In the land of the spiritually-blind, the man with one unwavering conviction is king. Our post-modern, secularized, relativistic culture does not quite know what to do with “true believers.” Not, at least, when it comes to deeper questions of mankind’s existence and our relationship to the Divine. We’re strong-to-quite-strong when it comes to dealing with stuff like vapid celebrity Tweets, the YAC (yards after catch) racked up by our favorite fantasy football player, or the “controversy” of an under-performing new movie on its opening weekend. We’re lousy with politicians and pundits who tell us what we want to hear.

But give us a prominent man or woman with strong, articulated, uncompromising values in the public square–especially if these values are of the traditional, Judeo-Christian variety–and people freak out.

Enter: Timothy Richard Tebow.

When I say that people “freak out,” I do not mean to imply…

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Writer Jonah Lehrer, who resigned in disgrace last year from The New Yorker after he was caught plagiarizing from himself and others as well as fabricating quotes, is back.

By the age of 31, the pop-science author was a rising star when the tangled web he wove began to unravel. He initially denied responsibility, but eventually released a statement of apology: “I understand the gravity of my position. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers.”

Now the New York Times reports that Lehrer has sold a work to Simon & Schuster called A Book About Love. “Jonah Lehrer is an unusually talented writer,” said his publisher’s Jonathan Karp. “We believe in second chances.”

Several years ago James Frey’s memoir of drug and alcohol addiction, A Million Little Pieces, got a bestselling boost as an Oprah’s Book Club selection before his fabrications came…

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Over 25 years ago, Nintendo released their very first 8-bit video game console. Older readers may remember their first time holding an Atari or a Magnavox Odyssey. For me, it was 1992 when my friend’s 7th birthday brought the first SNES to our neighborhood. From that day forward, the format of our lives was forever altered. We spent countless hours devoted to backyard baseball, journeys along the creek bed that ran through our neighborhood, and impromptu sword fights. But, for as long as our parents would let us, we would take turns playing Yoshi’s Island, Diddy Kong’s Quest, or any number of now classic video games. All the while, we sat eating junk food, telling stories, and watching our friends face new challenges. Thinking back, I’m sure there were times when we begged for a controller or distracted our friends, hoping to end their turn. Funny enough, I still remember…

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Modern culture can barely keep up with cutting-edge technology. Not surprisingly, Google has been at the center of all things tech, including last Monday’s arrival of the first pornographic app for Google Glass. The app, titled “T*ts & Glass,” was quickly thwarted the next day by limitations to Google’s Glass Platform Developer policies.

Google Glass is essentially a pair of glasses with a bar along the right temple and around the hinge that houses a computer. The lens is replaced by a small heads-up display, a transparent screen that projects information over your field of vision. This technology is similar to that seen in fighter jets, allowing pilots to read their flight instruments without sacrificing the ability to look outside the cockpit.

Of course, Glass users are not jet pilots whose survival depends on this technology. (more…)

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A new book, What Do Women Want: Adventures in the Science of Female Desire, apparently makes the shocking revelation that women are actually carnal, wild beasts who have been socially re-conditioned when it comes to sex. In a generally creepy interview over at Salon, the author talks a lot about monkeys and rape fantasies.

Yawn/What the? That’s how I feel. (more…)

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Macklemore is not the first White hip-hop artist to become a fixture in the mainstream, but he’s probably the most socially conscious one. Not long ago I came across a link to the video for “Wings.” For the uninitiated, the song picks on the materialistic lust for the latest in Nike footwear, a force that swept large swaths of an entire generation into materialist fervor. More directly, it picks on Nike itself for the harm caused by its marketing machine.

The video struck a nostalgic chord for me—I distinctly remember the longing I felt the specific models of shoes he rattles off throughout the video. He walks into the screen wearing Jordan Vs, calls out the Air Max, refers to a friend’s brother being murdered or his Jordan IVs. I grew up in suburban Kalamazoo, and don’t personally remember anyone there being killed over a pair of shoes, but…

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Editor’s note: On May 30, Acculturated’s Ryan Duffy published a piece titled, “Dating Miracles Can Happen,” which went viral. Ryan pointed out that the statistical odds are decidedly against meeting the man or woman of your dreams on any given night—and they get even worse after college. Susan Patton, an alumna of Princeton University, got in trouble recently for pointing this fact out; to help women beat the odds, she encouraged Princeton women to find a mate in college, where they are surrounded by many eligible men. But should men and women who graduate from college single abandon all hope of finding their true love? Throughout the summer, Acculturated bloggers and writers will weigh in periodically on this issue in a new series of posts that we’re calling “Love in the 21st Century.” Ryan will also periodically weigh in, charting his progress finding “the one.”

“I was…

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Do you remember a time when neighbors mattered? Ashley McGuire does, and that’s why she gets our Post of the Week honors this week. Check out her great post on how stronger community bonds could be just the thing to keep American culture from completely unraveling.

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The scene: a beautiful Carolina evening. A confident team of baseball players clad in powder blue and white. And a crowd of 3,517 cheering Tar Heels (with a few Owls fans sprinkled in, here and there). I, sadly, was not among them, but after Tyler Rocklein blasted one out of the park for a grand slam home run, pulling the Owls ahead of my beloved Tar Heels 8-6, I was glued to “Watch ESPN” (experiencing disbelief and horror simultaneously).

Four excruciating innings later—and after falling behind by three runs—the Heels finally closed the game 12-11. The stands erupted as the team poured onto the field.

Take away the Carolina blue, and this could be a snapshot of any victorious team, anywhere. But after a litany of abuses in college athletics, it’s worth remembering why we obsess over college sports in the first place—especially with an increasing number of calls…

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It’s very easy to compare Superman to Jesus. They are both beings from another world who have the power to not only heal but reverse death (as seen in the film Superman II), and who works for the betterment of humanity. The comparison has been made a lot by pop culture writers. But is it true?

The answer may be that Superman is many things: Jesus, the Prince of Peace who is willing to die for humanity; Yahweh, the all-powerful God of the Old Testament; other less well known gods from the Greeks to Voodoo elementals; and a projection of human psychological hopes and fears. That’s because in the course of his seventy-five year history, Superman has changed as the culture has changed. Grant Morrison is one of the best comic book writers working today, and if you’re interested in a tonic read about the Man of Steel before…

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