I think that’s a fair criticism, although not one that really undermines the text.

I mean, it’s a seed and the obvious action for a seed is to plant it. Casting it as being about powerlessly haranguing industry seems like a stretch by comparison.

I’m not sure describing it as fatalistic is a good reading of the book. It ends with the Once-Ler tossing the reader stand-in a Truffala seed, if I remember correctly.

Here’s a story for every national news outlet:

In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.

“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”

www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

God‘s gift to investigative reporters and auditors.

Now I'm wondering how many software developers learned the attitude that soft skills don't matter all the way in childhood.

Maybe too obvious to note, but seems less like Dreher is writing like "a gonzo socialist reporter" and more like the bigotry is so overt even Dreher can't miss it.

I don’t think what you said is untrue (perhaps I’d quibble with safety), but I’m in the relatively small overlap of being both a journalist and a reader of his research writeups so I wanted to offer more context.

Absolutely agreed on the quality of the piece. I think you are selling him a little short in a way: He‘s an excellent writer and public speaker, and those are a core part of his research work.

Put another way, workers still feel the consequences of stagnant wages and lack of public sector investment, even if consumer goods get cheaper, because essentials like childcare are labor-dependent.

@burness.bsky.social has been on top of this story for years, read him here on this latest: boltsmag.org/five-ways-20...

Any sort of undercover investigation or exposé has to meet a high bar to be ethical, both in quality—you’re wasting everyone‘s time if people see through it—and that you couldn’t get the information otherwise. It sounds like this case fails both.