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POPSDepressed? Blame consumerism. Really excellent argument linking consumerism in an advanced society to the rise in depression. Excerpted from "Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy" (Chelsea Green, 2007) by Bruce E. Levine (via Mark Silver, Heart of Business)
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POPSGive us this day our daily venom Super-interesting analysis of what looks like an equally interesting New York magazine piece on the Gawker phenomenon and its wider implications. I hope I didn't already recycle the 10/22 issue...
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POPSIs commerce destroying art? An extraordinary speech about a sad state of affairs. As he says later in the talk, the amazing "visionary and democratic system" we had in place for years that exposed the average citizen to both high and low culture has been shredded by the marketplace, which is only concerned with money. Art makes us human; god help us all when we embrace nothing but commerce.
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POPSCitizen Fatty Someone finally goes on record and connects mindless consumerism to an unprecedented rise in obesity levels. Can I get an "amen"?
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POPSUncle Sam, keep out Interesting analysis of Democratic gains in states previously considered Red. The writer suggests (with some pretty good backup) that at heart, citizens outside of the socially conservative South mainly want to be left alone, and that the Republican party's alliance with the evangelicals may have been a bad strategy after all.