Top 5: Facetune and the "Love Marketplace"
Plus: pandemic recovery, declining global populations, and the decline of civil religion
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Enjoy this week’s Top 5.
-Michael and Melissa
The Top 5 articles for your week:
“Long Slide Looms for World Population, With Sweeping Ramifications” (NYT)
Because the pandemic accelerated birth declines, not only in Europe and the United States, but across much of Asia as well. Beyond the moral, religious, or social implications, economies are run by population replacement and growth.
“What Happens When Americans Can Finally Exhale” (The Atlantic)
Because of the pandemic, “Some will recover uneventfully, but for others, the quiet moments after adrenaline fades and normalcy resumes may be unexpectedly punishing.”
“Democracy After God” (Breaking Ground)
Because secularization and the decline of religion in Europe and the US potentially portend a new narrative for liberal democracy in the “Western” world.
“Love in the Marketplace” (Plough Magazine)
Because in 2021, “We haven’t lost our longing for relationship, but as digital marketplaces collide with the human longing for intimacy against a backdrop of liquified social norms, sympathy and the market begin to fuse in troubling ways.”
“Selfies, Surgeries And Self-Loathing: Inside The Facetune Epidemic” (Huffington Post)
Because Facetune, a photo editing app producing 1 million+ edited images per day, is part of the race for young women to permanently alter their bodies (and, ostensibly, the mental image of themselves) to match what’s online.