2004 Was Seriously F*cked Up

Of all the 20th anniversaries this year (Mean Girls! Napoleon Dynamite! J-Kwon's "Tipsy"!),the most significant is this: 2004 was the year that set our national unraveling in motion. We didn't feel our brains breaking at the time, and therein lies the problem. We got angry at the wrong people (Janet Jackson), shrugged off dangerously precedent-setting practices (swiftboating), and entertained ourselves to death with the things that would be our undoing (Facebook, Donald J. Trump). Now our brains are shattered, but maybe by looking back at this momentous year, we can train them to notice the warning signs. It might be the only way out of this mess.

View in Browser  SHOP EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBE Do You Remember How F*cked Up 2004 Was? Of all the 20th anniversaries this year (Mean Girls! Napoleon Dynamite! J-Kwon's "Tipsy"!),the most significant is this: 2004 was the year that set our national unraveling in motion. We didn't feel our brains breaking at the time, and therein lies the problem. We got angry at the wrong people (Janet Jackson), shrugged off dangerously precedent-setting practices (swiftboating), and entertained ourselves to death with the things that would be our undoing (Facebook, Donald J. Trump). Now our brains are shattered, but maybe by looking back at this momentous year, we can train them to notice the warning signs. It might be the only way out of this mess. Read More The Michigan GOP's System For Selecting Delegates Seems To Have Been Designed By Bonobos And that's only the beginning of the chaos up there. Read More So You Want to Read Dune. Here's How to Tackle the Series in Order. Our foolproof guide to getting caught up before Dune: Part Two hits theaters. Read More Tommy Orange Refuses to Be Your Tour Guide to Native Life To quote the recently departed N. Scott Momaday, "If you believe in the power of words, you can bring about physical changes in the universe." Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange's follow-up to his massive hit There There, brings about changes to the universe—or at least the literary universe. It's a follow-up, yes, but the first half of Wandering Stars does not immediately provide what readers might want: answers to the mystery surrounding the end of There There. "It felt undeniable that regardless of what I wrote for the second book, people would read it just to find out," Orange tells Esquire. "It was just more important to me to try and write something new than to figure out how to replicate what 'worked' the first time." Read More 9 AirTag Wallets to Keep Your Cards and Cash Safe Because this is the last thing you want to lose. Read More 20 Oscar-Nominated Movies You Can Stream on Netflix Right Now What's a better stamp of excellence than an Academy Award? Read More The Best Songs of 2024 (So Far) The year in music started off with some big bangs. Just a few weeks into 2024, we already had news of Spring albums from the Twin Towers of pop, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Those proclamations shook the walls, but they were hardly the whole story—January and February (historically a slow period in the music business!) also saw new releases from the likes of Green Day and Usher and announcements of upcoming music from Justin Timberlake, Kacey Musgraves, and Billie Eilish. Here are some of the early standouts. Read More How satisfied are you with the content of this newsletter? Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice | CA Notice at Collection Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2024 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779