Ben Mendelsohn
@benmen.bsky.social
researcher-filmmaker-educator-aspiring drummer
assistant professor of film and digital culture, portland state university
assistant professor of film and digital culture, portland state university
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
i can't even imagine the freakout if like mamdani or ilhan omar had ever refered to lenders as "shylocks." but unlike them, trump actually has a very long history of making disparaging remarks about jews
Will Meet The Press ask random other white politicians to condemn Trump's antisemitic language this weekend? Or does that only apply to Mamdani?
"No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker. And in some cases, shylocks and bad people."
July 4, 2025 at 3:10 AM
i can't even imagine the freakout if like mamdani or ilhan omar had ever refered to lenders as "shylocks." but unlike them, trump actually has a very long history of making disparaging remarks about jews
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
He proposes releasing some ICE prisoners to labor on farms where the employers will “own them” and be responsible for them.
Historians have spent decades meticulously proving the straight line between slavery and modern capitalism’s concept of the laborer—or we could just let them say it.
Historians have spent decades meticulously proving the straight line between slavery and modern capitalism’s concept of the laborer—or we could just let them say it.
The camp is to filter out workers for Trumps new Slavery policy where he sells them to businesses.
He says so in this video
Make Americans Slaves Again
He says so in this video
Make Americans Slaves Again
July 3, 2025 at 8:00 AM
He proposes releasing some ICE prisoners to labor on farms where the employers will “own them” and be responsible for them.
Historians have spent decades meticulously proving the straight line between slavery and modern capitalism’s concept of the laborer—or we could just let them say it.
Historians have spent decades meticulously proving the straight line between slavery and modern capitalism’s concept of the laborer—or we could just let them say it.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
”We are obsessed with personal choices – diet, exercise – and ignore the most important determinant of our health.
”Public health measures like universal healthcare, drinkable water, clean air and safe roads have a much bigger impact on our health than any number of gym sessions or kale smoothies.”
”Public health measures like universal healthcare, drinkable water, clean air and safe roads have a much bigger impact on our health than any number of gym sessions or kale smoothies.”
You’ve been sold a giant myth when it comes to improving your health
Diet and exercise will only get you so far, but there is a magic bullet that could make us all live longer, says professor of global public health Devi Sridhar
www.newscientist.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:39 AM
”We are obsessed with personal choices – diet, exercise – and ignore the most important determinant of our health.
”Public health measures like universal healthcare, drinkable water, clean air and safe roads have a much bigger impact on our health than any number of gym sessions or kale smoothies.”
”Public health measures like universal healthcare, drinkable water, clean air and safe roads have a much bigger impact on our health than any number of gym sessions or kale smoothies.”
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
tfw your social media policies are more stringent than your sourcing standards
I deleted several posts about a Times story because they violated Times social media standards.
July 4, 2025 at 3:41 AM
tfw your social media policies are more stringent than your sourcing standards
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
“The New York Times collaborated with a white nationalist eugenicist hacker and agreed to keep his identity a secret to publish a Zohran Mamdani hit piece” is a way bigger story than “18 year old Zohran Mamdani ticked ‘African American’ on his Columbia application because he was a citizen of Uganda”
July 4, 2025 at 1:40 AM
“The New York Times collaborated with a white nationalist eugenicist hacker and agreed to keep his identity a secret to publish a Zohran Mamdani hit piece” is a way bigger story than “18 year old Zohran Mamdani ticked ‘African American’ on his Columbia application because he was a citizen of Uganda”
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
July 1, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Trump administration continues to use Jews as human shields in its war on academic freedom.
Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Trump administration continues to use Jews as human shields in its war on academic freedom.
Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
Trump Administration Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Law www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
"The Justice Department is aggressively prioritizing efforts to strip some Americans of their U.S. citizenship...At least one person has already been denaturalized...June 13, a judge ordered the revocation of the citizenship of Elliott Duke, who uses they/them pronouns."
www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...
DOJ announces plans to prioritize cases to revoke citizenship
Denaturalization is a tactic heavily used during the McCarthy era and one that was expanded during the Obama administration and grew further during President Trump's first term. It's a tool usually us...
www.npr.org
June 30, 2025 at 3:19 PM
"The Justice Department is aggressively prioritizing efforts to strip some Americans of their U.S. citizenship...At least one person has already been denaturalized...June 13, a judge ordered the revocation of the citizenship of Elliott Duke, who uses they/them pronouns."
www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...
www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Can’t really articulate how furious it makes me to see gentile politicians wield fake charges of antisemitism against Mamdani. It’s not just the plain Islamophobia, it’s the fact that they’re needlessly stoking tensions in a way that puts Jewish New Yorkers at GREATER risk.
June 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Can’t really articulate how furious it makes me to see gentile politicians wield fake charges of antisemitism against Mamdani. It’s not just the plain Islamophobia, it’s the fact that they’re needlessly stoking tensions in a way that puts Jewish New Yorkers at GREATER risk.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
if i’m a middling democrat who’s part of a do-nothing house minority i would join forces with the first political leader in years who’s galvanized voters and is young and hot and cool, but that’s just me!
June 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
if i’m a middling democrat who’s part of a do-nothing house minority i would join forces with the first political leader in years who’s galvanized voters and is young and hot and cool, but that’s just me!
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
I genuinely cannot believe how many Democrats are spending their energy on destroying Mamdani when the GOP is trying to turn ICE into a full on secret police by drastically raising their budget
June 29, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I genuinely cannot believe how many Democrats are spending their energy on destroying Mamdani when the GOP is trying to turn ICE into a full on secret police by drastically raising their budget
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
The most widespread and normalized antisemitic dogwhistles in American culture, by far, take the form of anti-communist, anti-integration, and anti-queer rhetoric.
June 28, 2025 at 11:31 PM
The most widespread and normalized antisemitic dogwhistles in American culture, by far, take the form of anti-communist, anti-integration, and anti-queer rhetoric.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Reactionary politics are built around the specter of greedy nebbish urban marxists who want to emasculate civilization & force white families to live in black neighborhoods. It's extremely transparent antisemitism, which is why they need to overcompensate with their own accusations of prejudice.
June 28, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Reactionary politics are built around the specter of greedy nebbish urban marxists who want to emasculate civilization & force white families to live in black neighborhoods. It's extremely transparent antisemitism, which is why they need to overcompensate with their own accusations of prejudice.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
the way that no act of right-wing violence ever seems to change the media or political elite of this country's world view is just fucking maddening
A radical Christian just murdered the speaker of a state house but the real worry is the theocratic muslim who said the bus should be cheaper
June 27, 2025 at 9:37 PM
the way that no act of right-wing violence ever seems to change the media or political elite of this country's world view is just fucking maddening
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Mira Nair doing the classic desi mother cheek-pull right on camera as her kid is on stage after a political victory.
June 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Mira Nair doing the classic desi mother cheek-pull right on camera as her kid is on stage after a political victory.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
I will never understand this and I don’t know how it ends.
Education has been taken over by corporate interests and edtech. The Trojan horse or APT that we let in happily. But we don’t do this for other areas, where they insist on PhD or experience. The hype machine is fearsome
Education has been taken over by corporate interests and edtech. The Trojan horse or APT that we let in happily. But we don’t do this for other areas, where they insist on PhD or experience. The hype machine is fearsome
So many educators are taking advice from "consultants" who have not been in the classroom for years, if ever, and didn't know anything about AI until 2022 but when you bring up Dr Benjamin or Dr Gebru suddenly their ears close up.
June 23, 2025 at 5:29 AM
I will never understand this and I don’t know how it ends.
Education has been taken over by corporate interests and edtech. The Trojan horse or APT that we let in happily. But we don’t do this for other areas, where they insist on PhD or experience. The hype machine is fearsome
Education has been taken over by corporate interests and edtech. The Trojan horse or APT that we let in happily. But we don’t do this for other areas, where they insist on PhD or experience. The hype machine is fearsome
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
sorry i knew i wanted to be a writer since i was six and could physically write and sometimes it's hard and shitty as i work through my ideas and sometimes it's the purest narcotic joy of finding the right words and you want me to involve a lying theft robot? what's wrong with you?
June 21, 2025 at 9:55 PM
sorry i knew i wanted to be a writer since i was six and could physically write and sometimes it's hard and shitty as i work through my ideas and sometimes it's the purest narcotic joy of finding the right words and you want me to involve a lying theft robot? what's wrong with you?
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Twenty years in education and I have seen so many things that were going to "save teachers time" and then it got weaponized into "if you don't use this, you're ruining your students' future" and usually when that mindless zealousness comes around it's less than a year for that tech to collapse.
June 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Twenty years in education and I have seen so many things that were going to "save teachers time" and then it got weaponized into "if you don't use this, you're ruining your students' future" and usually when that mindless zealousness comes around it's less than a year for that tech to collapse.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
People are like, "Wow, so the Supreme Court can just decide what medical care you get instead of you and your doctor?" Yeah man. That was Dobbs. They don't give a fuck about us, about precedent, the actual text of the law, the intent of the law, or anything else. The law is fake.
June 18, 2025 at 4:08 PM
People are like, "Wow, so the Supreme Court can just decide what medical care you get instead of you and your doctor?" Yeah man. That was Dobbs. They don't give a fuck about us, about precedent, the actual text of the law, the intent of the law, or anything else. The law is fake.
cannot believe this man is employed
The NYT Magazine asked me and @caseynewton.bsky.social to open their AI issue by talking about how we use AI, why it's not going away, and how you can't be a serious critic if you're in denial about how useful it is. Bluesky's gonna love this one!
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
June 17, 2025 at 11:35 PM
cannot believe this man is employed
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Incarceration has deadly consequences for everyone – even those who are not behind bars:
June 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Incarceration has deadly consequences for everyone – even those who are not behind bars:
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
Apropos of nothing in particular, Mississippi Masala is streaming on Criterion.
June 17, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Apropos of nothing in particular, Mississippi Masala is streaming on Criterion.
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
if there is currently no way to prevent AI from ingesting any writing I put online, and I really don't feel like starting a newsletter, maybe I really should start an #othernetworks zine...would it be laughably hipster if I used a typewriter to write it all up? and mimeograph to make copies?
June 16, 2025 at 7:16 PM
if there is currently no way to prevent AI from ingesting any writing I put online, and I really don't feel like starting a newsletter, maybe I really should start an #othernetworks zine...would it be laughably hipster if I used a typewriter to write it all up? and mimeograph to make copies?
Reposted by Ben Mendelsohn
I’m going to say it again, generative AI and the push for it to be used in every Avenue of learning and education is because generative AI literally is a weapon for knowledge destruction not a knowledge creation tool and silicon valleys goal is to monetize and gate off all of human knowledge
The more this is explained the worse it appears.
An AI-assisted textbook at UCLA has some academics worried
The UCLA literature professor who developed the textbook says it will save students money and allow her to be the teacher she’s always wanted to be. Others aren’t so sure.
www.insidehighered.com
December 13, 2024 at 9:27 PM
I’m going to say it again, generative AI and the push for it to be used in every Avenue of learning and education is because generative AI literally is a weapon for knowledge destruction not a knowledge creation tool and silicon valleys goal is to monetize and gate off all of human knowledge