Alan Jacobs

Richard D. Kahlenberg: “Harvard picks classes that look like today’s racially diverse America; indeed, most undergraduates are students of color. But the school does not actually reflect America. Research by the economist Raj Chetty shows that Harvard has 15 times as many students from the richest fifth of the population as the poorest fifth.” Freddie deBoer has been great on this for a long time; see e.g. this fiery post.

Ross Douthat putting the necessary question:

As I argued in my inaugural newsletter last week, in general you need liberalism plus some overarching vision to sustain solidarity, energy and hope. And you definitely need the “plus” to fully resolve questions like, “Is abortion a form of murder or a fundamental right?” or “Is it child abuse to give teenagers puberty blockers or child abuse to refuse them?”

So what preserves a liberal order when there’s no such common vision, just the crumbled remains of one, with increasingly incommensurate visions of the good and true competing in the rubble?

Every time Matt Yglesias bangs the one billion Americans drum, I have the same question: Where will the necessary water come from?

I am neither Greek nor Chinese nor a philosopher, but I do often try to go back to the beginning.

My buddy Austin Kleon tried to ask a question about “merch” but for once autocorrect imposed the right question: “What do people use for mercy these days?”

Riccardo Mori: “I actually quite like most of what Apple is doing with the Mac, hardware-wise. The problem is I just can’t stand the software anymore.” I’m close to this point. It’s werid to see Apple’s hardware ascending great heights while the software tumbles into incoherence.