A very long time ago, when I was the manager of a listener-supported radio station, we were planning our annual on-air fundraising drive. “The only thing we have to sell,” one staffer said earnestly, “is our integrity.” A wise guy replied, “What do you think we can get for it?” Thanks to the poisonous blend […]
Books, Arts and Culture
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Connecting with E.M. Forster
A futuristic fantasy from early in this century offers us a hellish version of life on the Internet.
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The Other Edmund Wilson
Today there is no shortage of writing about literature or of literature about writing. But there used to be writing that was about both.
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The Shaming Sham
Conservatives, and even a few liberals, insist that moral shaming isn’t as bad as government censorship. Don’t believe them, warns a conservative writer.
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Storylines: Scandals for Dummies
O n the first Sunday in March, the Washington Post published an investigative piece highlighting Vice President Al Gore’s central role in the Democratic Party fundraising operation. The article, by Bob Woodward, chronicled how Gore called donors one by one, hitting them up for money in a manner so direct even one veteran fundraiser called […]
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Lingo Jingo
The story told by the English-only movement is nonsense from beginning to end. No language was ever less in need of official protection.
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State of the Debate: The Chicago Acid Bath
A skeptical inquiry into the work of Richard Epstein and Richard Posner.
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Rush from Judgment
We used to expect reporters and editors to place events in their proper context. Post-O.J., post-Diana, and soon (we hope) post-Monica, perhaps it’s time to ask: What happened to news judgment?
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Recasting the Stones
In our multicultural society, traditional monuments may no longer possess the unifying power they once did. Some projects by contemporary artists suggest a way around this conundrum.
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If Wishing Only Made it So
Two recent movies, Patch Adams and Life Is Beautiful, each claim to reveal the relation between fantasy and politics. One succeeds magnificently; the other is a fraud.