In the comments, Pst314 and Dicentra steer us to new realms of niche woe:

An exchange of views ensues.

In which, Ms Taylor Lorenz, an “online culture journalist,” struggles with causality. Including the seemingly difficult concept that a heavy reliance on delivered takeaway, and the mindset that implies, may have some bearing on how little cash one has left at the end of the month. And so, via some contortion, we arrive at the conceit that preparing a simple meal, even a packed lunch, is a physical impossibility for those deemed downtrodden.

Readers may note that, during the exchange, the more excuses that Ms Lorenz conjures into being, the more she pretends to care, the less she sounds like an actual person so much as a weird programme that’s been left running.

Despite Ms Lorenz’s pretence of cosmopolitan expertise, there’s no sense at any point in the exchange that the topic has actually been thought about, autonomously, poked at from various angles. Her mouthings merely suggest someone who’s memorised some pre-approved excuses for suboptimal behaviour. I don’t believe that any actual thinking has taken place.

Instead, there’s a sense that Ms Lorenz has merely recalled the mouth sounds that will denote some fashionable stance, an approved position, one selected well in advance of any mental activity.

Should any occur.

Update, via the comments:

Chow Bag adds,

When not dining out, that is.

At risk of sounding insufficiently sensitive, I’d suggest that if your life is so disorganised that you use delivered-to-the-door takeaway services for the bulk of your meals, week after week, in ways you cannot afford, then the problem, the actual problem, is your being so disorganised.

Readers will note how Ms Lorenz has to add implausible and contradictory complications to bolster her assertion.

And so, not only are these weirdly incompetent young people all working double shifts, every day, every week, but they’re also elderly and disabled and unable to operate a hob or reach for kitchen utensils. And they’re so pressed for time, so downtrodden, that they can afford to spend half of their food budget on dining out in restaurants.

As one does.

I doubt it’s ever occurred to Ms Lorenz that, by excusing foolish behaviour and the habitual displacement of responsibility, by encouraging the cultivation of victimhood, she’s making poverty more likely, and more likely to persist.

Her supposedly compassionate philosophy, such as it is, seems to be, “Carry on doing that really stupid thing. Just remember to blame other people for your own bewildering choices.”

Ms Lorenz has subsequently restricted who may reply to her assertions.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

I paraphrase, of course. Though not, I think, wildly:

The alleged harms of debate and the citing of statistics are not mere rudeness or a failure to flatter, but “lasting psychological damage.” Because statistics can do that, apparently.

What might constitute controversy in the minds of such implausibly delicate creatures is not made clear, though we are told that the terms “blind review,” “handicap parking” and “immigrant” were considered “harmful language” by Stanford University’s IT department. Which does rather suggest a kind of neurotic contrivance.

Humble, you say. We’ll get to that in a second.

You can guess where this one’s going.

And,

And what better gift to the world than imposing your own hang-ups and inadequacies on everyone else, quite emphatically, at every opportunity?

And then we arrive at this glorious conundrum:

The study, found here, informs us that those most keen to pre-emptively shut down discussion, including by vigorous means, also “rated themselves as higher in… empathy.”

The inversions of progressive “empathy” – and its routine departure from reality – have of course been poked at here before.

And regarding those claims of humility, nothing says, ‘I entertain the possibility that my assumptions may be wrong’ like forbidding any and all attempts at contradiction.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Because you look starved of culture, I bring you the formidable figure of rap sensation Dajua Blanding, known to her admirers as Dank Demoss:

What’s her rap name? pic.twitter.com/OvrfklCc0R

— TaraBull (@TaraBull) April 26, 2026

Bonus points if you spotted the location of madam’s phone.

Keen-eyed readers may recognise Ms Demoss from her previous adventures in enormousness. Which seem to consist largely of harassing Lyft drivers fearful for their suspension.

For those erotically intrigued – and with a taste for what I can only describe as front arse cheeks – glamour shots are available.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

The time is upon us when I rashly appeal to the better nature of my patrons, with a reminder that this establishment is made possible by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to ensure this place exists a while longer and remains ad-free, there are three buttons below the fold with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. If what happens here is of value, this is a chance to show it.

If one-click haste is called for, there’s a QR code in the sidebar, at which you point your phone camera, and my PayPal.Me page can be found here. There are also SubscribeStar and Ko-Fi accounts, via which love may be monetised, whether as one-off donations or monthly subscriptions. Should you be gripped by an urge to express encouragement via currency, by all means succumb.

Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or via the button in the sidebar, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.

Sordid business, I grant you, but it’s what keeps this place here.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for nineteen chuffing years, in over 3,500 posts and hundreds of thousands of comments, the Reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year-summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that.

Do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Lifted from the comments, which you’re reading of course, Christopher Rufo spies more dolts and liars in dumb academia:

And yet, none of these post-colonial theorists want to “decolonize” electricity, antibiotics, and other oppressive constructs of the Western world, in order to return to the authentic indigenous ways of the darkened teepee and dying from a small scratch on the leg. https://t.co/iL4cwZIqrr

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) April 17, 2026

Note that the first words uttered by Noah Romero, our Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies, are hilariously untrue. Note too his framing of his own efforts – all that “undoing, dislodging, subverting” – as an “eradicative project,” one intended to purge Western civilisation of its, well, civilisation.

And presumably, by implication, to purge it of people like thee and me. Those who might protest. But remember, we’ve been assured that the term decolonise is “misinterpreted” by those who dare to look unimpressed, and that it is, despite appearances, entirely benign, used by higher beings with the most fragrant of intentions.

In entirely unrelated news, Hampshire College, where Mr Romero peddles his claptrap, among his fellow educators – sorry, fellow “activists” – is closing down permanently at the end of this year. Due to debt, accreditation issues, and steeply declining enrolment.

Whether this impending closure will impact Mr Romero’s primitivist fantasies of remaking the world, by dislodging and subverting things, or prompt any reflection on his life choices more generally, is a question I leave to the reader.

Conceivably, the world may soon be denied Mr Romero’s “projects that examine the anti-colonial pedagogies found in minority-led punk, skateboarding, and unschooling subcultures.”

I’ll give you a moment to bite down on your fist in sorrow.

But fear not, very similar noises, mouthed by eerily similar idiots, can be found elsewhere. More easily, and often, than one might wish.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.