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Freedom

Criticism as a role-playing game?

LITERATURE: The informal contexts where one could try and fail without having to stand up for every careless word have shrunk. In Eirik Vassenden's 229-page book about the critic, there are no fewer than 317 question marks. We also ask: Do literary scholars necessarily have any advantage when it comes to human knowledge, life experience or social understanding?

Structural changes in the public sector

HABERMAS II: The policy is marketed via advertising and propaganda and not through discussion. The audience is affected by echo chambers and filter bubbles. And what does globalization mean for today's public?

The citizen's 'autonomy' as a condition for political publicity

PUBLIC: The image of the public in the Enlightenment was an ideal image of enlightened citizens gathered in an audience that discussed – or 'deliberated' – to arrive at the best solution. But what happens when early hair loss, premature ejaculation and simulated disability become therapy texts for the endless frustration of living in one of the world's supposedly richest and best countries?

Hannah Arendt and the totalitarian

Social Media: While the public is a place where free individuals have the right, and perhaps also the duty, to participate in a free exchange of opinions, the social is more about herd and control. Are we now faced with a social control that does not invite disagreement and diversity, but only obedience or exclusion? The rise of the social can threaten both freedom and individuality. MODERN TIMES prints here an extract from Einar Øverenget's new book, Intoleransens intog.

The magic word that shatters the debate 

"I'm not into conspiracy theories, except the ones who are true or involved dentists." Michael Moore

Virtual gossip monsters

Pokémon Go: The app that makes people run around with a handheld surveillance camera.