5 ms·

I booked half year subscription, and had deep disappointment. Each and every article is without the basic substance on how the ideas were developed and what the

I booked half year subscription, and had deep disappointment. Each and every article is without the basic substance on how the ideas were developed and what the reasoning behind their consequences. All articles are pure ideology showcasing of the author, who might or might not believe what they stated in the article...

EarthIsHome 4y ago
That's the point of the magazine: it's to spread ideologies around. If you want to know what people in the state department (or adjacent/influential) are thinking, then "articles" in this magazine are one way of peering into their minds. One example of this is the the Mr. X article. It was published anonymously in Foreign Affairs. Mr. X was George Kennan, a US diplomat, who popularized the strategy of containment which ended up as US foreign policy during the Cold War. [0] So, if you want to know what's en vogue in certain foreign policy groups in US and western society, then Foreign Affairs is a very good magazine... But your point is right: I found very little substance and critical evidence to back many of the ideas presented when I had a subscription. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Article
- uoaei 4y ago
  More broadly, this perspective applies to most (all?) "news" media sources today. Actually fringe outlets are on average much worse, passing through the land of ideology toward pure virtue-signalling. The goal of reading news today isn't necessarily to get facts: those are accessible through implicit analysis and triangulation of the many perspectives offered for public consideration, and unfortunately that takes a lot of time and energy to the point where it needs to be one of your daily routines to get "caught up". The goal of simply reading news more generally is to understand the ideologies driving decisions in the halls of power (legislators, ministerial positions, and "deep state" a la The Blob). Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent was treated as an instruction manual by those whom it did not already describe at publication time, and the entire public discourse has seemed to be infected by such a strain of bad-faith ideology propagation as opposed to good-faith dialectics. It is a prisoner's dilemma after all -- if you make a good-faith argument, your opponent will capitalize on it in a bad-faith manner to dominate the narrative. The most significant positive change to my media literacy was in paying attention to which authors represent which viewpoints, and which platforms publish which authors for which reasons.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  > That's the point of the magazine: it's to spread ideologies around. If you want to know what people in the state department (or adjacent/influential) are thinking, then "articles" in this magazine are one way of peering into their minds. No more than the pre-Bezos Washington Post (as awful as the post-Bezos WaPo, except the headlines were less linkbaity), because the same family of billionaires owned both.
beezlebroxxxxxx 4y ago
An academic journal that might appeal to you is Survival[0], from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Even though it is academic in nature, with the corresponding quality and standards for publication, it is largely jargon free and not too lost in the weeds. [0]: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsur20/current https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsur20/current
gxqoz 4y ago
I enjoy the breadth of the reviews in the back but typically only read 1 or 2 of the main articles. Sometimes there's an article that's in-depth on some country you don't hear that much about in other sources which justifies the subscription cost.
subsubzero 4y ago
You may need to look past the ideology to get interesting facts the authors are presenting. I am an avid reader of the economist as it shines a light on foreign news like few publications do, and even though its rather toned down than say the New York Times on opinion, it still shows through in alot of articles. Stuff like globalism is great for the average worker, the US should adopt a land value tax, etc. I don't agree with alot of the stuff they say and just filter it out but there is alot of really great news stories you may be missing.
- dron57 4y ago
  Out of interest. Why don't you like a land value tax? To me it seems like a great market based solution to American's lack of housing - which is a huge drag on our total economic growth.
  - subsubzero 4y ago
    It would make expensive cities even more expensive and encourage building for the sake of building. Open areas would be punished by having them undeveloped with a tax on everything. America also has plenty of housing, in expensive areas(coastal, mountain) we need to ban vacation rentals and make taxes very high on second houses, also prohibit hedgefunds from buying houses for rental units. This would end the housing crisis in expensive areas over night. And the drag on our economic growth is due to companies that can support remote work not allowing it(google, apple etc) which creates fierce competition for real estate to work near a job that can be done anywhere in the US. So our problems are totally self inflicted and don't need a land value tax.
wrp 4y ago
I think FA has been like that from the beginning. I once did a thorough reading of 1930s issues to get an understanding of the run-up to WW2, and it was as you describe.

EarthIsHome 4y ago

That's the point of the magazine: it's to spread ideologies around. If you want to know what people in the state department (or adjacent/influential) are thinking, then "articles" in this magazine are one way of peering into their minds. One example of this is the the Mr. X article. It was published anonymously in Foreign Affairs. Mr. X was George Kennan, a US diplomat, who popularized the strategy of containment which ended up as US foreign policy during the Cold War. [0] So, if you want to know what's en vogue in certain foreign policy groups in US and western society, then Foreign Affairs is a very good magazine... But your point is right: I found very little substance and critical evidence to back many of the ideas presented when I had a subscription. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Article

uoaei 4y ago
More broadly, this perspective applies to most (all?) "news" media sources today. Actually fringe outlets are on average much worse, passing through the land of ideology toward pure virtue-signalling. The goal of reading news today isn't necessarily to get facts: those are accessible through implicit analysis and triangulation of the many perspectives offered for public consideration, and unfortunately that takes a lot of time and energy to the point where it needs to be one of your daily routines to get "caught up". The goal of simply reading news more generally is to understand the ideologies driving decisions in the halls of power (legislators, ministerial positions, and "deep state" a la The Blob). Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent was treated as an instruction manual by those whom it did not already describe at publication time, and the entire public discourse has seemed to be infected by such a strain of bad-faith ideology propagation as opposed to good-faith dialectics. It is a prisoner's dilemma after all -- if you make a good-faith argument, your opponent will capitalize on it in a bad-faith manner to dominate the narrative. The most significant positive change to my media literacy was in paying attention to which authors represent which viewpoints, and which platforms publish which authors for which reasons.
pessimizer 4y ago
> That's the point of the magazine: it's to spread ideologies around. If you want to know what people in the state department (or adjacent/influential) are thinking, then "articles" in this magazine are one way of peering into their minds. No more than the pre-Bezos Washington Post (as awful as the post-Bezos WaPo, except the headlines were less linkbaity), because the same family of billionaires owned both.

beezlebroxxxxxx 4y ago

An academic journal that might appeal to you is Survival[0], from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Even though it is academic in nature, with the corresponding quality and standards for publication, it is largely jargon free and not too lost in the weeds. [0]: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsur20/current https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsur20/current

gxqoz 4y ago

I enjoy the breadth of the reviews in the back but typically only read 1 or 2 of the main articles. Sometimes there's an article that's in-depth on some country you don't hear that much about in other sources which justifies the subscription cost.

subsubzero 4y ago

You may need to look past the ideology to get interesting facts the authors are presenting. I am an avid reader of the economist as it shines a light on foreign news like few publications do, and even though its rather toned down than say the New York Times on opinion, it still shows through in alot of articles. Stuff like globalism is great for the average worker, the US should adopt a land value tax, etc. I don't agree with alot of the stuff they say and just filter it out but there is alot of really great news stories you may be missing.

dron57 4y ago
Out of interest. Why don't you like a land value tax? To me it seems like a great market based solution to American's lack of housing - which is a huge drag on our total economic growth.
- subsubzero 4y ago
  It would make expensive cities even more expensive and encourage building for the sake of building. Open areas would be punished by having them undeveloped with a tax on everything. America also has plenty of housing, in expensive areas(coastal, mountain) we need to ban vacation rentals and make taxes very high on second houses, also prohibit hedgefunds from buying houses for rental units. This would end the housing crisis in expensive areas over night. And the drag on our economic growth is due to companies that can support remote work not allowing it(google, apple etc) which creates fierce competition for real estate to work near a job that can be done anywhere in the US. So our problems are totally self inflicted and don't need a land value tax.

wrp 4y ago

I think FA has been like that from the beginning. I once did a thorough reading of 1930s issues to get an understanding of the run-up to WW2, and it was as you describe.