Chosen One

 I read a BBC report on the single-child generation and the quiet consequences of falling birth rates across the world. It made me pause—and decide to speak in my own voice. If you’re anything like me, keep reading. I have written endlessly about the sanctity of life. And yet, in my youth, I made a private vow: I would have only one child, and never more. I kept that promise. Most children dream of being extraordinary— of being seen, of doing what others cannot. My dream was the opposite. I wanted to be ordinary. The stars, however, left a wound on me—one that will accompany me until death. I longed to disappear into the crowd, to do only what others could do, to be the most unremarkable person alive. But every sign in my life pointed stubbornly the other way. Language is not merely grammar and vocabulary. Language is about relevance. A shared language is not about words—it is about whether those words include you. For years, I convinced myself that those who spoke my language were...

 From One Taliban to Another: A Fear of Ghosts, Not Cultures From the Sunni Taliban to the Shia version of it, the obsession is always the same: Western cultural influence. And by “Western,” they don’t even mean the whole West — only the corners they fear the most. North America (minus Mexico, of course, because apparently cartel brutality doesn’t count as “corruption”). Europe, but only its wealthy half. And Australia, because… why not. But no one ever asks the obvious question: what about the rest of the world? Where is the panic over Chinese culture? Korean culture? African culture? Latin America? India? Do these civilizations not exist? Do they have no art, no cinema, no storytelling, no power of influence? Or is the truth more uncomfortable — that these cultures do exist, but the Taliban’s worldview is too shallow to even recognize them? Take something simple: Zootopia 2 is on track to hit a billion dollars worldwide. One animated film. One story. One piece of art shaping imag...

 We live in an age where the mind is being pulled apart one notification at a time. Social media has turned thought into a chaotic highway  from soda to U.S. President, from the Middle East to the dangers of smoking, from war to memes, from war between Russian and Ukraine all in the span of a few seconds. Nothing stays long enough to matter, and nothing ends cleanly enough to understand. In the real world, these jumps would feel absurd. But online, this circus doesn’t just appear occasionally  it repeats every day, endlessly, until the mind stops noticing the damage. Instead of throwing useless information into the trash, your mind itself becomes the trash can. And in a society addicted to visibility, where everyone is racing to post anything, false information spreads faster than truth, and meaningless content spreads faster than meaning itself. Your emotions aren’t yours anymore. Someone else holds the remote. They press a button you react. They send a wave you follow. ...