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18 Dec, 8 tweets, 3 min read
1. So, taking year end stock & am pleased that among the 150 articles I wrote, a few are worth revisiting. My best is this piece on Richard Hofstadter, which is also about why American liberalism fails to understand & effectively fight the radical right thenation.com/article/cultur…
2. For the Library of America (@LibraryAmerica) I wrote about Samuel Delany's marvellous science fiction novel Nova. loa.org/news-and-views…
3. I think this piece on Joe Biden & the politics of grief gets at some of the deeper undercurrents of 2020. thenation.com/article/politi…
4. How Sarah Cooper cracked the Trump comedy code (there were others who would take up this theme but I think I was among the first to try to figure Cooper's comedy out): thenation.com/article/cultur…
5. Over at the Walrus I wrote about the history of Canadian cartooning: thewalrus.ca/how-to-make-it…
6. On the CIA and rock music: thenation.com/article/cultur…
7. My review of the HBO series The Plot Against America takes up some of the themes of my Hofstadter piece in a different form: thenation.com/article/cultur…
8. Finally, for the holiday season, I defend Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer against the censoring impulses of the radical centrists at the Atlantic: thenation.com/article/cultur…

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More from @HeerJeet

Jeet Heer Profile picture
18 Dec
1. There's a lot of commentary on Mank which re-litigates the old authorship dispute of Mankiewicz versus Welles, which I think is a disservice to both the film & to larger story of the making of Citizen Kane.
2. Screenwriter versus director, Mank versus Welles is a tired debate because like almost every film aside from Brakage-style independent movies all film is collaborative (and Brakage, to be frank, had a lot of help from his family!).
3. On the Mank/Welles credit, I think @tnyfrontrow is judicious: “Mankiewicz’s work was fundamental, and Welles’s revisions were transformative.” But of course the film was also made by more than just the writer & director: there's the whole rest of the crew.
Read 5 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
10 Dec
If the Democrats were a serious political party aiming at power (instead of a job program for insiders), they would think about how Feinstein's hug of Lindsey Graham hurt them with down ballot voters.
A serious political party that aims to govern always puts the interest of the party ahead of individuals: they retire the old and recruit the young. When a member doesn't serve the party, they get booted. Look at what the Tories did to Thatcher.
It's amazing to think that in the years when the GOP consolidated a super-majority in the Supreme Court through ruthless gaming of the system, the Democratic leader on judicial issues was someone who, for sake of her own health, should have retired.
Read 5 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
9 Dec
1. So lots of nomination fights are gearing up (Tanden, Austin) and also DC swamp is taking the hardline position that questioning appointment of corporate insiders is unfair smear (as in this Wash Post editorial).
2. In a familiar cynical move the Biden people are using identity politics to defend filling an administration with corporate bigwigs and their allies -- CEOs are a minority that deserve representation!
3. Some of these nomination fights are complicated. Lot be said against Tanden & Austin, but it's also the case that likely alternatives are worse (more likely to do austerity or more hawkish).
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
7 Dec
1. A significant chunk of partisans always refuse to accept election results (as with Dems in 2004 & 2012 & GOP in 2008 & 2012) but 2020 is different in scale: a majority of GOP elected officials & voters are in complete denial. Obviously Trump is a big factor but not only one
2. This @DouthatNYT column is a very thoughtful attempt to do an ethnography of new conspiracy theorists, dividing them into normies following elite partisan signalling, reflexive contrarians & the newly radicalized by Covid: nytimes.com/2020/12/05/opi…
3. It's the newly radicalized that is most interesting. Douthat is right to note that Covid has been hugely disruptive & has opened people up to extremist politics. You see that also with QAnon surge.
Read 8 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
5 Dec
In terms of actual criminal justice reform & police reform measures, what counts is local elections. That's where power is. And reformers have been winning big -- in fact much better at winning local elections than mainstream Dems have of late.
On reason I get annoyed at people lecturing criminal justice reform & police reform movements on electoral politics is that these movements have been playing the electoral politics game very well where it counts: in local elections.
The other area where criminal justice reform people have been very good at politics is actually getting buy-in from some Republicans. Crucial in a polarized democracy. Again, the movement people are better it this than the so-called pragmatists.
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
4 Dec
1. Do you want to commit a perfect crime? Here's one tactic: you take a natural catastrophe like the pandemic & use it as a cover for a destructive act: i.e. the media giants are currently using Covid as an excuse to kill theatrical moving going.
2. Media giants like Disney, Warner & Netflix clearly want streaming to become the dominant mode of experiencing movies, with theater-going reduced to being one subsidiary "platform" among many. There's also the hope of replacing movie chains with new studio run chains.
3. The war on movie theaters is being conducted on many fronts. There's also Disney making life hard for rep theaters by not allowing them access to its vast catalogue (which now includes Fox). The goal is to squeeze out alternative venues.
Read 6 tweets

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