Left Nietzschean
@devingoure.bsky.social
PhD in political theory, posts on philosophy, Nietzsche, mental health, politics, and games of all sorts. “The stillest words are those that bring the storm.”
*Geralt and Yen’s past, more accurately
July 4, 2025 at 1:13 PM
*Geralt and Yen’s past, more accurately
Love the show, but yes, they don’t do a great job communicating that half the S1 story is catching you up on Geralt’s past. I don’t think it clicked for me the first time around until the child surprise episode. IIRC it stops being a thing in S2 though.
July 4, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Love the show, but yes, they don’t do a great job communicating that half the S1 story is catching you up on Geralt’s past. I don’t think it clicked for me the first time around until the child surprise episode. IIRC it stops being a thing in S2 though.
OK but what about your body *without* organs?
June 18, 2025 at 11:31 AM
OK but what about your body *without* organs?
There’s even more reason for skepticism when polls that don’t support his preferred politics conveniently get dismissed as inaccurate, like the recent abundance vs populism poll.
May 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
There’s even more reason for skepticism when polls that don’t support his preferred politics conveniently get dismissed as inaccurate, like the recent abundance vs populism poll.
Let me put it this way: no empirical political scientist worth their salt would ever say this is conclusive enough of a result to warrant such definitive pronouncements about political strategy.
May 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Let me put it this way: no empirical political scientist worth their salt would ever say this is conclusive enough of a result to warrant such definitive pronouncements about political strategy.
I mean… “limited” benefits of “less than 2%” (within polling margins of error) is hardly a roaring vindication of Yglesias’s claim.
May 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I mean… “limited” benefits of “less than 2%” (within polling margins of error) is hardly a roaring vindication of Yglesias’s claim.
I am not saying that it *can’t* be measured accurately or that we can’t talk about more or less accurate polls. The point is still that undefended assumptions that are empirically controversial do the vast majority of the legwork for Yglesias.
May 29, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I am not saying that it *can’t* be measured accurately or that we can’t talk about more or less accurate polls. The point is still that undefended assumptions that are empirically controversial do the vast majority of the legwork for Yglesias.
The point here is that there’s something question-begging about saying that Dems should just measure public opinion “accurately.” It is an open question whether public opinion can be measured accurately enough to support the simplistic approach he’s recommending here.
May 29, 2025 at 4:55 PM
The point here is that there’s something question-begging about saying that Dems should just measure public opinion “accurately.” It is an open question whether public opinion can be measured accurately enough to support the simplistic approach he’s recommending here.
I’m obviously not saying that it *can’t* be measured accurately or that we can’t talk about more or less accurate polls out of what’s on offer. The issue is still that unsupported assumptions are doing the vast majority of the legwork for Yglesias.
May 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I’m obviously not saying that it *can’t* be measured accurately or that we can’t talk about more or less accurate polls out of what’s on offer. The issue is still that unsupported assumptions are doing the vast majority of the legwork for Yglesias.
Yglesias’s model is basically clickbait. Everything is some version of: “This one simple trick is all you need to win elections!” As if he hadn’t been the preferred wonk of an administration whose catastrophic mistakes in political strategy we learn more about every day.
May 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Yglesias’s model is basically clickbait. Everything is some version of: “This one simple trick is all you need to win elections!” As if he hadn’t been the preferred wonk of an administration whose catastrophic mistakes in political strategy we learn more about every day.
Not to mention the false dichotomy. Either Democrats can do what Yglesias advises or they can try to shape public opinion in the most hamhanded ways imaginable. Nothing in between these extremes appears to be even conceivable in this framework.
May 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Not to mention the false dichotomy. Either Democrats can do what Yglesias advises or they can try to shape public opinion in the most hamhanded ways imaginable. Nothing in between these extremes appears to be even conceivable in this framework.
…”elite” opinions? Trump arguably won because his voters perceive him as authentic. But where did public opinion stand on Trump’s incendiary claims when he first started running for nomination in 2015-2016? How much did he succeed in moving public opinion? Etc etc
May 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
…”elite” opinions? Trump arguably won because his voters perceive him as authentic. But where did public opinion stand on Trump’s incendiary claims when he first started running for nomination in 2015-2016? How much did he succeed in moving public opinion? Etc etc
…Trump’s term, or where it is now? It appears to have moved substantially in a short period, which raises even more fundamental questions about your proposed strategy. Could it also be that one reason Democrats are struggling is that they are already perceived as simply catering to the prevalent…
May 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
…Trump’s term, or where it is now? It appears to have moved substantially in a short period, which raises even more fundamental questions about your proposed strategy. Could it also be that one reason Democrats are struggling is that they are already perceived as simply catering to the prevalent…
Really I can think of several more questions off the top of my head. What does it mean to study public opinion “accurately,” and why this question-begging? Public opinion often seems volatile: should Democrats have catered their platform to where public opinion appeared to be at the start of…
May 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Really I can think of several more questions off the top of my head. What does it mean to study public opinion “accurately,” and why this question-begging? Public opinion often seems volatile: should Democrats have catered their platform to where public opinion appeared to be at the start of…
Personally I don’t know the state of the literature on this one way or the other. But in any case, this seems like the perfect example of how your “I’m just saying the obvious uncontroversial thing here” is actually premised on controversial assumptions that you seem uninterested in backing up.
May 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Personally I don’t know the state of the literature on this one way or the other. But in any case, this seems like the perfect example of how your “I’m just saying the obvious uncontroversial thing here” is actually premised on controversial assumptions that you seem uninterested in backing up.
Matt, could you please point me toward peer-reviewed political science research showing clearly that mimicking public opinion results in more electoral success than trying actively to shape public opinion? You’re laundering a controversial empirical claim as obvious common sense.
May 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Matt, could you please point me toward peer-reviewed political science research showing clearly that mimicking public opinion results in more electoral success than trying actively to shape public opinion? You’re laundering a controversial empirical claim as obvious common sense.
I could maybe have gotten on board if it was a widespread thing but it would be total bullshit to make a rule change just to punish one team for being able to do something no one else can.
May 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I could maybe have gotten on board if it was a widespread thing but it would be total bullshit to make a rule change just to punish one team for being able to do something no one else can.
Incidentally, Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17.
May 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Incidentally, Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17.
If you base your philosophy on the importance of the moral foundations of critique, you can’t get the single most urgent moral issue of this century so far exactly wrong.
May 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
If you base your philosophy on the importance of the moral foundations of critique, you can’t get the single most urgent moral issue of this century so far exactly wrong.
Also, and against my better judgment, I've released another Substack post debunking myths about Nietzsche in Daniel Tutt's recent book that I've been sitting on for a long time. Hopefully it helps dispel some illusions about his historical and political context.
open.substack.com/pub/devingou...
open.substack.com/pub/devingou...
How to Read Like a Parasite, Part III
Debunking myths about Nietzsche and the Paris Commune
open.substack.com
May 11, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Also, and against my better judgment, I've released another Substack post debunking myths about Nietzsche in Daniel Tutt's recent book that I've been sitting on for a long time. Hopefully it helps dispel some illusions about his historical and political context.
open.substack.com/pub/devingou...
open.substack.com/pub/devingou...