The Third Rail

The Third Rail

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Racism is no illusion. "Racecraft" is.
Why race is like Santa Claus—a pervasive myth we love to convince each other of.
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Cedrick-Michael Simmons
4
Confessions of a Failed Journalist
An American worker's story.
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Ryan Zickgraf
4
Don’t laugh, GameStop really is Occupy Wall Street 2.0
The Left ignores it at its own peril.
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Ryan Zickgraf
1
The quest for the mythical "class reductionist"
Sorry, but Bernie, Briahna, Bhaskar, and others don't dismiss racism—they just believe in universal solutions for a more equitable future.
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Ben Burgis
13
The political awakening of Michael K. Williams
The late actor's activism was stubbornly local and focused on substantive change over symbolism.
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Ryan Zickgraf
Halloween is the canary in the coal mine of our civic decline
Trick-or-treating participation is a good measure of community and neighborhood trust. The 2021 numbers are bad.
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Ryan Zickgraf
The Metaverse™ is dead. Long live the metaverse.
How Mark Zuckerberg's virtual playland helps disguise the fact that America already is the metaverse.
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Ryan Zickgraf
Will the Real Right-Wing Populists Please Stand Up?
Talk is cheap when it comes to the politics of Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson.
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Ben Burgis
3
The struggle for the history of class struggle
At a time when history is contested, some figures are more hidden than others.
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Ryan Zickgraf
1
The 18th Anniversary of the Most Important Election of Our Lifetime
November 2004 was supposed to be the endgame of elections yet no one remembers it.
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Ryan Zickgraf
An anti-Hillbilly Elegy
Why the memoir I wrote for Jacobin isn't like the kind you'd read from J.D. Vance
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Ryan Zickgraf
1
The "blackwashing" of the fine art world
What does it mean when the world’s second-richest art dealer, David Zwirner, lends his capital and influence to the creation of an “all-black” art…
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Adam Lehrer
1
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