I first encountered Fyodor Dostoevsky through Alexei Nilych Kirillov, one of his characters in Demons—not in the novel itself, but in Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus, much of which grapples with the philosophical reasoning behind Kirillov’s decision to shoot himself. Camus counters that life’s absurdity
Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer has served on the Supreme Court for almost 27 years. He is 82 years old. Right now, there is a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate. That means this is his chance to retire and be replaced with a justice who broadly shares his values, and
When it comes to racism in the United States, there is a divide on the left between those who think we need a kind of spiritual reckoning, a full and honest confrontation with our past—with slavery, with racism, with something called “whiteness”—and those who think that it’s
Pre-pandemic, 34% of the American workforce was involved to some degree in the “gig” economy. The number of freelancers and contractors grew by 33% during 2020 in response to the economic and emotional toll of instability in places of employment during COVID times. Independent workers appreciate the ability to be
The language of contemporary right-wing politics is the language of restoration and nostalgia. “Make America Great Again” was fundamentally an appeal to those values. Other writers, especially Black journalists, have noted that the “again” language requires an appeal to a historical period, but it’s frequently unclear what historical period
When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. Lord Kelvin The American founders did not invent liberal
On March 16, a white man drove and entered three massage parlors in Atlanta and intentionally shot and murdered eight people, six of whom were Asian women. Only shortly before that, a 75-year-old Chinese American named Pak Ho, was murdered in Oakland Chinatown. A month before that, an 84-year-old Thai
After a Democratic primary contest suffused with racial justice themes and a summer of Black Lives Matter uprisings, it is once again time for Democrats to convince themselves that they mustn’t talk too much about race, lest they spook the white moderates. The latest splash has been made by
Is freedom of speech an unquestioned creed, adhered to despite its dangers, or is it a principle that has prevailed by proving its value to the individual and community? Critics like Emily Bazelon assert that freedom of speech is an unproven value, based in “an article of faith . . . that more
Shaimeek Raijeen Frazier, 21, worked in food service and died last April after contracting the virus at work. Frazier was saving money to go to nursing school, according to The City’s “Missing Them” memorial. “She was on her way when she got cut down. She didn’t deserve that.
As COVID-19 was throwing its first punches, many pointed to it as a clear example of the kind of crisis that could justify large-scale government intervention into regular social routines, and then in the economy. It was feared that minimizing government’s role in the crisis would result in millions
In April 2018, the Trump administration signed FOSTA—a combination of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act—into law, ostensibly a response to the Section 230 protections which kept Backpage.com (a website known for its advertisements for sex workers) from being held