If you would like to see a dramatic illustration of my (probably too) often-hammered-on point about how elite discourse always reflects elite interests and elite assumptions — these unemployed 32-year-olds in rural Kentucky are having a hard time; how do we get them into Harvard Law? — take a look at the media coverage of the college-admissions bribery scandal: top of the front page, and practically wall-to-wall in some outlets. The sort of people who edit the New York Times care about elite college admissions the way football hooligans care about football. The high-school dropout rate in Milwaukee? Not so much.


California governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to suspend executions in the state? Way down there — may as well be in agate.