Violence is glorified, commodified, and endlessly recycled. The same society that censors books sells bullets by the box. Music, films, and news alike turn killing into entertainment, then wonder why empathy has eroded. This is not an argument for censorship but for conscience. Art shapes appetite. When cruelty becomes content, compassion vanishes.
~ John Mac Ghlionn via The Hill
:::
Our leaders preside over an extraordinary machinery of destruction, but they remain strikingly obtuse about human beings — about their pride, shame, convictions and historical memory.
~ Yonatan Touval via The New York Times
:::
Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.
~ Anne Applebaum via The Atlantic
:::
Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.
~ H. L. Mencken
:::
The enthusiasm of software developers for generative A.I. stands in stark contrast to how other Americans feel about the impact of large language models.
~ Clive Thompson via The New York Times
The states, in signing the Constitution, did not relinquish their independent authority to safeguard the public health.
~ Matthew Lawrence via The New York Times
:::
I am not going to New York, I am leaving Paris. That’s quite different.
~ Marcel Duchamp
:::
A college-educated working class sounds like an oxymoron because socioeconomic status is generally defined by education and believed to rise with each academic degree. In recent years, a college education has become one of the most reliable indicators of both economic well-being and voting behavior.
~ George Packer via The Atlantic
:::
An author spends so much time workshopping words and sentences. I accept that a book’s reception is subject to the vagaries of the market and the memelords.
~ Dan Wang via his 2025 letter
:::
Sync’s rise has been hastened by changes in the music industry itself, where income has dried up for all but the most successful artists.
~ Ryan Francis Bradley via The New York Times Magazine
:::