"But there’s a larger norm at work behind questions like this, and behind the greater expectation that people could use lockdown to boost their coronapreneurial profiles. An obsessive focus on productivity is “part of late-stage American capitalism,” Blustein said. “This productivity ethos has gotten transported into our hobbies, it’s gotten transported into our relationships, into our physical and mental health.”"

God, I hated this piece.

First, let’s be clear: rather than simply a representative French perspective, this is a French conservative perspective. You can glean this from his reference to Christianity as being inherently moral (give me a break), and to the EU as being an empire (ditto).

The hope is that Trump will be less militaristic. And yes: America has used its military for both messianic and imperial ends, and that has to stop if we want a more peaceful world (I do; some capitalists, like the people who run the companies whose private military contractors will be doing the jobs of American soldiers, maybe not so much). But if that’s really true, why did he hire John Bolton? Why did he refuse to stop dealing arms to Saudi Arabia? Why did he withdraw from an important treaty with Iran? I call bullshit.

Nationalism is nationalism. If you care more about the human lives of your own country than others, then you’re a nationalist. But I’d argue that this stance is antithetical to either morality or human decency. We’re increasingly in a post-patriotism world, and I believe that’s the correct direction for us all to be moving in. The internet has made it easier to talk to, and form relationships with, someone on the other side of the world. Calling them is as easy as calling my neighbor. That’s a wonderful thing. It’s a global world, and erecting higher borders (and walls) will bring us further from peace.

The EU, lest we forget, was erected in part to create peace in Europe. It has been an overwhelming success. Brexit, meanwhile, has been a tragedy that will leave Britain economically devastated, at the hands of a few petty xenophobes - nationalists - who really just wanted to keep their tax havens. A breakup of the EU will lead to war, not least because Europe currently provides an important balance against the other superpowers, who are all less democratic and more militaristic.

Overall, I’m glad to have read this piece, mostly to reaffirm that nationalist ideologies don’t have a leg to stand on. Global peace has to be the goal. Not through military strength, as Trump has repeatedly said (unwittingly quoting Orwell in the process), but through empathy, understanding, and global togetherness. This dude is on the wrong side of history, and the wrong side of peace.

I'd love to hear comments / feedback from anyone who's read this. It's a topic that's important to me, and I'm glad to be able to provide this support at Matter.

Facebook isn't a news source: it's a distribution platform. But the problem is much bigger than them; all targeted display advertising incentivizes the same behavior across every platform. When algorithms are optimized to keep you addicted and looking at promotional material rather than actually augmenting your life, it's maybe time to move to another model.

But newspapers are also out of touch, and there was an elitist, ivory tower culture for a long time. Startups aren't the only businesses that need to go back to basics and understand how to best serve their users in order to gain their trust. Sometimes, hundred year old media institutions do, too.