In case anyone would be interested, here's a long "intellectual journal" I've kept for years, which has thoughts on various topics in history, philosophy, and politics. Also many summaries of good left-wing scholarship.
@CarlBeijer
I’ve never understood why Fallon is a thing. He’s pathetic in all ways, it seems. I think it’s only bc people think there’s something “cute” about him that he has a career.
Wrote an article about NATO's dangerous brinkmanship vis-à-vis Russia. It's the responsibility of the Western public to compel its rulers to act more rationally.
@thomaschattwill
It’s fascinating (though not really) how the simple demand to act in accord with the most minimal standards of morality is called “childish.” By defenders of drone terrorism.
As usual, we should imagine what the reaction would be if Jews, not Arabs, lived in Gaza and were the target of all this brutality. “They can go live somewhere else, like in the fields!” Anti-Arab racism is considered perfectly fine, and is almost universal.
@adam_tooze
@Newsweek
And here is a map showing how much of the Gaza Strip is agricultural land, how little is settled
As anyone can see, the majority of Gaza is open where innocents can move to for safety
Hamas has its HQ under hospitals in that small spot of red
The anti-left fruits of identity politics. “She’s black and accomplished and therefore a great progressive and potentially a great choice for Supreme Court justice.” Give me “class reductionism” (whatever that is) over this nonsense anytime.
I respected her before, but she thinks adjunct professors, if they’re white, are members of the ruling class. This is the most absurd kind of race reductionism, and it’s a reductio ad absurdum of identity politics.
Wow, exceptionally strong words from a key South Korean lawmaker, who chaired a ruling party committee on South Korea’s semiconductor competitiveness until early this year:
“If [Washington] continues to try to punish other nations and to pass bills and implement ‘America First’
@KyleKulinski
@ggreenwald
Not to defend the Intercept's editors, but
@ggreenwald
's obsession with amplifying stories of Biden's corruption at a time when human survival likely depends on getting rid of Trump (as Chomsky says) isn't in the public interest.
Here’s an example of the dark side of wokeness. It’s often considered downright racist, and certainly antediluvian, to say that … Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach are on a higher creative plane than popular music. Which should be utterly obvious.
Postmodernity sucks.
Every political official who refuses to publicly denounce this is an abject coward complicit in genocide. Every day for the rest of their lives, they should be harassed by protesters. They have to be constantly reminded, until they die, of their support for genocide.
@briebriejoy
@CornelWest
@thetightropepod
Not sure why this is hard to understand, but I'll say it again: there are many other ways to move politics left besides voting for an unviable third party (thus enabling the fascists). The obsession with the evils of "lesser-evil voting" gets a bit embarrassing after awhile.
@nhannahjones
@audio_embed
Because I’m white? This is silly. You’re not a serious person if you think an adjunct professor is part of the ruling class.
It’s easy to say “class essentialism!” But that’s not an argument. That’s just invective.
@RichardHanania
@NathanJRobinson
No, Nathan is right. Reactionary culture war books like these typically make a splash among pseudo-intellectual conservatives, but within a few years they’re virtually forgotten. A lot of losers buy them, though, so their authors do make some money.
A great article. As the author says,
@AOC
@BernieSanders
@PramilaJayapal
@IlhanMN
and the other progressives in Congress have wasted a historic opportunity. By not building a mass movement, they’ve ensured their defeat.
@RichardHanania
@NathanJRobinson
People who judge others' worth and knowledge by their Twitter presence are both pathetic and amusing. Anyway, it doesn't take a genius to know that culture war grifters tend to make more money than honest scholars.
It’s always necessary to be skeptical of any given candidate, but I’m looking forward to Marianne Williamson running. American politics is full of such mediocrities that, relatively speaking, she’s somewhat exciting.
This is an impressive speech. RFK Jr.'s antivax stuff is terrible (it seems to me), but his message on foreign policy couldn't be more important. It's also refreshing that he talks to Americans as if they're adults, not children. via
@YouTube
@CassSunstein
Nathan Robinson, of
@curaffairs
, does a good job of demonstrating your intellectual shallowness in this article: I suppose you've seen it already.
@_whitneywebb
You ignored his main points. Which are completely valid. I’m sure he (or I) could recommend a list of scholarly books for you to read if you want to learn about the nature and history of capitalism.
This is the “race reductionism” I was talking about in a previous tweet. The greatest agents of democracy have actually been the working class, and organizers/radicals among the working class. Some black people now belong to the ruling class and work against democracy.
@Leigh_Phillips
It’s very sad: postmodernism has so corrupted the rationality of many leftists that they think there’s something radical or emancipatory in denying the relative objectivity of natural science and the existence of objective truth. …
@turd_angry
@BL_Balthaser
@dbessner
He’s basically a Marxist. Worships Luxemburg, loves Lenin and Trotsky, etc. I’ve had interesting conversations with him about many of these figures. His critiques of liberal and postmodern identity politics are grounded in Marxism, like Adolph Reed’s.
The left is full of stupidity and insanity, so it’s refreshing to have Ben Burgis and
@NathanJRobinson
around to have consistently reasonable takes. It’s sad how (relatively) few such people there are.
@NathanJRobinson
@adamkotsko
This is obviously true. Leftists need exposure. It doesn’t matter where. It would be great if Sanders were constantly even on Tucker Carlson’s show.
Glenn Greenwald has issues, but his presence on Fox isn’t one of them.
Much as I like the idea of getting royalties, I'll be a good communist and share my book for free: . The
#revolution
is coming, but it's going to be a pretty protracted affair.
Class abstractionism, class dynamism, class reductionism, etc… The verbiage-mongering of academia. Meanwhile, Sanders appeals to the common interests of all workers, builds a movement, and almost becomes president.
Materialist common sense is always the right way.
“All women want is kindness. We don’t care about confidence, charisma, humor, stability of income, good looks, intelligence, height, or any other ‘alpha’ qualities, just kindness.” A lot of women, incredibly, seem to tell themselves this.
I once knew a guy who got more women to sleep with him than you could imagine, despite being average looking, on the short side and usually broke, so I asked him his secret.
He said "I just am really nice, but not like in a way that I want anything in return."
@rosswolfe
He meant that given capitalist economics, it isn’t an injustice. But he unquestionably thought capitalism doesn’t permit human flourishing and therefore looked forward to revolution. His writings teem with condemnations of capitalism.
@Harvard
Nothing could be more predictable than this statement, since Harvard has to fight a lawsuit. (And we all know the highly detailed allegations are completely true.) But wow, what a terrible institution. “You’re going to discourage others from coming forward!” The gall.
I’m beginning to despair of the whole right, but especially the anti-woke formation (much as I loathe woke-ism). There’s no positive vision to it. It’s unserious. It seems designed to stave off real populism at the level of political economy.
It's remarkable how much outrage ensues, even among classical musicians, when you say a Beethoven string quartet or a piano sonata is a more impressive creative accomplishment than, say, a Led Zeppelin song. Postmodern relativism is just so flaky and anti-intellectual. 1/9
@audio_embed
@nhannahjones
Yes, but someone who has really absorbed the lessons of labor history would know that white people have been essential to organizing for democracy too. A real radical would put the focus on the working class, not simply “black people.”
@turd_angry
@BL_Balthaser
@dbessner
He has nothing against trans people. Notwithstanding his sometimes crude jokes. (As you say, an old-school guy—he likes politically incorrect humor.) His critique is that there isn’t enough emphasis on class struggle among left liberals.
@nhannahjones
@audio_embed
The ruling class brutalizes for the sake of squeezing out profits. Because profits = power. It isn’t just because they hate people with a certain skin color so much. It’s an economically rational strategy for profits.
The Revolutionary Beethoven via
@DissentMag
In a time when we're fighting a corrupt and undemocratic ancien régime, just like
#Beethoven
was with his music, we can derive inspiration from him.
Knowledgeable people, including leftists, are still optimistic about our ability to deal with global warming, but I find optimism increasingly difficult. It seems likely that fifty years from now, humanity will view this generation as the most criminal in history.
This is bad. This is really bad. Ocean temperatures are experiencing a "rapid surge." This is unprecedented. The numbers are literally off the charts. We will explain what this all means. (1/11) 🧵
@_whitneywebb
It’s odd and pathetic that ostensible leftists love to hate on Chomsky. The guy has done (and continues to do) more for the world than all his critics put together.
@CoreyRobin
Your willingness to engage with these people is, in a way, admirable, but it might be best to follow the example of Chomsky: ignore them. Twitter is the homeland of idiots and bad-faith actors. Nothing they say matters. You have more productive things to do with your time.
@ben_golub
Economists are paid a lot because they’re ideologists for the ruling class. Their main function is to provide rationalizations for “free-market” capitalism. Few of them have any intellectual integrity, as the more honest economists admit.
This is refreshing (in an age of widespread demonization of men). It’s perverse that it’s always “the women and children!” Men are people too, and their feelings and lives matter.
I stopped breathing when he opened her eyes. He calls her his soul.
Muslim, Arab, Palestinian men - for decades - have been made into threats: to the West, their own societies, to women, their own families. But these are the men we know, the men we love & the men we cry for.
I wrote something for the
@lawcha_org
blog, based on my book on radicalism in Chicago during the 1930s. The upshot is that we should challenge liberalism not only in politics but also in scholarship.
@nhannahjones
@audio_embed
In the 1600s, many poor whites were virtually enslaved. And many blacks weren’t. American history can’t be interpreted solely through the lens of race. Class is more fundamental and more explanatory.
@CoreyRobin
Well, ‘reactionaries’ might be a better word for them than ‘conservatives.’ As Chomsky says, real conservatives (who want to conserve old values) would care about things like truth, reason, community, freedom, uncommodified creativity, etc.
It’s fascinating how many people interpret concern for Palestinian lives as antisemitism, and therefore think the latter is rampant on the left. (In fact, it’s rare.) They seem not to understand that it’s possible to care about an oppressed ethnicity without being racist.
@_ryanruby_
It’s kind of absurd. There are countless good men out there. According to data, women swipe left on nearly all men, no matter how appealing their profiles are. When you reject everyone, of course you’ll end up alone.
@Komaniecki_R
Talk of “proof” is tendentious. We’re not dealing with mathematical proofs. But it’s possible to consider criteria for aesthetic worth and argue that good classical music satisfies them better than popular music.
Show me the pop song that can compete with the 9th symphony.
“People’s most proximate political concerns pertain to differences of sexuality, gender, and race, not wages, healthcare, housing, the environment, or working conditions.”
The legacy of postmodernism has harmed the rationality of many left academics.
Note, though, that Greenwald doesn’t mention that the right engages in cancel culture on a vastly larger scale than the left, canceling everyone from critics of Israel to union activists. This is because Greenwald isn’t a serious person.
Exactly. Academics specialize in problematizing and ridiculing simple truths—calling them reductionist, simplistic, etc.—but grasping simple truths is precisely how you understand the world (as Chomsky says). Rejecting them bc they’re simple is totally irrational.
@BenBurgis
The real enemy is “patriarchy,” not capitalism. If only more black women would be landlords and capitalists, we could finally defeat the patriarchy.
bell hooks was always overrated. (We’re supposed to worship black women writers, even when they’re flaky.)
@re_colston
Marx does. Freud … not so much. Ego, id, superego; fixation on sex and pleasure; general reductive/mechanistic framework and fanciful generalizations of parochial Victorian pathologies; unscientific methods — it’s all rather inadequate.
What a shock. Another fashionable identitarian “anti-racist” project ends in scandal and financial mismanagement. Turns out it was, indeed, a grift. As “class reductionists” (Marxists) have warned for years about this type of politics.
Unbelievable, what a grift:
"Three years later, after at least $43 million in grants and gifts and what sources say has been an underwhelming output of research, the Center for Antiracist Research laid off almost all of its staff last week."
The true unemployment rate (including workers whose income is below a subsistence level) is above 20%. It's time for some disruptive class struggle, of the sort that the unemployed in the Great Depression launched.
Race reductionists like
@nhannahjones
and
@ibramxk
seem not to have read this speech by Frederick Douglass. Specifically the last third (or so) of it. Douglass understood the limitations of identity politics.
Lefty radicals have been correct on all issues always, from anti-monarchy to abolitionism to free speech to the labor movement to socialism to civil rights to global warming to the US empire to Israel to everything else. It gets depressingly routine to be right all the time.
@audio_embed
@nhannahjones
She’s saying black people are the greatest agents of democracy. I think that’s simplistic. You can’t reduce these things to skin color.
Israel is an interesting anachronism. It’s the US in the 19th century: enthusiastically slaughtering the natives in order to steal their land, because of manifest destiny. There isn’t the slightest moral, historical, or political ambiguity about it. It’s very, very simple.
Demanding that families evacuate and then bombing them as they leave—does this create the same moral outrage as Hamas’ attacks? I thought we had all agreed that killing children in cold blood was pure evil.
@SohrabAhmari
The moral burden is on Israel to end the occupation. If it cared about its own citizens, it would try to end the terror. Which entails ending the illegal occupation.
It’s a moral and intellectual litmus test. Moral: you either support ethnic cleansing/genocide or you oppose it. Intellectual: you’re either interested in actual history or you’re not. People have revealed which side they’re on.
This letter, signed by Habermas, says Hamas' attack intended to "eliminat[e] Jewish life in general." It says "standards of judgment slip when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel." When it comes to the Nazis, however, the word it uses is "Massenverbrechen" (mass crimes)
@dbessner
I don't understand it, unless a lot of people (like me, sometimes) are irritated that their perfectly good submissions have been rejected. Or maybe it's just hard to shed the old habit of left-wing sectarianism and self-sabotage.
@jasonintrator
@CoreyRobin
It seems obviously true that there are more important things to write about than perpetually insisting that Trump isn’t fascist.
Good example of the hacks whom Chomsky has eviscerated his whole life. It was a “mistake” but not a crime, because we never commit crimes, we’re the good guys. (Also, this guy has never heard of “manufacturing consent.” He’s a political naïf.)
I think Iraq was a mistake, but this idea that elites and the industrial military complex sent us into Iraq is a myth. Iraq was supported widely by voters.
I love how casually people express their hostility to men. If someone said this about lonely women, it would be seen as horrible misogyny. Some aspects of wokeness (e.g., normalizing hatred of men) are indeed toxic.
I noticed in this “crisis of lonely men” nobody is suggesting dudes change their attitudes, values, behavior, and lower their standards, or else they’ll die alone with only their cats and diplomas to keep them warm.
@Leigh_Phillips
Of course powerful interests influence the direction of scientific research. But that doesn’t invalidate the scientific method itself or vitiate the astonishing achievements of science. (These achievements are themselves confirmation that ‘objective truths’ have been captured.)
Marx’s point is that class structures shape ideas and consciousness more than the latter shape the former. Academics specialize in consciousness, so even the Marxists among them have to problematize and qualify materialism.
“Marx did say it—alright—but the reason it’s not very helpful is that this reversal fails to tell us what the mechanism of determinism is. It’s just as opaque whichever way round you put being and consciousness.” (Gillian Rose, ‘Does Marx Have a Method?’ unpublished lecture)
@its_mccarthy
This is silliness. No leftist was dismissing demands for worker rights, jobs programs, or higher wages as identitarianism. Have you even read Cedric Johnson? Or the Reeds? (Or articles I’ve written at Sublation.) Your critique is simply dishonest.
@People4Bernie
@BernieSanders
Now it's Americans' turn to throw out our own anti-democratic Constitution. We could take lessons in democracy from Chileans.
@ggreenwald
Well I know about it bc of Finkelstein, Chomsky, Salaita, and a ton of other leftists who have (in a sense) been canceled. It’s been going on for generations. The whole establishment is basically premised on cancel culture.
@Aaron_Good_
@BillFletcherJr
So the US didn’t manipulate the situation to install its preferred government? Interesting. There’s some journalism and scholarship you should read on the matter.
Meanwhile, here’s a short article that’ll doubtless have no impact on your closed mind:
This guy has been on a roll lately—trying his hardest to prove he’s an establishment hack. It seems, now, that making jokes about the US’s psychotically militaristic foreign policy is off-limits.
This isn’t remotely true. Evidently Patrick hasn’t read Chibber’s book, which doesn’t deny that ideology or cultural “hegemony” exist. Chibber just doesn’t think these are the primary explanations of capitalist “stability.” It’s perfectly rational, in fact correct.
chibber's bizarre behavioral economics class struggle theory just has no way to even conceptualize the worldview of this guy, who voted against the amazon union in alabama
Churchill was even more amoral than I thought. He was ecstatic about the atomic bomb—saw the West “capable of eliminating all the Russian centers of industry.” Saw himself “capable of dumping [the bombs] where he wished.” From Gabriel Kolko’s “The Politics of War.”
This sort of framing is always hilarious to me. Far right = “let’s kill all the Jews.” Far left = “let’s give people control of their economic lives.” Equally evil, as you can see.
You know Twitter is being fair when extremists on far right and far left are simultaneously upset!
Twitter aims to serve center 80% of people, who wish to learn, laugh & engage in reasoned debate. ❤️
@zeithistoriker
Yeah, maybe because it all seems sort of the same. Desolate culture, desolate politics, digital society (of course less so in the 00s), social atomization, lack of a historical sense, etc.
@Aaron_Good_
It always seemed to me that one criticism sufficed: if the NYT was eager to sponsor it, it obviously wasn’t radical and necessarily couldn’t get to the heart of American history.
The fact that liberals support identity politics is sufficient proof of its political bankruptcy.
Learning from the Great Depression via
@sfbayview
States are perfectly capable of raising money even in a time of recession. Unfortunately they value the impunity of the wealthy more than the lives of the non-wealthy.
It’s amusing when a well-known ideologist accuses a revered scholar of being an ideologist. Chomsky, among many others, is right to have contempt for Pinker’s recent work.
David Wengrow & the trouble with rewriting human history. He & late coauthor Graeber, with political motivation, simplistically use me, Harari & Diamond as foils, though our books simply recount the obvious ...