The Present Age

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A look back at the first year of The Present Age, Part 2
www.readtpa.com

A look back at the first year of The Present Age, Part 2

A "best of" look at the first year in business.

Parker Molloy
Jun 1, 2022
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A look back at the first year of The Present Age, Part 2
www.readtpa.com

I launched The Present Age on June 7, 2021. Since then, I have published 166 newsletters. If you’ve read any of them, I’d like to thank you for doing that. If this is your first, welcome aboard! That being said…

If you haven’t yet subscribed, it would mean a lot to me if you did! The Present Age is a reader-supported publication.


This week, I’ll be sharing “best of” articles from the first year of The Present Age. Yesterday was June through September 2021; today is October 2021 through January 2022; Thursday will be February through May 2022.

October 11, 2021: After the uproar over Dave Chappelle’s Netflix comedy special, I tried to very calmly break down why his trans jokes make me roll my eyes: they’re old, they’re played out, they’re boring. As of now, this is still the most read post in TPA’s short history. Enjoy!

The Present Age
I'm not asking comedians to stop telling trans jokes. I'm asking them to stop telling *the same* trans jokes over and over.
Reminder: The Present Age is a reader-supported newsletter. If you enjoy this or other posts, please consider becoming either a free or paid subscriber…
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a year ago · 54 likes · 5 comments · Parker Molloy

October 13, 2021: And then the very next post was a podcast with musician Nick Lutsko. Nick is brilliant, he is funny, and this is an interview you won’t want to miss out on.

The Present Age
Nick Lutsko is more than just the sweaty man singing in your Twitter timeline [podcast + transcript]
Listen now (44 min) | My guest on this week’s podcast is singer-songwriter and [checks notes] king of Halloween Nick Lutsko. I’m really excited for this episode, and I highly recommend checking out the audio version if you can, as there are a few song clips in there (as well as a live/acoustic version of one of Nick’s songs at the very end…
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a year ago · 2 likes · Parker Molloy

October 25, 2021: I looked into the history of the “drugged Halloween candy” warning that so frequently gets brought up on the news around that time of year. Turns out that this is almost entirely false.

The Present Age
The persistent myth of drugged Halloween candy
A few months back, I wrote about “The Dangers of Fentanyl,” a viral video shot and edited by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. To briefly summarize the video: while searching the trunk of a car, one of the sheriff’s deputies falls to the ground after (supposedly) touching fentanyl, a synthetic opioid; another deputy on the scene administers a d…
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a year ago · 10 likes · 2 comments · Parker Molloy

November 4, 2021: CNN ran a story about a family that spent a truly absurd amount on milk each week. Then when they got criticized for it, the reporter involved lashed out at critics. It was… something, that’s for sure. Anyway, this is still one of my favorite pieces.

The Present Age
This is a story about milk, but also about what happens when the press doesn’t do its job
I didn’t plan on writing about milk today, but… here we are. But first, let’s travel back to the year 2010. Barack Obama was the president, and people were stocking up on bags of tea to tie to their revolutionary war-era tri-cornered hats. It was a deeply stupid time in our history… and a sign of things to come…
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a year ago · 52 likes · 34 comments · Parker Molloy

November 22, 2021: After Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder, a familiar theme emerged, especially among people on the right: “the media got it wrong.” But as I argue in this piece, it’s not quite that simple.

The Present Age
How "the media got it wrong" usually gets it wrong: Rittenhouse edition
In the wake of the not guilty verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial, a number of pundits rushed to put out their subject-relevant takes, with many of them settling on an old classic: “The media got it wrong.” I’m certainly not someone who reflexively defends news outlets. In fact, that’s pretty much the opposite of what I tend to do, often to the ch…
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a year ago · 13 likes · 19 comments · Parker Molloy

November 30, December 2, and December 7, 2021: I did a series on the annual “War on Christmas.” I’m really happy with how those pieces turned out.

The Present Age
The ugly origins of the "War on Christmas"
Welcome back to my week of newsletters about the “War on Christmas. Today’s deals with the origins of the term and concept. Tomorrow will dive a bit into the use of Christmas as a GOP wedge issue. If you support my work, please consider purchasing a paid subscription…
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a year ago · 11 likes · 5 comments · Parker Molloy
The Present Age
The most important ingredient in the "War on Christmas": victimhood
This is part 3 in a 4 part series on the so-called “War on Christmas.” Here you can find parts 1 (link) and 2 (link). A reminder that The Present Age is a reader-supported newsletter. The best way to help out is to purchase a paid subscription, which you can do here…
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a year ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Parker Molloy
The Present Age
The reason for the season
This is the final installment in my 4 part series on the so-called “War on Christmas.” Here you can find parts 1 (link), 2 (link), and 3 (link). A reminder that The Present Age is a reader-supported newsletter. The best way to help out is to purchase a paid subscription, which you can do here…
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a year ago · 11 likes · 6 comments · Parker Molloy

December 10, 2021: I made a case for brutal honesty following the death of a public figure.

The Present Age
"Don't speak ill of the dead" is anti-journalism
I can’t stop thinking about this Twitter thread from CNN White House correspondent John Harwood…
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a year ago · 25 likes · 4 comments · Parker Molloy

December 22, 2021: Fox News star Jesse Watters made his career doing “ambush interviews.” It’s rare to hear someone explain exactly what he does and why the way Watters did during a December conference.

The Present Age
How to become a Fox News star, according to Fox News star Jesse Watters
A couple of days back, Florida lawyer Ron Filipkowski shared a 1:25 video of Fox News host Jesse Watters speaking at right-wing advocacy group Turning Points USA’s AmericaFest. “The incendiary, dangerous, violent rhetoric against Dr. Fauci continues at AmericaFest,” tweeted Filipkowski. “Fox News host Jesse Watters tells them how to go after him to haras…
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a year ago · 21 likes · 8 comments · Parker Molloy

December 30, 2021: Cancel culture! Internet rage! Loud noises! This piece had everything.

The Present Age
"Just here for the ratio!" vs. "Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?"
Earlier this week, as I sat mulling what I should write for my final newsletter of 2021, I spent some time reflecting on the state of internet communication (which is, you know, kind of a running theme of mine). The internet is a tool that can be used to improve the state of the world in tremendous ways that would have seemed like pure fantasy just a co…
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a year ago · 32 likes · 8 comments · Parker Molloy

January 12, 2022: In this piece, I broke down one of the most common tricks to fool people on the internet and argued that it’s really important to be aware of your own personal biases.

The Present Age
The tighter a video is clipped, the less inclined you should be to share it.
Out-of-context videos: we’ve all seen them, most of us have fallen for them, and many of us have (wittingly or not) shared them. They’re not new, but they do seem to have become a bit more prevalent in the age of social media. Even worse: the way these clips target our emotional responses our biases make them even more likely to spread…
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a year ago · 16 likes · Parker Molloy

January 19, 2022: I interviewed The Daily Show’s Matt Negrin about political media. This was another really fun interview that I hope you’ll check out.

The Present Age
The Daily Show's Matt Negrin may or may not be Chuck Todd's nemesis. [podcast + transcript]
Listen now (38 min) | Parker Molloy: My guest today is Matt Negrin, a senior producer for the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. And just about the only person on the planet, I know who gets more irritated about the way politics gets covered in the media than I do. Matt, thank you so much for joining me…
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a year ago · 16 likes · 2 comments · Parker Molloy

January 31, 2022: A popular theme in media for the past several years has been to argue that “the left” is trying to “silence” critics. Meanwhile, Republicans have been launching actual attacks on free speech. Funny how the press went so quiet.

The Present Age
The "free speech" crowd sure is quiet about GOP efforts to ban books and criminalize dissent.
Last June, in one of my first newsletters, I wrote about free speech. Specifically, I wrote about Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, and his assault on it. (The piece was initially sent out as a paid-only newsletter, but I’ve removed the paywall…
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a year ago · 10 likes · 3 comments · Parker Molloy

I’m hoping to reach 10,000 subscribers by June 7. If you’re not already subscribed, please do so! If you are, please consider sharing links to TPA articles on your social media channels!

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A look back at the first year of The Present Age, Part 2
www.readtpa.com
2 Comments
Richard Gadsden
Writes Richard’s Substack
Jun 1, 2022Liked by Parker Molloy

I keep misreading the lede of these:

A "best of" look at the first year in business.

as

A look at the first year of the best in the business.

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