"Indeed, the past decade has been a reminder that democracy has no essence or shape; it is simply open society and its consequences...that democracy tilts inexorably toward liberalism was always to misunderstand its defining feature." - Zac Gershberg & @sean-d-illing.bsky.social

Legacy media has descended into irrelevance for a hundred reasons but certainly one reason is how predictably banal and unthinking they are and it’s so excruciating to watch that millions would prefer to listen to any primate on a podcast if they appear even mildly authentic

Take the wheel Jesus

I would simply not interview someone if a condition of that interview was rhetorical fellatio on live television

JD Vance is so far gone that he doesn’t know who JD Vance is anymore. There’s nothing at the ground level. Just complete nihilistic opportunism where, presumably, an actual person with principles once existed.

It’s such a tired point but it can’t be said enough that if a Democratic president was even a fraction of this insane in public the entire Republican Party would spontaneously combust in horror

The Dear Leader achieved 11 holes-in-one in a single 18 hole round in his first-ever game of golf

Just heard Samir Chopra discuss this book with @sean-d-illing.bsky.social on The Grey Area and it made me want to get it.

Having a president who is self-evidently full of shit continues to be a problem

I enjoyed this conversation by @sean-d-illing.bsky.social with @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social — one of the few journalists who truly understands the current threat of the far right.

Hanna Pickard, author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine?, speaks with @sean-d-illing.bsky.social for @vox.com’s The Gray Area podcast about her new book, addiction science, and her new paradigm for addiction:

Every monologue this guy gives sounds like it was written in the locker someone stuffed him in 20 years ago

Listen to Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide, on @vox.com's The Gray Area with @sean-d-illing.bsky.social:

America is the only country capable of producing a creature this stupid and consequential

There’s a part of me that would love to see this only because it would immediately force a huge chunk of the population to step out of hyper reality and stop living in a bullshit political fantasy world

I get that the postmoderns were annoying and unreadable but they were so thoroughly and depressingly correct about our dumb nihilistic future

Is there a coherent strategy behind the attack on Iran or is it being improvised in real time? Listen to The Gray Area with @sean-d-illing.bsky.social on Mondays and Fridays wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube.

Continue to believe that having a president who’s astonishingly full of shit is a major problem

This is my toddler explaining how he preemptively shit his pants in order to avoid shitting his pants in the future

This is a very particular species of gym guy. He loads the rack with significantly more weight than he can properly lift. He compensates for that by doing half-reps. This move directly undercuts his goal, which is to demonstrate his strength to the other primates. Very unfortunate.

Is the "motherhood penalty" finally scaring women away, or are men just seeing family life through a different lens? @sean-d-illing.bsky.social and @annanorth.bsky.social break down why the "lost generation" is suddenly so divided.

I simply cannot express how passionately I dislike these people

The Gray Area with @sean-d-illing.bsky.social is now twice a week. 🎧 On Mondays and Fridays, we explore a question that matters — about democracy, identity, mental health, and the digital age. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/u1drjG

Things having this dual quality of being both relentlessly stupid and deeply alarming is really the hallmark of the Trump era

Hard agree

My latest for @vox.com is a conversation with one of my favorite philosophers, C. Thi Nguyen, where we talk about the gamification of life. It's based on his incredible book, "The Score," which you absolutely check out. www.vox.com/podcasts/479...

I’ve arrived at Bluesky. History continues its strange march.