Culture and Society Op-Ed Articles

Donald Trump’s Brave New World
Nina L. Khrushcheva

Donald Trump’s Brave New World

Nina L. Khrushcheva NOV 15, 2016 35

Nina L. Khrushcheva traces the course of US voters' declining capacity to decipher lived reality from the virtual kind.
Peter Kramer/Getty Images
With the election of Trump, who has named a white supremacist as his chief adviser, America could become a very ugly country. But even if Trump stops short of neo-fascism, voters, so busy sharing fake news on social media, could gradually lose their remaining capacity to distinguish between lived reality and its virtual shadow. READ MORE
The Case for Legalizing Sex Work
Peter Singer

The Case for Legalizing Sex Work

Peter Singer NOV 14, 2016 7

Peter Singer argues that repealing laws criminalizing the industry would reduce harm and boost public welfare.
Paula Bronstein/Stringer
Amnesty International's appeal in May for governments to decriminalize sex work was met with a storm of protest. But most of the opposition reflects moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, not the best interests of sex workers or the public. READ MORE
Populism for the Rich
Ian Buruma

Populism for the Rich

Ian Buruma NOV 4, 2016 30

Ian Buruma discerns in populism an amalgam of mass economic anxiety and the social rage of elite arrivistes.
Daniel Mihailescu/Getty Images
Modern populism is often described as a new class war between the beneficiaries of a globalized world and those who feel left behind. But the newly rich are as important a force in the rise of populism as the poorer and less educated people who feel neglected by the elites. READ MORE
The Populist War on Women
Sławomir Sierakowski

The Populist War on Women

Sławomir Sierakowski OCT 18, 2016 5

Sławomir Sierakowski argues that both Donald Trump and Poland's Jarosław Kaczyński have picked the wrong enemy.
NurPhoto/Getty Images
Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Trump, two politicians who have shocked the world this past year, have mostly gotten away with their outrages. But not anymore: by openly embracing sexism, both have picked the wrong enemy. READ MORE
Bob Dylan and the Literary Idiot Wind
Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bob Dylan and the Literary Idiot Wind

Bernard-Henri Lévy OCT 17, 2016 7

Bernard-Henri Lévy defends the selection of this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The Bard of Hibbing is a poetico-musical revolution in one man and one body of work. It is this tour de force – this prolonged stroke of genius that is forever young – that the Nobel committee has recognized in its selection. READ MORE