Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, first published in 1985. It’s written specifically about television, but near the end of the book, he speculates (acerbically) about another, then-nascent medium:

“…Americans have afforded [the personal computer] their customary mindless inattention; which means they all use it as they are told, without a whimper. Thus, a central thesis of computer technology–that the principal difficulty we have in solving problems stems from insufficient data–will go unexamined. Until, years from now, when it will be noticed that the massive collection and speed-of-light retrieval of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and created at least as many problems for them as the may have solved.”

a new mix, percolated over roughly the past 6 months.

Here’s an assembly of songs somehow reflective of the past year and a half or so.

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

From Chapter 4, “Stopping Male Violence”:

“Male violence in general has intensified not because feminist gains offer women greater freedom but rather because men who endorse patriarchy discovered along the way that the patriarchal promise of power and domination is not easy to fulfill, and in those rare cases where it is fulfilled, men find themselves emotionally bereft. The patriarchal manhood that was supposed to satisfy does not. And by the time this awareness emerges, most patriarchal men are isolated and alienated; they cannot go back and reclaim a past happiness or joy, nor can they forward. To go forward they would need to repudiate the patriarchal thinking that their identity has been based on. Rage is the easy way back to a realm of feeling. It can serve as the perfect cover, masking feelings of fear and failure.”

This one is dated 11/25/20 (possibly made after watching the movie Cellular):

“The narrative trope of the dirty cops (the “bad apples”) being caught out in the end, thus leaving only good and noble cops remaining on the police force.”