reflections on costs - the cost of humanity, energy, and dignity

#5SmartReads - November 19, 2024

#5SmartReads is a Webby-honored weekly news digest that amplifies underreported news and underrepresented perspectives. My goal is to help you stay informed without being overwhelmed, and to embrace nuance and reflection over picking a side.

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How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world (The Guardian)

This piece is, without a doubt, the most useful article I’ve read in the wake of the election.

It’s a mix of specific tactics (spend less time online, ramp up your digital security measures), hard lessons to stomach, and how to stand in your truth (both privately and publicly).

If you’re wondering what makes this article different from the countless others that have populated the Internet over the past two weeks, it’s because

Carole Cadwalladr

has survived her own personal war with the brioligarchy. She helped expose the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, malpractice and illicit funding within the pro-Brexit campaign, and Russia’s increasing influence in western democracy. She has also survived a libel case filed by Arron Banks (one of the major donors of Leave.EU campaign), which her lawyers are seeking to appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.

Cadwalladr has been sounding the alarm bells of authoritarianism for years now, and I’ll admit that I didn’t take her warnings as seriously as I wish I had (hindsight, man).

I am heeding every word of this piece, especially these:

“Throw up the Kool-Aid. You drank it. That’s OK. We all did. But now is the time to stick your fingers down your throat and get that sick tech bro poison out of your system. Phones were – still are – a magic portal into a psychedelic fun house of possibility. They’re also tracking and surveilling you even as you sleep while a Silicon Valley edgelord plots ways to tear up the federal government.”

How I’m doing it: reading more physical books, doing jigsaw puzzles, writing longhand first before typing things up, and daily walks (the lack of rain for over a month is deeply disturbing, but I’m trying to make the most of it).

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The Modern WAG Is Changing the Face of American Sports (Glamour)

When I am online, it’s usually to indulge/analyze one of my nerdy obsessions of the moment.

WAG culture has long been one of these obsessions, from watching Jemima Khan sit pitch side at cricket matches, or Brooke Shields and Bridgette Wilson sitting courtside to watch Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras (and often each other).

Subcultures centered on women rarely get the thoughtful analysis or respect they deserve, and WAGs are no different. But when you consider the breadth of WAGs (from supportive partners-turned-content creators, fellow athletes, and superstar-athlete partnerships) and their own financial impact (both in their relationships and at a macroeconomic level), a package like this one is overdue.

Stephanie McNeal

spearheaded WAG Week at Glamour, and I am thoroughly enjoying every interview (Ayan Broomfield, the woman you are) and behind the scenes story (pregaming with the Chiefs WAGs is as fun as you’d imagine).

I’m humbly requesting for some of my personal favorite WAGs to be featured in the next WAG Week - Anushka Sharma (actress and wife of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli), Bry Burrows (IBM AI partner and Jalen Hurts’ fiancée), and Nicole Lynn (Jalen Hurts’ agent and wife of CU coach Gabe Lynn).

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#5SmartReads is all about helping you feel smarter this week. If you want to feel better but feel overwhelmed on what to do, check out this month’s plan (mindfulness practices, workouts, meals, and more):

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