midatlantic

Here is the obligatory “to be sure” line in the think piece: To be sure, a critical attitude toward culture is also a net good for culture. It’s hard to argue with any system that takes lubricating humilities—empathy, perspectival awareness, the checking of privilege—and insists on their value. The economy of the think piece is the direct result, after all, of our newfound exposure to each other: Through the Internet in general, through Facebook in particular, through Instagram albums and Pinterest boards and Twitter feeds and #alexfromtarget, we are realizing—year by year and also second by second—how different one person’s perspective can be from another’s. Our impulse to question everything, sometimes in excruciating detail, comes from that realization. And it will help us, in the end, to become better, both among and toward each other.