The first is, why are we so sad? And everybody knows the statistics on depression and mental health problems and suicide. New episodes drop every Monday.īefore we dive into it, can you lay out the basic argument you wanted to make in this piece? David Brooks As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you find podcasts. Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. So I invited Brooks onto The Gray Area to talk about what I think he gets right and what I thought was missing from his account.
What you don’t find in that story is anything about the evolution of capitalism and its gradual erosion of public life. The story Brooks tells is mostly about the collapse of moral education in America and how that has produced less civil and compassionate citizens. It’s an interesting assertion, but is it really true? And if it is true, what would the evidence look like? As far as I can tell, almost no one quibbles with this claim.Ī recent essay in the Atlantic by columnist and author David Brooks makes a related but slightly different argument, which is that America is also becoming meaner. One of the things you hear often these days is that America is becoming a more polarized country.
