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radicalrealism.bsky.social
@radicalrealism.bsky.social
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radicalrealism.bsky.social
Tech weaponized to oppress a domestic pop & suppress the demo'c means--processes/procedures--for maximizing justice & minimizing corruption, like executing oversight & doling out accountability, is a path to authoritar'ism, lacking just merger w/ the state for a ready fascist regime & social death.
Social death Condition of not being accepted as human by society Social death is the condition of people not accepted as fully human by wider society. It refers to when someone is treated as if they are dead or non-existent. It is used by sociologists such as Orlando Patterson and Zygmunt Bauman, and historians of slavery and the Holocaust to describe the part played by governmental and social segregation in that process. Social death is defined by "three aspects: a loss of social identity, a loss of social connectedness and losses associated with disintegration of the body
November 18, 2025 at 10:43 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Some ppl use power like an aphrodisiac upon those who can be seduced, & bait for those who can't.
Some ppl view finance & accounting like a religion.
Some ppl's craving for attention/status is like an addiction.
All three are true of Donald Trump.
Yesterday, lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents related to Epstein, including thousands of emails between him and his powerful contacts in the government, Silicon Valley, and the British royalty. There is an obvious voyeuristic thrill to reading them, but these documents have a deeper relevance. They are a skeleton key for understanding the dynamics of Donald Trump’s America, one in which the wealthy and powerful appear not as master operators but as bumbling sycophants, eager to cozy up to influence no matter how villainous or depraved.
November 14, 2025 at 7:08 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Former Labor Secretary @rbreich.bsky.social has a clear & persuasive explanation for the lack of affordable housing, & the socially undermining impact (the last sentence in 2nd graph) in his new book, Coming Up Short.
Private-equity backed real estate corporations have bought up both single-family homes and apartment buildings at record rates, contributing to soaring housing costs. In 2021, those corporations bought nearly one in seven homes in the country's top metro areas, and by 2023 private equity owned at least 260,000 homes across the country. Blackstone made $7 billion when it sold off its shares of the rental company it created, Invitation Homes--more than double what it initially invested. When a landlord is a private equity firm, rents go up, evictions come faster, and there are punitive fees and shoddier repairs and services (if someone even shows up). Such firms drive rents up in general. When corporate landlords turn already scarce homes into rental properties, they shut out millions of people from being able to buy their own homes, preventing them from building financial stability and generational wealth. In essence, it's a direct siphoning of wealth from the middle and working classes into the pockets of private equity managers.
November 13, 2025 at 11:40 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Senator King's--the +1--assertion that "Standing up to Trump didn't work," inverts the causality. If you read all of Elie Mystal's piece, it's clear that the 8's concession to Trump/GOP/the 1% lead RWNJ brigade, is unequivocally a failure to stand up to Trumpian fascist illiberalism.
Somewhat predictably, eight Democrats in the US Senate chose the former option and folded like cheap chairs. The statements drooling out of the mouths from these treacherous Democrats are beyond pathetic. Maine Senator Angus King said, “Standing up to Trump didn’t work.” New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said, “Hopefully the Republicans may hear us.” I’m reminded of The Onion’s headline from Trump’s first term “GOP Lawmakers Watch Silently As Trump Strangles Each Of Their Loved Ones In Turn.” The current crop of Senate Democrats makes the Kardashians look like freedom fighters.
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 AM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
I now see this post was unclear. Subtypes DON'T matter. They're all fascism. They all use the same strategies & tactics. As soon as political rhetoric escalates to dehumanizing, deligitimizing & excluding all ppl who don't conform to their aesthetic, demo, cultural, economic & political ideals . . .
Then be as explicit as possible, but not obsessive. It's a fascist totalitarian movement. It's diff than 20th cent European fascism, but whether it is neo-fascism, crypto-fascism, Christo-fascism, faux-patriotic fascism, et al, the danger is known & the most clear appellation shd be applied to it.
November 9, 2025 at 10:57 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
In 3 paragraphs Reagan centered commerce & prosperity in American greatness, transforming Winthrop's euphemism from a mandate or aspiration to a "fact." In reality Reagan just re-centered 'American exceptionalism' from self-governance/democracy to capitalism & prosperity, effacing causal dynamics.
And that's about all I have to say tonight, except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the ``shining city upon a hill.'' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still. And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
November 2, 2025 at 7:17 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
No, you misunderstood. I was referring to your generalization abt the motivation of a group of ppl you don't identify, but do treat as an amalgamation. To wit: "those who want to uphold an oppressive system." "[W]ant to uphold" is a statement abt motivation. Try re-reading my 2 posts in that light.
October 30, 2025 at 6:00 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
How about the irony of being a prof of American politics who focuses on DISTRUST, but not identifying an empirical method, practice or process by wch ppl might overcome distrust, & instead lapsing into distrust himself? OK, that's not irony, just a cultural artifact of living in an ivory tower.
A screen capture of Justin Zimmerman's, a/k/a @jztidecat.bsky.social, bio information.
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Anyone know if this is legitimate & applicable in Ohio?
October 9, 2025 at 12:30 AM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Liberal political precept: live & let live, but we will criticize, dissent, protest & use activism against intolerance, coercion & cruelty.
Cons poli barbarism: do as I say, not as I do, & if you make me look bad by contextualizing something I did/said, I'll rant & rave abt you until MSM blames you
And that is something both liberals and conservatives must reckon with in the months and years ahead. So much of the hand-wringing over cancel culture in recent years has assumed that the right is naturally disposed to protect open debate and a live-and-let-live culture, and that progressives were the real problem. And yes, there has been extensive debate among progressives about the limits of free speech, as well as the proper way to respond to disinformation and waves of racist invective on social media. But long before concerns surfaced about the “woke right,” long before the campaigns to cancel Mr. Kirk’s critics, it was clear that the right’s vision of power involved sharp limits on its opponents and on their free expression. That vision relied not on debates, but on the muscular use of government power and social pressure to enforce the right’s values — and its hierarchies.
September 30, 2025 at 5:16 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
You don't need to justify turning the troops loose if, in advance, you offer them immunity for transgressions w/o defining limits to that grant of immunity.

bsky.app/profile/atru...
Sargent: Well, I think there’s very little doubt that someone like Pete Hegseth actually believes that Democrats and secular liberals and election officials and so forth are enemies of the Christian nation. And whether he believes it’s justified to then turn the troops loose on them, I don’t know—but I don’t think it’s that huge a leap.
September 30, 2025 at 3:57 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
To wit, this strategy of avoiding certain terms is reactive rather than proactive, i.e. a deeply considered program toward a well-defined goal.

This excerpt from Mill's *The Causes of World War III* summarizes the reactive (not reactionary) method & how it leads to failure.
In crackpot realism, a high-flying moral rhetoric is joined with an opportunist crawling among a great scatter of unfocused fears and demands. In fact, the main content of “politics” is now a struggle among men equally expert in practical next steps — which, in summary, make up the thrust toward war — and in great, round, hortatory principles. But without any program. Programs require that next steps be reasonably linked with principled images of a goal. To act toward goals requires that the next step be consciously worked out in terms of its consequences, and that these consequences be weighed and valued in terms of the goal. Lacking a program, the opportunist moves short distances among immediate and shifting goals. He reacts rather than inaugurates, and the directions of his reactions are set less by any goals of his own than by the circumstances to which he feels forced to react out of fear and uneasiness.  Since he is largely a creature of these circumstances, rather than a master of independent action, the results of his expedient maneuvers and of his defaults are more products of the main drift than of his own vision and will. To be merely expedient is to be in the grip of historical fate or in the grip of those who are not merely expedient.
August 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
@volts.wtf 2 preceding posts provide critical context, as does his awareness of systemic issues, i.e. dynamics, process & change, wch reading his other work would reveal. Taking speech out of context makes it easier to conjure monsters on SM, but it is disingenuous, at best. Do better!
Three consecutive posts from @volts.wtf: Men these days do worse in school, don't make as much money, don't help around the house, refuse to develop any emotional literacy, refuse to plan or maintain a social life, and in their spare time, have ginned up an entire society-wide moral panic premised on ... men having a hard time. ‪David Roberts‬  ‪@volts.wtf‬ 19h Rather than solving these problems by, say, pulling up their fucking britches, developing some self-awareness and self-discipline, chipping in around the house, going to therapy & learning how to talk about feelings, & being less violent toward their loved ones, men listen to bro podcasts & whine. ‪David Roberts‬  ‪@volts.wtf‬ 19h Honestly I don't understand why *every* woman isn't a lesbian.
August 13, 2025 at 5:58 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Then you must be a bot, troll or foreign provocateur bc you espouse an affinity for "nerdy video games" on your profile page, yet now you disavow it.

So you're either lying, ignorant or fanatical. It still earns you a block.
Pic of hyeangrin.bsky.social's profile page.
August 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Those most in need of civics ed make sense of the world thru myth, magic & inapt metaphors, or spoon-fed anecdote-based narratives presenting fragments of truth, or bald-faced lies, so they don't have to think. They will reject dynamic, detailed, contextual & nuanced realism required of civics ed.
Readers, I'm interested in your views on this, and whether you think a renewed emphasis on civics education including the role of the press in a democracy is in order. Maybe people could learn that not every cartoon is a "joke," and certainly not a joke at the expense of disaster victims.
July 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Thankfully not everyone wld be like you & refuse to call police bc their prejudice leads them to believe police won't respond. You can't effectively resist vigilantes & illiberal mercenaries w/ LW vigilantes or w/o the law & public opinion. You sound like a 5th columnist.
bsky.app/profile/pear...
No they shouldn’t. The cops won’t come. They have time and again not risked their lives when they’ve heard an active shooter is in the area. Did you not pay attention after Uvalde? You’d be better off asking for a socialist rifle association in your area to help you out
June 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
You're an unscrupulous interlocutor. You inserted words I didn't use in "quoting" me, but still didn't directly refute my point. B4 that you moved the goal posts. The discursive treachery you have demonstrated in the course of a few interactions shows me there is no more reason to engage w/ you.
A man w/ a knife & unmarked armed assailants are massively different scenarios & you know it. 1st, unbadged abductors cld be fake cops/ICE. The avg person wldn't know. Also, it's better to document abductions thru 911 than to do nothing bc it can form evidence & political ammunition for change.
June 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Lots of people adopting the self-serving--& unfalsifiable--proposition these days.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/u...
“Being yelled at on Bluesky is good,” said Mr. Jain, who co-founded Split Ticket, an election analytics firm. Mocking people he sees as keyboard warriors who take shots at the center, he added: “You’re not fighting fascism, you’re posting on your phone. If you want to fight fascism, go and win elections.” Bruises from digital bullying by the left were a recurring theme. “The backlash that happens online is actually the sign that you’re doing something right,” said Adam Jentleson, a former chief of staff to Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. He has spent recent months preparing to establish a new think tank, called Searchlight, that he has billed as for political realists.
June 6, 2025 at 4:29 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
This is pretty out of touch, elitist & authoritarian for ppl who claim to value democracy:
Surveying the wreckage of the 2024 election, the proud moderates here pleaded that their faction should seize control of the party’s messaging, stiff-arm liberal interest groups and experience the spoils of real-life victory, all while ignoring angry online activists.
June 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
Lord Henry Wotton in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray behaved like an edgelord. I can't name them, but I recall characters in other western period literature who were portrayed similarly. So it is prolly not a new phenomena, we just have more exposure to them.
Now I’m seeing edgelords everywhere. I may even see one when I look in the mirror. They’re not just online, either – they’re to be found in conversations everywhere, at work and at play. Saying whatever they think it takes in order to be heard and seen, to help them feel relevant.
June 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
The argument being made here sounds like a "bad apples" argument, wch some resort to when "antiestablishment leftists" argue that policing is a broken/unjust system bc the system, as configured, gives too much power, cover, excuses, incentives, etc., to all those authorized by that system.
One good candidate does not make a Tea Party, however. AOC might—and I stress might—make a credible challenger to Chuck Schumer, whose Senate seat is next up in 2028. But if you want a broader activist assault, then you will need better activists. There are basically two paths here. The first is that mainline liberals write off the antiestablishment left and launch a second Tea Party themselves. I’m not against this on principle, but I think we should be realistic that we don’t have the capacity for it right now. Weakened though they are, most of progressive new media is in the hands of the left, and they dominate social media. Mainline liberals are just not very loud and not very visible.
May 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
@amandamarcotte.bsky.social blocked me for criticizing (see image) her thread metastasizing Biden's cancer diagnosis into a conflagration. (See her TL.) Thus providing evidence that she truly is more interested in her brand than she is in enlightening readers or elucidating complexity.
Marcotte sounds unhinged in this thread. Notice the corrugated pattern to her assertions. It seems meant to disoriented the reader so that no single point can be assessed on its merits. Likley bc not a single one has merit. But it does elicit engagement, & that's the main thing for news grifters.
May 19, 2025 at 6:51 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
The 2 tactics below--from Rosenberg's article--urge what sounds to me like indoctrination, wch is a tactic used by authoritarians & totalitarians.

bsky.app/profile/radi...
In their final chapter, Free and Cantril proposed “a restatement of American ideology to bring it in line with what the great majority of people want and approve. [Begin highlight] Such a statement, with the right symbols incorporated, would focus people’s wants, hopes, and beliefs, and provide a guide and platform to enable the American people to implement their political desires in a more intelligent, direct, and consistent manner.” [End highlight] Of course that didn’t happen, once again because [begin highlight] Democrats had no system for such a future-oriented task, and also had no coherent guiding identity or philosophy. [End highlight] Instead, we got the Long Southern Strategy and its consequences. Although their original goal was to “mobilize the base” of the Democratic Party, Shenker-Osorio said their messages also won broad support from “persuadable” voters, who hold “a jumbled mix of progressive and reactionary views.” Again, the race-class narrative has been adopted in piecemeal fashion, if at all, because [begin highlight] Democrats have no system in place to identify better strategies to reshape the political landscape. [End highlight]
May 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
This about sums it up:
Step by step, agency by federal agency, Trump is systematically disabling any institution that could block his acquisition of power. Standing alone, each act weakens national security in ways that can’t be measured because the consequences have not yet materialized. Taken in concert, they reflect Trump’s intentional subversion of national security interests.
May 10, 2025 at 8:47 PM
radicalrealism.bsky.social
. . . permits ppl to evade taking responsibility for their personal problems. Most egregiously, those wch manifest as anti-social behavior, like Nazis & MRAs engage in, & wch MRAs craft plausible excuses--comprised of circular logic--for engaging in. This dynamic is epitomized by the meme below:
This is an image of the cartoon meme where a MAGA hat wearing right winger assumes the role of cultural victim because his cohort is criticized for being racist, & then he subsequently self-radicalizes into a Nazi. The subtext is that the MAGA dude rejects personal responsibility for his anti-social ideas & behavior, preferring to blame those who criticize him for being mean to him, while ignoring his own patent cruelty.
May 4, 2025 at 9:50 PM