5. Apple and U2’s force-fed album

I realized a few days ago that I had received a free copy U2’s Songs of Innocence, courtesy of Apple. I was a huge fan of U2 in my teenage years. Joshua Tree moved me, and Achtung Baby was always in my music rotation. But as we both aged, U2 stopped being profound and became merely irritating. Bono’s face cropped up everywhere in ugly tinted glasses, always talking on and on. His terrible sincerity was painful to watch and with each new release, I lost further interest in the group.

In a bizarre turn of events, Apple celebrated its latest iPhone/iPad/iEverything release by installing a copy U2’s album Songs of Innocence in everyone’s iTunes accounts, automatically. It’s staggering to think that Apple felt everyone would want U2’s latest record and dump it into their account without permission. Whoever doesn’t want it can delete it, of course, but the conceit behind the automatic download is breath-taking. Combining that with U2’s unwavering conviction in their own significance (of course! They’re white! and male! And hopeful!) makes Songs of Innocence far closer to Songs of Pomposity. To his credit, Bono did apologize for this incident later on.

4. Downtown Abbey

No Worst Pop Culture Moment List would be complete without Downtown Abbey. The show went far in redeeming itself this season but it’s still an overstuffed melodrama that’s run on for far too long. Don’t get me wrong; I love melodramas but it’s time for new voices and new points of view.

One of my surprise finds this year was Happy Valley (Netflix), a drama series about a female cop in a drug-stricken area in Yorkshire, trying to come to terms with the death of her daughter. Happy Valley is a place American viewers don’t often see and the main protagonist, a tough cop bent on revenge for her daughter’s death, is a story rarely told on screen. Happy Valley covered new ground by locating its drama in a poorer area and having a complex female character as its lead rather than usual revenge driven man.

It’s a step in the right direction and that’s why I’m all for the passing of Downtown Abbey. I’m ready for a new historical dramas that explore poverty, race, and other cultures in interesting and watchable ways. So step aside, Downtown. It’s time for other stories to be funded and told.

3. Exodus: Gods and Kings

Ridley Scott, a self-professed champion of historical accuracy, cast his Moses-in-Egypt epic with a mostly-white cast.

Despite the obvious lineage of the key Biblical characters, the film’s only people of color were thieves and servants. When criticized, Scott pointed a finger at the film industry. “I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain,” he said, “and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I’m just not going to get it financed.”

What I find most annoying about this oh-well excuse is that Scott, with all his power and old school prestige, doesn’t even bother to question the industry’s racism. No, he just shrugs off his responsibility in the matter. Whether he wants to admit or not, Scott is part of the problem. Instead of shirking his responsibility on this issue, it’s time for him to grow some balls and fight, even if it’s under the artistic banner of “historical accuracy.” Surely, he could strut around proudly crowing about that. If he wants an enduring legacy, he needs to fight with all the white male power he’s been afforded and kick off something new in Hollywood.

2. Shailene Woodley’s dislike of the “F” word

I shouldn’t be surprised when women say this kind of thing, yet I am. When Time magazine asked her whether she was a feminist, the twenty-something actress responded, “I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance.” In her refusal, she actually defined and advocated for what feminism is about: balance.

Woodley’s statement demonstrates the broader cultural ignorance about feminism, which is not about shoving out men but having equality (or balance) with them. I believe this one of feminism’s great weaknesses: many people do not understand what the movement is about, nor do they understand its great history.

Woodley enjoys many conveniences in life thanks to the women who fought for equality before her. She is able to vote, have her own bank account and property, and bring legal action against those who bring sexual harm against her — verbal or otherwise. But how can she know who to thank for these things unless she is educated, by teachers or others? She cannot. Fortunately, stars like Amy Poehler are strong advocates for feminism and speak out when incidents like this happen. More needs to be done, and education is a large key.

1. Rush Limbaugh as Rush Revere

I was prowling around Barnes and Noble, innocently staring at the new releases, when it caught my eye. It took a minute for my brain to process and accept that this book existed and wasn’t a joke. I picked it up and, yes, it was real.

Conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh has not simply written a terrible series of revisionist children’s books about our nation’s history. He’s created a thinly veiled Mary Sue – the time traveling adventurer, Rush Revere. Rush romps through America’s imagined history with his talking time-traveling horse, Liberty, meeting famous men and explaining the evils of liberal economics.

Dear Reader, it is as good as you hoped: Rush Limbaugh has written crossover fan fiction about himself. The real terror isn’t that books by this blow-hard are being printed, but that adults actually purchase these books for their innocent children.

Catherine Eaton is a contributor to The Stake. Catherine is a writer living in a western suburb of Chicago. She blogs over at sparrowpost.com and enjoys foraging around the neighborhood in her spare time.

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