Culture & Media Archives

Why Joe Rogan Should Host the Presidential Debates

The first presidential debate of the 2020 US election cycle took place on 29 September. For over ninety minutes, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden traded barbs…

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9 min

“Troubled Blood” by J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling’s fifth Cormoran Strike novel, Troubled Blood, is a brilliantly successful literary work. It engages the reader on intellectual, emotional and aesthetic levels. It is a long novel—927…

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9 min

Culture & Media

The Work of Art in the Age of the Subscription Economy

Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) is highly relevant to our current cultural and political situation, since aspects of fascist era history are…

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7 min

Culture & Media

Beloved Child of the House

All parts of the house are repeated many times, any place is another place. There is no one pool, courtyard, drinking trough, manger; the mangers, drinking troughs, courtyards, pools are…

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6 min

Culture & Media

The Delight of Sentience: “Inside Story: A Novel” by Martin Amis

Martin Amis opens and closes Inside Story by addressing the reader directly. From the beginning, then, we are confidantes of the author and the implied promise of the book’s title is fulfilled—this…

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8 min

Culture & Media

How Sport Can Reduce Racism: An Irish Case Study

Most people would probably agree that we should aspire to live in a world in which race matters less—perhaps even, as Sam Harris has suggested, becoming as inconsequential as one’s…

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6 min

Culture & Media

Don’t Read This Book

Just when you thought that the Trump literature spreading like ivy on retail bookshelves had finally completed its life cycle, here come Michael Cohen and Sarah Huckabee Sanders with more…

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13 min

Culture & Media

Own the Filth: Writing Into the Ethical Compromises of Fiction

Novelists these days face difficult working conditions, even the few who land seven-figure deals. Witness this year’s fiercest skirmish on the literary frontline of the culture wars: the clash over…

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6 min

¡Bienvenido a los Estados Unidos! A Case for a Bilingual America

In elementary schools across the United States, children have been taught that post-indigenous America began with the arrival of the Mayflower. A simple and unbroken narrative beginning on the eastern…

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12 min

Secrets of the Skin, or, Why Foucault Might Have a Problem with White Fragility

One confesses—or is forced to confess.—Michel Foucault The heartbeat of antiracism is confession.—Ibram X. Kendi I have a racist worldview, deep racial bias, racism patterns, and investments in the racist…

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6 min

“Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends” by Anne Applebaum

In 1927, Julien Benda published La Trahison des Clercs (The Treason of the Intellectuals), the short book that would become his most famous work. Benda was infuriated with intellectuals who…

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15 min

Culture & Media

Why We Must Walk Away from Omelas: The Problem with Utopias

The history of Utopian Fiction proves that we can’t even imagine a better world. As progressive politics takes another step towards dominance across the west, there has been yet another…

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6 min

Culture & Media

Conversation, Not War: A Review of “Making Sense” by Sam Harris

In July, Sam Harris had a bad-tempered Twitter exchange with geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden over her criticism of Harris for having hosted Charles Murray on his podcast Making Sense. Usually,…

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8 min

Culture & Media

The Afterlife of the Death of the Author

We’re all authors now. Most of us don’t write books—but we blog, we post on Facebook, we tweet, we create TikTok or YouTube videos. Authorship is everywhere, but it’s not…

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4 min

Culture & Media

Trader Joe’s, Racism and Cancel Culture

Four weeks ago, California high school senior Briones Bedell targeted grocery chain Trader Joe’s via Change.org, asking the company to remove “racist branding” from its international food products. The petition…

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Culture & Media

Why Joe Rogan Should Host the Presidential Debates

“Troubled Blood” by J. K. Rowling

The Work of Art in the Age of the Subscription Economy

Beloved Child of the House

The Delight of Sentience: “Inside Story: A Novel” by Martin Amis

How Sport Can Reduce Racism: An Irish Case Study

Don’t Read This Book

Own the Filth: Writing Into the Ethical Compromises of Fiction

¡Bienvenido a los Estados Unidos! A Case for a Bilingual America

Secrets of the Skin, or, Why Foucault Might Have a Problem with White Fragility

“Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends” by Anne Applebaum

Why We Must Walk Away from Omelas: The Problem with Utopias

Conversation, Not War: A Review of “Making Sense” by Sam Harris

The Afterlife of the Death of the Author

Trader Joe’s, Racism and Cancel Culture

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