The latter, with a side of “maybe the limited number of books we have time to assign in HS should include more books that encourage a love of reading and understanding of diverse lives, rather than just Moby Dick again”. That’s my understanding, anyway.

I hate Instagram for its algorithms and ads and the existence of Facebook, but I only follow five people - my best friends, and my sister. It’s an easy way to keep in touch with them when we’re all busy, because all it takes is five seconds to upload a photo that gives us a glimpse into each other’s lives. Without it,…

Unfortunately, there are. My mother loathes Trump, possibly even more than I do if that’s even possible. Unfortunately she’s been suckered in by Health Gurus (tm) online for the past decade. In the same way people get radicalized to the right by talk shows and algorithms, she’s been radicalized to distrust anything…

I remember getting into fights in high school with a friend who didn’t understand why I was so viscerally turned off from the emo fandom. All of this is absolutely part of why. 

Thank you for your thoughtful response, and I apologize for taking things way too seriously - I just work with young women in crisis, so I see the role influencer culture plays in their lives (for good or mostly ill) and why they cling to it at times, so it’s just something I’m sensitive about despite loathing…

I know you’re just being funny and all (and hey, I write fiction about simulation theories!) but losing empathy for people and not understanding why they do things that don’t make sense to you is a Bad Thing.

Less brainless drones, more “young people who are primed to appreciate glitz and fame and starving for people to relate to as the world burns down around them and the culture continues to cut people off from each other to a degree unprecedented in the history of our species”. 

Just remember that random people have been becoming famous for no particular reason since the start of fame as a concept. You (and I!) are part of a long heritage of people shaking their head at the next iteration, and the current fans of “influencers” will go on to shake their head at whatever new nonsense is coming…

You misunderstand: what they mean is that the correct time for marinating is a slight mystery to most home cooks, which is true.

Did you even read the article? No. That is not why. 

I wish that too, but Bob is the oldest of the old-school journos, and I doubt that he would ever consider doing anything other than just publishing. Add to that the fact that he’s been lionized for a very long time, and you have someone who was probably totally confident in his own decisions around this and never…

You do know he can’t dissolve the monarchy himself, right?

I’m not a teacher, but I was a crisis center volunteer for many years, and I spent a lot of that time specifically working with children in crisis. Often with extremely upsetting maladaptive behaviours. I’ve had feces thrown at me and managed not to hit the kid who did it - it was actually really, really easy.

I read your first comment, thought “huh, there’s no way they’re going to respond to the substance of anyone’s arguments, and is going to devolve into bullshit.” I was right! Go me. 

The sheer number of trans people I know who are able to be brought to tears with the combination of one beer and a song from Mulan...

That is a.... massive difference between Millenial men and women.

Do you want to be right in a dying world, or do you want to be right AND help the world suck less? Because empathy is how you do the second thing, every time. Calling people morons and then feeling better about yourself because at least YOU aren’t stupid? That’s how you do the first thing. Choose wisely. 

That would be nice, but one of those people is my (otherwise sane and very leftist) father, who has never believed in conspiracy theories before but is now so scared and distrustful of the government that he’s primed to believe in conspiracies about this. There are a lot of people out there like him, and they need to…

Here’s a thread from a Black, Jewish woman outlining the ways Cannon fucked up. And, honestly, I’m fine with kicking out anyone who says antisemitic shit, just like I’d be fine kicking out a queer working class white guy who’s racist but just a janitor somewhere and not likely to cause any direct harm. Destroy…

You make very good points about your subject. However, I haven’t seen any blowback to him regarding white people, just the whole antisemitism thing in a time where antisemitism is on the rise. So I feel like this article, while wise in many ways, is sidestepping the point. It’s kind of fucked up.