The Immediately Shocking, The Immediately Charming

"Does anything less than the immediately shocking or charming get attention?" asks Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review in a recent New York Times "Critic's Take" column.

Not if one spends much time on Facebook or some other form of electronic social media. Topics hurtle past and those who post them have learned they had better not require much thought on the part of viewers. What's up front has to be sufficient to generate a "like" or perhaps a three-word comment. Few viewers will bother to read any further.