2020 was a crap year but there was still a lot of good content. Below is my yearly round up.
"War over being nice" by Joseph Gentle
"How Did Americans Lose Faith in Everything?" By Yuval Levin
"The Enemies of Writing" by George Packer
"Unbecoming American" by Johann N. Neem
Best exposition
Nothing about these pieces was exceptionally new or illuminating but they explained the history and context of things like critical theory, classical liberalism, and civilization.
"In America the big liberal shift took place in the mid-1960s. To deal with the legacy of slavery, liberals began to concede that you need to treat the descendants of slaves as members of a group, not only as individuals. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, argued that affirmative action, though a breach of liberal individualism that must eventually be dispensed with, had to stay until there was reasonable equality of opportunity between groups.”“The appeal of critical race theory—or at least its manifestation in popular writing—is partly that it confidently prescribes what should be done to fight injustice...“Liberals have no such simple prescription. They have always struggled with the idea of power as a lens through which to view the world, notes Michael Freeden of Oxford University. They often deny that groups (rather than individuals) can be legitimate political entities. And so liberal responses to critical race theory can seem like conservative apathy, or even denial."
"Liberalism and Its Discontents" by Francis Fukuyama.
A good history of liberalism, humanism, and Enlightenment values. Why they emerged, their flaws, how they've come under threat, and why they should not be abandoned.
"Markets worked more efficiently if individuals were not constrained by obligations to kin and other social networks. But this kind of individualism has always been at odds with the social proclivities of human beings."
"The Chump Effect" by James B. Meigs.
A good perspective on the free rider problem in contemporary society.
"Thousands of norms, rules, and traditions make civilized life possible. Some, like paying taxes or not littering, are enshrined in law. Others are informal. Most of us take pride in adhering to basic standards of etiquette and fairness, to say nothing of following the law. And we have a deep emotional investment in having the people around us follow these norms as well. There’s a reason that we call selfish, disruptive, or criminal behavior “antisocial.” We know that if everyone stopped paying their taxes, or started running red lights and shoplifting, our society would be on its way to collapse."
"Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus.
A fair and honest take on Slate Star Codex, Scott Alexander, and rationalism.
My favorite Slate Star Codex essays (RIP)
Shameless Self Love
My favorite writings from yours truly.
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