Reads of the Week: Jan. 29 - Feb. 4
Nuanced news you can use, straight to your inbox. Dive into a few of these thought-provoking pieces that break from the norm.
Welcome to Reads of the Week, a look at underrated content that got me thinking outside the box. Here, I give bonus points to fresh perspectives, contrarians, and iconoclasts. All of these are incredibly subjective, and I try to separate these individual pieces from the creator’s full body of work. We are all inconsistent beings, after all. I hope you find it useful.
Culture: Noah Smith on Vertical Communities
America has a community problem, but perhaps it’s all part of a larger opportunity. Noah argues that identity-based communities have discovered newfound strength due to the surge in online spaces, changing the way we interact with each other. Seemingly, this comes at the expense of real-world communities, which have often been limited by proximity. The effects of this could play out over the next few decades.
The Nuance: There are plenty of interesting points on both sides of the discussion. Is this new form of community harming our overall happiness and ability to get things done in the real world? Perhaps, but it’s also making a lot of other stuff more possible than it’s ever been.
Media: The Columbia Journalism Review Looks Back on Trump Coverage
This is a long one, but it feels like an investigation of historical consequence. Jeff Gerth and CJR go into incredible detail, outlining the media coverage of Donald Trump and the journalistic principles that were sacrificed along the way. Even though he is now out of the oval office, the intellectual laziness and dishonesty used to attack him is here to stay.
The Nuance: Despite a lot of well-sourced information here, the media that is being critiqued has been mostly silent on issues of self reflection. CJR is as mainstream as it gets, and I’m sure they made a few enemies by pulling on these threads. That makes it all the more valuable for us as readers.
International: French Unions Flex Their Strength In Pension Battle
This is less a focus on this particular piece, and more a reflection on how the French working class have so much more power than the American working class. Here you see how they wield power in political clashes, leaning into the fact that they run the country, not those in government offices or skyscrapers.
The Nuance: We haven’t seen enough about this story, even among US progressive outlets like Jacobin. For the American left, this should get as much attention as a pop warner team watching the Super Bowl. For the American right, it should be a moment to reckon with, and maybe a sign of a battle to come.
Tech: Why VR/AR Gets Farther Away as It Comes Into Focus
Mathew Ball takes us through the history of the AR/VR movement with an eye toward the future. What are these companies actually building toward? Is the tech even ready for their visions of a metaverse? Are there enough users to fund these goals compared to the healthy, but two-dimensional video game industry? This article looks into all of it, warts and all, reminding us that innovation is both complex and error-prone.
The Nuance: Technologists are incredibly optimistic, so it’s interesting to read a more sobering perspective on how far away we are from Ready Player One. The author does a good job of reminding us that there are still green shoots for this technology, it’s just not as much as investors, crypto bros and Mark Zuckerberg would have us think.
Bonus: The Diversity Man
Oh man, this is a doozy of an article. Ethan Strauss exposes Richard Lapchick, a man who has made quite the living off of the diversity movement in sports and business. This story explains how a white boomer became the center of racial equality in professional sports, earning plenty of $15,000 speaking fees along the way.
The Nuance: Behind every movement based on justice and equality, there are grifters. The funny thing that happens, though, is the way we often try to avoid shedding light on those bad actors, lest we give credence to those who opposed the original movement. We do not betray the pursuit of justice by exposing these people. In fact, we do more damage to our movements by letting these grifters thrive in the dark.
Honorary Mentions
My Tweet About AI Porn Went Viral, And What It Taught Me Was Upsetting: Stories like this will return. I don’t know what to say about it right now, except that it is terrifying.
Hispanic Connecticut Democrats Introduce Bill to Ban ‘Latinx’ from State Documents: An example of progressive activists going a little too far, even for those who should be their allies on the left. I’m a little sad that I had to go to a right-wing outlet to learn about this.
Seawater split to produce green hydrogen: A great win for the Australian science community!
Steph and Ayesha Curry oppose upzoning of Atherton property near their home: If you earn enough in America, you eventually become a NIMBY. It’s just sad to see it happen to the greatest 3-point shooter of all time.
Tweets to Talk About
