I also think the following take is interesting, and hasn't been mentioned in any of the comments so far (to the extent that I've been able to keep up with them)

I also think the following take is interesting, and hasn't been mentioned in any of the comments so far (to the extent that I've been able to keep up with them): https://www.themoneyillusion.com/understanding-middlebrow/ https://www.themoneyillusion.com/understanding-middlebrow/ The gist of it is: > Any time a powerful middlebrow entity (which wrongly thinks it’s highbrow) evaluates an actual highbrow entity, you will end up with a mixture of resentment and incomprehension. More specifically: > The NYT has 7.5 million subscribers, mostly progressives in the 90-99% range. These people feel very smart, and they are in fact smarter than 90% of the population. So there’s no point bemoaning the fact that the NYT is not about to tell it’s readers that, “Actually, we provide middlebrow news analysis, and if you want brilliant inspired analysis you need to read blogs like SlateStarCodex.”