Sam Adler-Bell
A Nicely Situated Ideal | On the Public Sphere
Edward Ongweso Jr, Ege Yumuşak, Erik Baker, Ismail Ibrahim, Megan Marz, Noelle Bodick, Sam Adler-Bell, Sarah Brouillette, Tarpley Hitt
When the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas died in mid-March, the contentious debates about his ideas and influence that had stalked his career reappeared in posthumous assessments. Some recognized Habermas’s role in keeping Frankfurt School critical theory alive and defending the values of “democratically organized social life,” as Matt McManus wrote in Jacobin, against reactionaries. Others condemned Habermas’s own rightward drift, especially his “long history of being deliberately unquestioning of Israel,”...
Alone Together
Sam Adler-Bell
Being a podcaster is a bit embarrassing. It’s much easier than writing (my intended career) but much better paid. The term itself is dweeby — sounding at once outdated and newfangled — and impossible to say unsheepishly. I think every podcaster who is not too stupid or full of himself to notice (pace Janet Malcolm) knows that what he does is a benign grift, not sordid enough to inspire shame...
Doctor Do-Little | The Case Against Anthony Fauci
Sam Adler-Bell
There is no one in American government — or perhaps any government — quite like Dr. Anthony Fauci. His position, with its mixture of informal power and public visibility, scientific authority and beltway influence, is sui generis. Few other unconfirmed civil servants have access to as many rooms in the executive interagency; no public official commands as much respect in the world of science and medicine. As director of the...
