Anxiety Culture

Anxiety Culture is a fantastic collection of tidbits, opinions, advice and commentary on our paranoid and overworked world. Using “uplifting propaganda,” editor Brian Dean has assembled a web magazine that’s both entertaining and poignant as it delivers sharp observations and debunks common societal myths. Several features include “outsider psychology” tricks that can teach you to stop worrying and avoid responsibility in your life, and one convincingly argues that it’s every employee’s responsibility to call in sick. The site challenges media’s representations of things like terrorism and crime, letting the reader know that as fucked up as our world is, it’s not that bad. Also fun are downloadable stickers, rants about the stupid, pointless jobs that most people work, and an amusing exchange between the editor and the BBC wherein he calls them on some “scaremongering” in their reporting. There are also mini quizzes (“Are you Moral?”) and downloadable e-books like “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Power” to keep you amused whilst you despair. (Jennifer Fabro)