The Week in Review
Bring in the Technoserfs
My colleague Patrick Moran performed a public service by pushing the neologism "technoserf" into the Catholic consciousness:
[M]odern man is neither rich nor poor, neither a lord nor a hermit. He is both; he is neither. He is a Technoserf.
The concept is this: Modern man doesn't own anything.
I plow this digital field called "TDE," and I even pay annual rent to own it and the domain name, but I don't own it. My leasehold is more solid than the shmoes on social media who have had the experience of getting the rug ripped out from under them, leading to a back flop that'd make the most buffoonish Elmer Fudd look dignified, but ultimately: I don't own it. And somewhere deep in the bowels of my Ghost platform user agreement, I'm sure there's a clause that says, "We can decapitate you, with or without cause, with or without notice, with or without a f___ you."
That's what earlier digital commentators like Cory Doctorow meant by "technoserf." We work the fields, but the best crops--our data and biometrics and souls--belong to the tech companies.
Moran expands the term to all of modern life: our hold on everything is shallow and tenuous. We have Facebook friends, not real friends. We have a house with a massive mortgage and high property taxes that can force us into foreclosure. We don't even have our time anymore: our tech overlords have trapped us into feeling we have no time to spare even though we're TikTokking and Instagramming 10+ hours a week.
Crisis Editor
History of Post-WWII Conservatism
I've spent more time reading about this subject than a pervert spends watching porn. George Nash's masterpiece remains essential reading, and if you're Catholic, Patrick Allitt's book is great.
But if you don't want to drop coin and about 20 hours of your life, the current "Reason" podcast is very good and fair to all parties: Kirk, Bozell, Meyer. It's so good, I've added Stephanie Slade's new book to my wishlist.
Nick Gillespie and Stephanie Slade
I Gotta Touch on Clancy
If only to point you to Nellie Bowles' humor on the horror (it's at the beginning of the essay, so you should be able to read her treatment without a FP subscription):
Nellie Bowles
In a related segment, Bowles urges us to bring back insane asylums. Amen to that. I think I'm going to sell t-shirts with that slogan. (Dang, someone beat me to it.)
What I didn't realize is that the duo-knife-wielding nutjob in Times Square was also suffering from postpartum depression, even though she had last given birth 20 years earlier. Bowles:
Once postpartum, always postpartum, which is technically true.
That's it for this week. A power outage and other agents of disarray sidetracked me and this is all I can muster. Have a great upcoming week and . . .