A look back at the first year of The Present Age, Part 2
A "best of" look at the first year in business.
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…
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
December 10, 2021: I made a case for brutal honesty following the death of a public figure.
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.
December 30, 2021: Cancel culture! Internet rage! Loud noises! This piece had everything.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.