Culture is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism (1)
The "culture" of a society isn't a blob of random human activity, but an orderly ecosystem
Paris Hilton: Grace through Monetization
In her ghostwritten memoir, Paris Hilton further emblematizes 21st personhood by gushing about fame and business success while blaming her
"Luxury beliefs" are not real
Rob Henderson coined the term "luxury beliefs" — views that provide status to the upper classes but are costly
No Canon for Old Memes
The Internet culture of the Aughts revolved around lo-fi images and videos. Will they be remembered by coming generations, and
Links on Status and Culture - January 2024
Read to the end for a longer essay critiquing Ted Gioia's idea of Macro vs. Micro cultures that
A 2023 Look-back: the internet dies, etc.
A year when the internet platforms’ erosion became fully depressing, social media creators settled into being a petit bourgeoisie, and
On Taste and Congruence
Making the right choices isn’t enough to have good taste: There also must be harmony between the choices
Hannah
Links on Status and Culture - October 2023
Creator non-revolutions, non-luxurious queuing for luxury goods, non-songs of the summer, and meta-commentary on meta-celebrities
Each month I review the
Ametora: Revised 2023 Edition
Today Basic Books is releasing a revised English version of my first book, Ametora, with an afterword looking at the
They Might Be Giants = the Early Internet
How a single band embodied and dominated online culture in its primordial days, simply because the only people wired in
