The smoke of lightweight satanism smells like the effluvium of pretentious ivy-league hacks.

Stumbling across this headline amid the bumf in my stockbroker’s waiting room, it suddenly occurred to me that such magazines may only exist because they can convince corporate sponsors that they have a readership.

The heart of The Atlantic‘s success possibly lies a handshake with a company which estimates online ‘hits.’ Then they can approach the types of large firms to whose lobbies they cater their glossy wares. The eye-catching headlines and edgy but ultimately banal philosophical chuntering reminded me of Daria Morgandorfer’s remark:

‘Edgy is what occurs when middle brow middle aged profiteers want to suck the spending power out of ‘youth culture’ by seeming to act dangerous while their every move is the result of market research and a corporate master plan.’

I suppose The Atlantic shows what happens when that ‘youth culture’ reaches its prozac popping, Godless, middle age. How much of our media is essentially PR’s attempt to provide intellectual muzak to space out the ads?