Merrie England

 As a young socialist, I generally avoided reading the acknowledged classics of socialist thought. This allowed me to persist in the pleasant and untested belief that someone had worked out a plausible comprehensive theory somewhere for how all this was supposed to work, and I just didn't know about it yet. 

And so, if anyone asked me for my institutional model of socialism, I could gesture to these dense volumes and explain that someone smarter than me must have thought of it already. I was just here as an evangelist for a system that more profound minds had already worked out. How could they not have? Don't you see how thick their books are? 

Beasts of Burden

 New York City apparently passed a resolution this week phasing out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next two years. 

I thought of a passage in that aching pastoral novel I just read—beloved by many—J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country, about the passing of horse-centric civilization from rural England. 

Two Quislings

 I know it's not really my business as an outsider to judge, but I really wish someone in Venezuelan politics would show some backbone for God's sake and finally stand up to those self-appointed hemispheric honchos Donald Trump and Little Rubio. 

The New York Times today features an article about recent political talks in Venezuela between the government and what passes for the domestic opposition (the most famous actual leader of the opposition, after all, remains de facto exiled from the country). 

The Thaw

 When future cultural historians try to write the story of our era, I have no doubt that AOC's use of the phrase "woke 1 was crazy" over the summer will stand out as a critical turning point. The moment conveniently bookended the early 2020s era of "peak woke" or "the Great Awokening" or whatever you want to call it—and while most of us knew on some gut level that this epoch had already ended long before, it helped to have someone within the progressive movement declare its death officially so we really knew it was over and not coming back.

Most people reacted to the news of its demise with something like relieved chatter. A shadow had been lifted. It was "ding dong, the witch is dead." "Woke 1," if we are calling it that now, was really a period of cultural revolution—and like any other revolution, it made great and ultimately unsustainable demands on our conscience and idealism. And so, when it was behind us, we all relaxed a bit into our "normal shapes" (to quote Dwight Macdonald—more on that below), like someone holding in their paunch in company who now finds themselves home in front of the TV again. 

Books vs. TikToks

 In the latest mailbag post on his blog, Slow Boring, Matt Yglesias starts with a brief (but convincing) refutation of a recent Jacobin article that offers a novel, leftist theory of the root-causes of the present "reading crisis."

There has ben a lot of hand-wringing over the past year about the reported decline in reading for pleasure among twenty-first century Americans. 

Cet animal est trés méchant

 A New York Times article yesterday points out that Trump's latest dust-up with Ukraine's leadership repeats a now-familiar pattern of behavior for him. First, Trump insults and berates a friendly nation. Then, when the latter tries to mildly push back, Trump seems genuinely outraged and appalled that they would dare to defend themselves, rather than grovel and kiss the boot that kicks them.

As Peter Baker's analysis puts it: "The rules of the road when it comes to President Trump’s relations with foreign leaders are clear: He may trash you. But woe unto you if you whack back."

Monsters

 Like the rest of the world, I too saw that Elizabeth Holmes documentary over the weekend. I found it a completely riveting yet ultimately unsatisfying and strange piece of work. 

The directors make the odd choice never to review in depth the factual background of Theranos and Holmes's career. For this reason, the film never bothers to re-indict her for fraud or to convince the viewership that she really did lie to investors and cheat the public.