Whitewashing Genocide: Truth, Lies, and Joseph Boyden
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 12: The First Nations Fraud
By Josh Lieblein
As we saw last week, a small minority of authors dominate the Canadian literature scene, and a tightly connected network of elitist culture-crats keep them in power. But what happens when these operators can’t get out of their own way? What happens when they fail to do their due diligence? They end up getting hosed – and since they hold almost all the power, Canadians as a whole end up getting hosed when they do.
One of the things that upper-crust Canadians don’t like to talk about at dinner parties when they’re showing off for their American friends is the country’s sorry history when it comes to its First Nations. You can craft a narrative that obscures the flaws of the Canadian health care system, but you can’t whitewash what was effectively a genocide. That didn’t stop them from trying, however, and they tried by promoting Joseph Boyden as THE voice of Canada’s First Nations.
PreTeena: January 14 – January 20, 2019
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected] Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
3 Shots from a Cloudy Day at the Dog Beach
These photos were taken February 14, 2016
By David M. Swindle
*Submit your photographs of nature and the outdoor life to [email protected] to participate in this weekly feature exploring the natural world.*
Species VS. Splice
By Tamara Wilhite
A young, not-quite female human hybrid has been created and poses a threat to all of humanity. Sound familiar? SPOILER WARNING!
Making Gotham Great Again, Part 3: Ronald Reagan and the Republican Establishment
By Shant Eghian
One of the most innovative aspects of The Dark Knight Returns is that Miller very clearly places Gotham City in the real world of 1980s America, and not a hyper exaggerated comic book universe. Ronald Reagan is president, the United States is locked in an ever-escalating Cold War, and real-life celebrities like David Letterman and Dr Ruth Westheimer are murdered by the Joker. Of course, Miller never comes right out and names these people, but by the way he draws them, it is easy enough to figure out what he is up to.
Based on previous installments of this series, you may assume that Frank Miller would be very supportive of Ronald Reagan. After all, Batman is a stand in for a type of conservatism that, to paraphrase Whittaker Chambers, recognizes the reality of evil and fights it instead of smiling and waving at it (Chambers, Witness, 704). In a time when Reagan was constantly (and rightly) denouncing the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” while many on the Left did not want to hear it, a reader may easily think The Dark Knight Returns is thinly veiled pro-Reagan propaganda. When Reagan does show up approximately halfway through the book however, Miller paints him in a less than flattering light. In almost every appearance, Miller portrays Reagan as a doddering, uncaring fool, who throws American soldiers into Cold War conflicts for no particular reason.
Check out the previous installments in this series: Part 1, The Media, and Part 2, Law and Order
Chapter 1 of Red Line Blues: The Passion of Owen Cassell, Closet Conservative
Discover Scott Seward Smith’s new literary novel!
By Scott Seward Smith
Pick up Red Line Blues: The Passion of Owen Cassell, Closet Conservative by Scott Seward Smith, now available on Amazon.
New Science Fiction: They All Died Laughing
By Tamara Wilhite
That international flight saved my life. Or it killed me. I’m not sure which yet.
I distinctly remember the man two rows back hacking his lungs out. It made it impossible to sleep well on the twelve hour flight back from my Asian business trip. I paid for headphones, eventually, but not a face mask. I didn’t see the need.
When I developed a chronic cough, the doctor tested me. It was tuberculosis. Actually, it was worse – it was drug-resistant tuberculosis. They called it XDR-TB, extra drug-resistant TB. I wasn’t going to be allowed to sit in quarantine at home taking antibiotics each day. I was locked in a bubble and driven by armed soldiers to a top notch quarantine facility.
I thought my life was over. I just didn’t think it would have ended this way.
Margaret Atwood’s Reign Of Terror
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 11: Literary Tyranny and The Handmaid’s Tale
By Josh Lieblein
SIGH… Margaret Atwood, everybody.
If you’ve heard of her, you probably know her as the creator of The Handmaid’s Tale… aaaaand you might be feeling the urge to click on something else after reading that. Well, lucky for you, because Atwood is inescapable in Canada. She is THE living Canadian author. Pick up a Canadian high school English class reading list and she’ll be on it. Read a Canadian newspaper and she’ll be featured at least once a month- look, she patented a machine that allows her to sign books remotely! Who cares if the thing didn’t actually work- the point is that more people can have an audience with Margaret Atwood!
PreTeena: January 7 – January 13, 2019
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected] Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
7 Spectacular SoCal Sunset Shots from Yesterday Morning While Walking Maura-Doggo…
By David M. Swindle
*Submit your photographs of nature and the outdoor life to [email protected] to participate in this weekly feature exploring the natural world.*
