1. Simon Blackburn gives us his version of a “kids, these days, let me tell you” cranky rant about selfies, which he saves only by saying we should respond to the vanity and conceit and narcissism encouraged in today’s society with mockery. Seems to me, though, that only someone completely full of himself would attempt such a sweeping characterization of contemporary culture (ba dum dum). But seriously, inferring increased vanity amongst a population because they now have the technology to quickly take and widely share photos of themselves, and so take and share those photos, is like inferring increased hunger amongst a population because they now have food to eat, and eat it. Oy, what am I doing? Sorry–just look at me spout off. No seriously, look at me. Look at me! Or look at a review of Blackburn’s new book, Mirror, Mirror, in The Chronicle.
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