This influence always went far beyond our ability to impose our will. It’s strongest where no coercion is involved. Our culture has a pervasive reach beyond anything the British Empire or Soviet internationalism or the French mission civilisatrice achieved—this in spite of Americans’ unwillingness to live abroad. Gilbert and Sullivan did not catch

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We don't have an authentic culture anymore.

From the day we're born we're inundated with commercials from bigger and bigger corporations telling us what we need to be happy

And these recommendations are always what will make them richer, not make society richer.

In this frivolous new world, everything must be pleasing and inoffensive. Everything and everybody gets marketed like an exciting new product—even old, creepy politicians, or ancient film actors, or 80-year-old rock stars.

They all get repackaged and rebranded—thank the digital gods for those apps that make old stuff look new! Everything is now eas... See more

In the summer of 1989, as it became clear the United States and its allies had won the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama wrote an essay titled ‘The End of History?’ for the National Interest. Its core proposition was provocative yet simple, with the little-known academic asserting that the collapse of the Soviet Union was of greater importance than simply

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