Most of the other progressives I talk to probably wouldn’t say this is wrong, and think there is a beauty in American culture. How you and I feel about it is irrelevant but the main argument is more that immigrants are more willing to assimilate into domestic culture than Republicans say, which is an entirely separate thing.
While this is true, the GOP did seem successful in convincing its base “the vibes” matter more than they actually do. What else explains his polling not being absolutely disastrous then? Trump 2.0 has achieved basically no policy objectives to improve economic QOL and yet Dems seem to be underperforming a little for a midterm year.
Posts like these always make me wonder where urbanization in the U.S is headed. Will we ever place a cultural value in making our surroundings, our architecture, and our common spaces beautiful? Is there even the political will for that exhibited literally anywhere in the U.S?
@_pem_pem Human history seems to be one long tale of people desiring to connect with each other in that way, and I think that’s part of what makes Mamdani so popular. You need policy advocates who have a vested interest in reforming both physical quality of life and culture.
@TheEconomist Many people judging immigration in these comments without acknowledging the immediate subsequent population collapse because we have structured a fundamentally anti-child society
Nonfiction will teach you about the world. Fiction will teach you about yourself. A lot of literature folk have beef with the entire self help genre which I think is a bit overblown, but I’ve always felt you are more likely to find introspection after following a well written character going through life then an itemized list of things you should do with yours.
i’m contrarian at heart, so when ppl say their fav book is some cheesy-titled, extremely popular book, i’m immediately suspicious
but! three books that rly, rly surprised & delighted me incl.
- how to win friends & influence people
- non-violent communication
- atomic habits
among the best books i’ve read
@jimmy_walt801 Wait a second. My support of Israel?? Bibi Netanyahu is a monster and a war criminal. I support a two state solution. And I believe what the Israeli government is doing right now is horrific.
We only really wiggle our way out of this if we start changing the philosophy around education as a whole. Now that AI is so good of course students will just get the bare info they need out of a text to discuss, it’s efficient. The point of reading “extra” words isn’t because it helps convey the idea, I t’s because it grows your critical thinking, your vocabulary, tools to express thought, etc.
Unless we begin to value education for the sake of education again, many core credit classes are just seen as hurdles in the way of getting a piece of paper which in turn gets you a job.
A Berkeley history professor says he’s cut assigned reading from 100 pages a week to just 35.
Another said that a course which once required students to read seven full books now consists entirely of excerpts.
“We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number of pages goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught.”
The attention span crisis is a civilization crisis.
@charmcgi Yeah you sorta hit the nail on the head, this is so so common particularly with all genres of literature. Unfortunately it’s often more fun to do something (writing) than to practice it (reading) and so you get big gaps in taste and ability.
@skumWgmi It is such an insane cultural loss that Democrats have let conservatives control the narrative on austerity and the national debt when every single R president has added more debt on average since 1913.