Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Navneet Alang

@navneetalang.com

6.9K followers 2.4K following 2.6K posts

Editor @ Toronto Star Opinion. Pitch me op-eds, essays at [email protected]. Writer and former columnist with bylines all over. PhD. https://navneetalang.com/categories/blogposts/

navneetalang.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · Jan 9

Alas, I think that might be 2025's goal too

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · Jan 9

My goal for 2025 is just to become hotter and more lethal

7 84 710

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

Just perfect

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

sorry I can't get over how good this little thread is

Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 1d

Jenna would make Liz write jokes for her, Liz would write a bunch of feminist material because she’s mad at Jenna and then try to pull it at the last minute because she’s worried for Jenna’s safety. Jenna would ham it up so hard that the Saudis would love it as parody of shrill American women

Suss-- 🥌 @suss2hyphens.bsky.social · 1d

which 30 rock character was most likely to headline the riyadh comedy festival, tracy or jenna

1 8

Reposted by Navneet Alang

Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 1d

This is canon now

Ferengi Liaison to Project Cybersyn @sovietcola.bsky.social · 1d

"Tracy you can't fly anymore, remember?"
*cut to Tracy stood in a plane brandishing a box cutter. his expression is tense and angry but he is saying "If you do not all calm down I cannot teach you about knife safety" in Arabic*

4 72

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

Illstyl3 Sammies on... Richmond I think?

1 2

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

I know that looking to Apple - a company with a nearly $4t market cap - as some kind of saviour is a bit empty, but you would at least expect their smart home screen thing not to be littered with ads. And true, it will be priced like all Apple things - ie profitably - but still.

1 3

Reposted by Navneet Alang

Jacob Silverman @jacobsilverman.com · 1d

I really appreciate this review of Gilded Rage in The Bulwark. I hoped that some of the book's concerns -- corruption, authoritarianism, rule of law, inequality, our shared stake in society -- would have broad appeal.
www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

Why Our Tech Overlords Took a Hard Right Turn

A new book tells the story of how Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs became angry admirers of authoritarianism.

www.thebulwark.com

3 17 49

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

Doesn’t sound like he said that at all. But why not just pump out what you wish he said to 50k followers?

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

…and later in the episode, we’ll ask: did a showgirl kill poptimism? The panel will weigh in on this and more, just after these short messages.

1 4

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

The trouble with Youtube Premium is that there's no suffering. You just get what you want. Too easy.

1 10

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 1d

haha

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

2 1 12

Reposted by Navneet Alang

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 2d

Our personal tech columnist @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social tracked the prices of a bunch of items on Amazon ahead of the latest Prime Day sale.

Turns out only a few prices went down, many stayed the same... and several went significantly *up.* www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Column | I tracked Amazon’s Prime Day prices. We’ve been played.

Here’s what you should do to actually get a good deal on Amazon.

www.washingtonpost.com

9 47 120

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

I am in fact disturbed

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

the other day when with friends they were shocked (shocked!) that I paid for phone apps -- in my case, Bear, Fantastical and Things, maybe a couple of others. some of those are a hangover from being a freelancer/self-employed. but is this rare outside of certain bubbles?

1 1

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

e-bikes (with bike lanes) are one of those things that you really do have to try to understand how the city both shrinks and opens up. You get on one and think "if only more people knew about this!"

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 2d

By me this week - the happiest thing I've got to report of late, with a glorious trip over the summer to Montreal

"Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport."

www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

2 7 36

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

True! At least in some form. Back in 26.1

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

The state of the world is too much so instead I’ll say: iPadOS 26 is shockingly unfinished.

2 4

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 2d

Listening to the Yankees game on the radio like I'm living in a tenement in 1930s Brooklyn. (I could be wrong about like 7 things in this one short post)

2 14

Reposted by Navneet Alang

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

59 1.1K 3.7K

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 3d

Working in media or being media-adjacent means that when with friends, I still frequently answer the question "how do you two know each other" with "oh... must have been Twitter?"

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 3d

A surprising number of people say a great outcome from social media was meeting their spouse through Twitter. Until today, I was clueless about Twitter being used as a dating platform.

Sophie Michell @sophiemhistory.bsky.social · 3d

I asked my husband out on twitter, as was the custom in 2010

1 4

Reposted by Navneet Alang

ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 3d

Social media is very effective at creating sin-eaters. A sin-eater is different from an ephemeral main-character. It's a recurring "well would you look at that guy" person you see screenshotted on your feed constantly, who is meant to stand in for the evils of some larger group you dislike

12 130 570

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 3d

Anyway, I live a comfortable life in one of the most diverse cities in the world and I've never felt more uneasy and worried.

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 3d

That at least is part of what now certainly feels like a surge of nativist, xenophobic, white nationalist thinking. Yes, some of that stems from the obvious economic failures of neoliberalism. But it does feel like a moment in history where there is an impasse b/w pov's. And such impasses = violence

1 4

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 3d

A lot of leftist and progressive rhetoric was rooted in power disparities, and intellectually and ideologically underpinned by those disparities. But the right perceives that, say, anti-racist or anti-colonial narratives have become hegemonic, despite the basic power relations remaining unchanged.

1 5

Navneet Alang @navneetalang.com · 3d

Don't mean this as some kind of grand pronouncement but rather just a feeling: I sometimes feel as if progressivism in the 2010s was a little like the dog that did in fact catch the car -- except that rather than not knowing what to do, the ppl in the car got out and were very angry about it.

2 3 17