Comments
  1. The New York Times CompanyMichiko Kakutani12/27/1916 min
    16 reads6 comments
    9.0
    The New York Times Company
    16 reads
    9.0
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • kellyalysia
      ScoutScribe
      4 years ago

      “ When politicians constantly lie, overwhelming and exhausting us while insinuating that everyone is dishonest and corrupt, the danger is that we grow so weary and cynical that we withdraw from civic engagement. And if we fail to engage in the political process — or reflexively support the individual from “our” party while reflexively dismissing the views of others — then we are abdicating common sense and our responsibility as citizens.”

      Ugh.

    • erica4 years ago

      I liked reading about how movies and TV shows reflect larger American sentiments, including nostalgia, a "longing for saner times." Super interesting (and not surprising) that "1984" became popular right after Trump was elected. This is crazy to think about and so true:

      Our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities.

    • Alexa4 years ago

      It might have been funny if we were living in a satirical novel, not in the real world with a former reality TV star as president.

      It feels like some twisted Palahniuk novel in the US some days. It's an interesting read, although not very comfortable

    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      4 years ago

      Lulz:

      Although the United States was founded on the Enlightenment values of reason, liberty and progress, there has long been another strain of thinking at work beneath the surface — what Philip Roth called “the indigenous American berserk,” and the historian Richard Hofstadter famously described as “the paranoid style.”

      I hate reading about the disgrace that is Trump, but it was worth it to get to all the other parts, especially about media, tech, and dystopia.

      Good find. I still wish Michiko Kakutani would stick to literature.

    • jbuchana4 years ago

      Sad but not really anything that hasn't been stated before. That does not detract from the value of this article though it puts things together rather well.

    • joanne4 years ago

      Not a very hopeful view but I feel Kakutani is right on in this essay.

      And in an era of data overload and short attention spans, it’s not the most reliable, trustworthy material that goes viral — it’s the loudest voices, the angriest, most outrageous posts that get clicked and shared. This is why the world needs ReadUp now.