Sometimes there are simple stories. Culture11’s is one of them. We raised a certain amount of money last year predicated on the assumption we would raise more money last year. Then the Fall’s fall occurred and we stretched money as long and far as we could without incurring any debts. With no new money in the door the board decided the most prudent thing to do was suspend business operations. That is a way too technical way of saying that there are now 14 people who worked very hard for this company who are looking for new jobs because theirs disappeared. These people do not deserve to be out of jobs and yet they are. The economy racks up more victims.
But the loss of Culture 11 is, in my view, far worse than 14 lost jobs. It represented, at its best, a new and honest start for a thinking young conservatism, forged by a new generation of writers who, for the most part, were unafraid to think freshly - and showed up their elders by their courage and curiosity. I have a feeling that Culture 11 will one be remembered in the same way that Seven Days, the briefly brilliant New York City magazine that Adam Moss edited in the late 80s, is now remembered. One day, a conservative journal will emerge that is able to break from the stifling, clammy orthodoxy of today's post-Buckley National Review and the often unhinged neocon catechism of the Weekly Standard. When it does, its editors will be able to look back and say that Culture 11 opened up the frontier.
On a personal note, David Kuo has been a close and faithful friend in faith, Conor Friedersdorf an alum the Dish is very proud of, and Poulos and Suderman never failed to help jog a thought into place or cut an idea down to size. Respect.