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🔒 Contra Gioia: Political Neutrality in New Media is a Dangerous Illusion

Part of the genesis of this week’s piece came from getting briefly and unfairly chewed out by a prominent jazz historian, which isn’t something most people can say every day. And while this is probably the most important individual who’s ever had a go at me (Freddie

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Conspiracy Culture Catches the Car

My favorite TV show of all time was (and probably still is) The X Files.  Although there is an evil alien race involved and all the protagonists are feds, the primary antagonist—the Big Bad, the villain of villains—is the United States government. It’s a very frightening villain

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🔒 AI Probably Won't Kill Hollywood

Google has just released its newest updated cinematic-quality video AI software, and the results are pretty phenomenal. It’s impressive enough to have reignited the cheers of the online dipshit chorus who feel they are finally one step closer to permanently vanquishing human civilization’s greatest enemy: People who create

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Is It Ever OK to Mock People's Appearance? (Even If They're Bad?)

Well, Adam Conover just got himself cancelled, which is a shame. For those who don’t know, he’s a former CollegeHumor comedian who built a career off his myth-busting show Adam Ruins Everything. He’s also a prominent union activist, which is not something you typically suspect from a

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🔒 Conspiracy Culture Catches the Car

My favorite TV show of all time was (and probably still is) The X Files.  Although there is an evil alien race involved and all the protagonists are feds, the primary antagonist—the Big Bad, the villain of villains—is the United States government. It’s a very frightening villain

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Relax, You'll Never Make a Living on Substack

As well as general politics and pop culture I like to write about the goings-on of social media, and this week's piece is about Substack Notes. As subscribers to the Ghost version of my newsletter, you might have no idea what I'm talking about. If you&

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🔒 How Geeks Ate the World: Backward Male

Paul Elam and the origins of an internet phenomenon known as the manosphere.

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Taylor Lorenz Derangement Syndrome

I stumbled into one of the most deranged and sociopathic conspiracies I’ve ever encountered in all my time writing about oligarchs and I discovered it purely because I’m having some trouble figuring out why I’m supposed to hate Taylor Lorenz.  The blockbuster article everyone was talking about

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Reactionary Scientists Whine About Woke

While researching for mah book that I’m writing, I came across a preorder listing for another book that seems right up my alley. That’s a dangerous thing to happen when I’m in the midst of a book buying spree. It’s called The War on Science, and

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The Intersection of Privilege and Cowardice

With so much to be angry about right now this might seem petty, but one of the things I’m angriest about might be Bill Maher.  I know, I know. Any energy spent thinking about Bill Maher, let alone being upset about him, is energy wasted. I’ve written about

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🔒 Reactionary Scientists Whine About Woke

While researching for mah book that I’m writing, I came across a preorder listing for another book that seems right up my alley. That’s a dangerous thing to happen when I’m in the midst of a book buying spree. It’s called The War on Science, and

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You Will Own Nothing, and You Will Be Miserable: Trump's Promise to America

Donald Trump did something frightening this month—stupid, absolutely, and breathtakingly irresponsible, but frightening. He gave a demonstration of the power that he unilaterally holds over the global economy. He doesn’t need weapons, just words. With an announcement on the White House lawn that he was applying absurdly high