The XX Factor : elitism

Quantico, Guantanamo

Emily Yoffe — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:49:00 GMT

I just caught up with the essay in the New York Times Magazine by writer Anne Bernays about her dismay at her grandson, David, becoming a Marine. His decision was an incomprehensible turn of events for Bernays. After all, she writes, she is a liberal...(read more)

Is Paris Hilton the New Einstein?

Jennifer Olmstead — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:43:00 GMT

You probably wouldn't have known it by looking at him, but your Dunkin' Donuts clerk this morning wasn't thrumming his fingers to the latest Soulja Boy bastardization. According to John Parker's sprawling piece in the Economist 's quarterly offspring,...(read more)

Continent First?

Marjorie Valbrun — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:19:00 GMT

Juliet , Melinda , Lauren , and Rachael , I'm perplexed by your certainty that Sarah Palin did indeed know that Africa was a continent not a country. On what are you basing this assumption? Sarah Palin's denials? Forgive me if I find her credibility lacking....(read more)

Average Mom or Brainiac?

Ann Hulbert — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:47:00 GMT

Debating Palin's wardrobe was fun, but now we're back to the woman herself. Does her "claim to fame [lie] in her repudiation of Clinton-type exceptionalism," as Judith Warner wrote in the New York Times Week in Review Sunday, or in being a "brainiac,"...(read more)

Misunderestimating Palin

Melinda Henneberger — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:29:00 GMT

Please tell me that this conversation re: the " small-town mentality '' and presumption of intellect based on proximity to the great minds of the Ivy League is some kind of parody; the whole smarter-than-thou thing is part of why people at those McCain-Palin...(read more)

Liberal Self-Scrutiny

Ann Hulbert — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:14:00 GMT

For those who want something other than dismal polls to pore over and need a dose of underisive pointy-headedness, check out the Web site Edge . Over there a so-called Reality Club of liberal social scientists and others is discussing a very interesting...(read more)

Gender and Experience, Again

Ann Hulbert — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:55:00 GMT

Like you, Emily , I've been trying to figure out how Hillary pulled off the feat of becoming the candidate of the non-elite. How did she conquer the social condescension that, as Jeff Greenfield 's smart piece points out, Orwell diagnosed as an occupational...(read more)