海角大神

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2023
August
10
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 10, 2023
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Lindsey McGinnis
Staff writer

You won鈥檛 need to book a plane ticket or join a waiting list to visit the world鈥檚 newest Holocaust museum 鈥� but you will need an avatar.

Soon to be embedded in the open-world map of the online video game Fortnite, the virtual Voices of the Forgotten Museum highlights heroes who fought back against the Nazis.

Fortnite is not an obvious location for a museum about genocide; the popular battle royal game is probably known best for its extensive suite of goofy, gesticulating characters. It鈥檚 a place where you can find Batman duking it out with a sentient banana peel, and then swinging his arms in a viral victory dance known as the griddy.

But with an average of nearly 240 million monthly players, Fortnite also finds itself at the frontier of the metaverse. Developer Epic Games has hosted a slew of successful live events, including an Ariana Grande concert, and wants to add some educational heft to their growing virtual neighborhood.

Critics say Fortnite is not the appropriate place to tackle such fraught history. Some cringe at the memory of Epic Games鈥� previous attempts to broach serious subjects, like its disastrous Martin Luther King Jr. Day event a few years ago, when players ran around a re-creation of 1963 Washington, doing disrespectful or outright racist stunts.聽

But architect Luc Bernard suggests that as antisemitism and misinformation rise and museumgoing declines, maybe it鈥檚 time to rethink the brick-and-mortar model 鈥� even if it opens the door for discomfort.聽

鈥淧eople take selfies at Auschwitz and play Pok茅mon Go at Holocaust monuments,鈥� he told Axios. 鈥淚f you live in fear of that happening, then you would hide away anything about the Holocaust.鈥�

He says they鈥檝e learned from experience. The museum will be programmed as a single-player experience, and dancing will be disabled.

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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Ulises, a landscape worker from Mexico, takes a break during a nearly monthlong heat wave with temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, July 27, 2023, as seen here through a Flir One Pro Thermal camera, which measures heat through infrared emissions.

Will 2023 mark a tipping point for climate change?

( 16 min. read )

A summer marked by the hottest temperatures on record has raised fundamental questions about how to manage climate crises 鈥� and take responsibility for doing so.

By Harry Bruinius , Lenora Chu , Colette Davidson , Ali Martin , and Dominique Soguel , reporting from New York; Berlin; Paris; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Basel, Switzerland
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Ryan Jenkinson/SOPA Images/Sipa/AP/File
Revelers have a good time in the mosh pit at Aatma, July 28, 2021, in Manchester, England. Free Strangers headlined along with Lucid Dreams and the Redeemers for their first big gig since the pandemic. Manchester is one of more than 50 cities with a "night mayor" devoted to the nighttime economy.

鈥楴ight mayors鈥� revive cities after dusk

( 6 min. read )

Since the pandemic devastated downtowns, night mayors have relied on the power of persuasion to help cities regrow their nightlife in ways that respect all parties.

By Stephen Humphries , reporting from Boston; and Manchester, England
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Patterns

Tracing global connections

Military takes control in Niger, with Moscow in wings

( 4 min. read )

When the last elected government in the Sahel region of Africa fell to a military coup last month, Western hopes for a broad-based campaign against Islamic jihadis lost ground to Moscow鈥檚 more martial approach, implemented by mercenaries.

By Ned Temko , reporting from London
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Humanity & Inclusion/Hachette Book Group
Eddie Ndopu, an advocate for the rights of disabled people, spends time with a group of children with disabilities in an inclusive classroom in a village outside Kigali, Rwanda.

An 鈥榓nti-grit memoir鈥�

( 5 min. read )

How can we make the world more inclusive for people with disabilities? Activist Eddie Ndopu examines the systemic burdens he and others face聽鈥� and what to do about them.

By Jodi Hausen
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Film
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
C茅dric (Didier Pupin, left), Marianne (Juliette Binoche), and Marilou (L茅a Carne) enjoy downtime in the French film "Between Two Worlds."

Juliette Binoche makes the invisible visible

( 3 min. read )

The undercover journalist in the film 鈥淏etween Two Worlds,鈥� loosely based on a true story, finds the hardship she expects from jobs with minimum pay. But she also discovers something else: friendship and joy.聽聽

By Peter Rainer
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The Monitor's View

Degrees of value in higher education

Faith in the economic value of a college degree has fallen steadily in the United States over the past decade.

Return-on-investment conclusions, however, obscure attitudes moving in the opposite direction. A study published this week by New America, an education think tank in Washington, found that more than 70% of Americans think that higher education leads to 鈥済reater civic engagement, lower unemployment, and better public health within their communities.鈥�

The acknowledgment of those outcomes reveals a broad consensus among Americans on the value of nonmaterial benefits of higher education, such as mental enrichment and equality. 鈥淲hile there are still some gaps in responses between Democrats and Republicans, the individual and societal benefits of higher education show bipartisan alignment,鈥� the study reported.

More than 80% of Americans, for example, agree that the federal government and states should increase spending to make community colleges, public universities, and minority-serving institutions more affordable. With respect to race and ethnicity, 78% agree that all students benefit when faculties and classes reflect America鈥檚 diversity.

The demands for affordability and equality in higher education reflected in the study seek to broaden the lanes of economic opportunity. But they also affirm the good that individuals and societies find in cultivating diversities of thought.

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A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥� in its various forms 鈥� is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥� The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥� whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

The precious gift of Holy Scripture

( 3 min. read )

The riches of the spiritual insights found in the Bible are more than inspiring words. They express the healing truth of existence.

By Alistair Budd
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Viewfinder

Charlie Neibergall/AP
Five-year-old Jack Sawyer of Dillon, Iowa, lies on the back of a cow in the cattle barn at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 9, 2023, in Des Moines. While, of course, keeping an eye on his mobile phone.
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( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks again for joining us. Come back tomorrow. On our 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� podcast, we鈥檒l talk to the Monitor鈥檚 Jake Turcotte about how he approaches his work: creating graphics and presenting accurate data visualization in a way that helps make complex stories digestible.聽

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More issues

2023
August
10
Thursday

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