Mo
Have you ever heard of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy? It’s a rare, and somewhat controversial, psychiatric disorder in which someone fakes or even causes health problems in a person in her care, to get attention or engender sympathy.
One of the more famous, recent cases was that of Lacey Spears, 25-year-old mother to Garnett Spears. Garnett lived only to the age of five and spent a good deal of that time in the hospital with fevers, ear infections, seizures, and digestive issues. Lacey used social media to garner sympathy for herself over Garnett’s health problems, for example, tweeting about her devotion to Garnett and updating on his hospital visits (her twitter account, @GarnettsMommy is still active), as well as blogging about his health on “Garnett’s Journey.” It wasn’t until shortly before Garnett’s death that doctors discovered lethally high sodium levels in his body. He passed away in 2014 from brain swelling caused by the high sodium levels. Shortly after, the police investigated and discovered IV feeding bags in Lacey’s home containing excessive sodium. Over his five years of life, Lacey had poisoned Garrett to death with salt, while using his illnesses she caused to cast herself as a victim. Lacey was convicted of second-degree murder in 2015 and is serving 20 years. I bring this up because it seems we’re experiencing a kind of collective version of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy right now in the form of hate crime hoaxes. A rash of them have taken place around the election, most by people claiming to have been harassed because they’re Muslim or black. For instance:
These hate crime hoax incidents have a lot in common with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Someone gets sympathy and attention for being a victim of an awful circumstance that he caused himself in order to engender sympathy and attention. Meanwhile, the biggest victims, like Garnett Spears, are the people the hoaxer is purporting to protect. Sometimes, the damage is direct and tangible: members of the Greenville church lost their place of worship. More often, though, the damage is insidious. Not only do hoaxes consume valuable resources better spent elsewhere, but they, fairly or not, diminish real cases of bigotry. They destroy trust, engender suspicion, and create excess noise that causes people to tune out all of it. With the proliferation of hate crime hoaxes, we seem to be in the middle of a rather serious collective mental breakdown right now, and the media have, for the most part, decided to act as enablers. Instead of checking and corroborating facts before reporting them as such, they’re providing the hoaxers the attention and notoriety they, like Lacey Spears, so keenly desire. They feed the illness and then shrug and move on to the next outrage. As long as the media are willing to enable the hoaxers with attention, it will be difficult to stop these Munchausen by Proxy attention seekers from doing their damage.
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Andrew Lynch
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was a franchise of movies that excited a young boy and began a lifelong fandom with the adventures of space wizards and scoundrels and alien creatures from exotic locations. The Star Wars series of movies and the numerous additions to the Star Wars Expanded Universe (now known as Star Wars Legends) had a profound impact on myself as a young boy, influencing me in ways that most speak of developing a love for Lord of the Rings from an early age (or in more modern times, Harry Potter).
I say that to explain the mindset behind the rest of this review: it is not objective, it is not unbiased, and I will not apologize for that. (I promise my movie opinions are generally better than my food opinions) Rogue One, for those who are completely unaware of the concept, is not a main entry in the Star Wars universe. It is not a sequel to The Force Awakens, as some have thought. It is a movie set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope (Episodes III and IV, or between the two main trilogies). The action takes place in the days leading up to Episode IV and ends within minutes of Episode IV beginning. This mostly-standalone story is the beginning of a new series of movies referred to as “Anthologies” that will fill in details and backgrounds between the main story arcs. Could you see Rogue One with little to no knowledge? Yes. Does it help to have some understanding of Star Wars and the placement of this movie in the timeline? Most certainly. Will you enjoy it more being a nerd like myself and catching all of the references and Easter eggs? Absolutely. Rogue One is first and foremost a story of Jyn Urso, who has been abandoned since the time she was a child. She is recruited by a fledgling and resource-strapped Rebellion to get information from a contact and former caretaker of hers, Saw Gerrera. The information he has drives the rest of the main plot forward, and it is not a spoiler to say it is all about getting the plans for the secret and highly destructive Death Star. The action, plot, and story, function first as an espionage and wartime movie. If it were not in the Star Wars universe, it would serve just fine as such a movie in its own right (although more exposition and background would be necessary as a result—there is some amount of believing the audience will have an idea as to what is going on when they watch it). But as an entry into the Star Wars universe, this film is in the top tier. My own brother ranks it as the best of all the films, and while I will not go that far with it myself, it is certainly in the top three (The Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope are the top two). It is a story about facing unbelievable odds. It is a film that explores sacrifice for loved ones and others. It explores causes that can be greater than oneself and if the tradeoff is worth it. The movie is suspenseful, dramatic, and heart-wrenching at times. And yet it has some memorable quotes and characters that will stay with you long after the movie is over. The acting is solid and believable. The CGI and film footage never looked too bad or distracting. And you never once have to hear a whiny teenager describe how he hates sand nor the words “meesa” and “wude” spoken by the most hated creature in all the galaxy. Watch the movie, enjoy it for what it is (which is “a really freaking great movie”). You won’t regret it. (Also did you know this is the first Star Wars movie actually to be about war? Thanks, Vox, for that trivia!)
Dan
After an eight year absence, the almighty journalists have arrived, promising to hold the Trump administration accountable. In between self-congratulatory pats on the back, the media has decided to let you know how important they are. Start the parade, here come our heroes, and we need heroes. We need the free press, objective and honest. We need solid investigative and relentless reporting. We need it like eight years ago needed it, because today no one is listening.
The press decided to play smoke and mirrors for the Democrats, and now, no one believes them. They let the President clip their wings. Reporters who bothered to ask tough questions were berated (You know better than to ask that). The government was spying on the Associated Press, but all was forgiven. The president ditched his press pool, and Hillary Clinton roped them off. They allowed themselves to be weakened and humiliated, so pardon, but the faith in the strength of a biased free press that allowed itself to be reduced to reporting on a pop culture presidency and dogs wearing pants is a tad misplaced. Was this the same press that ignored and/or downplayed that Planned Parenthood was selling baby parts in order to get awards from the organization? The same press that covered for every Obama and Clinton scandal? Excuse me, media people, do you by chance want to talk about the Fast and Furious Operation now? Oh, you’re busy? I see. Jay-Z is doing an album tour and stopped at the White House. Plenty of time to promote Obamacare and other Obama agendas, but no time to report what’s really happening. Nice work helping the President ignore ISIS while they marched on Baghdad. Well, look at that, you care about Syria now? That’s cute. The media that ignored genocide wants to help. Great, help spread these hashtags. It took crazy man Trump getting elected to get their attention. Oh, but here’s the best part: they wanted him as the Republican candidate because they were so sure he would lose to their queen Hillary Clinton. Thanks for taking that gamble, guys. Worked out swell. Maybe the media should spend less time telling us how important they are and more time doing their jobs. Don’t tell us about freedom of the press. We know what it is, you are the ones that took it for granted. Now go do something with it that doesn’t involve your ego. |
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January 2024
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