Conor Friedersdorf
Before joining The Atlantic in 2010, he was the features editor at Culture11 and a reporter for the Los Angeles News Group. He is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.
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Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Hulton Archive / … Reader Views on the Role of Taboos
“Taboos are illiberal mechanisms of enforcement and control,” one reader argues.
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Hulton Archive / Getty The Role of Taboos in a Liberal Democracy
Plus: free expression and social justice in the book world
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Damon Winter / NYT / Redux 13 Readers on What Trump Voters Want
“What really matters is whether a candidate gives a voter an identity,” a reader argues.
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Michael Ho Wai Lee / SOPA Images / … A Progressive City Debates Crime
Plus: One moment that could have weakened Donald Trump’s influence
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Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Tony Bock / … Reader Views on Press Coverage of Race
“Most of the time, I don’t think that negative reactions to observational, non-prescriptive pieces about race are the fault of the author,” one reader argues.
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Haiyun Jiang / The New York Times / … Ignore the Histrionic Attacks on the Supreme Court
Its most recent term was a credit to the institution, not the abomination its critics allege.
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Everett How Comedy Movies Are Changing
Plus: How to increase diversity at the top
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Tony Bock / Toronto Star / Getty Why Is Tracy Chapman at the Center of a Country-Music Controversy?
The response to Luke Combs’s cover of “Fast Car” raises questions about the relevance of race to certain news stories.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. 11 Reader Views on Affirmative Action
“Affirmative action was always destined to be a Pyrrhic victory at best,” one reader argues.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. Readers’ Thoughts on Affirmative Action
Responses from teachers, students, and others on educational equity
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. The Hypocrisy of Mandatory Diversity Statements
Demanding that everyone embrace the same values will inevitably narrow the pool of applicants who work and get hired in higher education.
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Matthew Stockman / Getty When Sports and Politics Mix
Plus: Share your thoughts on affirmative action.
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Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Bettmann / Getty The Public Debates Worth Witnessing
Readers weigh in on the topics and participants they would want to see.
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Bettmann / Getty Joe Rogan, RFK Jr., and the Debates Worth Having
Plus: Is the culture war upstream of politics?
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Photo-illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Fox Photos / … The Gaps Between Media and Reality
Readers share examples of media portrayals that are at odds with their own life experiences.
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Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty When Science Outpaces Ethics
Plus: A ‘West Point for cops’
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Arnaud Chochon / … The ‘Single Greatest Hindrance’ to Learning
Young people (plus parents and educators) reflect on the potential hazards of smartphones for children.
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Arnaud Chochon / Hans Lucas / Redux The Battle Over Smartphones at School
Plus: The decline of morality is an illusion.
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Lynn Goldsmith / Corbis / VCG / Getty The World’s Best Songwriters
You might be surprised.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty Images A Case for Redirecting DEI Funds
Plus: The Rolling Stones revisited
