David Shipko
@dshipko.bsky.social
PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University. Marxist science fiction writer and scholar.
Over the years, when discussing a range of political, economic, and environmental issues, I’ve taken to saying that I’m optimistic about possibilities but pessimistic about probabilities. I’ve decided to call this perspective—mirroring Berlant’s notion of cruel optimism—“joyful pessimism.”
August 29, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Over the years, when discussing a range of political, economic, and environmental issues, I’ve taken to saying that I’m optimistic about possibilities but pessimistic about probabilities. I’ve decided to call this perspective—mirroring Berlant’s notion of cruel optimism—“joyful pessimism.”
Reposted by David Shipko
The slight unease on seeing starvation from the apologists this week is proof that the “knave or fool?” answer was always knave for those who say criticism of Israel is antisemitism. The apologists are fools too, but first they are lying liars who knew they were lying so a race could be killed off
July 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM
The slight unease on seeing starvation from the apologists this week is proof that the “knave or fool?” answer was always knave for those who say criticism of Israel is antisemitism. The apologists are fools too, but first they are lying liars who knew they were lying so a race could be killed off
Reposted by David Shipko
An administered mass starvation is so incomprehensibly evil, something for which we have barely any analogies in the history of cruelty, a murderous drive beyond the capture of words, that nobody knows what to say. We just watch, and while everyone who could stop it wants it
July 26, 2025 at 1:02 PM
An administered mass starvation is so incomprehensibly evil, something for which we have barely any analogies in the history of cruelty, a murderous drive beyond the capture of words, that nobody knows what to say. We just watch, and while everyone who could stop it wants it
While I generally find Neighbors 2 to be that rare phenomenon of a superior sequel, I cannot help but be disquieted by its denouement, which transforms the film’s core antagonism into a landlord-tenant relation that enables one party to fulfill their destiny of suburban transcendence.
July 25, 2025 at 9:27 PM
While I generally find Neighbors 2 to be that rare phenomenon of a superior sequel, I cannot help but be disquieted by its denouement, which transforms the film’s core antagonism into a landlord-tenant relation that enables one party to fulfill their destiny of suburban transcendence.
The transformation of the EPA into an organon of fossil capital is an excellent example of the dialectical phenomenon of something turning into its opposite.
Trump's EPA now says greenhouse gases don't endanger people
The Trump administration wants to reverse a 2009 EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. The finding is the basis for much of the United States' climate change regulations.
www.npr.org
July 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The transformation of the EPA into an organon of fossil capital is an excellent example of the dialectical phenomenon of something turning into its opposite.
In this week’s edition of me reviewing movies I’m ashamed I didn’t watch sooner, Jaws is clearly the return of the repressed of Hiroshima, and Blanche is the sanest character in A Streetcar Named Desire.
June 27, 2025 at 9:46 PM
In this week’s edition of me reviewing movies I’m ashamed I didn’t watch sooner, Jaws is clearly the return of the repressed of Hiroshima, and Blanche is the sanest character in A Streetcar Named Desire.
For capitalism, the real crisis would be if everyone had a home, nobody went hungry, and the climate wasn’t being wrecked.
June 26, 2025 at 8:18 AM
For capitalism, the real crisis would be if everyone had a home, nobody went hungry, and the climate wasn’t being wrecked.
In Delta’s Detroit terminal, screens that once showed CNN now display endlessly looping advertisements: Apple Pay, Delta Amex, Palantir, University of Michigan Health, Apple Pay, DTW Rewards, Apple Pay, Acumatica, Apple Pay, Palantir, and so on.
June 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
In Delta’s Detroit terminal, screens that once showed CNN now display endlessly looping advertisements: Apple Pay, Delta Amex, Palantir, University of Michigan Health, Apple Pay, DTW Rewards, Apple Pay, Acumatica, Apple Pay, Palantir, and so on.
Reposted by David Shipko
During the Arab revolutions of the 20th century, especially the latter half, governments had to choose between compliance or resistance to the West. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other gulf monarchies chose compliance, receiving aid and arms. Iran has had different postures, and the west doesn’t forgive
June 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
During the Arab revolutions of the 20th century, especially the latter half, governments had to choose between compliance or resistance to the West. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other gulf monarchies chose compliance, receiving aid and arms. Iran has had different postures, and the west doesn’t forgive
Reposted by David Shipko
Western fossil colonialism in Iran stretches more than a century to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (BP) in 1901. When Mossaddegh wanted to cancel a 1933 sixty-year lease, he was ousted in a 1953 CIA-backed coup. By 1957 the “Eisenhower doctrine” treated anti-communism and oil access as one agenda
June 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Western fossil colonialism in Iran stretches more than a century to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (BP) in 1901. When Mossaddegh wanted to cancel a 1933 sixty-year lease, he was ousted in a 1953 CIA-backed coup. By 1957 the “Eisenhower doctrine” treated anti-communism and oil access as one agenda
The fact they think it takes 2 hours to read 1 book tells me they’ve never read a book.
June 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The fact they think it takes 2 hours to read 1 book tells me they’ve never read a book.
The article concludes by suggesting “boost your income” but then doesn’t mention the best ways to do this like joining a union or revolution.
Boy, this is bleak. If there was ever a time in US history to NOT kick millions off Medicare and use national debt to enrich the wealthiest 0.1%, it's now.
www.cnbc.com/2025/06/13/m...
www.cnbc.com/2025/06/13/m...
Americans are losing spending power, say researchers: Most can no longer afford a 'minimal quality of life'
The Ludwig Institute's Minimal Quality of Life Index found that, in 2023, only 40% of Americans earned enough money to get by in relative comfort.
www.cnbc.com
June 14, 2025 at 1:09 PM
The article concludes by suggesting “boost your income” but then doesn’t mention the best ways to do this like joining a union or revolution.
I served ten years in the Cal Army National Guard as an infantry officer (to avoid student loans, and because, when I joined, I was young and naive). About to find out in real time which of my former colleagues have the spine to refuse illegal and immoral orders.
Trump deploys 2,000 National Guard members after Los Angeles immigration protests
The Trump administration is calling in the California National Guard in response to protests in Los Angeles over immigration operations that have resulted in some clashes between demonstrators and aut...
6abc.com
June 8, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I served ten years in the Cal Army National Guard as an infantry officer (to avoid student loans, and because, when I joined, I was young and naive). About to find out in real time which of my former colleagues have the spine to refuse illegal and immoral orders.
When I read about the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike, how Reagan crushed them, and how that defeat created problems that haunt us still, I can’t help but think that defeat could have become a kind of victory if no workers had been willing to fill the empty positions.
June 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
When I read about the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike, how Reagan crushed them, and how that defeat created problems that haunt us still, I can’t help but think that defeat could have become a kind of victory if no workers had been willing to fill the empty positions.
Does every dissertation defense committee include at least one man who asks rapid, aggressive, bad-faith questions and then interrupts every attempted answer with another question, making it impossible for the candidate to actually respond?
May 31, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Does every dissertation defense committee include at least one man who asks rapid, aggressive, bad-faith questions and then interrupts every attempted answer with another question, making it impossible for the candidate to actually respond?
Reposted by David Shipko
"We must begin by confronting one of the most dangerous stories ever told: that capitalism can become ecologically sustainable. This is a delusional fantasy."
@dshipko.bsky.social explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ther...
@dshipko.bsky.social explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ther...
There Is No Such Thing as Green Capitalism | Los Angeles Review of Books
David Shipko explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture.
lareviewofbooks.org
May 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
"We must begin by confronting one of the most dangerous stories ever told: that capitalism can become ecologically sustainable. This is a delusional fantasy."
@dshipko.bsky.social explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ther...
@dshipko.bsky.social explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture. lareviewofbooks.org/article/ther...
As someone raised conservative, I feel qualified to say that “conservative intellectual” is a contradiction in terms
The Era of DEI for Conservatives Has Begun
In an effort to attract more right-leaning faculty, some elite universities are borrowing tactics long used to promote racial diversity.
www.theatlantic.com
May 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
As someone raised conservative, I feel qualified to say that “conservative intellectual” is a contradiction in terms
In which I attempt to compress and simplify large chunks of my dissertation
There Is No Such Thing as Green Capitalism | Los Angeles Review of Books
David Shipko explores climate denialism in speculative literature and culture.
lareviewofbooks.org
May 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
In which I attempt to compress and simplify large chunks of my dissertation
Rewatching The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) for the first time in years, I am convinced that it is actually, despite its seemingly joyous ending, a tragedy about capitalism’s final total enclosure of non-human nature.
May 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Rewatching The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) for the first time in years, I am convinced that it is actually, despite its seemingly joyous ending, a tragedy about capitalism’s final total enclosure of non-human nature.
Kind of excited to see what happens when the mad emperor takes away the bread *and* circuses
May 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Kind of excited to see what happens when the mad emperor takes away the bread *and* circuses
I’ve spent my entire life traveling internationally. I had never seen an ICE agent, wearing black fatigues and a ballistic vest, standing in a jetway checking passports of passengers boarding a departing international flight. Now I have.
April 30, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I’ve spent my entire life traveling internationally. I had never seen an ICE agent, wearing black fatigues and a ballistic vest, standing in a jetway checking passports of passengers boarding a departing international flight. Now I have.
The ultimate wish-fulfillment of every digital game is in fact just the lowly checkpoint, the ability to reload and try again.
April 27, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The ultimate wish-fulfillment of every digital game is in fact just the lowly checkpoint, the ability to reload and try again.
Climate denial masquerading as “solutions,” brought to K-12 students by the Disney-owned National Geographic. We need emissions reductions not climate imagineering.
IU hosts state's first student Geoengineering Summit
More than a hundred students presented poster projects with ideas such as genetically modified seagrass and reflective drones.
indianapublicmedia.org
April 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Climate denial masquerading as “solutions,” brought to K-12 students by the Disney-owned National Geographic. We need emissions reductions not climate imagineering.
Ours is an age of great delusion. “AI will save/destroy humanity.” “Capitalism can fix climate change.” “America isn’t a fascist state.” These statements all participate in the same delusion. So long as it reigns, the class that perpetuates it will dominate, and our future will be no future at all.
April 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Ours is an age of great delusion. “AI will save/destroy humanity.” “Capitalism can fix climate change.” “America isn’t a fascist state.” These statements all participate in the same delusion. So long as it reigns, the class that perpetuates it will dominate, and our future will be no future at all.
For a while now, I’ve been saying that America doesn’t have a society, only markets. I take no pleasure in how rapidly this is becoming even more formalized.
March 20, 2025 at 8:21 PM
For a while now, I’ve been saying that America doesn’t have a society, only markets. I take no pleasure in how rapidly this is becoming even more formalized.