Five Memes That Deserve to Die

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My latest for the magazine is online now, and it’s a pre-election piece called “Five Memes That Deserve to Die.” That’s the subhead, anyway. The real headline is “Invasion of the Brain-Devouring Platitudes,” which goes better with the conceit of our horror movie cover featuring Sarah Palin as a 50-foot woman. (Explained here.) Basically, it’s a collection of five memes about the election that I’m pretty sure are wrongheaded regardless of how things turn out next Tuesday. Which is convenient, since I don’t know how things are going to turn out next Tuesday.

As it happens, I wasn’t very happy with how the piece turned out. But I’ve always wondered what the journalistic etiquette is for that kind of thing. Go ahead and admit it? Or just promo it as usual? I’m not sure. Besides, I read through it again this morning and it didn’t seem all that bad after all. So maybe I was just in a cranky mood the week I wrote it. I’m sure you’ll all let me know in comments.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

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