I Seem to Have Written the Same Essay Twenty Times

Language Matters by Elias Winter · Aug 2, 2026 · 19m

I should begin with an apology.

Some of you may have subscribed expecting essays. By essays, you probably meant the normal kind: a few observations, a book quotation, perhaps an opinion about democracy delivered before lunch. Instead, you received a prolonged inquiry into empire, narcotics, algorithms, theology, masculinity, professional dentistry, and whether civilization can survive the disappearance of men who know where the water shutoff valve is.

This was not the original plan.

The original plan, insofar as there was one, was to write clearly about the times. The times then responded by…