loved ones. It consistently appears in the top 10s of Christmas song rankings, and more than 50 years in, the 1963 staple shows no signs of wearing out. RO

AP

It was just another anti-war song until Jona Lewie threw a kazoo into the mix. The English singer-songwriter never intended Stop the Cavalry to become a Christmas single, but the festive mention in the line I wish I was at home for Christmas, along with the addition of a Salvation Army brass band and tubular bell, was enough to convince listeners. The song sold 4m copies upon its release and was only kept off the top slot that Christmas because of John Lennons death and consequent position at numbers one and two on the UK singles chart. Lewie told The Guardian in 2015 that he earns more from Stop the Cavalry than the rest of his songs put together. RO

In 1978, Rea thought it was all over. His record contract was done, and his manager had just told him he was quitting. Rea wanted to get home from Londons Abbey Road studios to Middlesborough, but his record company wouldnt pay for a ticket.My wife got in our old Austin Mini, drove all the way down from Middlesbrough to Abbey Road studios to pick me up, and we set off back straight away, he told The Guardian. Then it started snowing. We had 220 and I was fiddling with it all the way home. We kept getting stuck in traffic and Id look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: Were driving home for ChristmasRO

AFP/Getty

Sinatras version of this classic Christmas song opens on his isolated vocals before gradually introducing the swooning choir and tender strings section. And the lyrics: Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Make the Yuletide gay / From now on your troubles will be miles away/Here we are as in olden days/Happy golden days of yore/Faithful friends who are dear to us / Gather near to us once more. RO

AP

One of the best moments on American Idol in 2014 was an exchange between judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, who famously did not get on during the series. As a contestant/Mariah stan [stalker fan] told the star he loved All I Want for Christmas is You and hailed it as the best modern-day Christmas song, Minaj threw a little shade by saying: It sure was, wasnt it?, emphasis on the was very much intended. Careys response was immediate and dismissive: Still is, dahling! She earns a reported 4000,000 in royalties from the track each year, with its lasting popularity testament to just how good a song it is. Its unyielding Christmas spirit and those diminished (infectious) C minor chords combine for the ultimate experience of festive cheer, with a perfect mix of nostalgia and pop sentimentalism thrown in for good measure. RO

AP

George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on this song, where the narrator looks back with sadness on a past relationship. As with Fairytale of New York, you have an upbeat, cheerful rhythm and chirpy instrumentation, against the melancholy of unrequited love in the lyrics, with the suggestion that it was given away too hastily (This year, to save me from tears/Ill give it to someone special). RO

YouTube/WhamVEVO

Some of the best songs combine uplifting instrumentation that contrasts with lyrics that can be downright miserable, and such is the case for Fairytale of New York. It has none of the sickly sweet sentimentality of Mariah Careys All I Want For Christmas Is You or Wham!s Last Christmas.Fairytale of New York is a drunken hymn for those with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. Its narrator, an Irish immigrant, is thrown into a drunk tank to sleep off his Christmas Eve binge. Hearing an old man sing the Irish ballad The Rare Old Mountain Dew, he begins to dream about the past, and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America, only to see their plans of a bright future dashed.Shane MacGowans slurring, bitter delivery of those opening vocals is played out over romanticised piano chords, then to those wonderful, jaunty strings, with Terry Woods mandolin part giving the song an additional Irish brogue. RO

YouTube/Screengrab

Richard (Dick) Smith was suffering from tuberculosis, an illness which had plagued him since a child, from his bed in a sanatorium in Philadelphia. Gazing longingly out of his window at the snow, he wrote a poem describing all the things he would do when he was well again. He was inspired by the views of people playing in the park across the street from his family home on Church Street, where hed lived with his mother, brother and two sisters. His father had died when he was a child. After he was finished, he took the lyrics to his friend Felix Bernard, a professional pianist. A copy of Winter Wonderland found its way to Joey Nash, lead singer of the Richard Himber Orchestra, who recorded it in 1934. Guy Lombardo heard Nashs recording and made a record of his own, which became a hit that December. Smith died in 1935 before Winter Wonderland became a Christmas hit again for Ted Weems, and long before Crosby recorded his, and arguably the most famous, version. RO

STF/AFP/Getty

The phrase can betracedat least as far back as 1863, and by the1930sand1940swas commonly and uncontroversially being used in advertising campaigns.

But in recent decades what was intended as a neutral or inclusive choice of words has become increasingly political.

Some dislike what they see as an attempt at secularisation: they see it as taking the Christ out of Christmas.

Some are proud to hate what they call political correctness gone mad, often associating it with the kind of loony leftinitiatives of councils who in the Eighties were pilloried for banning things likeBaa Baa Black Sheep even thoughno council ever did ban the nursey rhyme.

Increasingly, Happy Holidays has been linked to what some critics portray as acraven attempt to appease Muslims, sometimes coupled to claims thatIslam is a threatto a countrys way of life.

And it has become more and more common for some or all of these objections to be bundled together in complaints about a perceivedWar on Christmas.

Possibly withFox Newsin 2005. That was the year when John Gibson, radio talk show host, and at the time anchor ofThe Big Storyon Fox News, published a book entitled:The War On Christmas: How The Liberal Plot To Ban The Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought.

In this narrative, the phrase happy holidays was no longer as innocent as some believed. Instead, it was portrayed as an act of liberal aggression.

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The message was enthusiastically adopted by fellow Fox News anchorBill OReilly. Who repeated it pretty much every year.

For US conservatives, especially those on the evangelical right-wing - if the liberals were allowed to win the War on Christmas, who knew what fresh hell they would unleash next?

They say the next step after saying Happy Holidays is abortion on demand and euthanasia, DanCassino, a professor atFairleighDickinson University,told theNew York Timesin 2016. Thats a hell of a slippery slope, but thats the argument being made.

And by 2016 - in what is far from the only example of synergy between the man who is now US president and Fox News -Donald Trumpwas capitalising on those conservative fears during his presidential election campaign.

During rallies he repeatedly promised to end the War on Christmas, and in office he announced victory for the conservative backlash bydeclaring,We can say Merry Christmas again.

When Tim Allens Scott Calvin accidentally kills Santa Claus (a nice, light-hearted beginning to a family film) he is expected to take his place. He refuses at first but when his hair turns white, a beard and belly grow overnight, and children start approaching him with their wish lists, he reluctantly takes the mantle. Its weirder and darker than it has any right to be, but its enjoyable to watch.

Buena Vista Pictures

When writer and director Billy Wilder first watched Brief Encounter, in which two people use a friends house to consummate an affair, he wrote in his notebook: What about the poor schnook who has to crawl into the still-warm bed of the lovers? The result of that scribble is The Apartment, a film that, with its farcical but well-wrought premise and career-best performances from Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, never puts a foot wrong.

Rex

Whether you consider this film a heart-warming gem or an insult to the 1947 original might depend on which version you grew up with but its hard to argue with the performances of Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, and Mara Wilson as the precociously cynical Dorey.

20th Century Fox

Film trailer editor Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and wedding columnist Iris (Kate Winslet) exchange homes over Christmas in an attempt to escape their terrible love lives. This Nancy Meyers classic is as predictable as its fake movie trailers, but its warm and witty, with a strange but sweet subplot involving an Oscar-winning nonagenarian.

Universal Pictures

A bizarre and macabre Santa Claus origin story, this Finnish fantasy horror follows a group of Lapland natives who stumble upon the secret of Father Christmas. To say that hes not the cuddly, benevolent gift-giver we know and love would be an understatement. To say any more would be to spoil the twisted fun.

Kinology

This low-budget, entirely improvised film from mumblecore actor-director Joe Swanberg is an understated and underrated gem. Anna Kendrick is typically charismatic as an irresponsible twenty-something who crashes, uninvited, back into the life of her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), but the films secret weapon is a brilliantly nuanced performance from Melanie Lynskey

Magnolia Pictures

Featuring a reimagined version of the title song, which Bing Crosby introduced in Holiday Inn over a decade earlier, White Christmas was intended to reunite Crosby with Fred Astaire for their third Irving Berlin showcase musical. Astaire declined the project, and eventually Danny Kaye starred instead, as an aspiring entertainer alongside Crosby. The resulting film was a box office smash and a subsequent classic. Astaire missed out.

Rex

Whatever side youre on in the infernal debate over whether its actually a Christmas movie (Bruce Willis thinks not), it's hard to deny that Die Hard is a perfect action movie. That it takes place on Christmas Eve, and features lines like, Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho, makes it ideal holiday viewing too particularly if youre a little sick of festive slush.

Moviestore/Rex

Read the original here:

Happy Holidays: What are the origins of the alternative Christmas greeting - and why does Trump object to it? - The Independent

Who are you calling racist? asked Corriere dello Sport on his headline last Friday. One of Italys main sports newspapers faced widespread criticism last week after publishing a now-infamous headline Black Friday, picturing Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling in anticipation of the days big match between Inter and Roma. Its was an easy choice to not use players ethnicity on their headline, but parts of Italian culture including its mainstream media remain far from this obvious but essential thought.

Even if this attitude doesnt reflect the mentality of most, its a problem you can see breathing in stadiums, on the street, in the media and on social media. Not everyone in Italy seems to understand that racism has a great variety of shades. While this headline generated universal contempt outside the peninsula, Corriere dello Sport found support in Italy, where critics were labelled of being hostages of political correctness.

In recent months, Italy struggled to deal with racism, particularly in football. Serie A has again been plagued by incidents this season, with Lukaku and Mario Balotelli among those abused by supporters during games. An Italian TV pundit was recently sacked for saying the only way to stop Lukaku was to give him ten bananas to eat. Racism also affects youth football in Italy, where the Observatory on Racism in Football recorded over 80 cases in the last two seasons alone.

This gloomy landscape clashes with the thrilling start to the Serie A season. In the race for the Scudetto, Juventus and Inter recently renewed their historic rivalry while thriving under new managers Maurizio Sarri and Antonio Conte. Their last matchday was a crucial one. Inter, who were one point clear atop the table, hosted Roma, in fourth, while Juventus travelled to the Stadio Olimpico to face Lazio, sitting pretty in third.

In a similar scenario, we had the most dangerous, perhaps astonishing, kind of racism, the one directly spread by media. Lukaku and Smalling reacted strongly to the Corriere dello Sportheadline, players described first by their ethnicity, and then by their footballing talents. The Belgian striker wrote on his social media that it was one of the dumbest headlines he had ever seen, adding that the paper keeps fuelling the negativity and the racism issue instead of talking about the beautiful game thats going to be played at San Siro between two great clubs.

It generated a similar reaction by Romas defender: What occurred this morning was wrong and highly insensitive, said Smalling in a statement on Twitter last Thursday. I hope the editors involved in running this headline take responsibility and understand the power they possess through words, and the impact those words can have.

However, after refusing to apologise, Corriere dello Sportsnotorious editor-in-chief, Ivan Zazzaroni, made things even worst with Fridays headline: Who are you calling racist? Lynching a newspaper that for a century has been defending freedom and equality. Its a curious choice, the word lynching to refer to an accusation of racism, and the lack of awareness about the importance of words was spread all over Zazzaronis editorial. Among some of his statements, there were: Armies of politically-correct-thinking people who whitewash their beautiful souls and White, black, yellow: to deny difference is the typical macroscopic glitch of antiracisms racism.

Read | We are all Koulibaly: the Napoli defenders fight against racism and the context of calcios problems

Its not the first time Zazzaroni has demonstrated such inappropriate behaviour. Last July, after learning about Sinia Mihajlovisleukaemia, he decided not to wait for the Bolognas managers public announcement and published the news on Corriere dello Sport. Afterwards, Mihajlovisaid that Zazzaroni ruined a 20-year long friendship to sell 200 more copies.

On each of these occasions, Zazzaroni has found connivance in the Order of Italian Journalists president Carlo Verna, who defended his conduct. Everything Lega Calcio hasnt done against racism, said Verna, enacting the typical Italian play of pointing the finger at the other, is now being translated in an exemplary disqualification of journalists who have no responsibility, given that their supervisors even made a mistake. Even if Verna used this element to minimise Zazzaronis misconduct, he went on to suggest that racism is, in fact, not in existence within the boundaries of the Italian football authorities and fans.

Two weeks ago, all 20 clubs from Serie A wrote an open letter to ask for help in dealing with racism. Nevertheless, just Roma and Milan (who wasnt directly involved in the episode) reacted to the headline, banning the newspapers reporters from visiting their training grounds for the rest of the year. Roma and Milan were also the only two clubs that publicly distanced themselves from the disgusting anti-racism campaign launched by Lega Calcio this week.

Serie A installed three paintings featuring monkeys supposedly representing a western monkey, an Asian monkey and a black monkey at its headquarters to spread the values of integration, multiculturalism and brotherhood. The anti-discrimination monitoring group Fare called the painting a sick joke and an outrage.

Once again Italian football leaves the world speechless. Its difficult to see what Serie A was thinking, stated Kick It Out, adding that Serie As use of monkeys in their anti-racism campaign is completely inappropriate, undermines any positive intent and will be counter-productive. Every time Serie A tries a new strategy to combat racism, it make the situation worse.

The only thing that they should underline is their lack of understating regarding what actually constitutes racism. Episode after episode, their position is becoming more embarrassing, and they fail to comprehend how they are poisoning the well. Luigi De Siervo, Lega Serie As CEO, defended the monkey painting, saying, Were going to do in two years what Thatcher did in ten, referring to the battle against hooliganism in English stadiums in the 1980s. Two days later, he reneged and withdrew the art. A lack of understanding again.

In September, Lukaku suffered a protracted flow of monkey chants by home fans as he prepared to kick what would turn out to be a match-winning penalty against Cagliari in Sardinia. After the episode, the club defended its fans in a statement, firmly rejecting the outrageous charge.Even Inters fans confronted Lukaku.

Listen | How populist politics is changing the world of football

An organised fan group from Curva Nord, Lurlo della Nord, wrote a grotesque open letter to Lukaku: Please consider this attitude of Italian fans as a form of respect for the fact they are afraid of you, said the Facebook post, sustaining that the use of racist comments did not mean fans were racist but that they were just trying to help their team. Then the supporters tried to indoctrinate Lukaku, saying that he had to understand that Italy is not like many other European countries where racism is a REAL problem. Its a statement that hasnt aged well.

Following an investigation, the Italian sporting justice panel decided to avoid applying sanctions upon Cagliari, stating that the chants could not be considered discriminatory in terms of their scale and perception. It remains a disgraceful decision, especially considering that Cagliaris fans have previous in this regard.

Last season, young Juventus striker Moise Kean now playing for Everton was subjected to similar abuse. Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini said any abuse aimed at the Juventus striker had nothing to do with racism. Keans coach, Massimiliano Allegri, and one of his teammates, Leonardo Bonucci, blamed the young striker for provoking it. Kean simply stood in front of Cagliaris fans with his arms outstretched after scoring a goal.

Similar accusations have also been aimed at Mario Balotelli throughout his career. However, last month he succeeded in the difficult process of reconciling the great part of public opinion that has always opposed him: none of his detractors argued about Balotelli being the latest victim of Veronas far-right ultras.

In November, the former Manchester City and Liverpool striker was subjected to monkey chants during a match at the Bentegodi. Balotelli reacted angrily, kicking a ball into the stands, then threatened to leave the field when the match was suspended for several minutes. After the match, Veronas manager Ivan Juri and president Maurizio Setti downplayed the event, saying that there was no racist element involved. A sports judge disqualified Veronas Poltrone Est the sector where the chants began for a match, but after the clubs appeal, the decision was suspended pending further investigation.

After the match, Luca Castellini, one of Veronas ultras chiefs, said in an interview with Radio Caf that Balotelli, who was born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents before being given up for adoption, is Italian because he has Italian citizenship, but he can never be completely Italian. Castellini, who is head of the northern section of Forza Nuova, a far-right political movement, added: We also have a negro in our team who scored yesterday, and all of the Verona fans applauded him. He was banned for ten years by Verona.

Read | How the Three Degrees inspired a generation of young black men

Not long after, Balotelli was subjected to a staggeringly racist comment from his chairman at Brescia, Massimo Cellino, the former owner of Leeds. When asked about the striker, who was facing a troubled period, Cellino stated: What can I say? Hes black and hes working to whiten himself but he has great difficulties in this. The president was clumsily trying to play on the word black, which in Italian is sometimes used as a synonym for angry, and the verb whiten, which associated with the word ideas can mean to clear your mind. Cellino refused to apologise.

These reactions to such deplorable behaviour highlight the strenuous efforts to normalise this kind of attitude in Italy. A man has been arrested after being accused of racist abuse during last Saturdays Manchester derby. After collaborating with the authorities, Manchester City immediately banned him for life. His workplace suspended him too. To expect a similar attitude from authorities, clubs or companies in Italy is still utopian.

People dont know where to draw a line, especially with regards to key figures in football. They dont know what is appropriate or inappropriate and what might be racist and what might be acceptable. Last week we had another example of this kind of attitude from former Juventus manager Allegri.

During an interview with Corriere della Sera, Allegri who is known for impersonating the part of the cynical and conservative coach and often rants against open-minded managers, who he calls philosophers was asked what football is like now that hes on the outside looking on. His response was a clear example of how so many dont actually know what constitutes racism in Italian football: First of all, African players are turning football more physical, said Allegri.

He used African players as a polite form for black players, referring to the narrow-minded stereotype of black players having natural athletic superiority, something that has no scientific support, as proved by a great number of studies, but a deep place in Italian and indeed wider society and culture. As a result of the nature of the interview, a one-on-one Q&A, Allegri maintained his dangerous stereotype with high social implications without the possibility of a contradictory opinion, unwittingly strengthening the racial bias in the readers minds.

The main problem nowadays is not the folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits, says American sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva in his book Racism Without Racists. The more we assume that the problem of racism is limited to the Klan, the birthers, the tea party or to the Republican Party, the less we understand that racial domination is a collective process and we are all in this game.

If its true that most of us have some form of racial bias, at the same time we all have tools to identify and defuse them or at least stop and apologise when they emerge. In Italy, many remain a long way off this form of self-understanding. All the while, theracists keep wondering why we call them racist.

By Maurizio Gaddi @Maurizio_Gaddi

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"Racists keep wondering why we call them racist": Italian football and the long road to understanding its problem - These Football Times