Teaser Bild July 2022
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This! July 202222 min read

Posted: 31.7.2022

[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, tweets … you name it]

This will be a long list. I had more time to kill since I stopped playing WoW. Finally. I hope I can stay away. It’s an addiction. My life is super boring. I need a job. I forgot how to find one. Sad times. Thanks Tour de France.

an image or two from my Tumblr
an image or two from my Tumblr
an image or two from my Tumblr

[Videos]

David Wengrow: A new understanding of human history and the roots of inequality – “What if the commonly accepted narratives about the foundation of civilization are all wrong? Drawing on groundbreaking research, archaeologist David Wengrow challenges traditional thinking about the social evolution of humanity — from the invention of agriculture to the formation of cities and class systems — and explains how rethinking history can radically change our perspective on inequality and modern life.” I love Wengrow, but I miss Graeber so much.

Skeletor Peterson

[Music]

Barcelona Guitar Trio & Dance – Billie Jean – Four guys one cup sorry guitar? Sorry.

DJ Premier in Hip Hop 50: Vol. 1 – Preemo starting the Hip Hop 50 releases on Mass Appeal.

The Smile – Pana-vision (Official Video)

The Lonely Shark – a shark tale for shark awareness day

The Most Metal Church in the World

[Podcasts]

“Das hat nichts mit der politischen Realität zu tun” [dlf] – “Der CDU-Vorsitzende Friedrich Merz sieht in einer „Zensurkultur“ von links die „größte Bedrohung für die Meinungsfreiheit“. Die Autorin Annika Brockschmidt wirft ihm vor, damit die Gefahr von rechts zu verharmlosen und rechte Narrative zu bedienen.” Awesome and concise.

Eugenics w. Eric Michael Garcia [you’re wrong about] – “This week, Eric Michael Garcia tells Sarah about America’s barely forgotten pastime, plus the Supreme Court’s long history of horrifying decisions. Digressions include due process, The Evil Dead, and what Hitler admired about the United States.” On the history of eugenics.

Ep. 23: Der YOLO Supreme Court und die Demokratie am Abgrund [kreuz und flagge] – “Heute geht es um die 10 apokalyptischen Tage, die uns der Supreme Court beschert hat. Hauptsächlich geht es um das Urteil im Fall Dobbs, welche Richter wie argumentieren und weshalb, die Reaktionen und die katastrophalen Folgen dieses Urteils.” In german on the US supreme court power grab.

Panic! At the Gender Clinic w/ Jules Gill-Peterson and Charlie Markbreiter (06/23/22) by Death Panel – “Jules Gill-Peterson and Charlie Markbreiter join us to discuss Emily Bazelon’s recent controversial New York Times Magazine cover story “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” its harmful and historically inaccurate portrayal of medical transition, and why liberals are so ready to embrace gatekeeping in trans healthcare.” We live in horrible times, but at least Death Panel helps contextualize it all.

[Twitter Threads]

[The Must Read[s] This Month]

How Today’s Conspiracy Theories Echo The Satanic Panic [hyperallergic] – “Today’s concerns often align with the contemporary conspiratorial narrative linked to QAnon — an internet-birthed ideology that proposes, among other things, that a satanic-based cabal of pedophiles controls the federal government. According to a 2021 PRRI study, 15% of Americans believe this theory — that’s 49 million Americans. Satanic rhetoric is also intertwined with the pandemic. In November, Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson suggested in a tweet that the COVID-19 vaccines contain “tracking devices linked to the devil.”” Satanic panic keeps on giving.

Michael Hudson: From Junk Economics to a False View of History – Where Western Civilization Took a Wrong Turn [naked capitalism] – “These blind spots are necessary to defend the idea of “free markets” controlled by the wealthy, above all by creditors. This is claimed to be for the best, and how society should be run. That is why today’s New Cold War is being fought by neoliberals against socialism – fought with violence, and by excluding the study of history from the academic economics curriculum and hence from the consciousness of the public at large. As Rosa Luxemburg put it, the fight is between socialism and barbarism.” Michael Hudson is the economist behind much of David Graebers thinking.

Get Ready for the Forever Plague [the tyee] – “So letting the virus run unchecked is pretty much a strategy for creating a tsunami of neurological impairment and chronic illness in the general population. It is also a nihilistic prescription for sowing chaos in western societies already dancing a tango with political collapse.” Powerful text summing things up in regards to the pandemic.

[Articles English]

In Kassel [lrb] – “Instead they have used the controversy as an opportunity to tell Palestinians and critical Jewish Israelis, as well as artists from the global south, that they have no right to speak out. Like the antisemitism that exists in anti-imperialist circles, the state-sponsored and openly Islamophobic persecution of artists and intellectuals in Germany falsely separates the entangled histories of racism and antisemitism, placing them in opposition to each other.” Islamophobic behaviour justified with antisemitic accusations.

Peter Thiel Wants You to Think He’s an Evil Genius. He’s Just a Rich Guy. [jacobin] – “Thiel is dangerous — not because he’s an evil mastermind, but because he’s a billionaire who enjoys playing with our politics and he couldn’t care less about the people who get hurt in the process. The real takeaway here is strikingly simple. No halfway decent society would allow concentrated wealth to metastasize to the point where Peter Thiels were possible.” I agree more with the article bellow that calls Thiel a fascist.

Climate Change Is About to Cause a Viral Explosion [jacobin] – “Preventing large-scale viral spread will no doubt be a complex task. No matter how advanced the solution is, if we do not have the power to implement that solution we will be nothing more than loudmouthed heralds of destruction. Climate science does not have to be climate eschatology — but this is dependent on us recognizing the necessity of organizing a mass movement to save our planet.” Sweet ;(

The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change [bbc] – “Thirty years ago, a bold plan was cooked up to spread doubt and persuade the public that climate change was not a problem. The little-known meeting – between some of America’s biggest industrial players and a PR genius – forged a devastatingly successful strategy that endured for years, and the consequences of which are all around us.” Also a series on the BBC.

The Enigma of Peter Thiel | John Ganz [substack] – “Peter Thiel believes he belongs to an elite group, often understood in implicitly or explicitly racial terms, that is entitled to set aside democratic governance in favor of pursuing a program of technological progress and national restoration. He believes the political means to accomplish this is through a charismatic leader with manipulative, populist appeals to past national glory and against parasitic immigrants and culturally decadent liberalism. For him, even the most milquetoast, reformist liberalism is “tantamount to communism.” He’s obsessed with romanticized fantasies of absolute power, domination, and control. He dreams of wielding the the national security state against enemies both foreign and domestic. He envisioned a kind of imperialist world-state controlled not through deliberative bodies like the U.N. but directly by the intelligence and secret police bureaus. He combines the ideology of white collar, petit-bourgeois intermediary class with its emphases direct management techniques and closely-held ownership with the grandiose, world-spanning designs of an industrial titan.” Agree more with this than with Ben Burgis’ take above.

Humans Have Always Been Wrong About Humans [wired] – “The Dawn of Everything fundamentally shifted my view of … everything. I had to meet one of the minds behind its world-tilting revelations.” Even though it was published in wired, this happens to be one of the best reviews on this awesome book #TDOE. A must read. No really. Did I mention this before? LOL

The Meaning of Tolerance [current affairs] – “This misuse of “free speech” rhetoric by right-wing commentators is precisely what Marcuse warned of: “When tolerance mainly serves the protection and preservation of a repressive society, when it serves to neutralize opposition and to render men immune against other and better forms of life, then tolerance has been perverted.”” Cuts both ways.

Alex S. Vitale on Rethinking Policing in The Wake of Uvalde [current affairs] – “The police didn’t create the war on drugs. The police did not systematically defund mental health services. The police did not under fund schools. They have been tasked with trying to pick up the pieces of a set of political decisions that have been deeply harmful to American society. And so, my goal is to go over the head of the police and to move from police accountability to political accountability, if you will.” An interview with the author of The End of Policing.

From a “São Paulo Jewish collective”: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s False Rumors about documenta and Antisemitism [e-flux] – “The same strategies that sustained antisemitism for decades are being used in public debate to condemn ruangrupa. Instead of open conversations, public debate is fed by denunciations and rumors. Instead of looking at documenta fifteen as a complex body of works, dynamics, and responsibilities, the artistic team and the artists are living under threats, intimidation, and censorship (the creation of a committee being a complex issue). The current digital and physical attacks they are going through (scarcely reported in the media) ring an alarm: the rightful denunciation of antisemitic images is being instrumentalized to delegitimize the whole exhibition, attack a decolonial agenda, and oppose critical thinking. So we ask: What are the actual reasons to justify these continuous attacks?” Strong statement from this artist collective that was weaponised in the sweeping critique against Documenta 15.

Judith Butler on Roe vs Wade, trans rights and the war on education [new statesman] – “I think we are witnessing something more serious and dangerous than a backlash. This is a “restoration project” that has as its final aim the reconstruction of an order that some feel has been dismantled by progressive legislation and new forms of inquiry within educational institutions. Not only is patriarchy to be restored, protected against its dismantling, but white supremacy, and exclusively heterosexual marriage.” First they came for the abortion right, and you did nothing, then they came …

Deportation Alarm – “In 2021 alone, Germany deported more than 5,484 people on at least 206 mass charter deportation flights. Germany and Frontex spent more than €22,000,000 on this cruel and racist practice. We unmask the 18 deportation airlines profiting and provide a comprehensive overview of the German deportation business.|” Website tracking the terrible companies doing these flights.

My name is Brian: the prisoner whose treatment put Switzerland on trial [the guardian] – “Swiss tabloids portray Brian Keller as a monster called ‘Carlos’. UN torture experts say he has been traumatised by isolation and systemic racism” The racist treatment of this swiss prisoner made international news at last.

Police Departments Spend Vast Sums of Money Creating “Copaganda” [jacobin] – “US police departments spend tens of millions of dollars every year to manipulate the news, flooding the discourse with “copaganda.” These aggressive tactics give the public a distorted view of what public safety means, what threatens it, and how to solve it.” Make copaganda illegal.

Feeling the urge to take back control from power-mad governments? Here’s an idea | George Monbiot | [the guardian] – “In other words, it may be time to rediscover Murray Bookchin. Bookchin, who died in 2006, was a US foundryman, autoworker and shop steward who became a professor in the field he helped to develop: social ecology. While he has often been associated with anarchism, by the end of his life he had broken with that tradition. He called his political philosophy communalism.” Word.

China Miéville: “If you don’t feel despair, you’re not opening your eyes” [new statesman] – “I think it is wholly appropriate in this moment of history to be really fucking scared,” Miéville told me. “The Russian word sumerki means ‘twilight’ but it could be dawn or could be dusk – the gloaming – the start or the end. We are in a moment of very gloomy sumerki – it might be dawn, but the reason for the urgency is because it feels an awful lot like dusk. So I cling to John Berger’s notion, and hope for undefeated despair, because if you don’t feel despair you’re not opening your eyes, but that doesn’t mean giving up.” Miéville is a fucking marxist, but he’s okay.

June 2022 Global Climate Report | National Centers for Environmental Information [ncei] – “The global surface temperature for June 2022 was the sixth-highest in the 143-year record at 0.87°C (1.57°F) above the 20th century average. This month was also 0.08°C (0.14°F) cooler than the warmest June on record set in 2019. The ten warmest Junes have all occurred since 2010. June 2022 also marked the 46th consecutive June and the 450th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.” You know. We know. Nothing happens.

Noam Chomsky: Humanity Faces Two Existential Threats. One Is Nearly Ignored. [truthout] – “We live in dangerous and disconcerting times. Humanity is facing two existential threats that could end civilization as we know it — as well as other life on Earth. Yet, in the case of both global warming and nuclear weapons, international cooperation is sorely missing. What is even worse with regard to nuclear weapons is that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is a growing trend toward normalizing the idea of nuclear war.” Cue World war 3.

Praying and cursing polluters to death [wmmna] – “In the 1960s, pollution in Japan caused the spread of fatal conditions such as the Itai-itai disease and Yokkaichi asthma. In spite of scientific investigations, local politicians, bureaucrats and business owners put profits before people’s health and poisonous industrial waste continued to be released in the environment. In 1970, a small group of Buddhist monks, exasperated with the lack of governmental intervention, decided to protest. They adopted the name Jusatsu Kito Sodan (Group of Monks Bringing the Curse of Death) and traveled to some of these contaminating industrial sites. Equipped with conch instruments and books of curses and incantations, the monks formed a procession, drumming, chanting, praying, and performed ceremonies with the objective of cursing factory owners to death.” Rad monks are rad.

‘Forever Plague’: Nikiforuk Responds to Critics [the tyee] – “The great novelist Albert Camus observed in The Plague that a doctor’s job during a pandemic is difficult. It is not glorious or biased towards optimism. It “is a matter of lucidly recognizing what had to be recognized; of dispelling extraneous shadows and doing what needed to be done.”” Oh pandemic-fatigue won’t fase me. It’s still on, you eugenic fuckfaces.

Many people are still shielding from COVID – and our research suggests their mental health is getting worse [theconversation] – “Our results suggest that half of those shielding others were health anxious on the part of another person. This is incredibly high, despite the relatively small group size, and warrants further research.” Yeh, duh. What else do you expect if we are forced to live in eugenic and ableist societies? Smile and keep pretending? Hell no.

Guerrilla Girls: “MEET THE CREEPS OF THE SUPREME COURT – “MEET THE CREEPS OF THE SUPREME COURT who took away a Constitutional right. We took a deep dive into the hypocrisy of their decision and into some of the dirt in their personal lives. If we can believe Clarence Thomas, they will not stop with a decision about abortion. They are coming to control our bodies and our lives. We must resist!” Creeps is saying it nicely.

Staring and pointing – by Ryan Broderick [garbage day] – “Schizoposting is complicated. So much so that I reached out to extremism researcher Emmi Conley about how it intersects with mass violence and online radicalization. “It’s nihilism. It’s depression. It’s extremely digital culture,” she told me. “[But] the aesthetic, not the ideology, is the thing that ties the violent actors together. And that aesthetic is connected to dozens of other, sometimes random and conflicting memes. But it is safe to say that it is usually fascist and accelerationist.” Schizoposting as an expression is new to me.

France Says Plant-Based Proteins Cannot Be Labeled as Meat [modern farmer] – “Starting October 1, the country’s vegetarian and vegan brands cannot use words like ‘sausage’ or ‘steak’ to describe their products. Veggie burgers are safe, though.” And here I thought the french eat mostly frogs.

Reject Modernity Embrace Post-Capitalism [root simple] – “In our day to day lives we screen out the horror of this rootless landscape. We don’t think anything of navigating a hellscape of cars, concrete, billboards and power lines. Worse, our filters blind us to the suffering of our fellow human beings: the poor, the disadvantaged, refugees, and those suffering from substance abuse and mental illness. These filters, instilled in us Americans through the rhetoric of exceptionalism, also don’t let us see the exploitation and injustice perpetrated in our name around the world.” Yes.

Where’s the herd immunity? Our research shows why Covid is still wreaking havoc [the guardian] – “‘Living with the virus’ is proving much harder than the early vaccine success suggested: this fight is far from over” Yeah lol. Hate to say we told you so.

[Articles German/French]

Dr. Lisa-Maria Kellermayr: Eine Würdigung – “Der Tod der Ärztin Lisa-Maria Kellermayr sorgt für Bestürzung. Wir möchten an sie erinnern. Denn die Würdigung von Kellermayrs Leben und Wirken droht zwischen der unfassbaren Häme auf Telegram und der billigen Instrumentalisierung auf Twitter und Facebook unterzugehen.” A medical doctor in Austria, very vocal against Covid-deniers, was hounded into suicide by a right-wing mob. This is terror, it must have consequences.

Gefangen in der Fiktion – Jan Ullrich als tragischer Held [54books] – “Vor ein paar Tagen fuhren die beiden Führenden einen Berg hoch, den auch einst Armstrong, Ullrich und Virenque erklommen haben. Die Zeiten von damals wurden pulverisiert. Die Tour de France wird immer schneller jedes Jahr. Aber die dunklen Zeiten, heißt es, wären vorbei.” A tragic figure, but I agree, the documentary was unmerited in tonality and focus.

Die IL ist zu weiß, oder nicht? [interventionistische-linke] – “Also, was wollen wir, wenn nicht mehr BPK? Sowas wie Kanakisierung! Die Gesellschaft ist längst kanakisiert, aber viele Subjekte sind es nicht. Wir glauben diese Kanakisierung ist Teil der Befreiung, während die weiße Parallelgesellschaft (in der sich weite Teile der IL und ihre Politik abspielen) ein rigider, ordnungsliebender, lebensfeindlicher Albtraum ist, in dem es sich auch Teile der radikalen Linken zu gemütlich gemacht haben. Wir wollen, dass sich das ändert. Wir verstehen »Identitätspolitiken« als wichtigen Teil im politischen Prozess für alle. Für all das braucht es nicht unbedingt uns, die BPK, aber naja – irgendwie doch. Es wird für »euch« alleine zumindest ungleich schwieriger.” My delusion with the radical left knows no bounds.

Die documenta15, Indo­ne­sien und das Problem geschlos­sener Welten [gdg]
“Es werden Welten geschlossen, anstatt sie zu öffnen. Doch wir brau­chen Selbst­auf­klä­rung, nicht Selbst­rei­ni­gung. Dieser Prozess gestaltet sich natür­lich komplexer, da er von uns verlangt, etwas dazu­zu­lernen. Das Bild „People’s Justice“ wurde gezeigt, dann teil­weise verhängt und schließ­lich abge­baut; jetzt ist der Moment gekommen, es einmal richtig in den Blick zu nehmen – als Einstieg in eine Geschichte, die da in Kassel über uns herein­ge­bro­chen ist.” One of the better texts trying to make sense of the Documenta 15 debacle.

Auseinandergefetzt – Die documenta und ihre Zerreißprobe. Ein Update. [das filter] – “Trotz Antisemitismus-Debatte, stockender Kommunikation, Rücktritten etc. gibt es auf der documenta fifteen tatsächlich Kunst zu sehen. Unser Autor Matti Hummelsiep war in Kassel und hat tolle Dinge entdeckt. Auch wenn die Diskussion um „People’s Justice“ natürlich auch seine Berichterstattung bestimmt.” Clusterfuck.

«Koffer voller Bargeld für Fremde im Internet» [woz] – “Rechtsextreme Provokateur:innen verbreiten Lügen und Hass im Netz – mit finanzieller Unterstützung der Werbebranche. Claire Atkin vom Tech-Watchdog Check My Ads will die Propagandist:innen durch den Entzug von Werbeeinnahmen entmachten.” Follow the money.

“Antiparasitischer” Aufruhr: Judenfeindliche Angriffe auf Schweizer Warenhäuser [swi] – “Rund die Hälfte aller Warenhäuser in der Schweiz wurden von jüdischen Einwanderern gegründet. In den 1930er-Jahren eskalierte die antisemitische Hetze gegen sie – und der Bundesrat verbot den Ausbau weiterer Kaufhäuser.” Aber in der sog. Schweiz gab es ja keinen Antisemitismus.

Suche nach neuer Weltordnung – Wie ein Schweizer Städtchen zum Anarchisten-Hotspot wurde [der bund] – “St-Imier im Berner Jura erinnert sich an das legendäre Anarchistentreffen vor 150 Jahren. Das rebellische Denken lebt im Ort wieder auf.” Fuck this newspaper, but even a blind, deaf cow sometimes finds a patch of grass.

„Warum schi­cken sie uns Schwarze in die Hölle?“ Die Logik hinter dem Massaker von Melilla [gdg] – “Am Grenzzaun von Melilla wurden am 24. Juni mindestens 37 Menschen getötet und Dutzende verletzt. Zum Großteil aus dem Sudan geflohen, hatten sie in der spanischen Exklave einen Asylantrag stellen wollen. Die Tragödie ist die Konsequenz der Migrationspolitik im spanisch-marokkanischen Grenzraum.” Europe must perish.

Symbole und Codes: Queerfeindliche Narrative und Dogwhistles [belltower.news]
“Queerfeindliche Narrative haben in den letzten Monaten auf erschreckende Weise zugenommen. Das Monitoring-Team der Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, de:hate, hat eine Übersicht über die gängigsten Codes und Dogwhistles (Andeutungen) erstellt, um die antidemokratische Ideologie dahinter sichtbar zu machen.” Tool to recognize right-wing symbols.

Natürlich antifeministisch: Argumente gegen die Aussagen von Biologist:innen [belltower.news] – “Manche sagen: In der Biologie gibt es nur zwei Geschlechter! Punkt, Ende, Aus. Aber stimmt das so? Und wie lässt sich mit diesen Narrativen umgehen, um für Geschlechtervielfalt zu argumentieren?” It will forever puzzle me how TERFs can even be a thing.

Auf der Arche der inspirierten Solidarität [woz] – “Gemeinwirtschaft, Zusammenarbeit und experimentelle Ästhetik. Doch nun steht das grossartige Experiment der «documenta fifteen» im Schatten eines antisemitischen GAU.” Another good text on the Documenta 15 debacle.

[Older articles, still great]

Two Ways Of Responding To Conservatives [current affairs] – “Instead of criticizing them for poor character, we should show why their “ideas” are shallow, incoherent, and will make people miserable…” Keep remembering not to agrandize these alt-right knobs.

Streitbar #9: Kulturelle Aneignung – “Wir wollen das Konzept der kulturellen Aneignung genauer unter die Lupe nehmen. Zur Diskussion steht, wo die Kritik daran Machtverhältnisse aufdeckt – und ob sich gesellschaftliche Realitäten durch den Verzicht auf „Indianer“-Kostüme wirklich ändern lassen.” In so-called Switzerland we had a shitstorm regarding cultural appropriation, this is an older discussion on the topic, quite good.

My opinion on David’s cause of death | Nika Dubrovsky [patreon] – “Many people asked me what the reason for David’s death was. The Venetian hospital stated in autopsy’s results that the cause of death is massive internal bleeding caused by pancreatitis necrosis. I want to add my own conspiracy theory: I firmly believe it is related to Сovid.” When I heard of his death, my first thought was Covid.

Why You Should Grow Food Not Lawns – “Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland. These pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides run off into our groundwater and evaporate into our air, causing widespread pollution and global warming, and greatly increasing our risk of cancer, heart disease, and birth defects. In addition, the pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 350 miles.” If only I had the energy and the physical fitness, I would try to start this here.

Dr. Anthony Leonardi discusses the Omicron variant and the COVID-19 pandemic

R.I.P.

Too many of Covid-19, not necessary.

[If you care to receive more regular updates, please follow my diigo (feed: rss) for all of my saved links or twitter for an edited choice of them]

Header Photo: A sunny day.

Told you it was long 😉 But no one ever reads these anyway, so, who am I talking to? ¯\_(シ)_/¯

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