Weekly Roundup and the Importance of Academic Impartiality

Dear Quilletters,

We have some absorbing new pieces for the contemplative reader. First peruse Marilyn Simon on Joel Coen’s adaptation of Macbeth, then Herman Goodden on James Joyce, and then for a side track, Adam Zivo on Cineforum, the coolest Toronto-based “indie” theater you’ve never heard of.

We have a terrific exposition on the importance of academic impartiality using Weimar Germany as an example. And for our quantitatively minded, we’ve got pieces on the mismeasure and misuse of GDP, and an analysis of what AI and machine learning may mean for capitalism. And don't miss evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks on Incel culture (AKA "young male syndrome") and how it relates to economic inequality.

On the podcast, Michael Shermer talks to Jon Kay about the politicization of Scientific American, which has become especially salient in recent weeks since the passing of EO Wilson.

And finally, Quillette alum Coleman Hughes's debut single is out now, aptly named Blasphemy. Have a listen:

COLDXMAN - Blasphemy (Official Music Video)

Official music video for “Blasphemy” by Coldxman Listen to Blasphemy: https://bit.ly/BlasphemyColdxMan Subscribe to the official Coldxman YouTube channel: ht...

YouTube

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Claire Lehmann
Founding Editor

Weekly Round Up

The Importance of Academic Impartiality

In November 1933, as rector of Freiburg University, Martin Heidegger published a letter urging students to vote “yes” in support of Hitler’s decision to leave the League of Nations. “German men and women!” Heidegger wrote, “The Führer is asking nothing from the people. Rather, he is giving the peopl…

QuilletteMatt Beard

Fatal Vision: Joel Coen’s ‘Macbeth’

“I am in this earthly world, where to do harm / Is often laudable, to do good / Sometime accounted dangerous folly.” So says Lady Macduff in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Moments later, she and her entire family—innocents all—are slaughtered. The triumph of Joel Coen’s film adaptation is that it

QuilletteMarilyn Simon

Reading James Joyce Amidst Winter Snow, ‘Where Dwell the Vast Hosts of the Dead’

Many people no doubt roll their eyes in scoffing dismissal when they hear the commonly expressed—and almost as commonly crooned—wish for a White Christmas. But there are sound spiritual reasons for longing to see one’s environs blanketed with snow. Silent in its approach and accumulation, snow can

QuilletteHerman Goodden

Bitter Fruit: Marshall McLuhan and the Rise of Fake News

In Orson Welles’s classic movie Citizen Kane, the eponymous hero publishes a statement of principles on the front page of his newspaper, “I’ll provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. ... They’re going to get the truth from the

QuilletteGraham Majin

In Toronto’s Weirdest Cinema, a Portrait of the Artist I’d Never Become

You’ve probably heard of the Toronto International Film Festival, which, before the pandemic, was annually attracting almost 500,000 attendees. But you’ve probably never heard of Toronto’s equally venerable Cineforum, whose weekly attendance has usually been closer to five. The Cineforum is an indie…

QuilletteAdam Zivo

Involuntarily Celibate: Explanations and Practical Solutions to a Dangerous Phenomenon

Of the 50 plus shades of online anger, one fascinates me more than the rest: the anger of the Incel. Beneath the euphemistic portmanteau of “involuntary” and “celibate” lurks a sinister mass of self-loathing men. They know they are unattractive, and in online forums they blame women. The Incels spea…

QuilletteRob Brooks

Drones Over Ethiopia

Less than two months ago, the Ethiopian government was on the brink of defeat as Tigrayan forces closed in on the capital. Now the Tigrayan troops have turned about and withdrawn north back into Tigray. The government’s use of foreign-supplied unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and armed drones appears…

QuilletteJames Jeffrey

The Mismeasure and Misuse of GDP

In The Great Questions of Tomorrow, David Rothkopf, an international policy expert and former editor of Foreign Policy, noted that we are on the cusp of a sweeping revolution—one that will change every facet of our lives. Klaus Schwab, the executive director and founder of the World Economic Forum,

QuilletteRandall Mayes

Will AI Spell the End of Capitalism?

In 2018, the Washington Post published an opinion piece by Feng Xiang entitled “AI Will Spell the End of Capitalism.” Professor Feng teaches law at Tsinghua University and is one of China’s most prominent legal scholars. The core of his argument is set forth in the opening paragraphs: If

QuilletteMichael Timothy Bennett & Sean Welsh

Quillette Podcast #178: Michael Shermer on Watching ‘Scientific American’ Go Woke

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to book author and Skeptic editor Michael Shermer about why scientific media, professional organizations, and academic departments are increasingly succumbing to progressive ideological fads.

QuilletteQuillette

From Around the Web

‎Your Undivided Attention: Is World War III Already Here? on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Your Undivided Attention, Ep Is World War III Already Here? - 13 Jan 2022

Apple Podcasts

Perhaps Not Everything is Eugenics

spoiler: people who never read discovered a word that feels powerful

Freddie deBoerFreddie deBoer

Being Jewish in an Unraveling America

The bad guy was killed. The good guys were saved. But the reaction to the hostage-taking in Colleyville, Texas, should alarm American Jews.

Common SenseBari Weiss