Today, Explained

Would love to hear readership addressed. Are more women or men reading today? An increase in readers of color? The episode discussed readership as a zero sum game which it is not.

Usually this podcast does a great job cramming context and analysis into a short episode but today’s made me say “are you joking?” out loud. The guest was asked to address why many people today don’t see nuclear attacks by foreign adversaries on US ground as as big of a threat as the older generation of politicians, musing that gen X didn’t want to raise a generation of kids as scared as they were, hiding under desks and “always thinking about death.” This is embarrassing analysis for a normally strong show. Millennials DID have to grow up thinking about death, we’ve been having active shooter drills since middle school. Gen Z and younger have been having active shooter drills since preschool. Kids didn’t get to stop “always thinking about death.” They just were forced to face that the real threat is coming from inside the dome.

The blatant vicious misogyny of the conversation around the football coach & his girlfriend - even from lefty NYT types - has been driving me up the wall. 5 stars for taking this on!!!

This episode had a fairly large hole in its lack of discussion around the economic pressures young people are under and the resurgence of religion. Capitalism has failed us, and in a world where our value seems directly connected to the wealth we can create for others—where we are consuming or serving but never owning, never having—religion starts to make sense. We have to look at economic insecurity, lack of well paying jobs, unaffordable housing, no healthcare, etc. We are told by religious leaders, political leaders and the media that this is the only system available and that our suffering is unstoppable so of course we turn to mysticism. If we were doing the good work of reconstructing the country towards the good of everyone, the belief in ourselves and the human practice of caring for eachother would override the need for a god.