Mormonism, Alt-Right, Football, Men, Haste, George Orwell


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How Much Mormonism Has Changed

Reflections of a forty-something Mormon. “I’ve seen the church change dramatically, most obviously the 1978 change to allow full priesthood blessings to be extended to our black brothers and sisters … Even as a teen, I remember the assumption that we would be practicing polygamy again as soon as it was legal. The change from this to the “one man/one woman marriage” doctrine has been a surprise … We still give blessings of healing, but I have the sense that almost everyone goes to the doctor first and gets a blessing after” (1,300 words)

Beyond Alt

Simon van Zuylen et al | New York | 30th April 2017

Collection of articles exploring the history and ideology of America’s “alt-right” counterculture, a Trump-friendly coalition of nationalists, populists, white supremacists and libertarians. “One of the causes for its growth is that there is a growing number of very skilled and rather talented people who are not of the social status that one might anticipate given their levels of education. So they’re very well trained, very well educated, and they have a lot of time on their hands” (12,500 words)

The Future Of Football

Spencer Hall | SB Nation | 1st May 2017

Legal pressure will force American football authorities to reduce the frequency and severity of collisions between players; which means changing the rules, enlarging the field, or shrinking the players. “Everyone at every position has gotten larger over time. If football’s evolution involves mitigating the massive forces exerted on players, require players to bring less mass to the party. Allow teams to have as many people on the field as they like, but limit the total weight to 2400 pounds” (5,800 words)

Where Did All The Men Go?

Nicholas Eberstadt | Milken Review | 28th April 2017

Why have so many American men dropped out of the workforce — far more than in any other rich country? One main factor seems to be mass incarceration. “Regardless of a man’s age, ethnicity or educational attainment, he is much more likely to be out of the workforce if he has served time in prison than if he only has an arrest record — and also much more likely to be out of the labor force if he has an arrest record than if he has never been in trouble with the law” (3,800 words)

Malcolm Gladwell On Speed And Power

Adam Grant | Heleo | 13th April 2017

Some things need to be done quickly. But most things benefit from being done slowly and carefully. “As a writer, my principal observation about why other writers fail is that they are in too much of a hurry. I don’t think you can write a good book in two years. The problem is that the world wants you to be a hare. Your publisher says I want it now, you’re under pressure, you have a one-year sabbatical where you try to cram and finish, you’ve got a teaching load, etc” (3,100 words)

George Orwell’s 1940 Review Of Mein Kampf

George Orwell | Literary Hub | 26th April 2017

“However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. The same is probably true of Stalin’s militarised version of Socialism. All three of the great dictators have enhanced their power by imposing intolerable burdens on their peoples. Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people ‘I offer you a good time,’ Hitler has said to them ‘I offer you struggle, danger and death,’ and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet” (1,050 words)

Video of the day: Paper World

What to expect:

Entrancing paper-cut animation for WWF Hungary (2’38”)

Thought for the day

I would like to understand things better, but I don’t want to understand them perfectly
Douglas Hofstadter

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