There is a collectivist illusion we all share that the social contract governing our behavior extends to all areas of life. That each of us has equal access to basic social needs, or at least some ostensible simulacrum of order devoid of prejudice and social rank. Of course the illusion is absurd – the fact … Continue reading Privilege
There is a musician in Jonathan Franzen’s novel ‘Freedom’ that describes his job as a chiclet salesman. No matter what goes into the production of a single song, the market value is predetermined at $0.99. A value that seems to exist outside of what we might imagine a market economy to be – prices determined by supply, demand, quality, etc. – and where revenue largely accrues to the owners of marketplaces versus the artists themselves. Continue reading A Million Little Cuts
Sauvage. J’adore. Joy. Miss Dior. Acqua di Gio. Bad Boy. Good Girl. You know a holiday gift giving season is upon us when the purveyors of luxury fantasy are beating down our doors to peddle their scents. A perfume or cologne is the perfect impersonal gift to define us. Continue reading Holiday Fragrances
It’s probably possible to put a ‘snake oil’ label on a bottle of water and sell it to the public as a cure-all. A con that lends its name to a stereotype yet isn’t obvious enough to fool many. Continue reading Volume IX – November 2020
America is glued to their TV screens, instantly reacting to every mobile alert, balanced on a knife’s edge. Ready to laugh or cry. Continue reading Alas, a whimper
It’s hard to think about how historians will remember events we experience in the moment. Which will be considered and debated for years to come and which will be mostly forgotten. Continue reading Election Eve
Today I saw a twenty-something year old man in a bodybuilder tank-top, driving down a busy street with exotic dance music playing at top volume. There is nothing funnier than a walking cliche. Continue reading Earnestness
We seem to have developed an odd relationship with truth. We can call up the most obscure facts in milliseconds, yet somehow that’s made us dumber, less connected to empirical reality. Continue reading Truth Relation
There’s something curious about our collective conception of entertainment. Somewhere along the way we became convinced that only mindless diversions qualify. That we must shut off our brains and let the entertainment take over. Let it happen to us, instead of being an active participant in it. Continue reading Entertainment
There’s something purely American about our obsession with self-help. A multi-billion dollar industry of modern day alchemists. It seems almost like religion to its adherents and worshipers. Continue reading Self-Help
GLAZ 