Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Aside from the emotional bond aspect that everyone is rightly dunking on this guy for, reading a book to a child usually involves questions and interruptions and so forth, which models an interactive rather than a passive approach to reading. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I wanted that character to develop into a Real Boy buy I guess that is not what Slow Horses is for. 010
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Cliché but eternally relevant: "If this were Joe Biden..." 110
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Disagreeing with the Pope was such an important part of my Catholic experience for the majority of my life that I can't outright condemn these guys now that the tables are turned. I just wish the media wouldn't keep suggesting they are true and pure Catholics. 110
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The exception that proves the rule is the opening scene of the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries. They turned people walking into the room and sitting down into very effective character introductions. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 01/10/2026It should get more coverage than it does, as an inspiration for nascent Asian independence movements. The Pankaj Mishra book on this is good. 010
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Ironic photo selection for this story, if you know Cornell lore. 001
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Wait, if I'm reading this right, she didn't pull it away, she held it so tight he tripped over it! This adds a whole nother level to the gag. 001
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Leaving aside the Zionism for a moment, my question is what is Tate's "exact voice"? You know what, don't answer that. 040
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The model whaling ship at the New Bedford Whaling Museum is only half-size. Sorry to be pedantic. I spent about five minutes trying to decide whether that was crucial for the poem's meaning, so thanks for forcing me to engage with poetry for a little bit. 020
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 04/09/2026This was in a gated community. And the 99pi piece I linked notes that the lack of sidewalks in Japan actually makes it safer for pedestrians. It's almost as if the things we do to pretend we're making our children safer, we're actually doing to keep them dependent. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 04/09/2026In sane countries this kind of thing is encouraged instead of punished. 99percentinvisible.org/episode/505-...99percentinvisible.orgFirst Errand - 99% InvisibleBack in March, Netflix picked up a long running Japanese TV program based on a children’s book from the 1970s. The show is called Old Enough, but the name of the original Japanese program translates t... 100
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I hate to say it, bit Hot Dog is a better name for a cat than it is for a dog. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 30/08/2026This is "I'd like to see old Donnie wriggle out of this one" without any self awareness. If the system worked, we wouldn't be where we are. 010
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026OK let me refine my original argument: fascism worships strength and violence as a model for mass society, in order to counter what it sees as cultural decadence. 100
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026The ashigaru were originally peasant mobs. They were important for Sengoku warfare, but no one wanted them to serve as a model for all society. Unlike the Freikorps in interwar Germany for example. 110
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Whoops, just noticed earlier post was published unfinished. Should say that what is crucial is the attempt to use violence and strength as the basis for a renewal of mass society. The idea of limiting it to an elite is antithetical to that. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Or the samurai as another example. Worshiped violence, yes. But only among their elite class. Others weren't even allowed to have swords. It was only in response to modernity in the early 20C that people like Kita Ikki attempted to use this as a model for countering social decay. 110
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I admit in a different thread that I'm not the expert that Bret is. But take for example the second estate in Europe: they defined themselves as those who fought, but specifically they fought *for Christianity*. 210
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Violence was usually thought of as a necessary evil. Bret's examples of human violence going back to ancient and prehistoric times are all well and good, but 110
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026"Collide" is a vague word here. Fascism is not antithetical to modernity, and it doesn't simply use modern technology to enact primitive aggression. It is a creation of modernity, reframing violence and strength as positive goods rather than as means to an end. 331
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026To sum up: fascists hated certain things that we think are inherently modern (social mobility and a lack of consensus worldview to ground society). But their response was a modern one, to create a new social order centered on power and strength. 030
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Fascism on the other hand tries to remake society at home. It takes elements from an imagined past, but that's only raw material for forging a new mass politics out of the diversity of interests. Peasants and workers are no longer expected to stay quiet, they must join. 130
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026When the popes sent squabbling young knights off to Jerusalem, that was an attempt to externalize all that violence against a demonized (badly misunderstood) religion. But it the goal was to return to an imagined golden age, and preserve a peaceful traditional society in Europe 131
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Bret is more of an expert on pre-modern states and war than I am, but istm there's a fundamental difference between justifying aggression with traditional things like religion or honor, versus justifying it as a means of total social mobilization, meant to cure cultural decadence. 151
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026(Jan-Werner Müller's definition of populism is useful here). 100
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Fascism is specifically a response to the dislocations of modernity; we can think of it as the negative twin of democracy. Democracy promises fulfillment of the will of the people, fascism tries to accomplish this by limiting who counts as "the people." 151
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026While it seems to be true that human nature has a tendency to out-group hostility and hierarchy (balanced by a sense of fairness), calling that "fascism" empties that concept of its usefulness. Yes, states throughout history have been aggressive and violent, but that doesn't make them fascist. 150
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I fundamentally disagree with this argument that fascism is a holdover from prehistoric societies rather than an inherently modern phenomenon. Short thread. 160
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Derek enjoying walkable cities, but only vicariously. 0740
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 23/08/2026A great feeling when it comes to Olympic Hockey, not so much at other times. 030
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 21/08/2026David Tennant has done a bunch of Shakespeare. I thought he was very good in Richard II. 010
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026My copy is 10+ years old, so I don't know if there are more recent things. 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026From Jeremy Popkin's History of Modern France. He leaves out Kristin Ross, maybe because she's more focused on poetry and culture (esp. Rimbaud). 100
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I first read this as meaning a good magician never admits that he's a magician, which is also kind of funny. So it's like two jokes in one. 010
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Aftershave aside, I think this saves you money in the long run. (I go a bit too long before changing blades, but still). 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I was there yesterday early afternoon and it was clear. So maybe they did eventually ticket people? 000
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 18/08/2026I was only the 60th like for this post. Do better guys, we should make this the most liked skeet in Bluesky history. 0204
Charbovari @charbovari.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Most persuadable voters have very vague political beliefs. Many voted for Trump because his image as a successful businessman seemed more important than his political project. Make them aware of MAGA racism and corruption, and that can easily change. 000
