"Może Jak Piszę Po Polsku To Będzie Wyglądać Głęboko" Edition

Hello,

Obligatory shilling. I wrote for the July edition of the Spectator World about energy drinks, marketing and Satan.

I wrote a short piece for UnHerd about the life and death of John McAfee.

I have a piece about Michel Houellebecq in the July edition of The Critic. I'm sure it will be online soon but I recommend the magazine.

Finally, I wrote for my paying subscribers about running.

The discourse. More than a hundred and fifty Americans appear to have died after a building collapsed in Florida. For such an appalling tragedy, it has not made much of a splash online. Some have blamed the media for insufficient coverage but I suspect that Matt Yglesias is right that it is being covered properly. We just think it is not because it is not being discussed on social media. Why? Because there is no reason to argue about it. Feminism? Black Lives Matter? Cancel culture? Here we have extremely different and emotionally charged perspectives. Building regulations? Not so much. Of course, all of those issues are important. But it is also important to remember the issues that are less inflammatory - at least if we do not want our buildings to collapse.

The Teacher. Dan Hodges writes about how a British teacher and his family were forced into hiding after he showed his students a picture of Muhammad, and nobody cares:

It's why he can now only be known as The Teacher. To use his real name would put him and his family in danger.

The banjo player. I have said mean things about the banjo-heavy stylings of Britain's nu-folk but I admire Winston Marshall of Mumford and Sons' decision to leave a lucrative, glamorous gig behind rather than feel like he cannot express his views. It's a sacrifice few would make.

Baby factories. The Daily Mail reports on the hideous conditions of the Ukrainian “baby factories” from which people obtain surrogate kids. I sympathise with people who want children but cannot have them. It must be a tough situation to be in. But the marketisation of parenting is still a dark and dangerous trend.

The haranguing figure. Antonio García Martínez addresses his cancellation:

When Apple launched the Macintosh computer in 1984, they famously ran a Super Bowl ad that featured a solitary figure flinging a sledgehammer into a Big-Brother-like face spewing propaganda at the huddled ranks of some drab dystopia. The tech titans nowadays resemble more and more the haranguing figure on the screen than the colorful rebel going against the established order.

Matters of life and death. Bridget Phetasy writes movingly about a cancer scare.

Krzysztof Kieślowski. The great Polish film director would have been 80 yesterday. Do yourself a favour and watch Dekalog and Three Colours if you have not already.

Have a lovely week,

Ben