Teju Cole on what connects Downton Abbey, the IMF, Drones, and Virgin's Upper Class

A seven-part excursus on the modern condition

Teju Cole @tejucole
1. Each age has its presiding metaphor. Ours is aerial bombing.
via #!Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:10:53
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Teju Cole @tejucole
2. Drone warfare and the IMF are variations on a theme: decisions taken from a great height, with disregard for consequences on the ground.
via #!Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:11:31
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Teju Cole @tejucole
3. Downton Abbey’s popularity is about a nostalgia for class superiority, and the desire to watch those who act from a great height.
via #!Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:12:04
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Teju Cole @tejucole
4. Virgin Atlantic’s obnoxious designation of First Class as “Upper Class” is about the same idea: that class is benign and charming.
Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:12:33
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Teju Cole @tejucole
5. One question links the IMF, drones, Virgin’s “Upper Class,” Limbaugh’s violence and Strauss-Kahn’s, and the mania for “Downton Abbey.”
Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:13:33
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Teju Cole @tejucole
6. The question is this: those people down there, are they really people? It’s a question about for whose sake this world exists.
Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:15:10
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Teju Cole @tejucole
7. Someone in soft, casual clothes in a featureless building in Nevada presses a button, and the question disappears.
Sat, Mar 03 2012 10:17:04
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