No more Mr. Bad Guy

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This article actually consists mostly of a transcript of a conversation about the recent Pixar film Turning Red, which is currently showing in Slovak cinemas (dubbed of course).  While it may help to have watched the film, you can easily comment on the trends which this film exhibits without having seen it.  What do you think about the fact that fewer of these animated films for children have an evil villain at their center or that more of them are about the immigrant experience?  What effect might these trends have on the new generation that has grown up watching films like this?

Big Bill Bruising

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It seems to me that this article from New Zealand might not reflect how Slovaks see this issue.  What do you do when you go to a restaurant with others and need to figure out who pays what?   What do you think of the author's recommendations? (By the way, I think the Friends clip serves as a good illustration of this situation.)

Taking the Fast Track

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This is a seasonally appropriate article given that Catholics have just gone through Lent and Muslims are still in Ramadan, but it also covers political and medical implications of fasting.  What are the advantages and possible disadvantages of fasting?  Do you fast, have you fasted, or would you ever consider fasting?

Precolonial Multiculturalism

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Here is a history article for a change.  Was early modern Europe more multi-racial and multi-cultural than people imagine or admit?  Does this apply to only Western Europe or could it apply to places further east as well (see Pushkin's great-grandfather for example)?  Does European history as taught in school take this presence into account or even mention it? If it is true, as is often claimed, that racism became official or crystallised as a justification for colonialism and the slave trade, is the author correct in advocating more awareness of an African presence in early modern Europe to help combat racism and the idea of a purely white Europe? This article is mainly based on the travels of Zaga Christ, but to get a sense of the evidence for the larger argument being made here, I would recommend that you click on some of the hyperlinks (which you can also refer to in your comment).

What your kids might want

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This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of April.

Does the author just use her (future) children as an excuse to hoard?  Are you a hoarder? On the other hand, have you ever regretted throwing something out?  How important is it to keep objects in order to keep a connection to our past?  Does a wealthy capitalist culture tend to encourage throwing away things to buy new ones, or does it tend to encourage hoarding by promoting the purchase of more space?

Boys will be boys, but should they?

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Here is an article written for the occasion of International Women’s Day, but it’s not about women.  How important do you think the education of boys is in terms of fighting discrimination against women?  Do you agree that gender expectations can be even more oppressive for boys than they are for girls?   What has been your experience of how gender norms are taught and enforced and how they can be combated?

If you’re black, get back. If you’re brown, turn around...

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Has the conflict in the Ukraine and how it is covered by the media revealed biases in who the West (and Slovaks in particular) are concerned about and feel compassion for?   Is empathy often conditioned by racism and other factors?

Night takes Queen (or will soon...)

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The title of this article is a bit deceptive since it is more focused on various aspects of the monarchy in the UK rather than speculations as to what happens once the Queen is no longer among us.  Do you agree that having royalty is about having a story and a subject of gossip?  Are they simply figures to project our own desires, resentments and values upon?   What are the advantages of royalty?  How would Slovakia look with royalty?  Or do we already have something that serves a similar function?   Caputova?

Money makes the world go down

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Is making concerns about the economy and wealth paramount over other concerns destroying our health and the environment?  How does this issue manifest itself in a Slovak context as compared to an American (or more  specifically a Hoosier) context?  What can be done on an individual, social and/or political level to make sure that profit does not become the only factor in making decisions?

The subject of Fico’s dissertation

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This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of March.

What do you think about how India’s law is worded?  Can capital punishment ever be justified, even for the most heinous crimes?  Is it inevitable that who gets executed is influenced by racism, nationalism and other biases? 

Flying his own flag

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Are state symbols sacrosanct, or is it okay to alter them to create art or to make a political point?  Is the flag that Rafa designed a good way to help Roma assert their identity as both Roma and Czech? Do you agree that the crackdown on Broz and others for displaying this flag is motivated by racism?  How would you react to a Slovak-Romani flag?

Tainted Love

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Does learning about the bad things that artists have done or said affect how you experience their art?  Should it?  Can one separate the artist from the art, or do the reprehensible attitudes of the former somehow affect the latter?   What about considerations of financial support?  Can you buy such an artist's art, knowing that some of the money goes back to the artist?

No kippahs on our kiddies

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Does this story illustrate some of the problems inherent in religious charities, especially when they get state support?  To what extent, if any, does a society or an institution have the right to “protect” children from being raised in or converted to a minority religion?

Somebody sing hello, hello, hello. Somebody cry why, why, why.

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Why do you think the homeless are invisible?  Is it because of modern technology bubbles or fear or laziness?  Does blame often become a way to make excuses for not helping those in need?  What can be done about this?

Eggs soaring, smashing and sailing

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This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of February.

Should Rotterdam allow their historic bridge to be temporarily dismantled?  Is this protest simply motivated by hatred for the very rich?   Would you be out there throwing eggs?

Art on loan from alleged torturers

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Are you convinced by the argument which this article puts forward that western museums should cut their ties with China because of that government's treatment of their Uyghur minority?  Does it surprise you that the sports world has gone further in terms of divestment than the arts world has?  How should organisations respond when such abuses against minority groups take place or when governments simply deny their guilt?

Your door is ajar...Your parking brake is on...You have had one too many...

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Is technology key to solving the problem of drunk driving?  What do you think about requiring technology through a law before the technology is completely developed?  Why do you think the law requires this technology to activate passively?  Do you see any pitfalls that these technologies might have?

Don't be so welcoming

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How much individual and collective responsibility do we have towards immigrants (whose legal status is likely still in question)?  Is providing rescue, food, shelter and clothing a moral imperative or does this encourage more immigrants to come?  How do you think Slovak attitudes compare to British ones on this issue?

Paternalism and polarisation pushing people away from polio protection

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What do you think about the theories outlined here in terms of what leads parents to be sceptical of or against child vaccinations?  Is part of this a reaction to paternalistic and collectivist attitudes of medical professionals that prevailed during socialism?  Is the individualist approach any better? How do you think attitudes about child vaccinations intersect with other political attitudes?  Is polarisation preventing people from seeing this issue clearly? Is Slovakia any different from the Czech republic in this case?

Soon you too will be paying the price

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What do you think is causing the rising costs of higher education in the US: more student loans, more administration, higher expectations, a greater understanding of brain underdevelopment in the teenage and young adult years, or the school stepping in to take care of things no longer ensured by the state? Is this mainly an American problem or is it spreading elsewhere? How can the status of professors be protected from further decline (if it needs to be)?  How can you be sure that you will get what you pay for?

This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of January.