Outpacing Zeno ♨️
@outpacingzeno.bsky.social
John | 27 | into talking about philosophy, law, and religion. Everything I say is provisional. I'm meaner on here than I'd like to be, constraints of the medium. Follow=/=Endorsement
Words at outpacingzeno.substack.com
Words at outpacingzeno.substack.com
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
these people are genuinely idiots
NEW: Expect some drama in House Dems’ meeting this AM over a vote to honor Charlie Kirk.
Some members undecided. Others voting no or “present.” But some in the party fear anything but a unanimous vote for it will be a messaging coup for the GOP.
@Axios.com
www.axios.com/2025/09/18/c...
Some members undecided. Others voting no or “present.” But some in the party fear anything but a unanimous vote for it will be a messaging coup for the GOP.
@Axios.com
www.axios.com/2025/09/18/c...
House Democrats fume about vote to honor Charlie Kirk: "We're being totally set up"
The vote has been the topic of frenzied discussions in Democrats' closed-door meeting this week.
www.axios.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
these people are genuinely idiots
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
They're afraid to say the phrase "radical conservative terror", much less denounce it, and now they're trying to erase it.
These are right-wing terror events I covered just from 2017 to 2023. It's not even close to comprehensive. The government's trying to erase this history.
September 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
They're afraid to say the phrase "radical conservative terror", much less denounce it, and now they're trying to erase it.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
I think it's worth clarifying that you do in fact retain free speech while you're in the military. You are in fact allowed to say what you want in a private capacity, including political speech.
I don't know where people go the idea otherwise, but it's not accurate.
I don't know where people go the idea otherwise, but it's not accurate.
September 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I think it's worth clarifying that you do in fact retain free speech while you're in the military. You are in fact allowed to say what you want in a private capacity, including political speech.
I don't know where people go the idea otherwise, but it's not accurate.
I don't know where people go the idea otherwise, but it's not accurate.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
both Klein’s piece in the NYT and the Burgis/Day piece in Jacobin pretend they are about recognizing that each human life is a human life but actually what they are doing is validating the way some human lives are socially valued more highly than others
The example they set is white supremacist
The example they set is white supremacist
September 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
both Klein’s piece in the NYT and the Burgis/Day piece in Jacobin pretend they are about recognizing that each human life is a human life but actually what they are doing is validating the way some human lives are socially valued more highly than others
The example they set is white supremacist
The example they set is white supremacist
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
That ostensibly liberal publications like the Boston Globe are lionizing someone as despicable as Charlie Kirk is the triumph of process over substance. As long as you go through the motions, then the fact that you are calling for violence against marginalized people is just a difference of opinion.
No, Boston Globe, we don’t “need more Charlie Kirks”
A shocking death cannot retroactively transform a wicked man into a saint
andrewqmr.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
That ostensibly liberal publications like the Boston Globe are lionizing someone as despicable as Charlie Kirk is the triumph of process over substance. As long as you go through the motions, then the fact that you are calling for violence against marginalized people is just a difference of opinion.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
Acts of political violence aren’t acceptable. Non-political school shootings aren’t acceptable. Sacking the legislature isn’t acceptable. Military occupation of peaceful American cities isn’t acceptable. Abductions conducted in courthouse hallways by masked agents of the state aren’t acceptable.
September 10, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Acts of political violence aren’t acceptable. Non-political school shootings aren’t acceptable. Sacking the legislature isn’t acceptable. Military occupation of peaceful American cities isn’t acceptable. Abductions conducted in courthouse hallways by masked agents of the state aren’t acceptable.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
One of the bitter ironies of American politics is that nobody is more committed to political correctness, in the traditional sense, than the reactionary centrist/classical liberal set. The People can't be trusted with revisionist or deviant sources, which might lead them astray.
One of Bari Weiss’s reporters over at the Free Press was shocked to discover what Columbia students are reading in class:
lol wat
lol wat
September 9, 2025 at 12:02 PM
One of the bitter ironies of American politics is that nobody is more committed to political correctness, in the traditional sense, than the reactionary centrist/classical liberal set. The People can't be trusted with revisionist or deviant sources, which might lead them astray.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
This isn't the standard story we've had about Trumpism, but it's pretty typical for the rise of authoritarian movements and then consolidating authoritarian regimes. The elites are targeted and cave first, leaving the popular base of liberal-democratic opposition without leadership and coordination.
i'm kind of with will here. one of the *strangest* features of this age is that nominally liberal elites seem totally enervated in the face of fascism--meanwhile the liberal base is screaming our heads off. this doesn't comport at all with the standard story--
If Biden had said even one-tenth of this, he’d have been impeached and removed as a dictator. What is wrong with our elites? They’re paralyzed by their fear of looking unsavvy or biased against MAGA. They’re going to keep pretending everything is normal until the bullet passes through their face
September 7, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This isn't the standard story we've had about Trumpism, but it's pretty typical for the rise of authoritarian movements and then consolidating authoritarian regimes. The elites are targeted and cave first, leaving the popular base of liberal-democratic opposition without leadership and coordination.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
Congrats on your regime propaganda, ABC News.
September 2, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Congrats on your regime propaganda, ABC News.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
R.E.M. “pushed the boundaries” of alternative rock
Herbie Hancock “pushed the boundaries” of jazz
Trump & RFK Jr. are “destroying public health & will be responsible for killing people”
What is journalism, anyway? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Herbie Hancock “pushed the boundaries” of jazz
Trump & RFK Jr. are “destroying public health & will be responsible for killing people”
What is journalism, anyway? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
You spelled ENDANGERING wrong, @nytimes.com.
“Pushing the boundaries” is a *positive* frame implying unconventional innovations. There are no innovations here. Just medieval anti-science populist attacks on some of best methods of truth seeking we have.
“Pushing the boundaries” is a *positive* frame implying unconventional innovations. There are no innovations here. Just medieval anti-science populist attacks on some of best methods of truth seeking we have.
August 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
R.E.M. “pushed the boundaries” of alternative rock
Herbie Hancock “pushed the boundaries” of jazz
Trump & RFK Jr. are “destroying public health & will be responsible for killing people”
What is journalism, anyway? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Herbie Hancock “pushed the boundaries” of jazz
Trump & RFK Jr. are “destroying public health & will be responsible for killing people”
What is journalism, anyway? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
i'm kind of blown away by how obvious it is if you're, like, literate. at all. i don't even mean for books, i also mean for movies. i mean that if you have understood things at any point in your life, this is obvious. so it's weird to see people act like they don't understand it
this is just straight-up dictatorship and it’s repulsive and pathetic our newspapers and TV stations still won’t say so. there is no emergency. there is no precedent for this in US history. Trump is establishing military and paramilitary control of the capital
August 15, 2025 at 3:39 AM
i'm kind of blown away by how obvious it is if you're, like, literate. at all. i don't even mean for books, i also mean for movies. i mean that if you have understood things at any point in your life, this is obvious. so it's weird to see people act like they don't understand it
wrote about utilitarianism and about how it is not things that it is not
Utilitarianism Is Not Virtue Ethics Is Not Microeconomics Is Not Sociology Is Not Utilitarianism Is Not Virtue Ethics Is Not Utilitarianism
A brief-ish response to Both Sides Brigade
open.substack.com
August 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
wrote about utilitarianism and about how it is not things that it is not
Iris Murdoch on AI art being bad, truly a visionary. like actually
August 4, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Iris Murdoch on AI art being bad, truly a visionary. like actually
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
if I was to be very mean, I would say that some of the praise heaped upon Disco Elysium by gamers was because it forced them to read a grown-up novel for the first time ever, and if your brain has been rotted by gamer culture experiencing a very good novel will be ecstatic.
August 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
if I was to be very mean, I would say that some of the praise heaped upon Disco Elysium by gamers was because it forced them to read a grown-up novel for the first time ever, and if your brain has been rotted by gamer culture experiencing a very good novel will be ecstatic.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today
August 1, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today
Some people on this website seem to confuse attention being given to a problem with that problem being solved. Yes the endless talk about "male loneliness" is tiresome, but to some extent it's warranted as long as lots of individual men are still lonely. Same goes for many other social ills
August 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Some people on this website seem to confuse attention being given to a problem with that problem being solved. Yes the endless talk about "male loneliness" is tiresome, but to some extent it's warranted as long as lots of individual men are still lonely. Same goes for many other social ills
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down operations after loss of federal funding:
August 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down operations after loss of federal funding:
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
Buried in Columbia's agreement/bribe with the Trump regime (and not reported by the news) is a section which agrees to segregate trans women from women's housing, sports, and bathrooms. Functionally, trans women are no longer welcome at Columbia University.
July 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Buried in Columbia's agreement/bribe with the Trump regime (and not reported by the news) is a section which agrees to segregate trans women from women's housing, sports, and bathrooms. Functionally, trans women are no longer welcome at Columbia University.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
because he tried to cover it up, it's sexual, and so the political media is capable of recognizing it as a story in a way that it can't acts of open cruelty and evil against the poor or vulnerable
Kind of amazing how of all the unpopular initiatives in the Trump administration (cuts to Medicaid, ICE raids, THE TARIFFS), he got Biden'd on the Epstein stuff.
July 23, 2025 at 11:03 PM
because he tried to cover it up, it's sexual, and so the political media is capable of recognizing it as a story in a way that it can't acts of open cruelty and evil against the poor or vulnerable
Right-wing lack of agency is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you act like someone's a baby, they'll begin to perceive themselves as one. Not sure how we get out of this other than by RW elites gaining a sense of responsibility + some standards
i know i am late on this but is there more glaring example of the utter lack of agency the right wing is afforded
where is the guest essay taking the right-wing family to task for being such assholes that their own family members snub them
where is the guest essay taking the right-wing family to task for being such assholes that their own family members snub them
July 17, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Right-wing lack of agency is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you act like someone's a baby, they'll begin to perceive themselves as one. Not sure how we get out of this other than by RW elites gaining a sense of responsibility + some standards
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
Of course, Kamala Harris didn't need to be the one. It could have been a surrogate. It could be some rando running in a house seat. The point is that a culture of trying random shit is actively stifled by "data driven" decision-making on all levels. So *nobody* tries anything outside the norm.
July 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Of course, Kamala Harris didn't need to be the one. It could have been a surrogate. It could be some rando running in a house seat. The point is that a culture of trying random shit is actively stifled by "data driven" decision-making on all levels. So *nobody* tries anything outside the norm.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
The Democratic Party's approval ratings are terrible, a young Democratic politician solidly wins a primary in the country's biggest city by generating enthusiasm and high turnout, and Democratic leaders think the move is to publicly distance themselves, even denounce him, do I have that right?
July 16, 2025 at 6:35 PM
The Democratic Party's approval ratings are terrible, a young Democratic politician solidly wins a primary in the country's biggest city by generating enthusiasm and high turnout, and Democratic leaders think the move is to publicly distance themselves, even denounce him, do I have that right?
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
i have really come to believe that this — treating the public like its too stupid to understand anything complex — is one of our big problems.
Savvy operative types in DC truly believed then and believe now that average Americans are too dumb to understand how government works or why it exists. Educating and defending the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—with its profound impact on people for negligible taxpayer cost—was a layup.
July 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
i have really come to believe that this — treating the public like its too stupid to understand anything complex — is one of our big problems.
Reposted by Outpacing Zeno ♨️
A culture built on virtue signaling can create problems when done wrong, both in ignoring moral goods that aren't all that praiseworthy and in cloaking dubious behavior in virtuous-seeming verbiage, but virtue signaling is still a necessary if not sufficient condition for having a good (sub)culture
July 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM
A culture built on virtue signaling can create problems when done wrong, both in ignoring moral goods that aren't all that praiseworthy and in cloaking dubious behavior in virtuous-seeming verbiage, but virtue signaling is still a necessary if not sufficient condition for having a good (sub)culture