Dana Goldstein

Discussing Educational Inequality With Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes is getting a lot of flack for his Memorial Day episode, in which he grappled seriously with war, peace, death, and memory. I'm going to outsource commentary on that to Conor Friedersdorf, but really, Chris should be lauded for hosting a show that deals with issues like education policy with more nuance than any other show on television. I was lucky enough to be part of Chris' panel on Saturday, where we discussed racial and socioeconomic segregation of schools, teachers' unions, and other crucial topics. Here are some clips.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

My Thoughts on Katie Roiphe, Sadomasochism, and Feminism

are over at The Nation:

Katie Roiphe has written a link bait-y Newsweek cover story making an interesting claim: that the pop culture appearance of submissive female sexual fantasies, in shows like Lena Dunham's "Girls" and pulp fiction like Fifty Shades of Grey, is somehow a backlash against women's increasing economic power.

I think this is generally wrong. ...

Taboo-breaking sex is culturally prevalent right now not because of macroeconomic trends like the decimation of the male manufacturing sector, but because we live in an age in which all sorts of sexual practices are incredibly visible and talked about. In particular, easy access to online pornography allows people, at a younger age than ever before and with more privacy, to explore non-vanilla sex, whether low-key spanking and restraints or much kinkier stuff. Female-authored erotica and sexualized fan-fiction are burgeoning genres online, as well, and e-readers have made it possible for consumers to purchase and read this material with perfect privacy. This is the world from which Fifty Shades of Grey emerged.

But these desires are as old as the human race; in every century and decade, sadomasochistic erotica has broken into the mainstream, from from de Sade to Swinburne to Anais Nin to Anne Desclos to Anne Rice. Why assume, as Roiphe seems to, that some authoritative brand of feminism was ever supposed to lead to human beings losing their curiosity about power-play during sex, which is, after all, a physical act? 

Read the whole post.

My Al-Jazeera Appearance on American Jews and Israel

Last Wednesday I went to D.C. to appear on The Stream, a smart Al-Jazeera English show that combines traditional, in-studio interviews with feedback from online social networks. The topic was American Jews' changing views on Israel, the subject of Peter Beinart's new book The Crisis of Zionism, which I reviewed favorably for The Nation.  

I was especially interested in the Skype interview with Saar Szekaly, an artist who appeared on the Israeli version of "Big Brother" as a sort of political, performance art project, in order to raise awareness about what he considers an unjust occupation. On The Stream, Szekaly made the point that the average young Israeli, especially outside of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, has almost no contact with Arabs, Palestinians or Muslims, and that this makes it difficult for many Israelis to understand the depth of Palestinian suffering. Because of the continuing conflict, the security wall, and increased racial and religious segregation, a young Israeli is less likely than her parents or grandparents to have befriended non-Jews. 

This is in remarkable contrast with the experience of young American Jews. Many of us attended racially and culturally diverse colleges, where we encountered the Palestinian narrative and grappled with it. In the post-9/11, Arab Spring era, most of us have far more interest in and contact with the Arab world than our parents and grandparents did in their formative years.

I do wish this segment had included a perspective further to the left, from someone who supports the broader BDS movement, for example, like the writers at Mondoweiss.

an earlier version of this post appears at The Nation

Talking Education Politics on MSNBC

I'm usually quite nervous when I go on television, and I always foget to smile! But doing TV with Ezra Klein, one of my closest friends, was reassuring and so much fun. And how rare to have a policy debate this substantive on cable TV? 

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"Mad Men" Interlude

In last Sunday's episode, Pete Campbell, at the hospital awaiting the birth of his daughter, gets a visit from rival ad man Ted Chaough, who's hoping to woo Pete away from the struggling Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. 

Chaough tells Pete that his newest client is Alfa Romeo, and that Pete will really love getting behind the wheel of an Italian sports cars. Pete replies, deadpan, "I don't drive." The line was a perfect fit for Pete, an Upper East Side-bred brahmin who can trace his ancestry back to the Dutch colonialists who first settled Manhattan. Why should he drive? That's what limos and taxis are for. (Pete is too well-bred to salivate at sports cars. He leaves that to strivers like Chaough and Don Draper.)

But it turns out the line is also a bit of an inside joke. "Mad Men" is filmed in Los Angeles, where Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who plays Pete, is infamous for not owning a car, making him one of just 10 percent of Angelenos who don't drive! Instead, he relies on the city's public transit system.

Kartheiser tells the New York Times about his lifestyle:

“They’ve done a study and they’ve found that people under 30 no longer view cars as status symbols or even positive things,” Mr. Kartheiser said. “They look at them as pollutants.”

Earlier in the evening, on the way to the restaurant, Mr. Kartheiser had ruminated about his choice to be carless. “I like that my life slows down when I go places,” he said. “I have all these interactions with the human race and I can watch people living their life and not just in their car.”

Swoon.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled wonky programming.

Imagining the Kinsley/Scarborough Conversation at Politico

John Harris: Jim, I want to make a big splash with our new opinion section.

Jim VandeHei: Totally. It should be something really cool.

Harris: You know who I've been reading since the 70s? Mike Kinsley. I love that guy.

VandeHei: Yes. That guy is a real talent and it's by time someone gave him the leg-up he deserves. Also, Kinsley is not a doctrinaire liberal. That's important because liberals are so boring.

Harris: Totally.

VandeHei: One fresh face on the right is Joe Scarborough. I think the American political elite would benefit from learning his daily opinions.

Harris: Absolutely. I'm so pleased we've figured this out.

VandeHei: Me too. Our 100 percent white male opinion section roll-out is sure to bust open the boundaries of American journalism.

Read more at Mediabistro. The above post is offered in the spirit of friendly collegiality and genuine concern about the continued lack of diversity on opinion pages.

Does CNN Think Women are Too Dumb to Talk About Taxes and the Middle East?

No, CNN, as a woman with a functional brain I am not at all offended that Kathleen Parker has been cast as the dumb blond to Eliot Spitzer's smart wonk in your new show, the creatively-titled "Parker Spitzer," which will definitely revive the cable news format!

Good luck!

Hat tip: Pareene.

I ♥ "Ugly Betty"

Here is a cute profile of Michael Urie and Becky Newton, the pitch-perfect comedic team who play Marc St. James and Amanda Tanen on my absolute favorite television show, "Ugly Betty." From immigration, to transgender rights, to growing up gay, to health care woes, "Ugly Betty" is one of the most progressive shows on TV. And you can watch it all for free online! I'm thinking of writing a whole piece about the show's politics. Wonder if any editor would be interested in that....

How Liberal is "The Simpsons?"

Here I am in exciting Berlin, blogging about....American television. I know, I know. But I need a breather after visiting the Reichstagg, Holocaust memorial and museum, Brandenburg Gate, and then walking the entire Unter der Linden all in one day.

Ben has a great take on the politics of the new Simpson's movie at the Guardian's Comment is Free. He posits that unlike the television series, the film backs away from liberal politics in favor of a libertarian "pox on both their houses" stance, especially when it comes to environmentalism. His evidence? Lisa nags everybody about cleaning up Springfield's environment, and then the government, in its efforts to save the Earth, isolates polluted Springfield under a giant dome and tries to wipe the city out entirely with a bomb.

Ben compares this backlash against liberlalism with the show's gender politics, writing that although sainted Marge is a housewife, the series repeatedly portrays women as smarter, kinder, and better than men. This "subverts the father knows best cultural paradigm," he writes, which he takes to be progressive.

I'd only add that the "father knows best" paradigm has coexisted on film and TV throughout the twentieth century with the same conservative gender politics seen on "The Simpsons" -- a forgiving wife who ultimately redeems her husband. Think of Lucy, forever tolerant of Ricky's temper, or Ray Romano's wife on "Everybody Loves Raymond." She's long suffering, and you're clearly meant to take her side in most arguments between the two. Romantic comedies repeat the theme of men struggling to live up to their wife or girlfriend's high standards over and over again. Most recently, "Knocked Up" featured one of these "taming" plots, for lack of a better term.

It's never struck me as particulary feminist to portray women as inherently better than men. If women sometimes seem to value maturity more, it may be because we get ourselves together in order to be taken seriously by men and not just be seen as girls.

All in all though, Ben's analysis of the movie and show is good fun, so check it out.

Mother-Daughter Egg Donation

Over at TAPPED, commenter ajw_93 writes that it has been done before -- on "All My Children!"

Obviously, these people need to tune in to some daytime TV.

Why, Emily donated an egg to her mother, Susan more than a decade ago! Susan carried the resulting pregnancy to term, resulting in Alison's birth.

I can't believe that THIS could be the reason that Alison grew up to be a meth-addicted porn "actress" and Emily a part-time call girl...