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The Current Affairs Mindset: Essays on People, Politics, and Culture
A collection of the best essays from Current Affairs magazine. “Current Affairs is an important breath of fresh air. It stands out as by far the most intellectually sophisticated, thought-provoking, and politically astute among organs of left commentary directed toward a popular audience that have appeared in recent decades.” — Adolph Reed, Jr., University of Pennsylvania “Current Affairs is a joke. Whose cred is better? Some no name lefty journal? Or some guy (me) who grew up working class, rural, white trash, and now teaches at Yale?” — John Stoehr, U.S. News & World Report
Featuring the work of: Yasmin Nair, Angela Nagle, Amber A’Lee Frost, Alex Nichols, Felix Biederman, Luke Savage, Briahna Joy Gray, and others...
Featuring the work of: Yasmin Nair, Angela Nagle, Amber A’Lee Frost, Alex Nichols, Felix Biederman, Luke Savage, Briahna Joy Gray, and others...
- GenresPoliticsNonfictionEssays
260 pages, Paperback
Published August 11, 2017
327 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 6, 2018
In 2017, the New York Times ran a piece on conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, in which writer Sabrina Tavernise dubbed him the “cool kids’ philosopher”. The article was a paragon of everything wrong with media: both the right-wing in its platforming of the aptly initialed Shapiro, and the mainstream liberal media for attempting to show its “both-sides” attitude via the Breitbart-alumnus. Shapiro is at his core, far from a philosopher; though I would bet he’s read a bit of Schopenhauer’s obnoxious and ironic work on debate. Schopenhauer’s work—along with Socrates’—are very much loved by online trolls (Whitney Phillips, “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” ch. 7). I mention this not as a non-sequitur, but it’s the best description of Shapiro there is: an online troll that stepped into IRL. The sophomoric fellow wins his fights through a few simple tricks anyone could master if they were sociopathic enough: speak calmly, but say something ruthlessly offensive. Be sure to repeat over and over that you are simply being logical. When your “opponent”, presumably someone with feelings, breaks down at your combined BS and rudeness (I forgot, talk really fast too!), you have won by virtue of retaining composure. Shapiro (anyone, really) is able to appear as if he is winning debates with horribly bigoted and fallacious arguments, as long as he says “facts don’t care about your feelings” enough times. The arguments don’t actually make sense and he’s clearly just someone who only stayed awake at school for debate club. Despite all that and his raging transphobia, his unwillingness to regard Palestinians as human beings, and his wry advocation for the Native American genocide, it’s unsurprising that he’s considered a bright light and an up-and-comer in the conservative community. More of a mystery is how did it fool the "liberal" paper of record?
I first heard of Current Affairs through its founder and editor-and-chief, Nathan J Robinson, on lefty-podcast The Michael Brooks Show (shout-out) discussing this article and his response: a searing polemic aptly-titled “The Cool Kids’ Philosopher”. His (largely fake) British accent articulated what is so well missing from much of left-wing media: actual ideological, moral, and factual pushback. We have fact-checks and all that humdrum stuff, especially for select pundits and politicians, but Robinson was talking about for the kooky guys like Shapiro that garner large followings. It’s just kind of assumed by the left when they are not being written about with praise. But the polemics in Current Affairs are not raw numbers checking; they are creatively constructed takedowns. They are stylistically wonderful, witty, and most importantly: they offer an alternative vision. Current Affairs is usually fairly good about presenting ideas in an honest way before dismembering them, and that is what makes them truly impressive. This is especially present in more recent Current Affairs hits that are longer.
If anyone is a “cool kids’ philosopher,” it’s probably not the impish Shapiro, perpetually whining about social justice warriors and marginalized people not being marginalized enough. Rather, I might venture to say it’s Robinson. He’s a sharp as a whip, loves jazz and cravats, and actually makes coherent arguments. If you don’t believe me, he has a blurb from Noam Chomsky himself on his follow-up book of essays, which I must say, gives me a secondhand case of the vapors. Will he get a write up in the Times or the Post? Unlikely. Although he did get a hit in the Ringer, and it’s worth checking out.
“The Current Affairs Mindset” is a collection of essays from the magazine, which remain really good without the surrounding beautification. The Ben Shapiro polemic isn’t here, that’s in “Interesting Times,” that aforementioned collection of Robinson’s essays alone (sorry for the tease, but it is worth noting that they are all available for free online). Despite the lack of Shapiro bashing content, there are some really excellent ones contained in this collection. Among the best are “Slavery is Everywhere,” a morose reminder of the horrors we don’t think about, “At the Border,” editor Brianna Rennix’s chronicle of her experience working with asylum applicants at the border, and “Pretending it Isn’t There,” a morose reminder of the horrors we don’t think about (yes, but this one is about nuclear holocausts, and it’s actually gorgeous). Later on, we get to “Why Liberals Fell in Love with the West Wing,” Canadian Luke Savage’s screed on the popular Aaron Sorkin political thriller. I imagine the Ben Shapiro profile is a decent example of this, the obsession with style over substance. Or possibly the elevation of objectivity over objective reality. In fact, Current Affairs makes the critique of American liberalism a fixture of its mission in a time when we are seeing real dents in its armor. Wise or unwise, it’s wonderfully well done and usually on point. One thing it’s not always is gentle. Fireballs are lobbed at many of the prevailing mythologies, ideologies, and cultural artifacts of the country (likely even some that you subscribe to; I know that I had to confront many topics this way). They burn down figures both repulsive (rapist and right wing grifter Mike Cernovich) and affable (President Barack Obama). Even while pillaging your heroes, it manages to remain free of complete cynicism. The moral prescriptions are there to be harnessed. It doesn’t exist only to knock down what others have built. Like the better part of the left, there is actually a vision involved, it just might require more than one “great man” on a Herculean quest to save the planet alone. The other important thing that the publication does very well, though, is making even topics you think have little interest in great reads. A TV review of Star Trek that appeared in one of the issues (not in the book) is somehow immensely entertaining and relevant to me, as someone whom has never watched an episode of any of the series’ (but now is kind of interested). Similar to that of the West Wing article. I’ve never seen it and likely never will, but the tie-in to real-life made it relevant for anyone.
My pitiful writing couldn't do it justice, so I'll just close by saying that this small publication is something special. It's a treat to receive an issue of Current Affairs, for it elicits a certain excitement I just don’t get from my other magazines. I will save extra words for when I write about Robinson’s solo collection, but for now rest assured between the magazine, podcast, and books, Current Affairs will continue hoovering up my cash and I'll have zero qualms about it.
I first heard of Current Affairs through its founder and editor-and-chief, Nathan J Robinson, on lefty-podcast The Michael Brooks Show (shout-out) discussing this article and his response: a searing polemic aptly-titled “The Cool Kids’ Philosopher”. His (largely fake) British accent articulated what is so well missing from much of left-wing media: actual ideological, moral, and factual pushback. We have fact-checks and all that humdrum stuff, especially for select pundits and politicians, but Robinson was talking about for the kooky guys like Shapiro that garner large followings. It’s just kind of assumed by the left when they are not being written about with praise. But the polemics in Current Affairs are not raw numbers checking; they are creatively constructed takedowns. They are stylistically wonderful, witty, and most importantly: they offer an alternative vision. Current Affairs is usually fairly good about presenting ideas in an honest way before dismembering them, and that is what makes them truly impressive. This is especially present in more recent Current Affairs hits that are longer.
If anyone is a “cool kids’ philosopher,” it’s probably not the impish Shapiro, perpetually whining about social justice warriors and marginalized people not being marginalized enough. Rather, I might venture to say it’s Robinson. He’s a sharp as a whip, loves jazz and cravats, and actually makes coherent arguments. If you don’t believe me, he has a blurb from Noam Chomsky himself on his follow-up book of essays, which I must say, gives me a secondhand case of the vapors. Will he get a write up in the Times or the Post? Unlikely. Although he did get a hit in the Ringer, and it’s worth checking out.
“The Current Affairs Mindset” is a collection of essays from the magazine, which remain really good without the surrounding beautification. The Ben Shapiro polemic isn’t here, that’s in “Interesting Times,” that aforementioned collection of Robinson’s essays alone (sorry for the tease, but it is worth noting that they are all available for free online). Despite the lack of Shapiro bashing content, there are some really excellent ones contained in this collection. Among the best are “Slavery is Everywhere,” a morose reminder of the horrors we don’t think about, “At the Border,” editor Brianna Rennix’s chronicle of her experience working with asylum applicants at the border, and “Pretending it Isn’t There,” a morose reminder of the horrors we don’t think about (yes, but this one is about nuclear holocausts, and it’s actually gorgeous). Later on, we get to “Why Liberals Fell in Love with the West Wing,” Canadian Luke Savage’s screed on the popular Aaron Sorkin political thriller. I imagine the Ben Shapiro profile is a decent example of this, the obsession with style over substance. Or possibly the elevation of objectivity over objective reality. In fact, Current Affairs makes the critique of American liberalism a fixture of its mission in a time when we are seeing real dents in its armor. Wise or unwise, it’s wonderfully well done and usually on point. One thing it’s not always is gentle. Fireballs are lobbed at many of the prevailing mythologies, ideologies, and cultural artifacts of the country (likely even some that you subscribe to; I know that I had to confront many topics this way). They burn down figures both repulsive (rapist and right wing grifter Mike Cernovich) and affable (President Barack Obama). Even while pillaging your heroes, it manages to remain free of complete cynicism. The moral prescriptions are there to be harnessed. It doesn’t exist only to knock down what others have built. Like the better part of the left, there is actually a vision involved, it just might require more than one “great man” on a Herculean quest to save the planet alone. The other important thing that the publication does very well, though, is making even topics you think have little interest in great reads. A TV review of Star Trek that appeared in one of the issues (not in the book) is somehow immensely entertaining and relevant to me, as someone whom has never watched an episode of any of the series’ (but now is kind of interested). Similar to that of the West Wing article. I’ve never seen it and likely never will, but the tie-in to real-life made it relevant for anyone.
My pitiful writing couldn't do it justice, so I'll just close by saying that this small publication is something special. It's a treat to receive an issue of Current Affairs, for it elicits a certain excitement I just don’t get from my other magazines. I will save extra words for when I write about Robinson’s solo collection, but for now rest assured between the magazine, podcast, and books, Current Affairs will continue hoovering up my cash and I'll have zero qualms about it.
Read
April 21, 2018“The Current Affairs Mindset” is an anthology of leftist, witty, and delightfully scathing critique of the liberals missteps and exposing their flawed thinking in matters of, for example, Hamilton (yes, the musical), Identity, Obama, and “Notorious RBG.” To be sure, the likes of Trump and his ilk are not forgotten and treated with the same unwavering examination. There are also less-obviously pertinent pieces that are well-researched and combined with great humor (e.g. “The necessity of political vulgarity,” “The unendurable horrors of leadership camp” and “Why journalists love twitter”). That said, I sense the common theme for Mindset is a call to liberals and the general left to apply strenuous intellectual and moral honesty to themselves and ideals and get serious and make clear what is important, politically and morally. Overall, despite dealing with otherwise dire topics, the tone of Mindset is hopeful and rather inspiring, reminding readers that the world is indeed fucked-up but we need not resign ourselves just yet. Or, in other words, just say no to nihilism!
September 9, 2018
Five stars for content, four stars for necessity -- any diehard Current Affairs fan will already have read every essay in here, so other than footnotes, it doesn't add anything new.
August 12, 2020
super inspiring, amazing points, incredible writing, some parts inaccessible
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews