Reasoning with a tiger

Keith Preston

1 year ago

Week XVII, MMXXV

“When you talk to people in America, on both the left and the right, they’ll often say that things were better in the past. They’ll romanticize the times when America had two or three broadcast networks. People trusted news presenters like Walter Cronkite, even though I’m not sure Cronkite was that much more impartial in his editorial judgments than today’s journalists. But when you only had a few channels, it felt like you could stay on top of things. Today, there’s so much commentary that people can’t keep up with it. And that’s changed Americans’ sense of how to navigate their news environment: Now they tend to think it’s smart to be skeptical of everything—the opposite of trusting. They’ll often say people who trust the news are naïve and easily manipulated. And to some degree, that may be true. But it’s also true that trust is really useful.”

—Benjamin Toff, ‘Trust nexus’

The Signal is your loyal guide to a fast-changing world. … This week, in the member’s despatch:

DEVELOPMENTS

The U.S. talks peace as Russia presses war in Ukraine. The global trade-war era continues—in strange directions. & Border fighting between India and Pakistan follows a mass murder in Kashmir.

+ Pope Francis’s funeral. A new shot at peace in the Congo. & A gladiator falls to a lion in Britannia.

CONNECTIONS

Can Europe finally defend itself?

FEATURES

Why are so many Americans so suspicious of the news media? Benjamin Toff on news consumption, social media, and partisan polarization.

& Why is collaboration intensifying among the world’s most powerful autocracies? Lucan Way on what unites and divides China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

BOOKS

From James M. O’Toole, on the decline of confession among American Catholics, Natalie Kerr x Jamie Kurtz, on the contemporary “epidemic of loneliness,” and Michael J. Glennon, on the role of unelected bureaucrats in running U.S. national security.

MUSIC

From Josi Devil, Deradoorian, and Pizzicato Five.

+ What’s Shibuya-kei?

WEATHER REPORT

44.6509° N, 63.5923° W …

Open

S.B. Bandara

‘Twiggy, Twiggy’

In the early 1990s, trip-hop and downtempo were dominant Western sounds, but a very different sound came from the Far East—specifically Japan. Pizzicato Five was one of the formative groups making what came to be known as the Shibuya-kei style of pop music. Rich with signifiers of the Swinging ‘60s, and a giddy sampling touch.

What’s Shibuya-kei?

From the member’s despatch …

Become a member to access all articles, the full archive, + the weekly member’s despatch—with deep dives on key questions, vital debates, new music, and more … and become part of a growing network dedicated to helping people think for themselves in the world.

Join now

Members play a crucial role in backing our mission to develop a new genre of independent current-affairs coverage—for less than one fine cup of coffee every couple of weeks. Support The Signal.

This email address is unmonitored.

Please send questions or comments here.

Interested in getting your teams or students

access to The Signal? Please be in touch.

Find us on Linkedin, Instagram, Bluesky, or X..

Add us to your address book.

Unsubscribe here.

Attack the System