Open Thread

Crowdsourcing Cringe

Yesterday’s subscriber-only post looked at two pieces of journalism on either side of the ideological succession.

Preface to a Twenty-Volume Dave Chappelle Review, Part the Third

“The inclusion of these details, sympathetic to the figures then in the process of being expelled from a progressive consensus of which they had once been an important part, were all in keeping with the expected qualities of nonfiction American writing that still obtained at the time: a willingness to credit both sides of an impassioned controversy with a right to their position; a more than token effort to portray how it looked like from both sides of the conflict, a certain lightness of touch that signaled impartial curiosity. (There is also the suggestion here, perhaps — but I won’t endanger her by making a positive claim — that Goldberg isn’t entirely unpersuaded by all aspects of the terf argument.) This is the normative culture of truth-seeking that was the only one most of the readers drawn to this Substack knew prior to its replacement throughout the Western world. We are here to chronicle its disappearance.”

Today’s open thread seeks contributions of the most jarring examples of the new sensibility in the pages of legacy publications and personal testimonials of those who remain attached to them and can chart in real time their abandonment of the old values and adoption of the new:

Wesley Yang @wesyang

Any people continue to subscribe to legacy publications that have posted unbelievable cringe in recent years? Can you tell me what percentage of their coverage is like that? scientificamerican.com/article/why-th…