Jan 5, 2017A résumé filled with grievous errors in the period 1996–2006 is not only a non-problem for further advances in the world of consensus; it is something of a prerequisite.
↩︎ The Baffler
Failing upwards—the ultimate white privilege.
- In Silicon Valley, white dudes with money encourage other white men to fail, fail away—and all but instruct others to get the hell out of town. Updated Jan 5, 2017 ago
- No matter her recent accoutrements, let's remember Megyn Kelly's race-baiting tactics.
- Tina Brown's career shows how rich New Yorkers and Londoners fail upwards differently.
Jan 5, 2017For people like me, failure is not being able to raise $100,000, and then when I go to angel investors seeking funding, they ask me if I’ve raised any money. It’s like I’ve already failed because of the color of my skin and not having my own networks to provide resources.
↩︎ The New York Times
Jan 5, 2017I don’t want Tina Brown to top herself, but it would be nice if she was just a teensy weensy bit deflated by the sheer scale of her magazines’ losses.
↩︎ The Spectator
Top-level hiring decisions favor those who've been tested, even if their performance was crap
People associate failing upwards with public-facing jobs (athlete, CEO, movie star). This is less due to their actual job performance—though that obviously is an aspect—than the skittishness of those who hire them around taking any kind of risk on someone untested (even if they'd likely be better than someone who's mediocre but comes with experience).
This explanation, obviously, implicitly favors the white, the male, the straight, the wealthy.
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.