As the first widely-released feature film to dramatize the natural gas boom in small-town America, Promised Land is one of the most interesting and relevant films to be released in the past year. Co-written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski and directed by Good Will Hunting’s Gus Van Sant, the film is superficially a well-acted … Read more
Last October, I wrote a piece called “A New Kind of Paternalism,” in which I criticized the blatant violations of individual liberty inherent in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on large soft drinks. Now that a New York judge has struck down the ban, like-minded individuals can celebrate a symbolic, albeit a small, victory for … Read more
Dennis Upkins’s “The Myth of Black Homophobia” is one of the more extreme examples of “privilism” making the rounds among Harvard’s liberal vanguard. The blog post, which does contain some valid arguments, criticizes the scapegoating of the black community for homophobia, but it also relies heavily on broad brush recriminations of white people. Upkins, as … Read more
Dennis Upkins’s “The Myth of Black Homophobia” is one of the more extreme examples of “privilism” making the rounds among Harvard’s liberal vanguard. The blog post, which does contain some valid arguments, criticizes the scapegoating of the black community for homophobia, but it also relies heavily on broad brush recriminations of white people. Upkins, as … Read more
HPR writers respond to the recent controversy surrounding the rapper TYGA’s invitation to perform at Yardfest.
No one likes to be a downer. No one likes to ruin a party. I would argue that the creators of the petition, “Cancel Tyga at Yardfest,” did not have these motives in mind, and furthermore, that the approximately 2,000 members of the Harvard community (and other interested parties) who have signed the petition didn’t … Read more
Tyga’s music is a symptom, not a disease. To be sure, his music reveals many of the underlying problems at play here, specifically misogyny and rape culture. But directing outrage at Tyga himself ignores and in a way trivializes the very real problem of sexual assault at Harvard. Banning Tyga from Yardfest would be like … Read more
Many public figures hold problematic views, but denying their ability to speak robs the intellectual community of access to opinions considered outside the mainstream and is detrimental to discourse. Though I may find Van Jones’ 9/11 “Truther” ties or Pat Buchannan’s past racially tinged comments offensive, I would wholeheartedly defend their presence on campus for … Read more
Yardfest has certainly created an intense amount of discourse on this campus. Personally, It surprises me that the Harvard community suddenly cares about misogyny when they are usually less than vocal on sexual assault policy, social space, and body image issues. I would contend that Tyga’s upcoming performance at Yardfest has galvanized people to speak … Read more
The debate regarding the petition preventing Tyga from performing at Yardfest misses several important points necessary for rigorous discussion. First, the Tyga scheduled to perform at Yardfest will most likely perform his tamer music that is similar to music performed by recent Yardfest artists. And second, contrary to what those opposed to Tyga think, defendants … Read more