The Latest Stories from Walter Rhein

Poetry is dead, all that’s left is advertising jingles — I had a falling out with a writer acquaintance back in 2017 because I wrote a series of articles that were skeptical of the positive critical response to The Last Jedi. “Why do you even care?” he asked. “Nobody cares about Star Wars!” …

America will never evolve until it adopts a responsible attitude about slavery — Before you object to the title, you have to ask yourself a few questions: Did the Founding Fathers own children as property? The answer is yes. Did the Founding Fathers sell children to other men? The answer is yes. Were the children the Founding Fathers sold often abused sexually? The…

The mechanism of oppression influences how you interpret the transgressions you’re forced to endure — Have you ever noticed the double standard that exists when you point out certain examples of social injustice? Some groups will instantly assume any form of criticism is an affront to their “patriotism” and they might threaten you with hostility before you’re even allowed to finish your observation.

I will never fully understand the American experience for non-white people — I’ve just returned from a family vacation. We drove down to Florida, where it is blistering hot, and the billboards alternate between signs for Jesus, Trump, and strip clubs. Jesus. Trump. Strip clubs. Repeat. Because… you know, “family values.” When we drove through Tennessee and saw the state flag flying…

Conservatives try to hide their bigotry behind “the letter of the law” — I grew up with a lawyer, so I know how they think. In fact, I know how they think better than most because I’ve had to deal with one from a position of powerlessness and without legal representation. When my father wanted to get his way, he’d present some convoluted…

When you shoot from the hip, sometimes you end up hitting yourself in the foot — When I was about twelve I was out playing with my cousins in the woods when we heard a strange humming sound. Being curious and reckless, we figured out that the humming sound was coming from a nearby telephone pole. I grew up in farm country where there were a…

Progressives have to learn to blast their message on repeat — I didn’t realize how much I relied on my cognitive thinking skills until I failed my first Spanish test in high school. I never “crammed” for a test in my life. Instead, I’ve always relied on a kind of mental shorthand that allows me to quickly figure out answers. This…

You’re only as valuable as the extra profit your labors can provide to the already obscenely rich — I always have to be careful when I’m talking on the radio. Sometimes things pop into my head and it takes me a while to determine if the idea is truly controversial, or if it’s something that I’ve been socially conditioned not to contemplate. An example is when I happened…

When you create memories to last a lifetime, make sure they’re good memories. — I’ve been spending the last few days taking my kids to the Orlando theme parks. This isn’t an annual tradition for our family. When the summer comes, we prefer to go to Peru to visit our extended family. The trip is much more affordable and it also allows my children…