August 19, 2011

On the Proper Display of Panic

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Ryan Avent responds to my gloomy take on the economy last night:

As a writer, it’s difficult to know how to approach these situations. Is it time to panic? No, it’s not. Is it time to develop a serious sense of urgency about looming crises, the better to protect against expected pain and insure against the possibility of real disasters? Absolutely. The problem is in trying to convey urgency in an appropriately sober way.

Quite so. I shall try to panic in more sober tones in the future.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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