Friday’s Eagle had a letter from Special Olympics Kansas decrying the new movie “Tropic Thunder” for “retard” jokes and calling for a boycott.
Here is Slate movie critic Dana Stevens’ response to a reader about the controversy: “You hold the view that the movie’s use of what advocacy groups are calling “the R-word” isn’t targeting people with disabilities; they hold the view that it is. But if the discussion is to go forward, shouldn’t everyone at least be willing to see the movie with an open mind toward the other side?”
She’s right that pre-emptive criticisms of movies often fail to judge the offending material in context.
One example: Critics who complain about the “racist” use of the “N-word” in Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” miss the author’s ironic use of the word and his larger point about its offensiveness and racism.
That artistic context may be utterly lacking in “Tropic Thunder.” I don’t know — I haven’t seen the movie.
But it’s satire. And as Stevens notes, “Satire is a notoriously difficult thing to police.”
It may have looked impulsive, but the Wichita school board’s decision to add $20 million to the proposed school bond issue, for a total $370 million, may not have hurt the proposal’s chances with voters, judging from a SurveyUSA poll conducted for KWCH, Channel 12. Of 500 Wichita adults polled, 47 percent said they’d be more likely to vote for the bond issue if it included both athletic facility improvements and additional technology education (13 percent said they’d be less likely to vote for such a bond issue, and 37 percent said it would make no difference). Among those respondents more likely to vote “yes” because of the changes, 55 percent said that the added $20 million sounded “just about right.”
Talking to Emporians last week about what ails health care, Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, pointed to a personal experience: When he needed treatment three times in three different locations, the same tests were run at each site. “If I could have taken my records with me, I could have cut costs by a third,” he said. Among his other proposed solutions: Allowing small companies to transcend state borders to collaborate on affordable health insurance, and offering a tax credit for health club memberships.
What if John McCain throws a party and nobody comes? Count Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts among a growing list of GOP senators who’ve confirmed they won’t be attending the party’s national convention next month in Minneapolis.
Instead, Roberts will be campaigning hard on a statewide tour. Although he has a double-digit lead over Democrat Jim Slattery, Roberts apparently feels vulnerable.
Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Cole reportedly advised some embattled Republicans to steer clear of the convention. So far, GOP no-shows include Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Ted Stevens of Alaska and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. And now Roberts.
Friday’s Eagle had a letter from Special Olympics Kansas decrying the new movie “Tropic Thunder” for “retard” jokes and calling for a boycott.
