Many cults have thrived online, and many have wound popular culture into their belief systems, but “Love Has Won” feels relentlessly current in its interests. (Gachman, The New York Times)
Read More“It’s a high-wire act for the Church of England because there is profound division and disagreement,” Mr. Welby said. “We have to deal with this as a family dispute and not a political dispute. In other words, don’t split. Everybody will probably feel at the moment, I’m going both too fast and too slowly,” he acknowledged. “That’s life.” (Landler, The New York Times)
Read MoreThe misery index — the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate — is ending 2023 at 6.8%. That's its lowest point since the pandemic hit in March 2020 and well below the 8.3% average for the century to date. (Salmon, Axios)
Read MoreA CBS News Investigation found misinformation about the conflict between Israel and Hamas is widespread on those platforms and it can be difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. (CBS News Minnesota)
Read MoreThe Church of England has warned that countries where assisted dying is legal have shown that it can lead to a “slippery slope” where it becomes easier and easier to get help to end one’s life. In a submission to MPs, the Church said that when the law had been changed in other countries, such as Canada and the US, stringent safeguards had been dropped over time, opening up assisted dying to more and more people. (Martin & Crisp, The Telegraph)
Read MoreAlgorithms are getting good, alarmingly so, at feeding you content targeted to your weird and wonderful and even secret interests. Still, a lot of interesting stories end up falling outside our digital castle walls. This list is an attempt to rectify that, revisiting the people, trends, feuds and frenzies that took off on social media platforms in 2023 but might not have broken into your personal World Wide Web. (Kircher, The New York Times)
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