The Present Age Weekly Recap: September 9, 2022
The Present Age Weekly Recap: September 9, 2022
Here's a jam-packed edition of the newsletter with some reading material for this weekend and beyond.
Welcome to the weekly recap. In this post, I’ll be linking to my work from the week, sharing some stories from others I thought were interesting, and providing a few casual thoughts on [gestures at everything]. If you’d like to receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “TPA Weekly Recap.” If you don’t want to receive the weekly recap, leave all boxes except “TPA Weekly Recap” checked.
From me this week (and last week): fascism, misinformation, post-9/11 spying, and subscriptions
Last week, I wrote about the right-wing whining about having their ideology called “semi-fascist” by Biden. One of the people who appeared on Fox News to cry about how unfair it was of Biden to say such a thing had previously argued that “barren, non-familial lifestyles” should be penalized “through taxes and disqualification from political participation,” and called on the Republican Party to “use the law to ensure blue submission. Imprison dissenters.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty fashy to me.
And then on Monday, I wrote a piece about the steps you should take if you accidentally share false information. A man tweeted out a video of an audition from season 1 of American Idol, falsely claimed that the woman in the clip was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and then refused to take it down after people pointed out that it 100% was not her. Don’t share misinfo! Even if it confirms your existing beliefs!
Then on Tuesday, CNN announced the hiring of John Miller, a former New York cop who lied under oath about NYPD’s post-9/11 surveillance of Muslims. Not sure how exactly that’s supposed to help CNN’s credibility…
And then yesterday, I published a long piece about an idea I see posted on social media pretty frequently: “Don’t cancel your newspaper subscriptions if you don’t like what they write! They’re important! For democracy!” And while I agree that journalism is important to democracy, I disagree with the idea that people should announce that no matter how bad a paper gets, they will continue to subscribe.
Some random stuff:
The people at Substack asked me if I’d be interested in offering some recommendations for newsletters I enjoy. You can find those here:
Also, look at the illustration they made for it!
Also, my wife Kayla has a bunch of new products in her Tiny Werewolves shop that you should check out!
Was there anything you read this week that you enjoyed and want to recommend to others? Let me know down in the comments.
Posts from others I want to highlight:
Willets Pen has a post this week about baseball and video games, two things I really love. If you need a bit of a break from the news this week, check that out.
Jordan Uhl has a post over at his I Hate It Here And Never Want To Leave (great name, btw) newsletter about people saying the quiet part out loud about why they oppose student loan forgiveness: “b-b-but if people aren’t buried in debt, how are we supposed to recruit them to the military?”
Oliver Willis has a piece about what he calls the “Liberal Pollyanna Problem.” It’s a bit of harsh (but necessary) truth about the state of U.S. politics.
Jessica Valenti’s All in Her Head newsletter tackles the “trad wife” influencer trend and the rise of a new wave of anti-feminism.
Over at Lyz Lenz’s Men Yell at Me, Even Ettinger tackles the “groomer” moral panic being pushed right now on the right.
And finally, Judd Legum breaks down what media executives mean when they talk about “objectivity.”
That’s it for this week! Hope everyone has a good weekend. I’m off to get my flu shot and COVID booster this afternoon. Here’s hoping it doesn’t knock me on my ass too hard!