Opinion | 41 Ways to Understand 2021 - The New York Times

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Is America no longer governable? Can psychedelics cure us? What’s in a Subway tuna fish sandwich? This December, Times Opinion is looking back at the year through the lens we know best: debates.

For the past several weeks, we’ve been combing through media coverage and Google trends data to compile a list of the arguments that defined 2021, from the most important conversations we had as a nation to the absurd controversies that fascinated us. The result is a package of 41 short essays covering topics as diverse as American violence, the future of work, Britney Spears, Philip Roth, saving the planet, hermits, Big Bird, cryptocurrency, Critical Race Theory and much more.

Earlier this month, when I met with a group of my colleagues to select the final list, we noticed that one theme kept coming up again and again: connection. After all, 2021 was supposed to be the year that American society knit itself back together. News of the vaccines last November, on the heels of the presidential election, led many of us to believe that the country would soon emerge from the dispiriting isolation of the pandemic with a newfound appreciation for community — for the privilege of being with others.

But of course, that’s not quite the way things went. There were joyous reunions this year, to be sure, but there were also plenty of reasons to wonder whether the fabric of American society has been irreparably torn: videos of belligerent customers refusing to wear their masks in stores; acrimony on social media that made Facebook’s promise to “connect the world” sound more like a threat; and political hyperpolarization that caused some to propose breaking up the United States.

I asked Jon Mooallem, a contributing writer for the Times Magazine, to consider our current predicament in an essay on The Big Question of the year: Is life better when we’re together? Jon spoke with social psychologists about how humans form groups, how we create feelings of solidarity and belonging, and why that can lead to both good and bad outcomes.

“Togetherness is a fissile material; we can’t necessarily predict or control what reaction it will set off,” he writes. “The group of volunteers who spend their Saturday working at a Covid vaccination clinic and the group of volunteers who spend their Saturday protesting outside the clinic are, psychologically speaking, riding the same wave.” Jon’s reporting and insights help us understand not only the anti-vax movement but also the Capitol riot, the conflagration over Critical Race Theory, and much of 2021.

Taken together, the 41 essays in this package create a timeline of the year in Opinion, giving us an opportunity to reflect on how we spent the past 12 months. Did these conversations move the country forward in a meaningful way? What should we have paid more, or less, attention to? How can we make sure the debates we have next year are more productive, more likely to bring about mutual understanding?

Those are certainly questions that I and other editors at Times Opinion will be contemplating as we head into the New Year. But for now, we invite you to look back at where we’ve been. I hope these essays make you think, laugh and discuss, and maybe, just maybe, one of them will change your mind.

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Opinion | 41 Ways to Understand 2021 - The New York Times
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