 Tears of a clown The trick of great teaching, of all communication, is letting the listener think that they are uncovering the information themselves. People know to look beyond surface appearances to the “true” level below — so commercial art and TV and the news often hide what it wants you to believe one level down, with “the making of,” “behind the scenes,” or “leaked documents” material. That, at least, is the thesis of the anonymous writer behind The Last Zealot. And that model explains, they say, why Jon Stewart is such a masterful communicator, or — if you are feeling less charitable — propagandist. Stewart, for 16 years the host of US late-night talk program The Daily Show, is a comedian. But he was also the most trusted newscaster in America. His secret is “that he’s not a master pundit; he’s a master pundit in a jester outfit.” He can jump between cynical comedy and earnest advocacy, the latter providing cover for the former: When he is earnest, it’s a “gut punch: he does care! He’s not a cynic because he doesn’t care, he’s a cynic because he cares too much!” Other communicators switch between two modes like this, and “they all have the same goal: get you to believe that they believe. Appear authentic.” But Stewart “is the best at it and seeing him switch back and forth with such ease is a treat.” Naval gazing China has stepped up its shipbuilding at an astonishing rate. The China State Shipbuilding Corporation is now the world’s biggest shipbuilder, and accounts for more than two-fifths of worldwide production. Much of that is commercial — passenger ships and cargo — but passenger ships have military uses; The Queen Elizabeth II acted as a troopship in the Falklands War. And anyway, much of it is not. Of the 50 destroyers in active service with the Chinese navy, 37 have been commissioned since 2010. Beijing’s goal is, at least in part, to build sufficient naval capacity to invade Taiwan, and deter the US Navy, writes the superforecaster Jonathon Kitson. The US should be worried: “It is deeply unlikely that any European nation would send forces to defend Taiwan” should Beijing make a move, and South Korea and Japan are trying to make up lost ground in shipbuilding but are way behind. China’s progress is somewhat hindered by corruption and a poorly trained naval corps, but the US lacks both “time and political urgency to significantly increase its naval forces,” and will likely have to focus on lower-cost options for deterrence. Positive pressure You may occasionally be told to “stay positive,” or to “look on the bright side”; you may occasionally be reminded that other people have it worse, or that things happen for a reason. The novelist Jake Seliger, who is dying of cancer — his wife Bess appeared in last week’s Substack review — understandably feels ambivalent about what he calls “positivity culture.” “Look, I like optimism,” he writes. “Being around optimists is often more fun than being around dour pessimists. I just don’t want optimism to bleed into folly or inanity.” Too often, those pitching positivity to him have “a kind of self-interest lurking in the pitch. Most of us prefer to hang out with someone who’s upbeat.” But real friendships aren’t only about happy times, but about “what happens during difficulty, strife, and inconvenience.” And often things happen for no reason and impart no lessons: “I’ve learned nothing from having cancer or losing my tongue, apart from the obvious, like ‘both suck.’” |
