Good morning, Quartz readers!
I am proud of who I am.
Born and raised in the US, I have spent almost all of my working life in the UK. I belong to both places, in spirit and citizenship.
Like many Americans, I have become inured to stories about gun violence, even ones as horrific as the mass murder of nearly 50 mostly young people, gunned down by a single deranged individual in a gay club on a Saturday night.
Like many Brits, I was aghast at the murder of Jo Cox, a cosmopolitan young politician, shot and stabbed in the street by an equally malevolent man in a Yorkshire village on a Thursday afternoon. That sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen on this side of the Atlantic.
Brits go to the polls next week, to decide whether we should remain in the European Union. My American side struggles to understand how quitting the world’s largest trading bloc will enhance the island’s influence, and flinch at the nasty tone that the debate has taken.
Americans go to the polls in a few months, to choose our next president. My British side is taken aback by the world’s most powerful economy, a nation of immigrants, gripped by paranoia and prejudice.
There is a common thread (an ironic phrase, since I feel as though both my countries are coming apart at the seams). There are disaffected, insecure, and angry people who reject the modern order and distrust “the establishment,” real or perceived. There are craven leaders who take advantage by celebrating the meanest aspects of human nature—stoking divisions, exploiting fear, and deflecting blame onto others. There is violence.
The grievances—most of them, anyway—should be acknowledged. Suffering, exclusion, and inequality have festered for too long. But the answer is not to withdraw into tribes, close the gates, and assume that things will magically improve.
I speak from a position of privilege. By accident of birth, others live with horror and hunger on a daily basis. But this week, my world seems cast in a different, darker hue. I trust in the better nature of people, and believe that cooperation and compromise are better than division and denial.
I am proud of who I am.—Jason Karaian
Five things on Quartz we especially liked
Re-reading the Orlando shooting. The political rhetoric about the Orlando shooting last weekend, on both right and left, has been about “terrorism.” Marcie Bianco reminds us that it was also a targeted attack on an already vulnerable community. And Jenni Avins outlines simple and powerful ways for people to respond.
We don’t have a finance problem; we have a computer-science problem. Christopher Groskopf examines how the transition from human to computer trading a decade ago led to pernicious glitches in financial markets, and how the US regulator, the SEC, is just now trying to fix them.
Let science help you cook the perfect American breakfast. America’s short-order cooks have mastered the art of cooking delicious breakfasts. But there’s a science to it too. Annalisa Merelli, an Italian normally content to start her day with a croissant and cappuccino, traveled to a culinary science lab to learn how to scramble, bake and boil (but not fry!) the perfect morning meal.
LinkedIn is the Rorschach test of Silicon Valley. It has been many things to many people over the years, writes Kevin Delaney: a social network, media company, educational platform, and professional recruiting tool. Now it’s up to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to hone its focus. Is it prepared? Look to its LinkedIn profile to find out.
The nagging paradox behind Trump’s rise. The billionaire celebrity’s success reveals an astonishing loss of control by the party’s elite over the selection of their presidential nominee. Yet, as Gwynn Guilford shows, it stems in part from leaders’ attempts to increase their control, beginning back in 2012 when they stomped out an insurgency staged by Ron Paul supporters.
A podcast we like, and think you’ll like too
Why is a South American soccer tournament being held in the US? This week, our podcast Actuality shows how the US became a major market for global football despite the haters. It’s a combination of demographics, cultural change, even the internet destroying the media business. We talk to players from the US men’s and women’s national teams about how they became pros, and to a soccer marketer about how to pay for it all.
Five things elsewhere that made us smarter
Marissa Mayer is botching Tumblr, too. In the three years since Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion, Tumblr has had a staff exodus and chaos on the sales side. Much of that is thanks to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who analysts, media buyers, and current and former employees say is mismanaging the 11-year-old social network, as Seth Flegerman details for Mashable.
Did Jesus have a wife? A seemingly ancient scrap of papyrus records Jesus referring to “my wife.” Ariel Sabar set out to track the artifact’s chain of ownership, and in the Atlantic recounts an extraordinary odyssey through the world of Egyptology, forgery, and, um, Florida pornography.
How an international pedophile got away with it. He taught in schools from Venezuela to Indonesia to the UK, and sexually abused hundreds of boys, but the crimes didn’t come to light until after his death. Robert Booth investigates for the Guardian why, despite repeated warning signs, William Vahey was never caught.
The built-in biases of computer code. “If you’re building a data-driven system and you’re not actively seeking to combat prejudice, you’re building a discriminatory system.” In a recent talk, internet and society researcher danah boyd explains how unthinking choices by the programmers who build the digital basis of modern society lead to racist outcomes, as well as vast environmental cost.
Inside the mind of a pro-Trump millennial. It’s the Trump supporter you don’t normally see: white and male, yes, but young, pro-LGBT, pro-choice, articulate, thoughtful. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf holds a dialogue with him that reveals an unexpected clue to Trump’s appeal, but also further evidence of America’s descent into tribalism.
Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, American breakfast recipes, and ancient papyri to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.