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Derek Thompson Profile picture
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9 Oct, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Fascinating article on why the working class might not be as enthusiastic about universal benefits as elite policy ppl hope.

nytimes.com/2021/09/14/opi…

It's one article, based on one report, but it's churning some thoughts I just wanna submit for for public scrutiny.
When I wrote my workism essay, I defined it as a *disproportionately elite* notion that work ought to be the centerpiece of our identity, and life.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Recently there's been a movement to fight workism with, eg, UBI, 4-day workweeks, anti-burnout policies
What if it's the ideology of the anti-workists that's the actually elite ideology?

What if the working class + MC immigrants are way more workist than we (or, I) assumed? And their resistance to universal programs stems from a deep belief that policy SHOULD revolve around work?
I'm asking that question totally naively and ambivalently. I don't know the answer.
But I think there might be a way that UMC knowledge workers, esp in media, think about work that reflects very class-specific anxieties and when we submit those ideas for nat'l feedback, we shouldn't be surprised to confront alternative ways of thinking about the meaning of work.

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More from @DKThomp

Derek Thompson Profile picture
1 Oct
This sounds like “TamiFlu for COVID, but it actually works.”

It would be an absolute game-changer.
Some analysis and caveats from @PeterHotez
So many replies like this. Ugh.

Look, millions of ppl aren't going to get vaxx'd, period, no matter how many articles and pods and tweets we all do about it.

They're gonna get COVID. And I don't want them to die. That's why it would be a game changer!

Read 5 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
30 Sep
There is a fandom faction within both parties that says a lot about their forking paths

Republicans idolize conspiratorial, institution-smashing outsiders, while many Democrats make bobbleheads from bureaucratic heroes, or within-the-system saviors

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
My point isn't that these distinct tastes for political heroes are equivalent, or equally rational.

But there is a difference here that clearly exists, which says something important, I think, about education polarization, trust in institutions, and baseline paranoia re: elites.
I don't think everything is downstream of education polarization, but the GOP Outsider Savior vs. Democratic Insider Hero dynamic definitely is.

If, at a gut level, you just trust advanced-degree leaders of traditional institutions, you're gonna fish in that pond for heroes.
Read 4 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
22 Sep
What's the best argument you've read against the Biden vaccine quasi-mandate?

I'm strongly supportive of the vaccine (obv), lightly supportive of the WH's employer mandate/testing policy, and have now read several unpersuasive-to-me cases against the policy.
States have for decades required immunizations for public education (etc), but suddenly it's The Beginning of Tyranny for the state to make our employment by big firms contingent on vaccination?

That's not v persuasive to me.

"Vaccine mandates will trigger a damaging backlash" is possible, but we don't know for sure. It's a guess.

But we have polling data that clearly identifies a group ppl who say they will get vaccinated if it's required.

Read 6 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
21 Sep
I wrote about a huge new study on remote work—60,000 employees at Microsoft—and what it tells us about the future of knowledge work, productivity, and a trillion-dollar question: What are offices good for, exactly?

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The study—from Berkeley and Microsoft—found that in the pandemic employees talked less to ppl outside their formal teams, while ties within teams ("clustering coefficient") deepened.

nature.com/articles/s4156…

The silos got deeper; the walls got higher.
Cross-group communication at Microsoft seems to have plunged. But it's harder to say that overall productivity at Microsoft has puked.

In its latest earnings report, net income increased by 47%. Since March 2020, the firm has added almost $1 trillion in market cap.
Read 8 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
14 Sep
Social media is attention alcohol.

It has some beneficial qualities, but it's not naturally wholesome. Many ppl use it often and love it and are basically okay. But a lot of people abuse it and develop unhealthy compulsions with it. Also, it's functionally a depressant.
I want to defend "attention alcohol" against most other food/drink metaphors.

Twitter really isn't just Doritos, something tasty with no nutritional value.

Instagram isn't just heroine, a short-term rush of good feels that's destroying your body.
Social media is wine, or whiskey, or beer.

I love Twitter like I love wine or whiskey. These things makes my life better and more interesting. But knowing what alcohol *is* makes me aware of the way my drinking habits fits within a broader knowledge of addiction.
Read 5 tweets
Derek Thompson Profile picture
13 Sep
I wrote about why Americans die so much, from everything—and why that's a policy choice.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

An amazing new study shows the U.S. is doing much worse than other developed countries at performing the most basic function of civilization: keeping people alive.
In the last 30 years, two important things have happened with US lifespans.

1. US longevity fell way behind much of Europe

2. This happened even though the Black-white mortality gap shrunk by half, thanks to strong improvements in Black mortality in high-poverty areas.
1. In the last 30 years, Black infant mortality in the U.S. has improved by a lot

2. But the slope of the red line is still steep, which means Black infants in high-poverty areas have much worse outcomes

3. In Europe, no slope = very little effect of poverty on infant death
Read 8 tweets

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