J. Danielle

What we’re dealing with is a full-blown cultural moment. The 20-year nostalgia cycle, climate-change nihilism, information saturation, streaming-era content overload, and our collective Long COVID of the soul have converged in a tidal wave of tackiness. What TikTok teens, white collar workers marooned in home offices, and the gatekept super-rich... See more

Being sold to can be socially awkward, for sure, but when it comes to corrosive self-doubt, being the seller is a thousand times worse. The constant curation of a salable self demanded by the new economy can be a special hellspring of anxiety.

Historian Peter Turchin illuminates this possibility with his theory of “elite overproduction.” When societies generate more elite aspirants than there are roles to fill, competition for status intensifies. Ambitious but frustrated people grow disillusioned and radicalized. Rather than integrate into institutions, they seek to undermine them.... See more

the dawn of the great uncancelling

These days I’m more inclined to be specific than dramatic, to organize than agonize.