Emory Bubble

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Welcome to Emory Bubble

10/22

Cinco De Mayo & Eye Candy | Sat 5.5.12 (partial gallery)

05/07

The Shadowboxers - Blows Away by Howard Herrick

05/20

Summer Session I begin

12/31

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Our Opinion: Wagner's Presidency Offers New Beginnings

12/31

Status Fridays | Fri May 4 2012 (partial gallery)

05/07

It's A Wonderful Life Full Movie Part 1

05/20

Carlos Reads Book Club reads The Oresteia

12/31

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Salman Rushdie to Join Faculty

12/31

B.o.B's Strange Clouds Album Release Party (partial gallery)

05/07

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Our Opinion: Wagner's Presidency Offers New Beginnings

12/31

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Salman Rushdie to Join Faculty

12/31

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Chris McCandless's Dispatches From the Wild

12/31

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Carter Draws Ire After Hamas Talk

12/31

Shuttle Service Accused of Violating Labor Laws

12/31

Second Woodruff sophomore alleges sexual solicitation

12/31

Emory Receives Alice Walker Papers

12/31

Students' House Destroyed in Fire

12/31

SGA considers ending its boycott on Sodexho

12/31

At Cox Hall, a face lift and new vendors

12/31

Welcome to Emory Bubble

10/22

Flux Pavilion and Brown & Gammon @ Tabernacle

12/31

NICKY ROMERO | Saturday May 26th 2012 | 18

12/31

Our Opinion: Checking it twice

12/31

The case for Darth Vader

12/31

Move over, Dear Abby: Advice for freshmen

12/31

'Innocent abroad' naïve about American culture

12/31

Germany, you can have him

12/31

Arty @ Opera Nightclub

12/31

Our Opinion: A.P. - Awful Policy

12/12

The Shadowboxers - Blows Away by Howard Herrick

05/20

It's A Wonderful Life Full Movie Part 1

05/20

Into The Wild 2007 Online Stream full movie part 1 of 10

05/20

CASHBOYTv SEASON 1 EPISODE 12 "SEASON FINALE"

05/20

monte test timezone

12/31

05/01

Jacob Moore Special Olympics- 50M Walk!

05/20

CASHBOYTv SEASON 1 EPISODE 12 "SEASON FINALE"

05/20

05/20

testing time zone

12/31

Cinco De Mayo & Eye Candy | Sat 5.5.12 (partial gallery)

05/07

Status Fridays | Fri May 4 2012 (partial gallery)

05/07

B.o.B's Strange Clouds Album Release Party (partial gallery)

05/07

B.o.B & T.I. Teaser

05/06

R3hab & "Eye Candy" | Sat Apr 28 2012

04/30

Status Fridays w/ Danny M | Fri April 27 2012

04/30

College Night w/ Heroes X Villains | Wed Apr 25 2012

04/30

Desigual Fashion Show | Fri April 13 2012

04/25

UFC After Party with Fight! Magazine 4.21.12

04/23

Dirty South at Opera 4.20.12

04/23

Dr. Katie Oliviero on Vulnerability, Social Movements and Law

12/31

Emory University School of Law Commencement 2012

12/31

Interview of Reuben Guttman, Attorney for Whistleblower in Lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories

05/20

03/05

"Comparisons of the Mexican and the American Legal System"

05/20

Interview with a Whistleblower Lawyer

05/20

"Are All Providers Really Part of the Permanency Team? Lessons Learned from the Cold Case Project"

12/31

Emory Law Commencement 2011

05/10

Reunion Weekend 2010

10/13

5b8663dab33f5aefecb717bb7c1cfb24 4f74c0e3454

05/20

04/30

Let me stay in Atlanta for the sports

12/31

Collapse down the stretch dooms Eagles

12/31

Swimming and Diving

12/31

Women's Basketball

12/31

Women's Basketball: Eagles' Comeback Efforts Fall Short in 5-Point Loss

12/12

NHL Phenoms: Superstars in the Making

12/12

Men's Basketball: Eagles Creamed by Scots

12/12

And the Winner Is...

12/12

IM Sports: Football Championships Pit AEPi vs. Sig Chi

12/12

Summer Session I begin

12/31

Carlos Reads Book Club reads The Oresteia

12/31

Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony

12/31

Meet Me @ Lullwater Preserve

12/31

Storytime for all ages

12/31

AWE Book Club with Author Dawn Goodwin 97C

12/31

Ricardo Conceicao on Beyond Inquiry

05/20

Memorial Day Holiday - University Closed

12/31

Jimmy Carter in Journalism Class

04/26

Storytime for all ages

12/31

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07/11

Midterm Madness 2006 - Eric Betts The Emory Wheel

Mind-bogglingly outrageous. Hilariously inappropriate. Dirty, disgusting and distasteful enough to make a fat and hairy Kazakh man blush.

No, I don't mean Borat. True, everyone's favorite socially inept former Soviet has made a big splash this weekend, raking in $26.4 million while inspiring choruses of "That's sick!" in movie theaters throughout the country. But the offensive nature of Sasha Baron Cohen's new movie pales in comparison to the way the national campaigns for today's elections have played out.

In "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the titular character brings a hen into a New York City subway car (it gets loose), carries a bag of human waste to a fancy dinner table (he doesn't know how to use the toilet) and wrestles naked with his male producer throughout a hotel conference center (the details of which can't even be printed in this newspaper). He's anti-Semitic, demeans women and hopes to make Pamela Anderson his wife with the help of his new friend, "Mr. Jesus." It's a combination of hysterically funny political incorrectness and gross-out humor that no one wants to see.

To accuse our candidates of even approaching that level of cultural ineptitude would be ludicrous, but the way their campaign ads have flaunted all logic and social convention is positively Boratesque. Take for instance an ad run by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who is facing a heated challenge from Democrat Bob Casey. Santorum's ad sandwiches an image of a mushroom cloud between pictures of Casey and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran. The ad's voiceover implies that if Casey were elected, the nuclear threat posed by Iran and North Korea would lead to the destruction of the United States. All this because Casey said he supports more research on the feasibility of a missile defense system before he would vote to implement it. Granted, Santorum's ad is guilty of merely a distortion of the facts. Unfortunately, this type of spin has become an accepted part of politics. If you're going to run a negative ad, a candidate's voting record or position on the issues presents the safest target for attack, even if you play it fast and loose with the facts.

But an ad from Vernon Robinson, a North Carolina congressional candidate, attacks the Democratic party as a whole with images of Osama bin Laden, homosexuality and homosexual marriage, flag burning, abortion, activist judges, little children who can't say "God" in school, racial quotas, illegal immigration, Jesse Jackson's mug shot, Al Sharpton in priest regalia and a short clip of flying saucers. The ad paints a picture of every conservative value voter's worst nightmare. It mentions everything Robinson is against, but nothing he supports. He's running for office on nothing but a reminder of why a portion of the population doesn't like Democrats. By running negative ads, candidates are passing on an opportunity to tell the electorate why they should vote for them, instead choosing to let the opposition do the work.

Like these political advertising campaigns, Cohen's movie relies on others for its levity. Borat never had a script; in fact, most of the people in the movie aren't every aware they're in a comedy. Cohen traveled across the country as Borat, seriously pretending to make a documentary for the benefit of his glorious nation of Kazakhstan and letting people in on the joke only when it was necessary. No clues are given as to who knows and who doesn't, so it's nearly impossible for audiences to tell who has been coached and who is reacting naturally to the antics of this odd foreigner.

As a result, the humor of Borat is only partially of Cohen's making. The reactions of ordinary (and not so ordinary) Americans to Borat's clueless nature form the backbone of the film. For every staged nude wrestling match, there's a spontaneous scene of Borat in an RV with three drunken frat boys from the University of South Carolina, teaching them Kazakh "games" involving small rodents and male genitalia. Cohen's description of the game is funny in its own right, but the comedic climax of the scene comes when one of the frat boys actually agrees to participate.

Both Borat and negative campaign ads are playing to the base natures of the audience. The appeal of Borat stems from a desire to point and laugh. We want to watch real people (and the title character) make fools of themselves. Throughout the film, Borat helps all the people he meets put their foot in their mouth, such as when a car dealer tells him he'd have to go 30-40 miles per hour in his Hummer in order to kill a gypsy or a rodeo audience responds with cheers to Borat's shout of "We support your war of terror!" The offensive nature of these slips, which may be at least partially blamed on giving the foreigner the benefit of the doubt, are funny because the audience is in on the joke.

With negative campaign ads there's no joke for the audience to be in on. Robinson's North Carolina television spot is presented in all seriousness. It shamelessly attacks homosexuals and seems to blame the Democrats for the mere existence of single black mothers. If Borat were to do this, the lack of political correctness would probably be funny. But even Borat didn't cross those lines. The only aspect of our society that doesn't meet our standards of political correctness is our politics.

The problem is not just that the ads have been proven to work; it's that they've created a vicious cycle in American politics. The bombardment of negative ads playing up every potential scandal or incongruous vote practically forces voters to view politicians as a collective of money-grubbing crooks who would sell out their constituents in less time than it took for the White House to refuse Borat access. Since the voters don't trust the politicians, they're less likely to believe any of the few positive campaign ads, the ones that might actually tell them something important about who they're being asked to decide between. If positive ads don't work because of a lack of trust, then the only alternative is running negative ads to make the voters distrust the other guy more, leading to even higher numbers of negative ads in circulation and perpetuating the cycle. Wash, rinse, repeat. Before long, we'll be seeing campaign ads that would even embarrass Borat.

And that's something we really don't want to see.

Eric Betts is a College sophomore from Eufaula, Ala.

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01/23

College Night | Wed Jan 18 Opera Nightclub

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03/17

benadryl and Albuterol Emory Bubble

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07/11

MIDTERM MADNESS 2006 - Christian Areas The Emory Wheel

Barack Obama is watching today's midterm elections closely. If the Republican Party is stripped of its obstinate control of the House and Senate, it's likely that the up-and-coming U.S. senator from Illinois will put an end to the speculation and announce his run for the presidency. And rightly so - it's high time for a new direction.

At a time when most politicians are characterized as immoral, incompetent and corrupt know-nothings, Obama stands out as a superstar. His face is quickly becoming ubiquitous in the media. Oprah endorses him. Hip-hop artists such as Common drop his name in rap couplets. He is welcomed with open arms wherever he goes. And his support crosses party lines.

Case in point: conservative New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks. In an Oct. 19 op-ed titled "Run, Barack, Run," Brooks wrote, "Whether you're a liberal or conservative, you should hope Barack Obama runs for president."

Much of Obama's appeal stems from his knack for delivering electrifying speeches. It was his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention that put Obama's name on the map, but in many ways, Barack Obama comes from humble beginnings - and his story epitomizes the American dream.

Obama's mother and father met while studying at the University of Hawaii, where they started an unlikely romance - he from a small village in Kenya, she from a small town in Kansas.

In his memoir, Obama describes growing up largely race-blind, despite the fact his father was "black as pitch" and his mother "white as milk." Over time, Obama blossomed into the civil servant and competent leader he is today.

Obama's candidacy, however, depends on an important question: Can an upbeat and inexperienced politician prevail in such a virulent political environment? The Center of Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks U.S. campaign spending, estimates that these midterm elections will finish with a record $2.6 billion price tag - with the majority of the money being spent on negative ads.

The U.S. Senate race in Tennessee - one of most-watched races in the country - is no stranger to this negativity. The Democrat, Harold Ford Jr., and the Republican, Bob Corker, have traded several blows in this contentious race. But perhaps no blow has been more controversial than the one recently sponsored by the Republican National Committee.

In the ad in question, a blonde, scantily-clad Caucasian woman makes overt sexual gestures toward the Democratic candidate. Harold Ford Jr. is black, and many - including several Republicans - argue that the ad attempts to divide voters based on racial prejudices.

Whatever the intent, the incident highlights the struggles Obama may face on the campaign trail due to his race. If Harold Ford Jr. can outlast the negative attack ads to win in Tennessee, then Democrats can feel confident that they can win in the South, and Obama can begin to realize that America is ready for a black president.

This country needs someone who can transcend our nation's politically partisan civil war, set the stage for civilized debate and take the reins of this new momentum. The United States needs someone who - as Obama himself would put it - is audacious enough to hope.

Christian Areas is a Rollins School of Public Health MPH candidate from Berkeley, Calif.

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01/23

Untitled Album Campus MovieFest

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03/17

asthma proventil Emory Bubble

May 21 Summer Session I begin: Host:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
6:00 PM
6:00 PM
May 21 Carlos Reads Book Club reads The Oresteia: Host:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
7:30 PM
9:00 PM
Carlos Museum, Board Room
May 21 Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony: Host:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
8:00 PM
8:00 PM
Emerson Concert Hall, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts 1700 N. Decatur Road Atlanta, GA 30322
May 22 Meet Me @ Lullwater Preserve: Host:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
12:15 PM
1:00 PM
1463 Clifton Road Meet at the gates to Lullwater
May 23 Storytime for all ages: Host:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
10:00 AM
11:00 AM
Barnes & Noble at Emory University 1390 Oxford Rd Atlanta, Ga. 30322