As a former subscriber, let me tell Jeffrey Goldberg where The Atlantic lost its way. Here is a cover from the Atlantic from 2014 back when they wrote interesting stories:
I remember this story so distinctly as it described scheduled play dates and helicopter parents, and the long-term effects of children dependent upon their parents for socializing and conflict-resolution. It's the kind of story that appeals to a wide audience, relevant, measured, and topical.
Then Trump won the Presidency and The Atlantic went full retard. Here are just a handful of cover stories they featured:
"The Trump Presidency: A Damage Report"
"How American Politics Went Insane"
"Can Satire Save the Republic?" (with an Alec Baldwin cover)
"How to Build an Autocracy"
"Is Democracy Dying?"
"How to Destroy a Government"
and, of course: "Impeach."
Those were just the covers, but every issue had the same drumbeat that never changed. Even if you agreed with the magazine, it was a crushingly monotonous bore.
2 comments:
Not that it matters, but this blog post from nearly 15 years ago describes why I gave up on the Atlantic.
I liked Iowahawk's tweet: "I'm no Henry Luce, but I think I could operate a magazine full of B+ Oberlin term papers for less than $50 million per year"
I used to subscribe to Harper's magazine and they did the SAME thing: great essays and articles were supplanted by nothing but Orange Man Bad.
Now there's another magazine on life support.
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