Daily Bafflements

• “Hofstadter definitely does not see anti-intellectualism as the corrupting serpent in the American Eden. Instead, as he demonstrates, it has been deeply ingrained in the national culture from the very beginning.” – Nicholas Lemann gives Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, first published in 1963, a second read, concluding in the process that Hofstadter would not find the Tea Party or the anti-vaccination movement surprising in the least.

• Jessica Roy has found some most excellent Craigslist missed-connections from Burning Man, including one that begins, intriguingly, “On Friday night we met you in deep playa. You were serving chai tea from a cart you built yourself and brought out on a tandem bike, in exchange for either two compliments or a secret.”

• An anonymous former employee of American Apparel recalls for Gawker the “cesspool of harassment” and racism created there by her superiors, her coworkers, and the creepiest customers ever.

• In case you missed it yesterday, Eric Cantor took a job at a Wall Street investment bank and the world yawned. Our readers’ ideas for #CantorsNextGig were so much more creative.