A Flexible Disposition
In 2018, to discuss America’s future is to discuss uncertainty. It is true, of course, that talking about the future—a predictive game dependent on...
Summoning Jeremiah
The Call to Prophecy
When we think of the great biblical prophets, we might be tempted to think of people concerned mainly with wholly religious...
Liberalism: A Joke, Literally
It’s a bit rich to pile on a “free-thinker” like Kanye West, who implores us to “lead with love,” when the best critics and...
Social Justice vs. Social Charity
The Pernicious Nature of Charity
There is a pernicious force that operates in all societies, but especially in ours and especially in these sad days....
A Digital Relation to the Universe
Matt's essay concludes our discussion of "Localist Social Media." You can view all the essays in this symposium here.
When I first submitted my attempt...
The Bar Jester Goes Off (While Putatively Responding to Matt Stewart)
We also need technological monks.
Sparking Little Platoons
When I became a Washington, D.C. newsroom intern, Twitter usage was mandatory (primarily so that we could help run the magazine’s Twitter account). I...
Marginalia
I was a bit surprised that Matt directed his critique at Twitter rather than at other forms of social media. At least Twitter isn’t...
What Tolkien Can Teach Us About Twitter
In December of 2016, I observed, alluding to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, that Twitter was akin to Trump’s ring of power. My point...
In Praise of Boredom
G. K. Chesterton reproached the modern experience of boredom. In Heretics, he declares:
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the...