“It is easy to decide on what is wrong to wear to a party, such as deep-sea diving equipment or a pair of large pillows, but deciding what is right is much trickier.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Slippery Slope
I’m on birthday leave, kittens, let’s get straight to the links!
The objectification of men and masculinity is a tricky but real subject for conversation.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, AKA the internet’s new boyfriend, has been a delight to discover. Let him and Bob Marley bless your ears this day.
Interesting. But let’s pick this up in six years, shall we?
Ireland, come through! Here’s to a future where we don’t need martyrs first.
You know what? Credit where it’s due to a guy who realized that he was part of the problem and owned it in public (after that awful NYT interview). This is what complacency and complicity looks like in real life, and it’s good to be reminded of the fact. Most accomplices to toxic or sexist workspaces are not Jeffrey Tambor, most are Jason Bateman. Let’s know better and do better.
Another deep dive profile for the ever reliable McKay Coppins at The Atlantic, this time on White House aide Stephen Miller and what the culture of trolling has to do with where is based today. I’d genuinely like sociologists and experts to do more writing and speaking on what the long term effects of trolling as professional or political strategy may be. Coppins points out that the difference between provocateur comments for the sake of being “edgy” and outright racism have effective blurred in many area and that studied irony and sincerity are near impossible to tell apart on some forums. There has to be some kind of study on what this mentality does to a society.
I will read the crap out of this book.
Important reminder that by most standards, the world is getting better. But also a reminder than progress isn’t inevitable.
Immigration has been in the news lately and with good bloody reason. Vox has a (policy based!) take on how the Department of Justice is reshaping the immigration debate and system in a way that will have long term ramifications.
There are solid pieces of advice in this reddit thread.
A comprehensive overview of the coverage and surrounding issues for the ICE stories in the news this past week.
Where? Point me to these women? I sure as hell don’t know any of them. And to give them all due credit, the vast majority of millennial men I know are supportive of their partners who do out-earn them. As Jeff put it to a coworker who queried this exact subject in our own marriage, “Who the hell is mad about more money?!”
Our dispatch from the Mormon world this week is not religiously based, but says something interesting (I feel) about men who feel increasingly displaced in society–which is a valid academic and social discussion to have–and what some of them want in response to gender dynamic changes–namely, the right to rule again.
“A lot of people really want to believe a conspiracy because it’s a lot easier to think a malevolent force is in charge than that our government is run by idiots.” This piece is an intense read, or would be in normal times. In any other age, a confirmed and avowed conspiracy theorist of this caliber would not hold the office he holds, or have the capacity to damage/shift narrative the way he does.
These photos of the fading remains of WWI are powerful.
The cancellation of Roseanne was a hot topic this week, but this take from Variety resonated most with me. Roseann Barr has been a controversial figure (and overtly racist/conspiracy theorist tweeter) for a long time. ABC knew that when they hired her. They still gave her a show. I’m glad there are consequences to this kind of speech, unless you’re running for president or something, but it feels like they’ve taken away something she should never have been given in the first place
I’m convinced every woman has SOME kind of story that she has had to go over, review in her own mind, and re-contextualize over time. Was it me? Should I have done this differently? Am I at fault? It’s a funny story…right?
Oh J. Crew, will you win me back? Time will tell!
And finally, this whole YouTube series about how the Alt Right uses language as a tool and a weapon is fascinating listening.
This guy has a delightfully specific vocation!
Small Dog Syndrome 
First — happy birthday! (four days ahead of me)
Those WWI photos are amazing.
It would be great if J. Crew could come back to life…so little good stuff out there now.
Too funny you’ve chosen an Anne Theriault piece == she’s a Toronto friend of mine who (!) last night won a Silver National Magazine Award in Canada for her columns in Flare.com. She’s a hoot.