Sociological Observation

One of my favorite print magazines is the theological and political journal First Things, published by the Catholic convert (who is also a priest), Richard John Neuhaus. In a short note (at the back of the November, 2004 issue) about what the nature of the Trinity tells us about the importance of interpersonal relationships in the forming of our human selves, we have this:

To steal an old joke, the most popular picture magazine used to be one called Life. All of life. That was succeeded by People. Not all of life, but at least all people. Then People was challenged on the newsstands by Us. Not even all people—just us. And now I see on the newsstand a magazine called Self. I can’t think where we could go from here.