Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
I’m no politician, but, like just about all of my students, I have heard of David Duke. If someone were to ask me if I would be willing to disavow the support of David Duke or the Ku Klux Klan, I wouldn’t have to do any research. No matter how faulty my earpiece, my disavowal would be assumed, and I would still reiterate.
Chris Rock at the Academy Awards last night brought up the sort of systematic racism and hate-inspired violence that we associate with the Klan. In case you were not watching last night, this is what Rock said:
“Why are we protesting? The big question: Why this Oscars?
It’s the 88th Academy Awards. It’s the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times. O.K.?
You gotta figure that it happened in the 50s, in the 60s — you know, in the 60s, one of those years Sidney didn’t put out a movie. I’m sure there were no black nominees some of those years. Say ‘62 or ‘63, and black people did not protest.
Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time, you know? We had real things to protest; you know, we’re too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.
You know, when your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign Short.”
The day after the event, some Hollywood-watchers are saying that best supporting actor favorite Sylvester Stallone did not win his expected award because of the nomination history of his film Creed. As a journalism and diversity professor told me on my radio show Wednesday, Creed is a film about an African-American boxer that was directed by an African-American director and produced by African-American producers, but the only people nominated for the film were its white writers and its white co-star, Stallone.
Marlon James, author of the 2015 Man Booker prize-winning Brief History of Seven Killings, has recently published a video arguing that responsible citizens should actively confront racism as anti-racists, rather than merely congratulating ourselves for declaring ourselves to be non-racists. One thinks of John McCain’s campaign-trail correction of a supporter who was saying nutty things about President Obama’s religious preferences, while this past November one-time candidate Carly Fiorina chose not to correct a New Hampshire voter who called President Obama a “Black Muslim.”
Will cooler heads prevail in the Republican party? It seems not, judging by Donald Trump’s momentum going into Super Tuesday tomorrow. That said, today Mitt Romney tweeted this about Trump’s relationship with some of his biggest fans in the white nationalist community: “A disqualifying & disgusting response by @realDonaldTrump to the KKK. His coddling of repugnant bigotry is not in the character of America.” When it comes to the endorsement race, we will see if opportunists and Trump supporters such as Chris Christie will win the day, or if the endorsement tipping point for Marco Rubio will ever be reached (and if it will matter in time). Ironically, GOP establishment favorite Rubio has yet to win a state, and seems unlikely to win any future state, even his home state of Florida, during this contest. We will know much more by the end of tomorrow.
I consider all of you winners at the Pub Quiz. In addition to topics raised above, tonight expect questions about football, libertarians, polo, tomato frogs, favorite destinations, depth, little buttercups, actors and actresses, players not named Dave Krieg, Italian names, broken silences, kid books, saturated fats, birthday parties, noble dogs, spits, company for Harper Lee, Oscar-winning films, thornberries, Golden Globes, jeans that are crumbly, things which are filled beyond capacity, assets, great Brits, genera, and Shakespeare.
Speaking of birthday parties, mine will be held at 9:30 on March 7th. You are invited. And my next book will be released at a Davis Cemetery event on March 13th. More on that next week.
I expect also to see you this evening at 7.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. Former football player and actor Terry Crews starred in the TV commercials about “the man your man could smell like.” Name the brand of body wash he was advertising.
- Internet Culture. Mark Zuckerberg gave a presentation on VR in Barcelona today. What does VR stand for?
- Newspaper Headlines. As we learned today, a 2016 film is set to surpass Passion of the Christ for highest grossing R-rated movie released to date. Name the 2016 film.
P.S. Thursday is Poetry Night! They come so often. Lucky.