Light Reading

In honor of Veterans’ Day, I suggest you read two things from The Atlantic. The first is from this month’s issue, an article that explains how beefing up the Transportation Safety Administration is “security theater“ and how afraid it should make you feel, especially when you’re standing in the queue.

The second is from the issue last November, in which The Atlantic asked a bunch of people to define their perception of the future of the “American idea.” For this issue, David Foster Wallace submits an essay in which he asks this:

Are some things still worth dying for? Is the American idea one such thing? Are you up for a thought experiment? What if we chose to regard the 2,973 innocents killed in the atrocities of 9/11 not as victims but as democratic martyrs, “sacrifices on the altar of freedom”?

Read it.