MTV’s Ridiculous New Year’s Resolutions for White Guys

For a network that has always either been, or striven to be, on the cutting edge of pop culture, MTV showed itself last week to be remarkably out-of-touch with the zeitgeist. Apparently the youth-oriented cable channel didn’t get the memo that there is a cultural backlash against political correctness in effect, and that half the country is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore.

MTV released a stunningly tone-deaf PSA video Monday titled, “2017 New Years Resolutions for White Guys,” in which a gaggle of young people dispense insulting advice to “white guys” on how to “do a little bit better in 2017.” To the accompaniment of jaunty music designed to lighten the mood and make the offensive message more palatable, smug twenty-somethings lecture “white guys” about their presumed racism and sexism. 

The video goes off the rails right from the get-go when a young woman of color declares that “America was never ‘great’ for anyone who wasn't a white guy.” This is obviously a jab at President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” which resonated with those Americans who understand that this country has been a beacon of freedom and prosperity for countless millions of citizens and immigrants of all races and religions, whose lives were made immeasurably better here than wherever they left behind. This woman’s ignorance of that is a sad testament to the degree to which many young Americans have been indoctrinated over the decades to believe that their country is not history’s most successful melting pot, but rather a shameful bastion of white supremacy.

Mark on 'The Glazov Gang': The Left's War on Masculinity

My friend Jamie Glazov, editor of FrontPageMag.com and host of The Glazov Gang, honored me with a "Tapson Moment" for the show. I took the opportunity to speak for a few minutes about the radical left's "War on Masculinity."

Please check it out and remember to subscribe to The Glazov Gang's YouTube Channel and please donate through their Pay Pal account or GoFundMe campaign to help The Glazov Gang keep going.

No, Jerry Lewis’ Rude Interview Isn’t Funny

This week The Hollywood Reporter online posted “Creative Until You Die,” a series of interviews with ten legendary entertainers who are still going strong in their 90s. It included such beloved figures as Cloris Leachman, Don Rickles, and Dick Van Dyke. “Nine of the interviews went great,” THR stated. “One was a trainwreck.”

The trainwreck was a torturous, seven minute interview, if it can be called that, with comic icon Jerry Lewis. It consists entirely of Lewis glaring impatiently and defiantly at his off-screen interviewer Andy Lewis (no relation, hopefully) and spitting out terse non-answers as Andy struggled to get something from the man THR charitably called “the famously difficult comedian.”

Andy Lewis wrote that he had “a bad feeling” about how things would go the second he stepped into Jerry’s Las Vegas home. “He looked angry. I already knew Lewis' reputation for being difficult and acerbic with his audiences and in interviews. And he's a well-known control freak.”

“Throughout the photo shoot,” Andy continued,

Lewis complained about the amount of equipment in the house, the number of assistants and how the shots were set up. By the time we sat down for the interview about an hour later, Lewis had worked up a full head of steam, and it seemed like he was punishing THR by doing the interview but being as uncooperative as possible.

“Have you ever thought about retiring?” Andy began.

“Why?” Jerry shot back, unsmiling.

“Was there never a moment that you thought it might be time to retire or that you would –”

“Why?” Lewis interrupted forcefully. And the interview went downhill from there.

John Glenn, Rocket Man

American hero John Glenn slipped the surly bonds of Earth for the final time last Thursday in his home state of Ohio at the age of 95.

“John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio’s ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve,” said Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation.”

Long years and remarkable journeys indeed. Even before the native Ohioan joined NASA in 1959 and made history as the first American to orbit the earth in 1962, he was already a distinguished fighter pilot in both World War II, flying 59 missions, and the Korean War (90 missions), earning six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters to an Air Medal. After his historic space flight and work with NASA, he went on to serve as U.S. Senator from his home state for nearly 25 years, then once again made history by becoming the oldest human to go to space, at the age of 77.

Are We Overusing the Word ‘Hero’?

In the 1994 Robert Redford-directed Quiz Show, brilliant professor Charles Van Doren confesses in testimony before Congress that he had knowingly participated in the rigging of a TV game show which led to a shocking national scandal. The charming Van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes, is so sincere and humble in his mea culpa that the investigative committee members are won over; one after another commends him for his “soul-searching fortitude” rather than holding him accountable for the deception he helped perpetrate against the American public.

That is, until one Congressman has the moral clarity to point out to Van Doren that “an adult of your intelligence should not be commended for simply and at long last telling the truth.”

I thought about this scene as I read a recent interview with actor Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood, who teamed up for Sully: Miracle On The Hudson. The movie is based on the real-life heroism of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who piloted a stricken passenger plane safely into New York's Hudson River in 2009, saving the lives of all 155 people onboard. (The film has already left theaters here in the States, but it opened in the UK this past weekend – hence the aforementioned recent interview on a British website.)

Eastwood said that Sullenberger deserves the label “hero” but that it has otherwise been devalued thanks to political correctness. “It's certainly different to when I grew up,” said Eastwood. “It's all in this sort of politically correct thing where everyone has to win a prize. All the little boys in the class have to go home with a first place trophy. The use of the word 'hero' is a little bit overdone but I don't think so in Sully's case. He went extra and beyond what was expected.”

Wednesday Morning Club: Victor Davis Hanson

I'm honored to introduce the indispensable classics historian and political analyst Victor Davis Hanson at the Horowitz Freedom Center's upcoming Wednesday Morning Club luncheon. The event takes place this Wednesday, December 7th, at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. Details here.

Hanson's resume is too long to post here or anywhere without breaking the internet. Suffice it to say that if you aren't reading him regularly, you're missing out on a wise and unique perspective on politics informed by a deep understanding of history and literature.