1) “ Every single day, it seems, a career is ruined over some ancient pecadillo: something you tweeted as a teenager, some story someone you’ve never met has decided to “share.” To this I say, simply, that some rehabilitations for “ancient peccadillos” are neither deserved nor “ancient” — see “Mark Halperin.”
2) “...despite the appearance of stormy controversy around just about everything, there is in fact no real controversy anymore, that people are too scared to have contrary opinions or to engage in real debate“ Yes! Though more pedestrian/quotidian/low-import than perhaps what you had in mind, I couldn’t help but think of the change in how PBS’ Newshour takes on discussions of issues today (one POV one evening, maybe another voice on another evening) compared to how MacNeil or Lehrer (go Texas!) would gather up the spectrum and dive into (polite) verbal combat.
3) I am genuinely enjoying getting to know your thinking here on Substack and work (I am relearning how to read — s.t. the pandemic stole from me!!). Do thank your sister; her piece in the New Yorker this week ensnared me dans la famille Moser. Our family twists / turns are strikingly familiar.
1) Yes, of course. But the preponderance of fake pecadillos makes it harder to know which are real and which are just someone yelling on social media.
2) Right: people are scared to have any substantive debate in public because of the likelihood that it will "offend" someone. So there is a lot of the media that is designed to flatter their audiences by repeating their pieties. Glenn Greenwald is very good on this.
3) I will convey your compliments to my sister, definitely!
A couple of thoughts, Ben:
1) “ Every single day, it seems, a career is ruined over some ancient pecadillo: something you tweeted as a teenager, some story someone you’ve never met has decided to “share.” To this I say, simply, that some rehabilitations for “ancient peccadillos” are neither deserved nor “ancient” — see “Mark Halperin.”
2) “...despite the appearance of stormy controversy around just about everything, there is in fact no real controversy anymore, that people are too scared to have contrary opinions or to engage in real debate“ Yes! Though more pedestrian/quotidian/low-import than perhaps what you had in mind, I couldn’t help but think of the change in how PBS’ Newshour takes on discussions of issues today (one POV one evening, maybe another voice on another evening) compared to how MacNeil or Lehrer (go Texas!) would gather up the spectrum and dive into (polite) verbal combat.
3) I am genuinely enjoying getting to know your thinking here on Substack and work (I am relearning how to read — s.t. the pandemic stole from me!!). Do thank your sister; her piece in the New Yorker this week ensnared me dans la famille Moser. Our family twists / turns are strikingly familiar.
Hi -- thanks for reading!
1) Yes, of course. But the preponderance of fake pecadillos makes it harder to know which are real and which are just someone yelling on social media.
2) Right: people are scared to have any substantive debate in public because of the likelihood that it will "offend" someone. So there is a lot of the media that is designed to flatter their audiences by repeating their pieties. Glenn Greenwald is very good on this.
3) I will convey your compliments to my sister, definitely!