Mary Harrington

1 week ago | unherd.com | Mary Harrington

FaithGen XKurt CobainnihilismReligionTrainspottingUK Philosophy, claimed Étienne Gilson, always buries its undertakers. Gilson was himself a philosopher, so perhaps he had an interest in believing this. But there might be something in it: as the complaints pile up, about cultural stagnation and loss of meaning, Britain’s young people are on a renewed quest for higher things. One of the forms this seems to be taking, at least for some, is a turn toward God.

1 week ago | maryharrington.co.uk | Mary Harrington

At the risk of stating the obvious, what you see online is not always what you get IRL. But enough people have now noticed the internationalisation of “multicultural” street youth / gang culture that it’s worth a few words. A set of TikTok videos from Toronto has been doing the rounds, including this one:Tiktok failed to load.

2 weeks ago | maryharrington.co.uk | Mary Harrington

This week I was lucky to catch the author Ewan Morrison on one of his rare forays out of the Scottish wilderness, for a conversation with the writer Nicholas Blincoe to mark the publication of Morrison’s ninth book: For Emma. Morrison and Blincoe explored “Accelerationist society”, Covidian paranoia, contemporary ambivalence about technological progress, and the increasingly transhumanist edge everything seems to have these days.

2 weeks ago | unherd.com | Mary Harrington

MAGASocietySteve BannonTariffsTrump tariffsUS When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, the Teen Vogue writer Najma Sharif notoriously posted in defence of the violence: “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? losers.” Loosely translated, this means that the only way to do political “radicalism” without costing someone something is by not actually doing it.

2 weeks ago | maryharrington.co.uk | Mary Harrington

Originally delivered on 2 April at the Family Formation and the Future conference, at the Danube Institute, BudapestOur session theme is “Tech and Human Relationships”. I want to talk about truth, in relation to those two themes. You might think this is a digression; it’s not. For the relation between technology, human relationships, and truth is a critical current battleground.