The Discourse Report: December 29, 2020
Welcome to DiscRep, your guide to the public discourse. I’m Berny Belvedere, editor in chief of Arc Digital.
Quote
A quote from yesterday that says something interesting about today
Philip Roth in American Pastoral:
He was sitting along in the last factory left in the worst city in the world. And it was worse even than sitting there during the riots, Springfield Avenue in flames, South Orange Avenue in flames, Bergen Street under attack, sirens going off, weapons firing, snipers from rooftops blasting the street lights, looting crowds crazed in the street, kids carrying off radios and lamps and television sets, men toting armfuls of clothing, women pushing baby carriages heavily loaded with cartons of liquor and cases of beer, people pushing pieces of new furniture right down the center of the street, stealing sofas, cribs, kitchen tables, stealing washers and dryers and ovens — stealing not in the shadows but out in the open. Their strength is tremendous, their teamwork is flawless. The shattering of glass windows is thrilling. The not paying for things is intoxicating. The American appetite for ownership is dazzling to behold. This is shoplifting. Everything free that everyone craves, a wanton free-for-all free of charge, everyone uncontrollable with thinking. Here it is! Let it come! In Newark’s burning Mardi Gras streets, a force is released that feels redemptive, something purifying is happening, something spiritual and revolutionary perceptible to all. The surreal vision of household appliances out under the stars and agleam in the glow of the flames incinerating the Central Ward promises the liberation of all mankind. Yes, here it is, let it come, yes, the magnificent opportunity, one of human history’s rare transmogrifying moments: the old ways of suffering are burning blessedly away in the flames, never again to be resurrected, instead to be superseded, within only hours, by suffering that will be so gruesome, so monstrous, so unrelenting and abundant, that its abatement will take the next five hundred years. The fire this time — and next? After the fire? Nothing. Nothing in Newark ever again.
Tweets
My roundup of interesting recent tweet threads
Audio & Visual
A collection of newsworthy clips
What is History’s Deadliest Pandemic? (The Economist)
How Apple and Google Formed One of Tech’s Most Powerful Partnerships (The Wall Street Journal)
How Working Remotely Will Change More Than Work (Bloomberg)
Is Chris Paul the Best Player to Never Make the Finals? (The Ringer)
Links
My roundup of interesting recent reads
- The Neoliberal Mindset by Jonathan Gleadell in Arc Digital on 12/26/20
It is telling that the conclusions borne of the “neoliberal mindset” thesis are pessimistic, defeatist, and misanthropic on the whole. On the left, they are a malaise remedied only by anti-capitalist agitation and wholesale public spending and social-welfare programs; on the right, they make room for authoritarian power grabs that might re-assert nationalism both for economic self-sufficiency and for remolding cultural life from the top down. The view of the market mindset as having infiltrated cultural life so thoroughly as to precipitate loneliness, anxiety, distrust, and social unrest is uniquely myopic, and takes an exceptionalist view of contemporary human affairs.
- Make America Sane Again by Mona Charen in Persuasion on 12/26/20
The descent of the Republican Party into crackpottery is a loss for the country. When one whole party loses touch with reality, the nation’s antibodies against authoritarianism are badly weakened. … It is also a loss for the country because we need a sane, center-right voice in politics. The Democratic Party, for all its virtues, has blind spots. And even if it were the perfect embodiment of sound policies, the lack of constructive engagement from another point of view would quickly distort it.
- Trump’s Most Disgusting Pardons by Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times on 12/24/20
Neither the predictability of these pardons, however, nor our dulled capacity for shock, lessens their grotesqueness. The last days of Trump’s reign have been an orgy of impunity, as he hands out indulgences like party favors and rubs America’s face in his power to put his supporters beyond ordinary law.
- The GOP Hoped to Avoid This Fight With Trump. It’s Here. by Declan Garvey in The Dispatch on 12/24/20
Maybe Trump is trying to reclaim his “outsider” persona heading into his post-presidency. Maybe he’s looking for another avenue through which he can raise money. Maybe he’s simply thrashing around out of spite. But Republicans were deluding themselves if they thought they could avoid this fight with him. “It’s the natural progression of the Faustian bargain,” GOP consultant Rob Stutzman said. “You can’t just break up with the devil over text.”
Thanks for reading,
Berny Belvedere
Editor in Chief, Arc Digital
