Skip to content

Hocus Pocus

Columns

Greenpeace Wins Again! But So Does Big Oil
October 10, 2014
If you’re big on the crossover between the youth demographic and the oil market—and who isn’t?—your day was made on Thursday when LEGO announced it was ending a partnership with Shell Oil and Ferrari following (although not because of, officials were careful to clarify) ...

Silicon Valley’s Futuristic Mega-Zen Brain Machine
October 06, 2014
Biohacking, the hacking of biology, is a broad label that, in its most extreme form, can include DIY plant gene sequencing and the installation of magnets into your fingertips. But the term is also used to describe the habit of obsessively manipulating your diet and gobbling ...

The Return of America’s Favorite Anti-Trafficker
September 29, 2014
America’s anti-trafficking sweetheart Somaly Mam is back— phoenix-like, unscathed, and sweet-voiced—only four months after a takedown that was described alternately as devastating and unfair (by Mam’s newly-vocal support team), justified but unfortunate (by Newsweek, who ...

“So, What Do You Do?”
September 19, 2014
[A version of this article appeared in the German newspaper Die ZEIT in July, where it inspired considerable debate and commentary. The article has been translated by the author and is reprinted here with permission; he has also written a response to the commentary, below. – ...

This Just In: “Responsible Consumption” is Bogus
September 03, 2014
“Are environmental and social problems such as global warming and poverty the result of inadequate governmental regulations or does the burden fall on our failure as consumers to make better consumption choices?” Thus begins a very earnest press release about a study ...

Daily Bafflements
June 09, 2014
Stop. Your priorities are all wrong. / Photo by Horia Varlan. • New York’s state legislature only has two weeks left this session, and probably won’t have time to consider new laws on the minimum wage or campaign finance issues. Newsday reports that ...

The Baffler’s Week That Was
June 06, 2014
Cartoon by P. S. Mueller • This week, we had occasion to re-visit two great pieces from the archives: Hussein Ibish’s appreciation of Marquis de Sade’s political legacy (for Sade’s 274th birthday, obviously), and Jim Newell’s salvo about ...

Silicon Valley’s Office Politic
June 06, 2014
The workplace has played a fraught role in America’s pop cultural life as of late, particularly as refracted through the lens of popular television. We’ve had the banal cubicle hilarity of The Office and Workaholics contrasted with the austere eros and thanatos of ...

Bowe Bergdahl: Hero, Victim, Traitor
June 05, 2014
Back when conservatives were outraged that Bowe Bergdahl hadn’t yet been released, Bowe was called a hero. Because his ongoing captivity was a mark against the Obama administration, it was convenient for Bergdahl to be cast in the role of POW. Bergdahl was the simple and ...

Polarizing Plutocracy: Our Broken Higher Education System
June 05, 2014
The American political system is broken, and one unmistakable sign of it is our inability to bring down soaring levels of student debt or to regulate predatory for-profit colleges. The best solution the Obama administration has been able to propose in this area is a college ...

Daily Bafflements
June 05, 2014
• San Francisco’s “Bespoke Donuts” offers donuts in unusual flavors (which are, we hope, served by these bow-tied and suspendered fellows)—flavors like pulled pork, herb and hummus, and chicken pot pie. How unappetizingly hip. • High-cost lenders are finding ways to ...