Good morning.
This weekend, Free Expression columnists John J. Miller and Kyle Smith reflect on the lasting influence of George Orwell. Would Orwell still call himself a democratic socialist if he saw what that particular political program had done to his native England? The question almost answers itself—but tune in to hear John and Kyle hash it out. You won’t regret it.
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I don’t know what people are talking about where you live, but where I live it’s all about the Knicks. What we call the tristate area—New York, New Jersey and Connecticut—has been buzzing since Wednesday night’s come-from-behind victory in game four of the NBA finals. I suspect you’ve seen footage of overexuberant teens smashing up light poles and fighting in the streets. Let me assure you that 99.9% of the local celebrations have been as wholesome as the climax of “Hoosiers.” We all deserve to have this feeling once in our lives.
It’s fashionable on the right side of the American political divide to pretend that soccer isn’t awesome. It’s boring, some say, and unsuited to our national personality; Americans want action, physicality, high scoring and total domination of an opponent.
I don’t subscribe to this point of view. Baseball can be boring, and still we love it. There’s nothing to rival the artistry and precision of a low-scoring pitchers’ duel on a hot summer’s night. Not everything has to be the NFL.
Several generations of Americans have grown up playing soccer at this point. We get it, and we like it. Domestic audiences for the UEFA Champions League and the British Premier League grow larger every year. And in Christian Pulisic, we finally have a world-class offensive player on our national team. The U.S. men won Friday night 4-1 over Paraguay. The deeper the U.S. goes in the World Cup, the easier it will be to tune out the haters.
The film critic Gene Shalit died on Friday at 100. We were homeboys—which is to say, we went to the same high school, about 50 years apart. His parents owned a drug store on Speedwell Ave. in Morristown, N.J., which happens to be the street on which I grew up. The place still bore his family name when I was a kid. My friends and I would walk to Shalit’s to buy Sugar Daddys and Now and Laters on our way to hang out at the Green or the Headquarters Plaza Mall. I could never get over the idea that the bow-tie guy with the bushy hair and the monster mustache on “The Today Show” was the same Shalit as Shalit’s on Speedwell Ave. RIP.
What We’re Reading
Barton Swaim’s “Graham Platner and Ken Paxton: When Ugliness Is the Point”
The Editorial Board’s “Kathy Hochul and the ‘Gestating Parent’ ”
It’s the Age of Sanders, Too
The Vermont senator has pushed the Democratic Party toward radicalism, antisemitism and redistribution.
Is the Rapid Prompting Method a Miracle or Mirage?
Advocates claim it has the power to unlock the hidden intelligence of profoundly autistic people. The results are unstudied.
When the Bottom Stories Are the Real News
Good news gets buried when it doesn’t fit the left’s narrative of perpetual crisis.
By James B. Meigs
Will L.A. Ever Hit Rock Bottom?
The rejection of Spencer Pratt suggests the city has further to fall.
By Jack Butler
Are You There God? It’s Me, Spielberg
The ‘Disclosure Day’ director asks ancient questions about the universe and the Almighty.
By Spencer Klavan
About Free Expression
Free Expression is a daily newsletter on American life, politics and culture from the Opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal.
Published directly to your inbox Monday through Friday, Free Expression features news and commentary from WSJ Opinion editors, regular columnists and other contributors.
