Is Diversity the Source of America’s Genius?
An Irishman, a Jew, and a Mexican walk into a bar. It’s a classic set-up line for a classic American joke. But it’s also a means of coping with our diversity. We need such jokes. Despite all our slogans to the contrary, diversity such as ours isn’t always easy to negotiate. Humor is just one […]
Are Politics Making Americans Boring?
America—arguably the world’s most diverse, innovative, and surprising nation—is becoming a lot more predictable. And boring. According to the most recent Pew Research Poll on political polarization, Americans are becoming more consistently liberal or conservative in their opinions, and ideological thinking is much more aligned with political party membership than before. This means that the […]
Want to Save Newspapers? Then Journalists Need to Grow Up
Newspapers are in trouble. Not just because of the Internet and advertising and subscriptions. But because, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll, only 28 percent of Americans think that journalists contribute a lot to society’s well-being. That’s pretty bad considering that journalists like to consider themselves guardians of democracy. This chasm between vaunted self-regard […]