Tag: culture

Sexism and Racism Never Diminish

Many organizations and institutions are dedicated to identifying and reducing the prevalence of social problems, from unethical research to unwarranted aggressions. But our studies suggest that even well-meaning agents may sometimes fail to recognize the success of their own efforts, simply because they view each new instance in the decreasingly problematic context that they themselves have brought about. Although modern societies have made extraordinary progress in solving a wide range of social problems, from poverty and illiteracy to violence and infant mortality, the majority of people believe that the world is getting worse. The fact that concepts grow larger when their instances grow smaller may be 1 source of that pessimism.

Ibiza

Aptly named Ibiza, the film follows 3 American girls (who struggle to pronounce Ibiza correctly the entire film) as they travel to everyone’s favorite clubbing paradise and if luke-warm rom-coms are your thing, then you’re in luck. The lead character falls in love with an EDM DJ and absolute hilarity ensues (it doesn’t). We spoke to the director Alex Richanbach, who has never even been to Ibiza, about how he made the film, his influences and his take on glamorizing drugs. This is perhaps the most awkward interview we’ve ever done.

Swedish Biohackers

1000s of people in Sweden have inserted microchips, which can function as contactless credit cards, key cards and even railcards, into their bodies. Once the chip is underneath your skin, there is no longer any need to worry about misplacing a card or carrying a heavy wallet. This phenomenon reflects Sweden’s unique biohacking scene. If you look underneath the surface, Sweden’s love affair with all things digital goes much deeper than these microchips.

NYC is boring

But I have never seen what is going on now: the systematic, wholesale transformation of New York into a reserve of the obscenely wealthy and the barely here — a place increasingly devoid of the idiosyncrasy, the complexity, the opportunity, and the roiling excitement that make a city great.

As New York enters the 3rd decade of the 21th century, it is in imminent danger of becoming something it has never been before: unremarkable. It is approaching a state where it is no longer a significant cultural entity but the world’s largest gated community, with a few cupcake shops here and there. For the first time in its history, New York is, well, boring.

Fortnite

Fortnite, for anyone not a teen-ager or a parent or educator of teens, is the third-person shooter game that has taken over the hearts and minds—and the time, both discretionary and otherwise—of adolescent and collegiate America. Released last September, it is right now by many measures the most popular video game in the world. At times, there have been more than 3M people playing it at once. It has been downloaded an estimated 60M times. (The game, available on PC, Mac, Xbox, PS4, and mobile devices, is—crucially—free, but many players pay for additional, cosmetic features, including costumes known as “skins.”) In terms of fervor, compulsive behavior, and parental noncomprehension, the Fortnite craze has elements of Beatlemania, the opioid crisis, and the ingestion of Tide Pods. Parents speak of it as an addiction and swap tales of plunging grades and brazen screen-time abuse: under the desk at school, at a memorial service, in the bathroom at 4:00. They beg one another for solutions. A friend sent me a video he’d taken one afternoon while trying to stop his son from playing; there was a time when repeatedly calling one’s father a fucking asshole would have led to big trouble in Tomato Town. In our household, the big threat is gamer rehab in South Korea.

Imitation vs Reproduction

The Chinese have 2 different concepts of a copy. Fangzhipin (仿製品) are imitations where the difference from the original is obvious. These are small models or copies that can be purchased in a museum shop, for example. The second concept for a copy is fuzhipin (複製品). They are exact reproductions of the original, which, for the Chinese, are of equal value to the original. It has absolutely no negative connotations. The discrepancy with regard to the understanding of what a copy is has often led to misunderstandings and arguments between China and Western museums. The Chinese often send copies abroad instead of originals, in the firm belief that they are not essentially different from the originals. The rejection that then comes from the Western museums is perceived by the Chinese as an insult.

Hawaii Outlaw Hippies

In 100 years, when their tarps have rotted away and their footpaths have been lost to the forest, I wonder what place the outlaws will occupy in the grand story of Kalalau. Though reviled in some quarters, their ethics questionable at times, the outlaws’ reign demonstrated to the modern world the power of place to the collective psyche. The vulnerable, confused, damaged often end up here, to heal and to grow before they rejoin the world. It’s kind of wonderful. “We’re tool-using monkeys”. Being part of an interdependent community like Kalalau feeds a deep primate urge. “Biologically necessary,” is how he put it. More necessary for some than others.

Family chat circle of hell

older generations trying to indoctrinate their family members with xenophobic chat messages. each new technology creates its own new hell.

“I’m really close to my parents, but I only have a tenuous connection with my relatives. A family WhatsApp group, in my opinion, is just a conduit to get into each other’s lives and decision-making, and I don’t like that.”

“There is certainly some charm in knowing that every single family member and extended relative is, well, alive. But it quickly fades away in the barrage of sexist jokes, casual xenophobia, and unverified facts.”

British Upper Classes

Since 1709 Tatler Magazine has been sending dispatches from the front line of privilege. Every issue features the country homes of Britain’s elite, the worlds most expensive fashion & jewelry, the all important social scene, and of course horse racing. With a lineage longer than some of the families it reports on, Tatler not only observes the upper classes, it helps to preserve the rules they live by, and provides a knowing guide for those aspiring to join. We spent 6 months behind the scenes finding out what it takes to be posh in the 21st century.