Top 5: Diapers & Scientific Consensus
Plus: Black neighborhoods, unstable global politics, and Instagram is failing young women
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The Top 5 articles for your week:
“‘Am I even fit to be a mom?’ Diaper need is an invisible part of poverty in America” (The 19th News)
Because “Nationwide, studies have found that diaper need is a greater contributor to postpartum depression than food insecurity and housing instability…The inability to provide diapers is a silent struggle in this country. Unlike with food and clothes, diapers cannot be rationed or modified — the option is a disposable diaper or a cloth one, an expense that doesn’t qualify for federal aid under most public assistance programs, including food stamps. ”
“Manufacturing Consensus” (The New Atlantis)
Because “follow the science” isn’t as clear of a political or policy directive as some suggest.
“What the lab-leak controversy shows is not the danger of scientific consensus per se so much as the danger — both to democratic discourse and to science itself — when the concept of consensus gets weaponized by those seeking to exploit the authority of science to stifle public debate.”
“The Coming Storm” (Wisdom of Crowds)
Because Damir Marusic succinctly argues how complacency about global politics — and the US’s place in it — could be shortsighted. Or more accurately, he argues complacency is an attitude that does not line up with the reality of several crises on the precipice in multiple areas around the world.
“How the Real Estate Boom Left Black Neighborhoods Behind” (NYT)
Because historically, the government opened up Black home ownership through laws, but policies of the 20th century that aimed to segregate Black communities still wreak havoc not only on Black homeownership, but entire Black neighborhoods.
“The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls” (The Atlantic)
Because there are now numerous studies and Instagram itself has strong data on how the social platform negatively affects teen girls’ mental health, but they’re knowingly doing nothing to stem the platform’s harm. Jonathan Haidt argues for some legislative solutions for addressing this problem.