From the NYT Mag:
Is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence?
I’d say more self-indulgence. This is not necessarily a bad thing–on the whole, I’d say that things like, say, Teach for America were less harmful than the super-driven, high-achieving folks who came up with mortgage-backed securities.
posted on August 19, 2010
Anil Dash has some good advice:
If you care about startups, get involved. Do you think the AT&Ts and Verizons, let alone the Halliburtons and BPs of the world, are going to just let the government leave startups alone? If you have a cool new music startup, and the RIAA sends 100 lobbyists to DC to crush you, and the current administration asks “What can we do to help you innovate?” and your answer is “STOP PISSING ON OUR FLOWERS YOU SOCIALISTS!”, how do you think it’s gonna play out?
Here’s a hint: It doesn’t end up with you sitting happily in a rose garden.
The whole post is worth a read. More generally, you can replace “startups” with your cause of choice and still get some good advice.
“Towards a non-neutered journalism” roundup edition:
- Dave Weigel’s professional life story. The lesson: be humble, and don’t be a dick (needlessly).
- Judging journalists on the work they produce. Bonus: Yglesias on the same subject. Double-bonus: “The myth of the opinionless man.”
- 538′s Nate Silver weighs in.
- Liz Mair points out that Weigel’s libertarian politics and JournoList dickishness gave both liberals and conservatives reasons to target him.
- Old head TNC drops some of his accumulated wisdom.