New Inquiry subscribers have long been reading about the world we live in. Since 2009, we’ve critiqued the bourgeois press and its failure to reckon with our realities, covering debt, cops, love, and tech before our writers were poached by magazines with bigger budgets. We’re concerned with building a left that doesn’t reproduce what we critique, be that the Democratic party, anti-Blackness, transmisogyny, settler colonialism, or liberal optimism. As such we don’t talk about organizing “the white working class” or “reforming” that which must be abolished [the police, prisons, and the state]. The important thing a magazine can do, we think, is to ask the right questions—it’s right there in our name.
Just two dollars unlocks all sixty past magazine issues — an invaluable archive of evergreen criticism from the post-crash era. Looking for insight on Modern Monetary Theory? How about food and appetites? Microfame and online resentment? Love and sexuality? The Tinderization of everyday life? Witches and outer space? Our futures? We’ve got you covered. And when any reactionaries ask, you can tell them you cared about surveillance, borders, and drones while Obama was president too.
Ever wonder why Nicholas Kristof thinks hugs cure poverty? Why you can’t trust the dulcet tones of Radiolab? Why Silicon Valley thinks nerds are a race and Peter Thiel is obsessed with blood? Are you also made uneasy by the blondes of empire? Is the current social order making you sick?
We’ve never pretended to live in a world where neutrality was affordable, let alone morally defensible. We don’t believe in “both sides.” We believe in ours and we’re clear about our stakes. We know there’s a time to loot, a time to riot, and a time to deck nazis. While Chait and Brooks admonish students for being bad customers, we insist the customer is always right.
We’re living through a historically unstable moment. The forces of capital that appeared to neutralize the liberation movements of previous generations are resorting to violence to hold us back. We are proud to be an ad free non profit. Our priorities are to pay our writers a fair fee, we keep our overhead low and our staff largely volunteer. Your support goes 100% to the work you see on our pages. Join us as we bring our energies to bear on the organs of ruling-class discourse. For only $2 a month, you have nothing to lose but your change.