Alessandra Stanley

1 week ago | airmail.news | Alessandra Stanley

READ A Hole in the Story It seems impossible—and also a little foolhardy—to write a novel set in the #MeToo movement as it reached its fulminating peak in 2017 with the toppling of Harvey Weinstein. There are so many trip wires blocking the way. Ken Kalfus has written a novel that proves it can be done: A Hole in the Story is nuanced, sure-footed, dryly funny, and unpredictable. If there were such a thing as a social-mores thriller, this would be it.

2 weeks ago | airmail.news | Alessandra Stanley

WATCH Can’t Look Away After decades of immunity from liability, social-media platforms such as Meta and Snapchat may be vulnerable to a new bipartisan bill that seeks to curb damaging content on the Internet. But even if it passes, the law wouldn’t take effect until January 1, 2027, giving Big Tech plenty of time to bury Congress in lobbying money and political pressure. That’s why a new documentary, Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media, matters now more than ever.

1 month ago | airmail.news | Alessandra Stanley

WATCH Douglas Is Cancelled A middle-aged British news anchor tells a sexist joke at a boozy wedding and suddenly finds himself pilloried on social media and on a fast train to career suicide. That’s the premise of Douglas Is Cancelled, a cruelly funny 2024 BBC sitcom that seems very much in sync with satiric comedies such as The Office and W1A and Yes Minister. Until it isn’t.

1 month ago | airmail.news | Alessandra Stanley

An open letter to Jonathan Greenblattc/o the Anti-Defamation LeagueDear Mr. Greenblatt,You could be next. And, respectfully, it might be partly your own fault. Right now, Trump may be targeting people who are viewed by even reasonable people as dangerous and un-American, but his definition of who is undesirable isn’t bound by any norms, laws, or standards of common decency.

1 month ago | airmail.news | Alessandra Stanley

Trump’s total war on decency, constitutional law, and Western civilization is bad enough. Almost as galling are the billionaires, academics, columnists, and political hacks who so demonized D.E.I. that they helped rationalize voting for Donald Trump: the useful idiots of the MAGA movement. Niall Ferguson, the columnist and historian, isn’t the only anti-woke warrior who argued that Kamala Harris was a greater threat than her Republican rival, but he stood out.