Fads are nothing new, but an online-first culture has made raw trendiness the primary cultural value, which is moving the base of cultural production away from the U.S. Amanda Mull, Bloomberg: The Social Media Machine is Spitting Out Weirder and Weirder Results Mull’s article is a solid primer| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The defenses of pop singer Ashlee Simpson after her 2004 lip-syncing scandal set in motion the 21st century’s core belief that the best pop culture is often the most openly manufactured Recently I got into a Bluesky spat with Jody Rosen, former Slate music critic and author of Two| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Finally, here is a proposed revision to the ideology of inclusive cultural criticism that builds upon the poptimist critique while correcting its excesses. IN REVIEW: Part One and Part Two outlined how aesthetic experiences are a social good, and humans need a constant refresh of novel and complex stimuli for| Culture: An Owner's Manual
A healthy cultural ecosystem provides the maximum number of artistic works that are useful and stimulating to the widest range of people. In the second part of this three-part series, we look at how aesthetic experiences arise from the introduction of novel and complex stimuli, and how a diverse ecosystem| Culture: An Owner's Manual