June 25, 2018
- Second Thoughts About #MeToo — Mary Eberstadt
- The Lion of South London — James Campbell
- The IT Guy and Wasserman Schultz — Jenna Lifhits
This issue examined the growing culture of social conformity and moral policing in contemporary America. Kevin D. Williamson's cover story analyzed how the social-media generation had become obsessed with status and enforcing ideological purity, while Mary Eberstadt offered second thoughts about the #MeToo movement and its relationship to the broader sexual revolution. The issue also featured James Campbell's profile of author Lionel Shriver, who resists pressure to write morally sanitized fiction, reflecting broader tensions over free expression and cultural authority.
Articles in the Archive — 26
Liberals Want to ‘Decommodify’ Labor. That’s a Terrible Idea.
The world needs more of it, not less.
As the E.U. Weakens
The nation-state reconsidered.
How Lionel Shriver Stays Serious in a Time of Absurdity
Lionel Shriver does not want to write books in which people only say the right thing. She is pushing back against prudence.
Watch What You Say. Someone Else Is.
How the social justice mob decides who goes down, and who doesn't.
The Summit of Our Fears
The June 12 meeting in Singapore between Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong‑un has generated a bewildering array of responses from observers around the world. These responses do not fall along predictable ideological lines. Back and forth across the ideological span, we find…
The Pimp and the Primary
“He found the way and I jumped on it.”
The Struggle to Drain the Swamp Will Never Cease
President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 in part on a pledge to “drain the swamp,” to eliminate the corruption that many Americans have come to believe dominates our politics. Here, Hillary Clinton served as a perfect foil, a stand-in for all the politicians who have gone to Washington to do good…
The Assassination Conspiracy Theories That Just Won’t Die
One of the pleasant surprises of this movie season has been Chappaquiddick, an account of the famous episode from 1969 in which Mary Jo Kopechne was left to drown in a car driven into a pond, and abandoned, by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. It’s not a perfect film by any means; but Kennedy is treated not…
Italy Schools France on Immigration
Last week, France’s youthful and dapper president Emmanuel Macron swaggered into a battle of wits with the inexperienced and much-mocked lugnuts who run Italy’s new populist government. Macron was humiliated. That very same Italian populist government, meanwhile, threw down a gauntlet before half a…
Trump Does It His Way
In February, then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson was informed by a North Korean envoy that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un wanted to meet with President Trump. Tillerson favored accepting the invitation quickly. Trump didn’t.
Will Republicans Stand Up to Trump on Tariffs?
Congress could in theory have a greater say on tariffs. Don’t hold your breath.
Making Sense of the Strange Case of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s IT Guy
Allegations of fraud, theft, bigamy, and violence surround Imran Awan.
MeToo Is a Direct Result of the Sexual Revolution
Second thoughts about the sexual revolution.
Signs of Decline?
From crumbling infrastructure to broken meritocracy, Steven Brill sees problems everywhere.
Principles, Parties, and Polarization
James Bowman on the decisions that led to today’s heightened partisanship.
From Ironic to Iconic
Christopher Atamian on how Takashi Murakami unites kitsch, mockery, and tradition.
Understanding the‘Beautiful Game’
It’s World Cup time again. Alan Jacobs on the logic of the world’s most popular sport.
Ragtime to Riches
How the YouTube powerhouse Postmodern Jukebox arose from one pianist’s knack for covering recent songs in vintage styles.
Ocean’s 8: Heist in Heels
All-woman crew boosts bling in latest ‘Ocean’s’ caper—reviewed by John Podhoretz.
Only in ’Merica
While much of America learned this week that Washington, D.C., has a professional hockey team, The Scrapbook was reminded that San Diego still has a Major League Baseball team. At the Braves-Padres game at Petco Park, caught on video that quickly became social-media famous, Braves outfielder Ender…
Sources Close to the Reporter
There was gnashing of teeth last week when it emerged that the Trump administration had seized the emails and phone records of New York Times national security reporter Ali Watkins in an investigation of former Senate Intelligence Committee aide James A. Wolfe. Wolfe had been leaking like a busted…
For Sale: Local Journalism, Like New
Far be it from The Scrapbook to judge the philanthropic impulses of the extremely wealthy, but the recent announcement of a $20 million gift to the City University of New York struck us as a bit rich. The money, which will fund the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, was the gift of Craig Newmark,…
#MeThree
We’ve read some dumb and substandard political pieces in our day—we may even have generated some—but a June 10 piece in the Washington Post is a strong contender for Dumbest Op-Ed Ever Written. The article, by Suzanna Danuta Walters—according to her byline a “professor of sociology and director of…
The (Unruly) Streets of San Francisco
Things have gotten bad in California. So bad, in fact, as the New York Times recently reported, that some not insignificant number of San Franciscans are actually thinking of . . . voting Republican. The streets are filthy, crime is on the uptick, and government services are in decline. Add to that…
Anthony Bourdain, 1956-2018
Any assessment of Anthony Bourdain’s life, his suicide notwithstanding, is likely to be tinged with jealousy. We suppose someone had to get paid to be a world traveler and bon vivant, but did Bourdain have to be so good at it? At a minimum, few people have a constitution that can alternately…
Wonder Years
Christine Rosen remembers the '80s.