If you’re unfamiliar with “the manosphere,” it is a burgeoning internet subculture dedicated to men hashing out all things masculine. It’s a fascinating, diverse virtual world born of the damaging excesses of feminism, which have left many men sorting through the wreckage of gender relations and questioning what it means to be a man in this grave new world. Much of it – the Dalrock and Art of Manliness websites come to mind – is valuable in terms of shared advice, self-examination, healthy debate, and supportive fellowship in a culture that is often openly hostile to traditional notions of masculinity. But there is an ugly subset of the manosphere that gives the rest of it a bad name.

A prime example is the website Return of Kings, created and run by a controversial American PUA (that’s “pick-up artist” in manosphere acronyms) who goes by “Roosh V.” Considering that Roosh has…

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The problem with libertarians is that they have no respect for the natural law. The natural law is often described, particularly on the left, as the scary philosophy of the theocons, right-wing religious nuts who want to send America back to the 1950s.

But natural law can be seen as a lot more simple than that. It simply holds that human beings have a conscience, and that in every culture and across time certain things are wrong. Rape. Murder. Rooting for the New York Yankees.

But to some proponents of freedom, there is no natural law – basically, anything goes. Libertarians argue that people can be free to make their own rules and should be able to do whatever they want as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. Thus, a libertarian friend of mine recently responded to a question I posed on Facebook: is it wrong to pay someone…

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I feel so strongly about Melissa Langsam Braunstein’s piece about being preggo on the metro that I feel the need to add a piece of my own.

You see, I used to think this was just about the way pregnant women were treated in the post-feminist world. I thought it was part of the broader complaints registered by women as backlash from feminist demands that men treat women exactly like men, hence no door-holding, no date-paying, no giving up your seat or rushing to help a pregnant woman.

I’ve had all the experiences that Melissa describes. I got on a train once carrying two bags, days from my due date, and found every seat for people with special needs occupied by able-bodied men who stared at me, too short to reach the ceiling bar, and looked back at their papers. When one kind man asked if someone would give…

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The effect was instantaneous and transformative. What is it about a woman in a hat?

I was in Goorin Bros., a new hat store in Washington, D.C. I needed a new hat for baseball and beach season. Next to me was a woman trying on hats, and when she found one that was right, it was as if her entire essence changed.

Actually, that’s not right. It was more like her essence was enhanced. Wearing the Jessica Rogers Cloche hat, she seemed to go from a nondescript D.C. commuter to something grand, alluring, sexy and dignified. She became more self-possessed, more regal. Is it time to bring back the art of wearing hats?

Yes and no. By definition fads rise and fall quickly, and you wouldn’t want something with such timeless spiritual and sartorial qualities as wearing the right hat to be tied into a trend, where…

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Few will argue the claim that the bar for “faith-based” films has been set woefully low in recent years. So much so that even non-Christian, non-religious Americans have heard about (and likely snickered at) projects such as Fireproof and the Left Behind series.

Then there was the recent hullabaloo surrounding Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Christian commentators have spent the past few weeks engaged in a frame-by-frame lambasting of Paramount Pictures’ re-telling of the great flood story. Little was achieved amidst the rhetorical onslaught, apart from the chance for folks with theology degrees to finally seem cool.

And now, as we approach Easter and the summer movie season behind it, what’s a God-fearing American moviegoer to do?

Well, first – don’t make all decisions on whether or not you should go see a movie based solely on the stamp of approval from your favorite religious publication or website. Trust, but…

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Last fall, I posted on the issue of Native American nicknames and imagery in sports, wondering if the tide had turned on public opinion regarding their appropriateness in a civil, pluralist society in today’s world.  The Washington Redskins were front and center in that piece, but now it is baseball season, and the Cleveland Indians find themselves at the crux of the debate.  Ever more so after this photo was captured at the Indians’ home opener:

What’s going on here? The man on the left is Chiricahua Apache tribal member Robert Roche, who serves as executive director of the American Indian Education Center in Cleveland.  The man on the write is Pedro Rodriguez, a rather passionate Indians fan.  Roche was outside the stadium before the game with a group of protesters calling for the baseball club in Cleveland to retire their Chief Wahoo logo.  As…

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The mobile app Tinder has a tag line on its webpage: This is how people meet.  It’s like real life, but better. 

The video on its homepage showcases a group of beautiful female friends out having fun in a nondescript city.  One brunette spots an attractive guy while she is out and they exchange an extended glance with one another.  After more adventures with her girlfriends, the girl pulls out her phone, sees a picture of the guy she spotted that afternoon on the app, swipes to the right, and reads “It’s a Match!” on her screen.  The two meet up on what seems to be a date, and the video fades to black.

After getting a tutorial in Tinder from my friends who use the app, I did some reading up on its origin and its use among college students and young adults.   I’m more than convinced…

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Denver’s Julie Geller lives a thoughtful and melodic life. The singer-songwriter not only writes and sings her own music in English and Hebrew, but also teaches, in addition to raising three kids with her husband. She recently agreed to speak with Acculturated about her music and being an artist:

What inspired you to sing professionally?

In 10th grade, a friend played a chord, and within a month, I was writing songs. At Harvard, I tried to find people to perform my music but never could. Junior year, I bought a guitar and taught myself to play. I couldn’t find a singer, so I started singing. I always thought my strength was songwriting, and I didn’t want to perform. Over time though, I’ve realized it’s important for me to sing my songs. The soul of the music is what people connect to when they hear me sing.

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Considering America largely invented mass media, we’re awfully provincial about it. Perhaps that’s why this remarkable interview U2 front man Bono, a.k.a. Paul Hewson, gave to Irish Broadcaster RTE last year is just now popping up all over American websites. In it, Bono says he regularly prays to Jesus Christ and studies Scripture to know the will of God, believes Jesus Christ was the literal Son of God, and believes in the resurrection, as well as miracles in general.

Now reconciling Bono’s professed Christianity with his profession as bombastic rock star has always been a bit of a challenge, considering his belief system places a premium on humility. It brings to mind an old joke. Shortly after dying, a man finds himself standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter appears and says, much to the delight of the man who was a big music fan in…

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After nearly a decade of being in subversive, faux-conservative character, Stephen Colbert is packing his basic cable bags and heading to the big show.

From TIME.com:

Stephen Colbert will take over as host of the Late Show when David Letterman retires, CBS announced Thursday.

Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report since 2005, was rumored to be CBS’s top choice to replace its iconic late night host. Letterman said last week on his show that he will retire in 2015, ending more than three decades in late night.

“Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television,” CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves said in a statement.

A graduate of Northwestern University, and the youngest of eleven siblings in a devout Catholic family from just outside of Charleston, SC, Colbert has worked his way up the comedy ranks and now stares the potential…

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