Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
@malgault.bsky.social
Anthropologist primarily interested in rural memories, commemorations, and peacebuilding. Developing interests in contemporary paganism, atheism, and critical heritage studies.
Amatuer Photographer. Dyslexic.
https://linktr.ee/malgault
Amatuer Photographer. Dyslexic.
https://linktr.ee/malgault
Pinned
Vol. 26 No. 1 (2023): Irish Journal of Anthropology-Special Issue: Islandness
| Irish Journal of Anthropology
journals.ucc.ie
The Irish Journal of Anthropology (IJA) has just released its special issue on "Islandness", which will be of interest to all scholars of Ireland, and of islands more broadly. The IJA is open access and hosted by University College Cork on behalf of the Anthropological Association of Ireland (AAI).
Here's the thing... you never know what another road user is going to do. You have to be ready to react and have to drive in a way that minimises risk at all times. It's like the main thing they teach you when you learn to drive. Children, dogs, drunk people, all act in unanticipated ways.
This is absolutely jaw dropping. A judge attempts to justify bringing his own prejudices to bear on a judgement
January 13, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Here's the thing... you never know what another road user is going to do. You have to be ready to react and have to drive in a way that minimises risk at all times. It's like the main thing they teach you when you learn to drive. Children, dogs, drunk people, all act in unanticipated ways.
An application for a postdoc closed on 11 Jan at midnight and the rejection email gets sent 1am this morning. Again... am I meant to think a human actually looked at anything written?
January 13, 2026 at 8:45 AM
An application for a postdoc closed on 11 Jan at midnight and the rejection email gets sent 1am this morning. Again... am I meant to think a human actually looked at anything written?
Now that I've finished Yakuza Kiwami 1, I think the big difference between it an Like A Dragon is that Kiriyu is a straightman in an absurd world and Ichiban is a man who has fully embraced that the world is absurd. Both games are as silly, heartfelt, dark, politically complex, and serious.
January 12, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Now that I've finished Yakuza Kiwami 1, I think the big difference between it an Like A Dragon is that Kiriyu is a straightman in an absurd world and Ichiban is a man who has fully embraced that the world is absurd. Both games are as silly, heartfelt, dark, politically complex, and serious.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
Newsnight, The Moral Maze, and How The Light Gets In all invited this guy on as a public intellectual. Why is gatekeeping and its enforcement of basic intellectual and ethical standards so fundamentally broken? Such signals and norms matter.
Curtis Yarvin has written a very long screed in defense of his post in which he said, “Hitler spoke the truth.”
A sampling of select portions is below and includes, in reference to Jewish people, the words:
“The only way to tell is the name and the nose.”
A sampling of select portions is below and includes, in reference to Jewish people, the words:
“The only way to tell is the name and the nose.”
January 6, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Newsnight, The Moral Maze, and How The Light Gets In all invited this guy on as a public intellectual. Why is gatekeeping and its enforcement of basic intellectual and ethical standards so fundamentally broken? Such signals and norms matter.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.
In the video that the shooter took, which I believe was leaked to be exculpatory, he appears to yell “fucking bitch” after he shoots Renee Good.
January 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM
they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.
Latest from the Telegraph's reasonable and sensible op ed department - "Greenland belongs to the US anyway"... Really continuing to be a beacon of liberty.
January 9, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Latest from the Telegraph's reasonable and sensible op ed department - "Greenland belongs to the US anyway"... Really continuing to be a beacon of liberty.
Very much a "the purpose of a system is what it does" situation. The trained/"untrained" debate is just cover. Look at the system, look at what it is doing. This is a paramilitary state militia rounding up minorities and supressing dissent which is pushing the limits to see how violent they can be.
NEW: Jonathan Ross is former National Guard and Border Patrol and has been part of ICE's SWAT equivalent, a team leader overseeing FBI, ATF, and IRS agents, and a firearms instructor, according to testimony obtained by WIRED. This is from @hudsongiles.bsky.social and me:
ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony
Jonathan Ross told a federal court in December about his professional background, including “hundreds” of encounters with drivers during enforcement actions, according to testimony obtained by WIRED.
www.wired.com
January 9, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Very much a "the purpose of a system is what it does" situation. The trained/"untrained" debate is just cover. Look at the system, look at what it is doing. This is a paramilitary state militia rounding up minorities and supressing dissent which is pushing the limits to see how violent they can be.
Worth noting that while the Telegraph is publishing some of the most detached from reality columns out there and encouraging unhinged commenters on social media under the cover of "free speech and debate", they are actively refusing to give right of reply to voices challenging their narrative.
I wrote to the @telegraph.co.uk at the time to complain about the false narrative about death squads & request a right of reply.
They ignored me.
Maybe they’d like to offer me the opportunity of an op-ed now?
They ignored me.
Maybe they’d like to offer me the opportunity of an op-ed now?
January 9, 2026 at 9:45 AM
Worth noting that while the Telegraph is publishing some of the most detached from reality columns out there and encouraging unhinged commenters on social media under the cover of "free speech and debate", they are actively refusing to give right of reply to voices challenging their narrative.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
I wrote a blog post inspired by this train of thought. On Minneapolis, Northern Ireland, necropolitics, and the violences of the State:
eireannach.ghost.io/on-state-vio...
eireannach.ghost.io/on-state-vio...
People living in UK - especially GB - should not be thinking 'at least we're not as bad as America,' when Northern Ireland exists and civilians were being shot by state forces there for decades, and recent governments have given those forces amnesty. @grantsana.bsky.social leading bsky voice here.
January 8, 2026 at 11:56 AM
I wrote a blog post inspired by this train of thought. On Minneapolis, Northern Ireland, necropolitics, and the violences of the State:
eireannach.ghost.io/on-state-vio...
eireannach.ghost.io/on-state-vio...
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
For those wondering what Mamdani's quote, "For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty," was in reference to...
January 7, 2026 at 11:46 PM
For those wondering what Mamdani's quote, "For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty," was in reference to...
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
British people on Bluesky trying to pretend they don't see the replies they're getting from people in NI about how state murder has long been legal in the UK:
January 8, 2026 at 9:23 AM
British people on Bluesky trying to pretend they don't see the replies they're getting from people in NI about how state murder has long been legal in the UK:
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
The rise of Trump has given them permission to be what they always wanted to be and to behave how they always wanted to behave. His entire sales pitch is: you don’t have to pretend any more, you can just say “I’m glad the cops, who represent me, are beating and killing people I hate”.
January 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM
The rise of Trump has given them permission to be what they always wanted to be and to behave how they always wanted to behave. His entire sales pitch is: you don’t have to pretend any more, you can just say “I’m glad the cops, who represent me, are beating and killing people I hate”.
I should really just never go on Facebook, but looking again at the Telegraph comments and it is clear there is a strong, very online, radicalised core of Brits who are just baying for blood. The Telegraph, Times, and others all know this is their audience, so they just keep feeding the beast.
January 8, 2026 at 10:06 AM
I should really just never go on Facebook, but looking again at the Telegraph comments and it is clear there is a strong, very online, radicalised core of Brits who are just baying for blood. The Telegraph, Times, and others all know this is their audience, so they just keep feeding the beast.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
Short sound bite for UK leftist pundits today- the UK has long shown what it will do to peaceful protestors against the regime when it hates them, it will send in the paratroopers and they will shoot them dead, smear them as criminals then deny them justice via every means possible, for decades.
January 8, 2026 at 9:11 AM
Short sound bite for UK leftist pundits today- the UK has long shown what it will do to peaceful protestors against the regime when it hates them, it will send in the paratroopers and they will shoot them dead, smear them as criminals then deny them justice via every means possible, for decades.
I wonder how many people who spoke out against political violence when Charlie Kirk was assassinated and currently gleefully posting about a US citizen being murdered by state forces...
January 7, 2026 at 11:21 PM
I wonder how many people who spoke out against political violence when Charlie Kirk was assassinated and currently gleefully posting about a US citizen being murdered by state forces...
Honestly, I am not really a fan of how calmly the news programmes are discussing military threats to Greenland. Obviously they can't panic but a little bit more than listing the options Greenland and Denmark have and a bit more on how international order is collapsing would be nice.
January 7, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Honestly, I am not really a fan of how calmly the news programmes are discussing military threats to Greenland. Obviously they can't panic but a little bit more than listing the options Greenland and Denmark have and a bit more on how international order is collapsing would be nice.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
Oh right. Balance. Maybe next week they'll interview a representative from the Flat Earth Society. For balance.
I think it’s called balance. You get to hear him questioned and make up your own minds. Who has actually seen the programme?
January 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Oh right. Balance. Maybe next week they'll interview a representative from the Flat Earth Society. For balance.
The fundamental problem is that the BBC has an flawed ideology of "balance" that overrules all other concerns. This is why we had figures like Lord Monckton talking about climate change or anyone from Sp!ked talking about anything. That the "other side" exists is enough for platforming.
Just the BBC, the national broadcaster, mainstreaming a fascist blogger. I guess this is normal now.
January 6, 2026 at 6:59 PM
The fundamental problem is that the BBC has an flawed ideology of "balance" that overrules all other concerns. This is why we had figures like Lord Monckton talking about climate change or anyone from Sp!ked talking about anything. That the "other side" exists is enough for platforming.
The British right wing press like to make a big song and dance over standing up for "law and order" right up to the point where a rogue right wing state breaks international law to target their enemies.
January 5, 2026 at 11:52 AM
The British right wing press like to make a big song and dance over standing up for "law and order" right up to the point where a rogue right wing state breaks international law to target their enemies.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
I am glad that the UN and the ICC have historically been robust organisations with strong mechanisms to bring those voliating international law to justice. This will all be sorted out shortly, it's not like they're going to sit by and wtach genocide and other acts of violence happen... right?
January 3, 2026 at 3:17 PM
I am glad that the UN and the ICC have historically been robust organisations with strong mechanisms to bring those voliating international law to justice. This will all be sorted out shortly, it's not like they're going to sit by and wtach genocide and other acts of violence happen... right?
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.
January 3, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
So…let me get this right…the US military was just used in an international context to capture & extradite a foreign leader for whom we have *criminal* indictments against?
…OK, so **now** we are ENFORCING criminals indictments? Trump knows he has 34, right? Right?
I need lawyers’ insight STAT!
…OK, so **now** we are ENFORCING criminals indictments? Trump knows he has 34, right? Right?
I need lawyers’ insight STAT!
January 3, 2026 at 9:37 AM
So…let me get this right…the US military was just used in an international context to capture & extradite a foreign leader for whom we have *criminal* indictments against?
…OK, so **now** we are ENFORCING criminals indictments? Trump knows he has 34, right? Right?
I need lawyers’ insight STAT!
…OK, so **now** we are ENFORCING criminals indictments? Trump knows he has 34, right? Right?
I need lawyers’ insight STAT!
Reposted by Dr Matthew A. L. Gault
"To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
- Nuremberg Trial Proceedings, Vol. 22, 30 Sept. 1946
- Nuremberg Trial Proceedings, Vol. 22, 30 Sept. 1946
The Hague, all of them
January 3, 2026 at 6:50 AM
"To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
- Nuremberg Trial Proceedings, Vol. 22, 30 Sept. 1946
- Nuremberg Trial Proceedings, Vol. 22, 30 Sept. 1946