Gladwell’s essay was a sensation—one of the most influential articles in the magazine’s history. It sold the aggressive policing tactic to thoughtful, liberal New York City people—the sort of people who wouldn’t normally support such a draconian idea. He gave a generation of liberals permission to be more conservative. He became a marketing tool for broken-windows policing. His book The Tipping Point went on to sell two million copies, launching his career and the careers of the countless other pop-science writers who followed in his footsteps—like Jonah Lehrer. But Gladwell’s essay was wrong.
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