Andy Borowitz, and the Hunt for Invasive Lionfish
Not only are we living in a time where people are proud of their ignorance, argues the writer and comedian Andy Borowitz, but some of our most educated politicians are now playing down their intelligence as a strategy to get elected. Borowitz, the author of the long-running satirical column The Borowitz Report, examines this phenomenon in his new book, \u201cProfiles of Ignorance: How America\u2019s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.\u201d \u201cWhen Trump was elected, a lot of us supposedly knowledgeable people were taken by surprise,\u201d he tells David Remnick. \u201cBut the more I researched the past fifty years, the more likely and plausible\u2014and maybe even inevitable\u2014his election was, because he actually had a great deal in common with his forebears."\xa0\nPlus, native to the waters of the Indo-Pacific, lionfish have proven themselves incredibly well adapted to the Atlantic coast. In their original habitat, the fish are kept under control by natural predators: groupers, eels, and sharks. But, elsewhere, predators can\u2019t compete, and lionfish\u2014with their voracious appetite and high fecundity\u2014are upending the equilibrium of reef life. The staff writer D. T. Max takes a stab at lionfish spearing off the coast of Florida and talks with one of the most passionate lionfish hunters diving today, Rachel Bowman.