I want to make a quick point about the importance of cultural commentary.
It's something we regularly provide at @ArcDigi, so a brief word on it is perhaps in order.
It's something we regularly provide at @ArcDigi, so a brief word on it is perhaps in order.
This sort of work sometimes gets framed as "culture war" writing. That's accurate sometimes. Or accurate in one sense. But not quite right in the main way that word is now seen.
The way many of us—myself included—have come to understand the "Culture War" is as a kind of intellectual failure. As a genre involving the elevation of petty and unremarkable grievances into a privileged place within our discourse.
As I see it, the *good* version of this will involve meaningful reflection on significant cultural issues—especially the ones currently undergoing society-wide discussion, the ones currently being subjected to ongoing negotiation.
Good cultural commentary moves beyond the originating event and trains its evaluative sights on the values operating at the level *underneath* the event. That is, at the value-level *underlying* whatever incident the culture warriors are all up in arms about.
Recently, at @ArcDigi, we used the occasion of the NYT cheerleader/Snapchat video episode as a jumping-off point to delve into important issues that *gave rise* to that incident in the first place.
These are all different takes. We're not interested in publishing the same piece twice. Some directly engage each other; others are standalone pieces.
We don't expect anyone to agree with all four. It's impossible to do so, since some of the claims are mutually exclusive.
We don't expect anyone to agree with all four. It's impossible to do so, since some of the claims are mutually exclusive.
But core to what we do is an expectation we carry with us: it's the idea that if you read what we publish—such as, for example, in this loose series—we think you'll end up with a *better understanding* of these issues than before. That's our goal, anyway.
If you think we're a good thing in the digital commentary ecosystem, please consider supporting us at $5 per month.
I rarely ever post a link to our Patreon. But we could use the support in 2021.
/Fin
patreon.com/ArcDigi
I rarely ever post a link to our Patreon. But we could use the support in 2021.
/Fin
patreon.com/ArcDigi
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
