Michael Bérubé
michael-berube.bsky.social
Michael Bérubé
@michael-berube.bsky.social

Writer, teacher, ex-hockey player, occasional golfer, drummer, actor. All the opinions here are mine. Mine, I say!

Michael Bérubé is an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches American literature, disability studies, and cultural studies. He is the author of several books on cultural studies, disability rights, liberal and conservative politics, and debates in higher education. From 2010 to 2017, he was the director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State; from 1997 to 2001 he was the founding director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. He was the 2012 president of the Modern Language Association, and served as vice president from 2010 to 2011. He served two terms on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors from 2005 to 2011, and three terms on the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2009 to 2018. He was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes for two terms, 2011–2017. Bérubé was named a University Scholar for research at the University of Illinois in 1995 and was awarded the Faculty Scholar medal for research from Penn State in 2012. .. more

Political science 41%
Art 17%
Pinned
Fie on me for forgetting to tell all you Blue Sky people that Jamie has an Etsy shop and lots of artwork for sale! This is really the most important thing in the world right now.

www.etsy.com/shop/JamieBe...
www.etsy.com

I remember when he took everyone's bullets

Just as Donald Trump tempts us to be nostalgic for the wisdom and eloquence of Dan Quayle, and Pam Bondi tempts us to be nostalgic for the sagacity of Alberto Gonzales or the rectitude of John Mitchell, the culture vacuum on the American right is almost enough to make us nostalgic for Allan Bloom.
The decline of right wing cultural production is just due to the fact that they don’t like culture, they like the signifiers of culture, ie “classic sculpture means white people are better.” They don’t like art at all except for this purpose. They don’t even like the nerd stuff they whine about
The decline of right wing cultural production is just due to the fact that they don’t like culture, they like the signifiers of culture, ie “classic sculpture means white people are better.” They don’t like art at all except for this purpose. They don’t even like the nerd stuff they whine about

It's almost as if Bari Weiss's "free speech" thing was a grift from start to finish
The regime is now dictating what political views are acceptable to air on television and paramount/cbs are collaborating in that censorship bsky.app/profile/ditz...
Stephen Colbert said that the FCC and CBS - which is in no way a compromised or complicit organization - wouldn’t allow him to broadcast an interview with Democratic State Rep James Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...

Seems odd that the dudes who want to smash the administrative state are also the dudes who want to build concentration camps throughout the US
The regime is now dictating what political views are acceptable to air on television and paramount/cbs are collaborating in that censorship bsky.app/profile/ditz...
Stephen Colbert said that the FCC and CBS - which is in no way a compromised or complicit organization - wouldn’t allow him to broadcast an interview with Democratic State Rep James Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...
Colbert Doesn’t Give an FCC About Calling Out CBS
www.nytimes.com

Steven Miller is going to appear under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished"
CBP didn’t give her or anyone any water; she asked 3 times accg to other reports. CBP killed a 7yr old.

“8 hours after the girl & her father were taken into custody, she began having seizures & her body temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees by emergency medical technicians. shorturl.at/d2OTJ
7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody
The girl's death underscores the crisis precipitated by large groups of families seeking asylum where there are inadequate facilities to detain them.
shorturl.at
CBP didn’t give her or anyone any water; she asked 3 times accg to other reports. CBP killed a 7yr old.

“8 hours after the girl & her father were taken into custody, she began having seizures & her body temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees by emergency medical technicians. shorturl.at/d2OTJ
7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody
The girl's death underscores the crisis precipitated by large groups of families seeking asylum where there are inadequate facilities to detain them.
shorturl.at

It was funny because it's true. In fact if I had a kid who turned out like that I'd trade him for placebos.

Oh look the President of the United States did another racism
a close up of the face of jabba the hutt
ALT: a close up of the face of jabba the hutt
media.tenor.com

Everyone who fluffed this little monster-wannabe, beginning with that pathetic Rod Dreher, has committed a crime against humanity
this is a wicked man who knows he is being wicked and does it anyway
Reporter: Do you plan to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti?

Vance: For what?

Reposted by Michael Bérubé

this is a wicked man who knows he is being wicked and does it anyway
Reporter: Do you plan to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti?

Vance: For what?

I am so old I remember Arthur Schlesinger Jr. getting all het up and panicky about the term "gorgeous mosaic" because it wasn't "melting pot." Ah, the enduring legacy of reasonable centrism.
As Black History Month begins, we honor the generations of Black New Yorkers who built this city into the “gorgeous mosaic” we call home.

Today, we reflect on the words of Mayor David Dinkins: our city’s first Black mayor (and a democratic socialist!).
As Black History Month begins, we honor the generations of Black New Yorkers who built this city into the “gorgeous mosaic” we call home.

Today, we reflect on the words of Mayor David Dinkins: our city’s first Black mayor (and a democratic socialist!).

I'll take "completely predictable things" for $800, Ken
every time the Trump Administration decides the First Amendment doesn't apply, I casually check in on my favorite heterodox outlets to see what they're saying about it

luckily, they never say anything, so that takes about 30 seconds

Academic freedom is all about phrenologists being invited to campus with calipers of their own design to measure students' heads for criminal tendencies.

Trump now readying the bone saws for journalists who hurt his feelings

Reposted by Michael Bérubé

every time the Trump Administration decides the First Amendment doesn't apply, I casually check in on my favorite heterodox outlets to see what they're saying about it

luckily, they never say anything, so that takes about 30 seconds

To be fair, little Marco is renowned for his groundbreaking derivations of Kepler's laws of planetary motion

I am aware of all internet traditions and therefore know that you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them," but it's still pretty impressive that they managed to find a #2 who is as much of a bleeding pustule of a human being as his master

And Samuel Moyn to the white courtesy phone

Apparently ICE isn't from the Gestapo region of Germany so it's just sparkling secret police
“ICE isn’t the Gestapo. The Gestapo was…” (proceeds to describe qualities that apply to what ICE is currently doing)
“ICE isn’t the Gestapo. The Gestapo was…” (proceeds to describe qualities that apply to what ICE is currently doing)

Weird! We saw it Nov 24 and they came racing out of the gate and never let up. My only disappointment was the decision to play Pozzo as Foghorn Leghorn.

Winters' and Reeves' pacing was *incredible* right from the get-go.

Yep

When you take the subway or go to an INS office, Brimelow wrote, "You find yourself in an underworld that is not just teeming, but is almost entirely colored." Check out his book *Alien Nation*, which is basically a blueprint for the spittle-flecked Nosferatu guy now running our country.

Terrific essay, Jessica. Thanks for writing it.

I sometimes wonder if people like Peter Brimelow and John Derbyshire are pissed that they were cancelled by their colleagues on the right for their virulent racism thirty years ago and now we're in the timeline where their virulent racism is a requirement for membership in conservative America
reminder that caldwell’s most recent book argues that the civil rights act of 1964 was something akin to a constitutional abomination that produced a world of white subordination
This is how Christopher Caldwell begins his essay on Zohran Mamdani for the Claremont Review of Books.

Why are these people such freaks?
reminder that caldwell’s most recent book argues that the civil rights act of 1964 was something akin to a constitutional abomination that produced a world of white subordination
This is how Christopher Caldwell begins his essay on Zohran Mamdani for the Claremont Review of Books.

Why are these people such freaks?