They say sunlight is the best disinfectant, but the dominant strains of corruption and criminality are shockingly resistant: even in the open air, they thrive, impervious to scrutiny or consequence.
Consider, for instance, Opus Dei, the cult-ish Catholic organization that is both secretive and allergic to bad publicity. George Scialabba, a former member, reviews a new book that lays out in detail the dark money and labor exploitation that sustain it. Don’t expect any accountability, though; the group has the ear of many powerful political figures. And besides, public displays of contrition have not repressed the reemergence of far-right extremism in Germany, as Michael Lipkin points out in our latest issue.
“If, as in a century prior, right-wing terrorists carried out murders while a complicit police force and a legal system full of authoritarians looked on, then what had Germany learned, really?”
“In Richard Powers’s Playground, which offers up so many ideas ripe for innovation, the story is lost inside the plot. The task of reimagining the narrative in the face of perpetual technological change falls by the wayside.”
“According to the Washington Post, anyone who invested more than $250 million received special access to sensitive data about the company and its users.”
“How did we get to this point, especially around issues of depression and anxiety, where we considered them medical problems, clinical problems, instead of social problems?”
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