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Author Archives: Tom Garrett
Best of 2015
A move, the first full year of a new job, and increasingly demanding writing responsibilities further compromised my ability to generate content for this website on a regular basis. However, I did managed to write 25 pieces. This year also … Continue reading
Distortion for the Greater Good
It’s as fascinating as it is frustrating to watch the media spin a story to suit its preferred narrative. Our weekly example comes from the controversy surrounding oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, the latest affirmative action case to reach … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Politics
Tagged Antonin Scalia, Commentary Politics, Media Bias, MSNBC
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The Age of Totalitolerance
Much evil may be committed in the name of “justice” or “equality” or, ironically, “freedom.” All of us believe in some version of those precepts. Thus, to oppose a strain of totalitarianism that gallops into town under a banner bearing the … Continue reading
Taylor Swift-Boating John Kasich
At a town-hall-style event at the University of Richmond last week, Ohio governor John Kasich noticed a female student who was enthusiastically trying to get his attention, reacting by saying, “I don’t have any tickets, for, you know, Taylor Swift,” … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Politics
Tagged 2016 Election, Commentary, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Kayla Solsback, Politics, Taylor Swift, University of Richmond
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Trump’s Popularity: Real, or Wake-Up Call?
With another GOP debate imminent, poll leader Donald Trump will have several more opportunities to antagonize opponents, media members, and various segments of the public, as he has done repeatedly in recent months. Thus far, it hasn’t hurt him. At … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Politics, Sports
Tagged 2016 Election, Commentary, Donald Trump, Football, Politics, Presidential Election, Sports
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The Urge to Purge
As I’ve said before, the primitive desire to purge our society of anything that makes us feel bad—particularly things that relate to history—will continue, unabated, until people stand up and say “enough.” Consider this opinion piece in the Washington Post, headlined … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Politics
Tagged Alpha Phi, College, Commentary, Hoop Skirts, Orwell, Politics, Revisionism, Sororities, The Civil War, The South, University of Alabama, University of Georgia, Washington Post
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The Mob Goes Trophy Hunting
I don’t hunt and — at the risk of losing my “Real American” bona fides — I also don’t own a firearm. In fact, I have never pulled the trigger on anything more powerful than a pellet gun. I can’t drive … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News
Tagged Animals, Cecil the Lion, Commentary, General Culture and News, Hunting, Justice, Mobs, PETA, Social Media, Wildlife
8 Comments
30 Facts for Live Aid’s 30th Anniversary
Even though I was only seven years old, I could sense that Live Aid was important. Thirty years ago today, the biggest musical acts in the world performed as part of a single, massive event, unprecedented in scope. Everyone from … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, Music, Television
Tagged ABC, Band Aid, BBC, Bob Geldof, Bono, Commentary, Dire Straits, Do They Know It's Christmas, Ethiopia, Freddie Mercury, Harvey Goldsmith, Live Aid, Michael Jackson, MTV, Music, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Queen, Television, The Who, U2, USA For Africa, We Are the World
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Memory Hole or Bottomless Pit?
Down, down the memory hole we go. Where we stop, nobody knows. I was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. Despite growing up in the capital of the Confederacy, and later attending Washington & Lee (as in “Robert E.”) University, I … Continue reading
The Axis of Ego 
Time to Bury Academia?
The signs of the institutional terminal illness of the American university are increasingly plentiful. The stories out of Missouri and Yale and a half-dozen other places in recent months might be easily dismissed as the grumblings of an entitled generation—and they … Continue reading →