I have incredibly vague memories of the early days of vox where I was impressed at the form they used? Like, I seem to remember them really embracing hypertext and linking to central pieces that provided some more context on the immediate story than would have been reasonable to include in the main article. Like, if you wanted a brief summary of how the situation in Libya got to the point where the breaking news hit it there was a way to get that information easily right there, linked in the article.

Of course, by now it seems like everyone has gotten far more competent at that and the editorial policies and ideologies behind Klein’s work have exposed themselves as deeply odious. There may have been a point at which he had one single good idea, but then that idea was completely tangential to the thing he actually wanted to do.

I have this Ezra Klein post burned into my brain

Second, fear of violence undermines liberal politics. Just look at America post-9/11. Or after the crime surges of the 70s and 80s and 90s — strongmen politicians win, punitive responses like mass incarceration and warrior policing rise, social trust collapses.

Really though, still trying to find the guy who did this? No self-awareness from the Iraq War-supporter?

I wrote a thing a decade or more ago I can’t find now, about the early history of Vox’s “explainers”. They were literally wanting to replace Wikipedia as a go-to.