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"Another standard misconception is that there is a single form of reading in question, and a single future for it. Current debates are overwhelmingly premised on the false idea that “reading” in its highest or best form means reading books, most often the realist novels of the middle-class condition that have dominated the modern age. But reading has always offered us a host of experiences, from the mundane to the spiritual, including the dipping, skimming, and hyperlinking that now seem to worry people so. The specific concern for the future of the bound book should be seen for what it is: a form of special pleading whereby a particular (how I like to read) masquerades as a universal (reading!)." Mark Kingwell, Harper's August 2013
Reality has an odd way of being missing in American media today. One can watch any media format and while some are worse than others, none are about the actual world. Occasinally though bits and pieces of the real shine through the muck. Kingwell quoted above is worth a read too. A bit of the real below.
"HARPER’S INDEX"
Excerpt from August 2013 Harper's magazine.
"Average annual cost of detaining an inmate at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay : $900,000
At a supermax prison in the United States : $65,000
Number of terrorist attacks made against diplomatic targets worldwide since 1970 : 2,865
Number of those attacks made against American targets : 520
Percentage of all petitions to hear a case the Supreme Court has granted in the past three years : 1
Percentage of petitions it has granted that were supported by an amicus brief from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce : 32
Factor by which the average white U.S. family was wealthier than the average non-white U.S. family before the recession : 4
Factor by which it is now : 6
Net amount contributed to Medicare by immigrants between 2002 and 2009 : $115,000,000,000
Net amount drawn out by native-born citizens over the same period : $28,000,000,000
Average amount a Water Valley, Mississippi, hospital bills Medicare for treating pneumonia with no complications : $4,552
Average amount a Philadelphia hospital does : $79,007
Percentage of authorized U.S. firearms dealers the ATF hasn’t inspected in the past five years : 58
Chance a U.S. youth considered at risk for suicide lives in a home with a gun : 1 in 5
Portion of young people attempting suicide without a gun who die from the attempt : 1/10
Of those attempting suicide with a gun who do : 9/10
Number of Americans who died in motor-vehicle accidents in 2010 : 33,687
Who died of suicide : 38,364
Percentage of men in dual-income marriages who said they struggled with work-family confiict in 1977 : 35
Who say they do today : 60
Portion of live-in domestic workers who make less than minimum wage : 2/3
Percentage change in the number of Walmart stores nationwide since 2008 : +13
In the size of Walmart’s retail workforce : 0
Estimated number of homeowners whose foreclosure-abuse settlements were affected in May by a “clerical error” : 96,000
Amount these homeowners were underpaid : $44,600,000
Number of applicants for 350 investment-banking internships Goldman Sachs offered to undergraduates this summer : 17,000
Average cost after financial aid to attend NYU for a freshman from a family making $30,000 a year or less : $25,462
Percentage of American cats that are overweight : 58"
Sources are listed in magazine.
Check out one of the best magazines in America. http://harpers.org/
The looks interesting too.
http://thebaffler.com/current
http://thebaffler.com/blog/2013/05/david_graeber_defiantly_having_fun
"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity - much less dissent." Gore Vidal
