Dr. Melanie Wilcox
@melmwilcox.bsky.social
Associate Professor and alum, UAlbany. Counseling Psychologist. Studying whiteness, racism, psychotherapy, inequity in higher ed. Immunocompromised and masking 😷. Much more online than I seem. Views mine.
Pinned
The onslaught of dangerous moves and narratives spewing out of the Trump administration has been so painful and overwhelming that it has been tough to find (succinct) words. If you voted for this, you voted for people to die and/or be traumatized/tortured. It really is that simple. (1/4)
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
it's absolutely critical to understand in this moment that people aren't largely reacting to who Charlie Kirk was as a person, but who they knew him as because of what tiny pieces of him got clipped out and stuck in their newsfeeds.
reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle
September 14, 2025 at 1:58 AM
it's absolutely critical to understand in this moment that people aren't largely reacting to who Charlie Kirk was as a person, but who they knew him as because of what tiny pieces of him got clipped out and stuck in their newsfeeds.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Charlie Kirk was a horrible bigot who spewed dangerous conspiracy theories and misled many young people. He marched for Trump’s authoritarian agenda. None of this justifies violence or murder. Political violence only escalates and makes us less safe.
Sadly, we dont have a leader but an arsonist.
Sadly, we dont have a leader but an arsonist.
September 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Charlie Kirk was a horrible bigot who spewed dangerous conspiracy theories and misled many young people. He marched for Trump’s authoritarian agenda. None of this justifies violence or murder. Political violence only escalates and makes us less safe.
Sadly, we dont have a leader but an arsonist.
Sadly, we dont have a leader but an arsonist.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Chattel slavery was so bad that when we tell you how bad it in fact was most of y'all shut down and tell us we're making it up and pass laws against us ever telling you how bad it was again because your brains literally cannot handle how bad it in fact was.
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
August 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Chattel slavery was so bad that when we tell you how bad it in fact was most of y'all shut down and tell us we're making it up and pass laws against us ever telling you how bad it was again because your brains literally cannot handle how bad it in fact was.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Great story here in @nature.com from @helenpearson.bsky.social on the state of health in the US and what happens when RFK's Make America Healthy Again rhetoric meets the evidence on what actually needs to change.
Ft. this shocking graph on US health exceptionalism:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Ft. this shocking graph on US health exceptionalism:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
June 24, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Great story here in @nature.com from @helenpearson.bsky.social on the state of health in the US and what happens when RFK's Make America Healthy Again rhetoric meets the evidence on what actually needs to change.
Ft. this shocking graph on US health exceptionalism:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Ft. this shocking graph on US health exceptionalism:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
I’ve found it’s more visually appealing to just paste in his head at the inflection points
April 29, 2025 at 10:26 PM
I’ve found it’s more visually appealing to just paste in his head at the inflection points
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
This really is a wonderfully fantastic read even for those of us who may think such documents could be mind numbing. This is nothing of the sort. Enjoy.
April 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
This really is a wonderfully fantastic read even for those of us who may think such documents could be mind numbing. This is nothing of the sort. Enjoy.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Just so I am keeping everything straight…the government can’t tell you to wear a mask because FREEDOM!!!!, but it can decide you are a “terrorist” and send you to a foreign gulag without due process and throw away the key.
That right?
That right?
April 16, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Just so I am keeping everything straight…the government can’t tell you to wear a mask because FREEDOM!!!!, but it can decide you are a “terrorist” and send you to a foreign gulag without due process and throw away the key.
That right?
That right?
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
I reported on economics full-time in 2020. It taught me there are no incentives to have a baby in the US. Women in the US have to pay for pre-natal, medical and child care, earn less, do most of the parenting and chores, get promoted less, and are now at 27% higher risk of maternal mortality.
April 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I reported on economics full-time in 2020. It taught me there are no incentives to have a baby in the US. Women in the US have to pay for pre-natal, medical and child care, earn less, do most of the parenting and chores, get promoted less, and are now at 27% higher risk of maternal mortality.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
I’d rather have a robust social safety state that allows people to have families if they want— and letting people be if they don’t. The pronatalism trend has been often not about individual autonomy and collective support, but nativism and a slippery slope toward regulating motherhood and sexuality.
April 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I’d rather have a robust social safety state that allows people to have families if they want— and letting people be if they don’t. The pronatalism trend has been often not about individual autonomy and collective support, but nativism and a slippery slope toward regulating motherhood and sexuality.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Good morning.
Today is the 80th day that the U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors.
It's the biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.
Today is the 80th day that the U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors.
It's the biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.
April 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Good morning.
Today is the 80th day that the U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors.
It's the biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.
Today is the 80th day that the U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors.
It's the biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
I wrote about this a bit in my last book but it really shakes me that a defining feature of this catastrophic era is that we just keep going to work. We work through pandemics, we work through natural disasters, we work through economic calamity, we work through coups, we work, we work, we work.
April 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
I wrote about this a bit in my last book but it really shakes me that a defining feature of this catastrophic era is that we just keep going to work. We work through pandemics, we work through natural disasters, we work through economic calamity, we work through coups, we work, we work, we work.
IMHO, this is not new but traces back to the 1987 repeal of the 1949 Fairness Doctrine under Reagan, which forced some level of balance in media reporting. Congress tried to reinstate it shortly after its repeal; Reagan vetoed it. This opened the door for Limbaugh, Fox, et al.
A lot of things are breaking right now, but possibly most alarming is the straining to breaking of this otherwise invisible net of social trust that is as necessary as the road, power lines, and water pipes. Indeed, it is the implied social contract infrastructure of all of those tools.
April 8, 2025 at 1:31 PM
IMHO, this is not new but traces back to the 1987 repeal of the 1949 Fairness Doctrine under Reagan, which forced some level of balance in media reporting. Congress tried to reinstate it shortly after its repeal; Reagan vetoed it. This opened the door for Limbaugh, Fox, et al.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Congrats, everyone! We've outdone both the 08 crisis and the COVID crisis!
This is now the worst three-day performance for the S&P 500 since October 1987.
April 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Congrats, everyone! We've outdone both the 08 crisis and the COVID crisis!
This makes perfect sense when you remember that he has spent his entire "career" obtaining the stuff (contractor labor; furnishings and materials) and then also keeping his money by refusing to pay for the stuff.
April 7, 2025 at 1:17 PM
This makes perfect sense when you remember that he has spent his entire "career" obtaining the stuff (contractor labor; furnishings and materials) and then also keeping his money by refusing to pay for the stuff.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Everyone wants there to be a grand scheme behind all of this but the terrible truth is that extremely stupid people are in charge and they have a fanatical devotion to wrong, childlike concepts of society and economics cooked up by right wing radio hosts in order to sell tainted dietary supplements
April 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Everyone wants there to be a grand scheme behind all of this but the terrible truth is that extremely stupid people are in charge and they have a fanatical devotion to wrong, childlike concepts of society and economics cooked up by right wing radio hosts in order to sell tainted dietary supplements
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
People don't miss manufacturing jobs. They miss the effects of having 30+ percent union density. And we can build worker power again, with good policies, for the jobs most working class people actually have today rather than hoping mumbo jumbo will make it 1955 again.
When (some) people talk about bringing back manufacturing, they mean "bring back steel & auto jobs that someone can take right out of high school, and live a middle class life"
The worst part of this is that even if manufacturing jobs came back because of this (they won’t)
and even if Americans retooled for those jobs (they won’t) those jobs sucked! It’s like demanding to return to being a farming society. People fled that life the instant they could, in the millions!
and even if Americans retooled for those jobs (they won’t) those jobs sucked! It’s like demanding to return to being a farming society. People fled that life the instant they could, in the millions!
April 3, 2025 at 2:54 PM
People don't miss manufacturing jobs. They miss the effects of having 30+ percent union density. And we can build worker power again, with good policies, for the jobs most working class people actually have today rather than hoping mumbo jumbo will make it 1955 again.
The Trump admin is, and was always going to be, a full-on Nazi regime.
Growing up, I often heard: "What would you have done if you were alive during WWII? Would you have been silent?" The implicit assumption: Doing nothing while the Nazis engaged in mass kidnapping and violence is *wrong*.
Growing up, I often heard: "What would you have done if you were alive during WWII? Would you have been silent?" The implicit assumption: Doing nothing while the Nazis engaged in mass kidnapping and violence is *wrong*.
Opinion | Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. America’s Police State Has Arrived. (Gift Article)
Those of us who’ve seen secret police in action can’t shake a feeling of dreadful familiarity.
www.nytimes.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The Trump admin is, and was always going to be, a full-on Nazi regime.
Growing up, I often heard: "What would you have done if you were alive during WWII? Would you have been silent?" The implicit assumption: Doing nothing while the Nazis engaged in mass kidnapping and violence is *wrong*.
Growing up, I often heard: "What would you have done if you were alive during WWII? Would you have been silent?" The implicit assumption: Doing nothing while the Nazis engaged in mass kidnapping and violence is *wrong*.
Just like Hillary Clinton before her.
April 3, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Just like Hillary Clinton before her.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
April 3, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
1/2 In our new Lancet Psychiatry paper on the brain disease model for addiction, we discuss
-its weak empirical support
-its downplaying of psychosocial causes & maintenance factors
-issues with the definition of 'brain disease'
-numerous ways forward
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
-its weak empirical support
-its downplaying of psychosocial causes & maintenance factors
-issues with the definition of 'brain disease'
-numerous ways forward
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 26, 2025 at 9:10 AM
1/2 In our new Lancet Psychiatry paper on the brain disease model for addiction, we discuss
-its weak empirical support
-its downplaying of psychosocial causes & maintenance factors
-issues with the definition of 'brain disease'
-numerous ways forward
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
-its weak empirical support
-its downplaying of psychosocial causes & maintenance factors
-issues with the definition of 'brain disease'
-numerous ways forward
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
This is going to be remembered for all time as Columbia’s response to having a student protestor kidnapped and held prisoner by a budding authoritarian regime. It is unspeakable cowardice.
March 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This is going to be remembered for all time as Columbia’s response to having a student protestor kidnapped and held prisoner by a budding authoritarian regime. It is unspeakable cowardice.
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
Closing the DOE isn't about "efficiency." It's about profit, privatization, propaganda, punishment, privilege, and power.
open.substack.com/pub/jesscala...
open.substack.com/pub/jesscala...
The End of an Era
What They're Doing By DOGE-ing and Closing the DOE
open.substack.com
March 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Closing the DOE isn't about "efficiency." It's about profit, privatization, propaganda, punishment, privilege, and power.
open.substack.com/pub/jesscala...
open.substack.com/pub/jesscala...
@andrewejensen.bsky.social just texted this to me with "I found your alt" (it's not, but apparently it could be...)
once again I have to invoke the specter of Ronald Wilson Reagan, who is in Hell now. under Reagan, the term "government spending" was effectively demonized. fuck you, Reaganite ghouls! spending money, on its people and their needs, is the function of government! public works are good! say so!
March 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
@andrewejensen.bsky.social just texted this to me with "I found your alt" (it's not, but apparently it could be...)
Reposted by Dr. Melanie Wilcox
🚨BREAKING: Federal Court GRANTS sweeping nationwide injunction against Trump DEI executive orders finding that they violate First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. A huge victory for @democracyforward.org and its clients. A stinging loss for Trump.
Visit www.democracydocket.com for details.
Visit www.democracydocket.com for details.
February 21, 2025 at 11:39 PM
🚨BREAKING: Federal Court GRANTS sweeping nationwide injunction against Trump DEI executive orders finding that they violate First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. A huge victory for @democracyforward.org and its clients. A stinging loss for Trump.
Visit www.democracydocket.com for details.
Visit www.democracydocket.com for details.