One could argue that the shallowness of Fitzgerald's glamorous strivers is precisely the novel's point.

CNN: Why Gatsby gets us in our gut

But the Great Moderation is called just that because of its singular smoothness, in particular the shallowness of its recessions.

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" Kim Kardashian is emblematic of the shallowness of American culture in the first two decades of the new millennium, " read her official biography.

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In any case, while there could be major losses coming a more plausible explanation is that the shallowness of the market is exposing it to liquidity concerns.

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Moreover, theirs is the kind of shallowness upon which we can repeatedly project not just our own apprehensions of desire but those of everyone we know and will come to know throughout our lives.

CNN: Why Gatsby gets us in our gut

With its snappy theme songs, soap-operatic continuities (Laci Peterson, runaway brides, the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith), and a cast of characters ranging from photogenic newsreaders to egomaniacal pundits, contemporary television journalism rivals, in its shallowness and sensationalism, the finest works of the late Aaron Spelling.

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