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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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February 6, 2012
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
March 14, 2006
/ 14 Adar
Trading races as boundaries fade
By
Clarence Page
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Compared to its obvious inspiration, "Black Like Me," it's easy to knock "Black. White.," the new reality-show experiment in race relations on the Fox network's FX channel — and many people do.
"Nonsense masquerading as substance," scoffs USA Today critic Robert Blanco. Maybe it is. Or maybe it's a rare injection of substance into TV's usual nonsense.
Maybe, wrapped in its unreal "reality show" grab for drama, suspense and easy laughs, it might actually help us Americans learn something about how we get along or don't get along in our ethnic stir-fry.
In a twist on Fox's "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy," FX offers what might be called "Trading Races: Meet Your New Angst." Through the magic of modern Hollywood makeup, "Black. White." allows the black Sparks family of Atlanta, Ga., and the white Wurgel/ Marcotulli family of Santa Monica, Calif., to trade races in suburban Los Angeles.
Racial and ethnic passing are old themes in America, a land of ambitious border-crossers. Gregory Peck played a journalist who passed for Jewish in the 1947 film "Gentleman's Agreement," to expose everyday anti-Semitism. The real-life writer John Howard Griffin turned himself black with a doctor's help to tour the segregated South in 1959 for "Black Like Me."
Griffin's racial tourism offered few laughs. It was a relentlessly humiliating and ultimately death-defying experiment. Afterwards, he endured death threats for having challenged the South's racial apartheid.
Years later, Griffin's racial tourism compares to the 1986 movie "Soul Man" in much the same way that lightning is like a lightning bug. A spoof of the "Black Like Me" theme, "Soul Man" offers a white youth who passes for black to get an affirmative-action scholarship to Harvard. Although he eventually learns in typical Hollywood fashion that it's harder out here for a black dude than he thought, "Soul Man" squanders a great opportunity to get substantive for the sake of cheap laughs.
It might be easy for some to say the same about "Black. White." The participants obviously have a tougher time in this, the era of Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, etc., to find exciting video of racial conflict. The pilot episode, the only one I have seen, reaches for stereotypes while supposedly trying to break through them. Black father Brian Sparks, for example, is steered as a "white" man to observe life in a "redneck bar" (note the lingering shot of a bald, burly and tatooed biker guy) and a golf course. White teen Rose Wurgel is steered as a "black" girl to a black poetry slam group. The show's idea of "authentic" white and black experiences obviously leans toward the bold and visual.
And one cannot help but wonder how desperately some of the participants are looking for evidence to fulfill their personal agendas. Black father Brian Sparks, for example, seems hypersensitive to racial slights at times. Even when some white people move aside to let him and artificially black Bruno Marcotulli walk by on the sidewalk, the whites are suspect in Brian's eyes. Bruno sees common courtesy in their moving aside. Brian suspects bias because he doesn't like "the way they did it."
Bruno bubbles with an irritatingly cheerful sense of liberal white-guy entitlement. A teacher, he seems overly eager to treat black people like his students, preaching the virtues of hard work, proper attitude and high tolerance for racial slurs.
In fact, Bruno, in and out of his blackface, seems to relish throwing slurs like "honky" and "nigger" around, even when they make others visibly wince.
How many episodes, one wonders, before we see a Brian vs. Bruno smackdown? Hey, suspense is good for ratings, right?
If anything rises up as rays of hope in the pilot episode, it is the families' teens. Rose bubbles with adventurous excitement at the prospect of becoming black for a while. Nick unintentionally outrages his mother by failing to object while he is "white" when a white kid uses the N-word in a conversation.
The teens, typical of a generation that can't even remember when Michael Jackson didn't have a nose job, are a lot more relaxed than their elders about the old racial rules.
In the age of white rappers like Eminem or black golfers like Tiger Woods, it's not as big of a deal as it used to be for today's teens to cross racial boundaries. Some of them are doing it every day.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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