The Top 5: Discord Crimes, California, Collective Pessimism
Plus, catch-up on the Supreme Court with the podcast
Welcome to your weekly edition of the Top 5 articles we’ve read this week. Each week, we read dozens of articles in the hope we find essays and reporting that speak to big ideas, trends, future looks, and incredible human stories. We hope you enjoy our list, and do always let us know if you have a suggestion or a recommendation! Please also consider becoming a paid subscriber if this is one of those newsletters you open up all the time or look forward to each week.
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The Top 5 articles for your week:
“How to Escape ‘the Worst Possible Timeline’” (The Atlantic)
Because Tara Isabella Burton posits that, “It’s possible to treat our collective pessimism not as a function of “the worst possible timeline,” to quote an ubiquitous meme derived from the TV show Community, but rather a natural corollary of our distinctly American optimism: our tradition of idealistic cultural narratives that things ought to be better than they are. If the technological and economic improvements that have marked so much of modern life have allowed us to question—and even become angry about—areas where we perceive work yet to be done, then we’re simply participating in a long-standing American tradition of working toward perfection in an imperfect world.”
“When Every Child Is A Choice” (Palladium Magazine)
Because Ginerva Davis describes the ins and outs and the immense intensity required for raising kids in 2023: “It’s everywhere: the feeling that to grow into a wanted, integrated member of society is somehow exceptional.”
Because Joseph Cox investigates “one of a handful of Discord chat servers home to an increasingly brazen community of young people known as the “Comm.” It’s a wide spanning ecosystem of potentially hundreds of gamers, hackers, and many people who just hang out on Discord for fun. Many appear to be young men, and the FBI has already arrested some alleged members for cyberstalking and weapons offenses. At least some members appear to be based in the U.S. and UK.”
“Can Anyone Fix California?” (Vanity Fair)
Because Joe Hagan observes, “Trying to write about the whole of California is akin to the proverbial blind man trying to describe an elephant. But California, by any measure, is undergoing a vibe shift. As a pal of mine in San Francisco put it, ‘The liberal atom has been split.’”
“Belgium Was Out of Hurdlers. So a Shot-Putter Agreed to Run.” (NYT)
Because you might find great delight in this story of how a shot-putter kept her team in the running (literally and figuratively) at a recent championship.