Good morning, Quartz readers!
Just how much are the UK and the US ready to sacrifice in order to keep their neighbors out? Both countries are ending another tense week of trying to answer this question.
In the UK, prime minister Theresa May barely survived a no-confidence vote, and the country still has no Brexit deal—nor any clarity on whether it should continue with the process. So far, that process has contributed to the economy suffering a 2.1% contraction, and a no-deal Brexit could make the situation worse than it was in 2008.
Meanwhile, the US is enduring the longest-ever government shutdown, which has left 800,000 federal workers without pay and could cost the economy more than $6 billion, as the president holds the budget hostage over his campaign promise of a wall on the southern border. Eventually, a prolonged shutdown could help push the US into a recession (paywall) as well.
Brexit, the shutdown, the wall: These all stem from the same political pursuit to keep immigrants out. The issue has been sold as economic—people worried for their jobs, their savings, their welfare. But given the losses that supporters of Brexit and the wall are willing to accept, it’s increasingly clear that xenophobia is at the core.
Xenophobia is a composite of two words from ancient Greek, one meaning “fear” and the other “stranger” or “enemy.” But as we watch these governments bend over backwards to keep out a relatively small number of foreigners, “fear” does not seem to be the right word.
“Hatred” does. A hatred of the foreigner portrayed as dangerous, ill-intentioned, and undeserving. And not just any foreigner: the poor, the jobless, the non-white. Also the non-Christian: Trump recently tweeted about “prayer rugs” allegedly found at the border—the ultimate sign of its dangerousness.
All that is ironic, given what these governments are hanging themselves up for: a hatred that’s quietly growing so large it’s destroying their stability from within, all for fear of someone coming from the outside to do the same. —Annalisa Merelli
Five things on Quartz we especially liked
US hospitals must now post prices online. Good luck finding them. Americans can easily shop for the best prices for most anything they might buy—except when it comes to medical procedures. With that in mind, a new law requires hospitals to post prices online. But they may list the information any which way, and, as Anne Quito and Amanda Shendruk report, most are making it unnecessarily difficult to find, decipher, and compare against.
The self-tightening shoe now on pro basketball courts. John Wooden, a legendary college basketball coach, made it a priority to teach new players how to properly tie their shoes. He knew a shoe that holds the foot in place offers a game-time advantage. As Marc Bain writes, a new high-tech shoe from Nike does the same thing, but better, hugging the foot all around. Too bad it costs $350 and requires charging.
The US visa that stalls Indian women’s careers. The H-1B visa program brings high-skilled immigrants, primarily Indian men, to the US. Their spouses get an H-4 visa that prohibits them from working. In a Quartz News video, Preeti Varathan profiles highly qualified Indian women languishing in professional limbo under the visa. A 2015 rule allowed some H-4 holders to work, but that’s under attack, leading some Indian families to question living in America.
The economics of streaming is making songs shorter. In the past five years, the average song on the Billboard Hot 100 has become significantly shorter. The likely reason, writes Dan Kopf, is streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, which pay rights holders per play, whether a song lasts two minutes or five. Payments from such services made up 75% of all US music revenue in 2018, up from 21% in 2013.
We’re in a golden age of video-game artistry. Independent developers and artists can now easily afford a game engine, an essential piece of software that renders graphics and animation, powers the minds of computer-controlled characters, and sets the laws of physics in the game universe. The result is an abundance of artsy, weird, and experimental indie video games, writes Nicolas Rivero, including one title critics describe as “almost impossibly gorgeous.”
Five things elsewhere that made us smarter
One couple’s tireless crusade to stop a genetic killer. Sonia Vallabh and husband Eric Minikel never intended to become scientists—she studied law at Harvard, he urban planning at MIT. That changed after they learned Vallabh had inherited a fatal prion disease. For Wired, Kelly Clancy profiles the couple as they take to the lab, endure the bruising work of drug development, and accomplish one seemingly impossible task after another in search of a cure.
The most powerful person in Silicon Valley. Believing computers will eventually run the planet, SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son is investing stunning amounts of capital in companies that use artificial intelligence to optimize industries ranging from food to transportation to real estate. For Fast Company, Katrina Brooker profiles the man agitating Silicon Valley VCs with his big-money bets—and making decisions that could affect society for decades, if not centuries.
North Korea’s world-class beach resort, seen from space. Think of satellite images in relation to North Korea and sites for rocket launches and nuclear weapons likely come to mind. But such images can also reveal the bustling development underway at the “Wonsan-Kalma Tourist Zone” on the southeast coast, as 38 North demonstrates. The ruling regime aims to lure international (especially Chinese) tourists and their wallets to the area, where Kim Jong Un spent his childhood summers.
The women of the 116th US Congress. For most of America’s history, the quintessential portrait of a lawmaker is an older white man shown in a formal setting. But as of this month, there are 131 women serving in both chambers of America’s legislative branch—a record number, and a diverse group, at that. To mark the changes afoot, the New York Times offers portraits of the women who are redefining representation (paywall).
The largest behavior-change program in the world. A campaign underway in India aims to put an end to people defecating in the open, particularly in rural areas. Thanks to a massive toilet-building program, about 450 million people have moved away from open defecation in just over four years. More important, writes Kiran Sharma for the Nikkei Asian Review, cultural changes are making a latrine in the home more acceptable—especially good news for women.
Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, self-tightening shoes, and North Korean postcards to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Weekend Brief was edited by Steve Mollman and Kira Bindrim.