Word: objectional
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...originator of two beloved film franchises, Lucas is the object of diatribes by writers who refer to themselves, with remarkable self-awareness, as "crazed fan" or "fanboy tool." With two more entries from the Lucas canon out this summer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and an animated movie and series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, due in August, Lucas' open letter mailbag should be overflowing by Labor...
...specialty. With a compelling blend of cultural anthropology and business journalism, he makes us fess up about our dependence on brand-name products and explains our nearly irresistible urge to use what we buy to broadcast our identities. Marketers spend millions, Walker says, to attach a story to every object they sell. "If a product is successfully tied to an idea, branding persuades people--whether they admit it to pollsters or even fully understand it themselves--to consume the idea by consuming the product," he writes. "A potent brand becomes a form of identity in shorthand...
...wrangling over risks and benefits is leading confused parents simply to opt out of vaccines altogether. Despite the rules requiring students to be vaccinated, doctors can issue waivers to kids whose compromised immune system might make vaccines risky. Additionally, all but two states allow waivers for children whose parents object to vaccines on religious grounds; 20 allow parents to opt out on philosophical grounds. Currently, nearly one-half of 1% of kids enrolled in school are unvaccinated under a medical waiver; 2% to 3% have a nonmedical one, and the numbers appear to be rising...
...Child, My ChoiceIf the push-back against vaccines were only about the science, doctors might have an easier time making their case. But there's more going on than that. Parents object to the mandatory nature of the shots-and the fact that their child's access to education hinges on compliance with the immunization regulations. There's also the simple reality that the illnesses kids are being inoculated against are rarely seen anymore. When diseases like polio ran free in the early 1900s, the clamor was less about why we needed vaccines than about why there weren't more...
...serial killer the media dubbed "Jack the Ripper." But if the Ripper's notoriety was fueled by a fiercely competitive media market with newspapers trying to outdo one another in relaying gory details of the crimes, unearthing clues, floating theories and taunting the police, his killing spree remains an object of fascination more than a century later - not least because it was the exploits of "The Ripper" that first acquainted comfortable middle-class London with life on the city's dark underside...