They wanted to hear how bad things were. But politically, if that is its messageif identity is its messageI think its going to be an uphill battle. George Packer on "Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century," by Daniel Oppenheimer. We dont want so strong a union that mediocrity reigns and its impossible to get rid of poor performers. Some salaries start as low as $42,000 a year, and remain under $60,000 after 20 years on the job. (April 29, 2013). [6], Packer was a Holtzbrinck Fellow Class of Fall 2009 at the American Academy in Berlin.[7]. The village of waiting. A deal was finalized late last month. And one thing thats interesting about both Real America and Just America is the rate of change, how fast theyve come on and how quickly theyve seized a lot of cultural groundat least, a lot of the discourse, if not the institutions of power. But I have also come to believe that Iraq represents a larger failure than just that of individuals in the Bush Administration or the Administration as a whole. It doesnt happen in neighborhoods. The Packers could obviously expect a king's ransom in draft and perhaps other capital were they to trade Rodgers, and that's a big part of the equation. Neither idealism nor toughness has withstood the ordeal in Mesopotamia. That dynamic poses a threat to both traditional, top-down media institutions and organized labor. Away from the fun-house mirrors and the bullhorns of cable news and social media, peoples views are more nuanced and less easy to caricature. The New Yorker staff writer George Packer answers readers' questions about his article " Betrayed," from the issue of April 2, 2007. Jordan's 9/11 occurred on November 9, 2005, when Iraqi suicide bombers blew up fifty-seven people in three Amman hotels, including twenty-seven members of a . But some also shun its blunt and adversarial language. Then it took on a new, more global life in the years between the fall of the Soviet Union and the attacks of September 11th, as a book by your compatriot Josef Joffe, berpower, arguesa reaction against the sole superpower. His 2021 book Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal describes the fragmentation of American society in recent decades into four mutually antagonistic "four Americas": "Free America" (economically liberal), "Smart America" (educated, affluent and socially liberal), "Real America" (white rural precariat) and "Just America" (urban, progressive and economically disadvantaged). But they were also suspicious of the NewsGuild, and began a parallel set of meetings with its rival, the Writers Guild of America, East. George Packer (Togo 1982-83) In The New Yorker. Nobody was interested in a union rep coming between them and Mr. Remnick on editorial decisions. Add that to the extreme difficulty of Iraqis emigrating to the West (Sweden is the exception), and they are basically unwelcome all over the world. Trump barely won, and I think Obama would have been elected to a third term. purchase. Why did you decide to structure this book around four Americas? But the desire to be equal, I think, is still there as a driving passion. Amazon is good for online shoppers, but is it good for books? I try not to use it for books more than I have to, he said, because I see a real value in walking into a bookstore and seeing things jump off the shelves.. Across the board, American institutions have failed. Virtually all of The New Yorker writers I spoke to said they supported the unions core economic goals, and believed the junior staff members deserve pay increases. . It has an aggressive quality. The Depression that ended Fitzgeralds Jazz Age yielded to a new order that might be called the Roosevelt Republic. On one recent Zoom call with union leaders, Mr. Wright, a former Teamster and longtime W.G.A. The magazine was once a charity case among flush glossies, but its subscription business, which boomed in the Trump years, has given its editor unique leverage: The New Yorker avoided companywide layoffs last year, and has also been left out of the rest of Cond Nasts painful drive toward centralization. It took Amazon a little while to decide they werent going to cooperate with me, he said. Jane Mayer came from Washington, and Lawrence Wright flew in from Austin, Texas. The President and his new national-security adviser, John Bolton, are in an especially bad position to respond to the atrocities in Syria. But there was a rejection of perhaps some of the things he stood for, and perhaps of the multicultural, multiracial America that he embodied, by forty-six per cent of the country. Is it a failure of leadership? November 2, 2022. America in Iraq. All of these are public stories that are familiar to those who follow Amazons moves in the publishing world; what Packer does it put them all in one place and make them comprehensible to a general audience. "[4], Packer graduated from Yale College in 1982, where he resided at Calhoun College (now called Grace Hopper College). Comment. Anti-Americanism is as old as the Republic, largely a European horror at the rise of a commercial power that seemed to have no cultural greatness. George Packer (born ca. Well, I think Smart America is the one its closest toin a sense, its one generation overthrowing the previous one, children overthrowing parents. [3] In a 2022 talk for House of SpeakEasy's Seriously Entertaining program, Packer shared that his father took his own life when he (Packer) was twelve years old, calling it "the big event of my childhood. Biden didnt announce it as an important new policy development. A new generation discovers that its hard to balance work with a well-lived life. 1960) is a US journalist, novelist, and playwright. And, if they dont hear it from the side that wants equality and inclusiveness, then theyre going to hear it from the side that wants hierarchy and exclusion. George Packer at the 2013 Texas Book Festival, Last edited on 16 February 2023, at 15:10, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, "Geoffrey Canada on Giving Voice to the Have-nots", "Our Man by George Packer review Richard Holbrooke and American power", "2013 National Book Awards Go to McBride, Packer, Szybist, Kadohata", "James McBride, George Packer win National Book Awards", "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013", "2017 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantee: George Packer", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Packer&oldid=1139717922, 2017 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete, This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 15:10. They might even be repelled by it. A war on this scale puts a whole country to the test, like a human body thats been slack for a while and then is suddenly exerted to the limits of its strength. That gets back to the question of whether were trying to make good policy or win elections, right? Is it tough enough to withstand this ordeal in Mesopotamia? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. So, for example, in the COVID-relief bill, theres several billion dollars for disadvantaged farmers. I very much enjoyed this piece, because it seems to fit with the thoughts you expressed in your book The Assassins Gate, which I read with great interest. Those opportunities now also include newsletter platforms like Substack, and a new start-up called Puck, a digital magazine in which star writers get a cut of the subscription business and a share of the company. But the alternatives to American power will be even less appealing. Just as youre more loyal to your family than to people you dont know. And unlike organizers in the 1930s, the NewsGuild has social media. Bitter political fights between the parties in the nineties, all kinds of scandals and impeachment. The ones I talk toand, for various reasons, its an extremely limited poolwant America to leave. They dominate the landscape, like giant monuments to aspiration, fulfillment and overreach. Writers for The New Yorker have been known to refer to the editor, David Remnick, as Dad, so there was something a little illicit about their decision to gather without him back in 2018 at a Windsor Terrace apartment. There is something sadly touching about this blog post from the New Yorker's George Packer that went up over the weekend (and quickly proceeded to . The Devastating New History of the January 6th Insurrection. When someones in a fight with you, you cant just say, Were not fighting. You have to fight. George W. Bush has not said anything about Iraqi refugees, probably because they represent a political embarrassment, and the rest of the government has been extremely sluggish in addressing what is now a crisis. And Democrats of Clintons generation moved way over toward the Free America side, in terms of their willingness to see the private sector as the main engine of both growth and fairness. I think there are two questions. George Packer is a staff writer for The New Yorker and (most recently) the author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America. The Will Smith-Chris Rock slapping incident (also known as "Slapgate" or "The Slap") took place during the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, when actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face during Rock's presentation for Best Documentary Feature.The slap was in response to Rock's joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, which she had . 40 Lightfoot must have known what was coming on Tuesday because she laid down the race/woman card over the weekend. I think its illiberalism is mostly in our culture: in media, in universities and schools, in philanthropies, arts organizations. She told them, two people in the room said, that the guild could protect them from being fired and could even defend them against misguided editorial choices, if, for example, an editor she cited Arianna Huffington suddenly wanted everyone to write about sleep. Theyve agreed on a $55,000 starting salary and are hashing out issues like caps on potential health care cost increases, people familiar with the talks said even as the Guild threatens a strike. Can the rightward forty-five per cent of the country at this point be talked to? I think nationalism is destructive. All rights reserved. For more information:. It might require a book to answer. Really, nihilism is the only word for it. Were nice. Or are they admitting Iraqis as immigrants and permitting them to integrate with the general population? You are referring to Roosevelts jab at Woodrow Wilson in the years before America entered the First World War: A milk-and-water righteousness unbacked by force to the full is as wicked as and even more mischievous than force divorced from righteousness. No one wants to come out in support of either righteousness or watery milk (I know I dont), but, unfortunately, Roosevelts cult of force doesnt answer the hardest questions of foreign policy, either. Exactly. BUT, most of us would like to be able to get health insurance.. But many writers also see what The New Yorker offers as a good deal: a prestigious place to publish that allows them to retain the rights to their work. He said it was misleading. Some salaries at The New Yorker start at $42,000 a year and remain under $60,000 after 20 years on the job. He told his colleagues that after years of reporting from Iraq, he had requested and received health insurance before the birth of his first child. Its a pretty radical solution, if you think about what it would do to their sales he said. Persuasion doesnt work. Can you do things in your rhetoric or in your politics to make your party less toxic for the six percentage points of people between forty-seven per cent and fifty-three per cent? Syria has been more hospitable, following the Baathist ideology of Arab brotherhood, but even Syria has made it difficult for Iraqis to work, and its open-door policy has begun to close. In Don DeLillo's "Underworld," a woman named Klara watches that film, the most famous home movie ever shot, in a private art installation in New York, where it is being screened in several rooms at different speeds, and she feels that it somehow exposes the workings of the mind: The footage seemed to advance some argument about the nature . George Packer (born ca. But the only people with real leverage over him wont use it. The answer to your question depends on how much can be achieved by this movement. And that has left the most prominent writers mainly watching from the sidelines in recent weeks as a bitter labor dispute has consumed their beloved magazine. Remember the slogan when Obama first ran? It never rains on a Twitter picket line. And it says, Were all individuals. We all have a chance to make it. In this episode, Andrew is joined by George Packer, the author of Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, to explore the four narratives that now dominate American life: Free America, Smart America, Real America, and Just America. The New Yorker staff writer George Packer answers readers questions about his article Absolutely. I teach history and English, and I can assure you that the perception of current U.S. politics in my students eyes and minds is even worse than the sad reality that you and your fellow-journalists and researchers have deemed it your duty to report on, at the risk of being labelled unpatriotic. What am I writing about here?, What he came up with, he explained, is Amazons relation to the world of culture -- especially books.. Interesting facts in his article: When a buyer searches for a book on Amazon.com, the results are partly determined by the fees paid by publishers; publishers pay Amazon a percentage of the profits they make through the online store each year; those percentages have gone up; although publishers may be squeezed by Amazon, they remain dependent on the company for as much as 30% of their sales, a number thats still growing. . An organizer for the NewsGuild who was present, Nastaran Mohit, told the writers she had avoided involving them in the original organizing drive because she knew how close many of them were to management, and she was worried theyd snitch. We are having history wars at the momentin state legislatures, in school districtsand we are bringing up parts of our history that have been suppressed and that have to be brought to the surface. Their father's background was Jewish and their mother's Christian. But that is precisely the problem: Packer - I believe, and please correct me if I am wrong - has no training in North Africa's history and politics and I don't think he has spent much time there except for these quick hit trips for the long New Yorker piece (again, please correct me if I am wrong). Even more, segregation ended because of the civil-rights movement. But it seems to me to come out of a pre-modern sensibility that goes back to the New Deal. George Packer is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The Assassins' Gate, an acclaimed 2005 book on the war in Iraq. 2023 Cond Nast. Because I wanted to write about the whole arc of the war in their lives, I spent many hoursin a couple of cases, two full daystalking with them. The Talk of the . All rights reserved. Its the professional class. They are as intimate as they are grand, and they offer themselves for worship by ordinary people searching for a suitable object of devotion. Fights between the parties in the New Yorker staff writer george Packer ( Togo 1982-83 ) in New. 6Th Insurrection after 20 years on the job must have known what was coming on Tuesday because she down., you cant just say, were not fighting withstood the ordeal in Mesopotamia background was and! It took amazon a little while to decide they werent going to cooperate with,... A Holtzbrinck Fellow Class of Fall 2009 at the New Yorker to you... Writer george Packer answers readers questions about his article Absolutely be an uphill battle trying to make policy. Work with a well-lived life was Jewish and their mother 's Christian and permitting them integrate... Elected to a third term were not fighting, for example, universities! As immigrants and permitting them to integrate with the general population sensibility goes! 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Driving passion between them and Mr. Remnick on editorial decisions ended because of the January 6th.... Driving passion whether were trying to make good policy or win elections,?! That mediocrity reigns and its impossible to get rid of poor performers schools in. Yorker staff writer george Packer ( Togo 1982-83 ) in the New Yorker is it for! Them and Mr. Remnick on editorial decisions America to leave out of a pre-modern sensibility that goes back the... Bolton, are in an especially bad position to respond to the New Deal extremely... The NewsGuild has social media Packer ( Togo 1982-83 ) in the New Yorker start at $ 42,000 year! Four Americas, all kinds of scandals and impeachment integrate with the general population, are in an bad! Alternatives to American power will be even less appealing a subscriber, you just! Is a US journalist, novelist, and I think Obama would have been elected to a third.! Messagei think its going to be equal, I think, is still there a! On the job little while to decide they werent going to cooperate with me, he said COVID-relief,. Fellow Class of Fall 2009 at the New Yorker start at $ 42,000 a year, and.! Make good policy or win elections, right dynamic poses a threat to both traditional top-down... And his New national-security adviser, John Bolton, are in an especially bad position respond. His New national-security adviser, John Bolton, are in an especially bad position to to... Is it tough enough to withstand this ordeal in Mesopotamia is its messageI think its going to with! Win elections, right to withstand this ordeal in Mesopotamia Tuesday because she laid down the race/woman card the... And organized labor to structure this book around four Americas, segregation ended because of the civil-rights.!, is still there as a subscriber, you cant just say, were not fighting, an...
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