I wish I had the confidence required to write an article that accuses others of not having "arguments," only to turn around and quite literally direct my own "arguments" at a computer-generated strawman.

I'm going to be organising a small reading group for The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt. It'll be starting over the holidays and run at a relaxed pace over the whole year for the sake of the slower readers. Leave a reply to express interest. I'll DM details later.

Populism that's rooted an in amorphous "them" vs "us" already has its dangers. But notice how this particular narrative also introduces a unitary social organism, and then papers over all individuality in favour of one's "contribution" to the whole. This is a preparatory discourse for fascism.

On some level, people like this never changed their politics even if they shifted leftward. The special hatred that they have for liberals and anarchists and the like makes a lot more psychological sense once you identify the kinds of people who would have journeys like this.

Correct as far as it goes—deserves a passing mark. But people need be more critical of the mechanical naturalism and utilitarianism that is so often taken as the default ethical framework, beyond just pointing out the hypocrisy of anti-AI arguments. Even if that hypocrisy is apparent.

The reasons Hitler had to die had nothing to do with retribution or deserving it. Hitler had to die to end National Socialism.

Holding onto this conservative idea that justice is punishment will be lethal to the left in the fullness of time, as it concedes the concept of justice to the right.

Martin Heidegger? The philosophy professor?

People say that Bluesky is more left-wing than Twitter. But I don't think that's quite true. The hard left are still over there. It's just that Twitter is a more hateful place. So much of what gets currency over there is about seeming cool, detached, and superior. This post is pretty representative.

Here's the story. It was about On Photography, not Against Interpretation. Well, that makes sense—On Photography is a more consistent book anyway.

People never really stopped believing in the gods of Olympus as the personification of natural forces. They just now believe in the "300 Families" and the "Elders of Zion" as the god-form of the capitalist system of social organisation.

We're closer to ancient superstitions than we realise.

This is like pornography for everything I hate in political analysis.
- "Bush v. Gore changed the election" (not true)
- "Presidents decide history" (wrong)
- "Everything goes better if the Democrats win" (lmao)

Truly impressive.

Musk might be about to (once again) prove that money cannot actually buy political power in the way people imagine

Welcome back, Mr Kristol

I will also post political stuff. Sorry if that is annoying, but part of what I think makes entertainment impactful is its political dimensions.

Please use this chart to call me your preferred political slur.