Culturally Determined

Why Meghan is retiring from writing think pieces ... The devolution of the take, from op-eds to tweets ... The virtues of not knowing what to think ... Aryeh: The "Dr. Jill Biden" debate shows that the Trump era is ending ... The problems of too much speech ... Should we be optimistic about the future of the discourse? ...

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The mysterious removal of Doug's YouTube video on "the Great Reset" ... Does YouTube have an anti–Alex Jones algorithm? ... Content moderation in an age of infinite content ... What videos should YouTube be taking down? ... Aryeh: The problem isn't people being silenced, it's too many people talking ... How YouTube helps spread conspiracy theories ... Should leftists reject Big Tech? ... Doug on the contemporary relevance of Christopher Lasch ...

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Kelly's new book about her dog, The Particulars of Peter ... Everything you always wanted to know about Peter the dog ... Kelly: Dogs should be able to talk for 25 minutes a day ... The profound mysteries of the dog-human relationship ... "Doggo," "dog mom," and the cultural shift around pets ... Would you let your pet become a social media star? ... Dogs and the specter of death ...

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Reviewing Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land ... Ryan excoriates Obama's response to the financial crisis ... Should Obama have gone much harder on the banks? ... Aryeh: Obama is an institutionalist to his core ... Was Obama just the wrong man for the job? ... Why the GOP gets away with radicalism but Democrats don't ... Is Biden's cabinet a team of nobodies? ... The mysterious nomination of Neera Tanden to OMB ... Aryeh: Maybe it's time to trust Biden's political instincts ...

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How Joanna became a Jeopardy! champion ... The source of Alex Trebek's popularity ... Joanna on who should replace Trebek ... Why Aryeh was happy that he failed to get on Jeopardy! ... Trivia in the age of Google ... Is Vanderpump Rules the perfect reality show? ... A reality TV show starring people who grew up watching reality TV shows ... Aryeh's theory on the secret to the success of Great British Bake Off ...

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The long history of white people claiming Native American ancestry ... White academics exposed as racial fakers ... Anatole Broyard and those who "passed" ... Katrina on Dances with Wolves, Avatar, and other "going native" narratives ... Aryeh's brief Biden brag ... Drug legalization today and drug panics of the past ... Race and the opioid crisis ...

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John explains how he became a reluctant Trump voter ... How the threat of gun control pushed John towards Trump ... Is a vote against Biden a vote against woke ideology? ... Aryeh: Trump is bad for our brains and our souls ... Can Trumpism exist without Trump? ... Aryeh denies suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome ... Is the black vote in play? ... The party realignment that didn't happen ... Pessimism about a Biden presidency ...

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Does Trump deserve to be re-elected? ... Examining "Trump Derangement Syndrome" ... Glenn's verdict on Trump's handling of Covid ... Aryeh: Biden is the candidate of returning us to normalcy ... What is college for? ... Aryeh's biggest college regret ... Issuing a challenge for Trump fans ...

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Dan's essay, "How President Trump Ruined Political Comedy" ... Why so many Trump-era Daily Show–style shows have failed ... Trump the insult comic ... Dan: The way liberals and conservatives understand comedy has changed ... Stephen Colbert and Steven Crowder's different varieties of racial humor ... Trump's clownishness vs. Obama's dignity ... Remember when Trump gave a medal to a hero dog? Or was that just a joke? ... Cuties, QAnon, and the return of conservative moralizing ... What might comedy look like during a Biden presidency? ...

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Bill's new book, The Death of the Artist ... Why the "long tail" thesis was wrong ... How did the early dream of the Internet die? ... Blockbuster consolidation in fine art ... Luck and privilege ... Is art school a pyramid scheme? ... What is to be done? Bill has some thoughts ... Will the pandemic finish off the arts? ... Wokism as a moral figleaf for careerist college students ...

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