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DISASTER X

@disasterx.substack.com
38 followers 64 following 142 posts

Anthropology of cinema, with a focus on how Hollywood imagines/images pandemics. Also interested in the national security state, rule by permanent emergency, and authoritarianism.

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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/05/2026
Students asked what the apocalypse might look like. I always answered: "You should know. You are living it". To be more exact, we have had three large apocalyptic stages: (1) the development of cities and states; (2) the industrial revolution; and, (3) WWII. We are well into the post-apocalypse.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/05/2026
HYPOCRISY is so constant and ubiquitous, that one has to wonder whether it is just present in our culture, or is instead one of the foundations of "Western culture" and "Western civilization". I have encountered no other culture where hypocrisy is the norm, so routine as ours. #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 16/05/2026
Note to academics: when speaking of capitalism, remember to automatically call it "neoliberalism" (or don't get published). Also, assume everything is "resistance" to "neoliberalism". Finally, never define anything. #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 26/02/2026
A tight-lipped misogynist? That's unusual.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 26/02/2026
But if his opponents don't have teams of lawyers on the ready to fire back, as well as interested parties that have legal standing, then they are letting it happen.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 26/02/2026
Blocked again on X, just for saying that the only regret that Ilhan Omar should entertain is not having pelted a hammer at Trump's head.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 18/01/2026
If a #CivilWar breaks out in the US, the US dollar will be virtually worthless in the US itself. Americans would be wise to start stockpiling Canadian dollars, before it's too late.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 14/01/2026
Please start talking about how that wealth can be recuperated--the legal, financial, and political means needed to do so. When Trump falls, I suspect it's going to be a great day to be an accountant in America.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 14/01/2026
And the implications that are missed here: Look at all the ways that Trump's path to power was smoothly paved for him. Have an internal reckoning not just among his supporters, but also his opponents. All that precedents were set in advance for Trump, it just remained for him to emulate.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 14/01/2026
Oh it "looks like America's backyard again" does it? So all Latin American countries have cancelled all trade with China? China is no longer the number one trading partner? All because Maduro was kidnapped. Has even Venezuela cancelled any ties to China? Bullshit Trumpist propaganda.
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Reposted by DISASTER X
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 14/01/2026
Breaking News: China announced the world’s largest trade surplus ever, almost $1.2 trillion in 2025, as its exports flooded global markets.
nyti.ms
China’s Trade Surplus Surged 20 Percent to New Highs
A currency kept weak to help Chinese factories, combined with faltering consumer spending, propelled exports, while a campaign for self-sufficiency limited imports.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 13/01/2026
The only value in this story is this: DON'T BE A COMPLIANT LITTLE IDIOT LIKE THIS GUY. It's amazing how yielding everyone is, as if made of gelatin. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation
As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 13/01/2026
Saving the names of the killers and abusers. Done. Oh, sorry, were we talking about Iran?
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 13/01/2026
The US empire has been in steady decline since the end of the Vietnam War. Typically for all modern empires of the last 500 years, the decline stage lasts about 50 years, until bottom is reached. Those 50 years are up for the US. Anything we see now is an example of death throes.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 13/01/2026
Speaking of decline, remember that Democracy Now! was all in support of US military intervention in Libya. No talk of decline then, but a lot of absurd cheerleading.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 12/01/2026
I wish we were seeing Americans reacting as if they believed your words.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 12/01/2026
One of the disastrous, enduring impacts of Covid is that it further taught people to be fearful of the authorities and to be numbed into paralysis. As a result, Americans are not really fighting back against #ICE or #Trump like one might expect from a serious opposition.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 12/01/2026
There are a few other excellent reasons for banning X in Canada. That is a very weak response.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
Remember when all the US-based #Venezuela war lobbyists all proclaimed that "once Maduro is gone, the whole regime will crumble"? That didn't happen. Also, oil companies are not rushing in to "take" the oil. And now Americans are being warned to leave immediately. Not what "victory" looks like.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
Correct, Homan: ICE consists of terrorists, racists, and Nazis, and they are disappearing people. Thank you for the summary.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
Name one ICE agent killed by a vehicle that was used with the intent to murder.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
You can't murder a citizen on the streets and have "absolute immunity". That is total BS. Why does he repeat it?
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
"Masks are government tyranny," said the anti-maskers during Covid. Now watch them defend ICE masking its agents, in order to exercise tyranny in the most brutal manner.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 11/01/2026
Is anybody keeping careful track of each one of the impeachable offenses? The list must be very long by now. Does anyone know of any source compiling all of them? And what about Vance?
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 10/01/2026
For those of you with accounts in Telegram (gutter that it is for neo-Nazis and assorted right wing lunatics...much like X), I have started a new channel: ANTHROPOLOGY against FASCISM & EMPIRE t.me/anthro_again... #anthropology
t.me
ANTHROPOLOGY against FASCISM and EMPIRE
Anthropological confrontation with the premises of imperial nationalisms, fascism, militarization, totalitarianism, and dictatorship.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 10/01/2026
#Trump seeking to monopolize #oil is increasingly looking like senile imperialism--just a little short of: "I've cornered the market on horse-drawn carriages!". Between coal and oil, he's stuck in the past. www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/c...
cnn.com
Trump wants to own Venezuela’s oil, but its largest oil customer is speeding toward clean energy | CNN
Energy experts say the US and China are diverging on the energy transition, with China sprinting far ahead on renewables and EVs, while the US doubles down on drilling oil at home and abroad.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 09/01/2026
Meanwhile, for protesting against this on X, I have been locked out for a solid week starting from today.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 09/01/2026
Locked out of Twitter/X for a whole week now, starting today. It was based on the flimsiest of algorithmic logic, a product of calculated hysteria and intentional miscomprehension. That truly is the platform of fascist totalitarians, a mere version of Truth Social now.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 06/01/2026
Remember when you all dutifully quoted that "genius," David Harvey? The same one who argued that "the age of #imperialism is over" and event went into "reverse"? #Trump and #Venezuela proved him wrong. urpe.org/2018/01/11/a...
urpe.org
A Critique of David Harvey on Imperialism
By John Smith, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and other acclaimed books on capitalism and Marxist political economy, not only believes that the age of imperialism is over, he thinks it h...
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 06/01/2026
The failure of @concordia.ca to recognize, support, or validate years of research and teaching on imperialism, and on building a specifically Canadian #anthropology, now comes at a high cost...to the institution, its faculty, and especially to students. Enforced blindness and active marginalization.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 06/01/2026
As for #anthropology in North America, talk about imperialism was mostly shunned, unless it was reduced entirely to US militarism and nothing more. An entire superstructure was built to prevent people from thinking the thoughts and having the ideas that they desperately need today to confront #MAGA
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 06/01/2026
Canadians really are slow to wake up, it has to be said. Now I imagine everyone @Concordia is claiming their courses are "all about empire and imperialism," using the most tenuous and highly theoretical of arguments to draw links that their students will never follow.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 06/01/2026
For 20 years I taught courses explicitly about imperialism @Concordia, advocating for a Canadian #anthropology. The reward? Total marginalization, relegated to the status of fringe academic. Now everyone in Canada is talking about imperialism, and defending Canadian sovereignty.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 03/01/2026
Seeing Caribbean people cheering #Trump's attack against #Venezuela is a depressing reminder of how people schooled in the periphery think as if they are mentally American. The same is true in Canada for that matter. Laughing as the bully/massa beats one of your own to death.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 03/01/2026
If actually "convicted" in US courts, watch as the next Democrat in the White House will refuse to "pardon" Maduro. Book it. The Democrats are the fakest opposition to #Trump. #Venezuela
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 03/01/2026
Only one goal can suffice now: the total destruction of #Trump and his MAGA. The US is a criminal, terrorist, and imperialist regime, and people in #Venezuela suffer because of Trump's attempt at global dictatorship.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 03/01/2026
I never again want to hear #MAGA imperialists airing their gripes about imaginary "globalists" and the threat they supposedly pose. The only real threat is MAGA, and #Venezuela is the last word on that subject.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 03/01/2026
"TANGO RINASCITA" ("Tango Rebirth," in Italian) Music by the Paris-based Argentinian band, Gotan Project. I have not been enchanted by a video this much, in a long time. This shows some of the best of humanity, when creolization is allowed to happen. #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 25/11/2025
Be careful when watching ANNIVERSARY. Here's why. See the full article at hollywoodfiles.substack.com/p/the-change... #Hollywood #democracy #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 25/11/2025
Commercial of "The Change" as shown in ANNIVERSARY (2025). You can find similar motifs in MAGA campaign ads, and in Obama campaign ads. hollywoodfiles.substack.com/p/the-change... #Hollywood #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 25/11/2025
Allegedly non-partisan and non-ideological, "The Change" renders *the state* the ultimate party. This is how class dictatorship will be sold to an unsuspecting, desperate America. Video clip from ANNIVERSARY (2025) Full article at hollywoodfiles.substack.com/p/the-change...
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 25/11/2025
Clean, cheerful, upbeat, and seemingly non-ideological and non-partisan: the new face of totalitarianism in the USA. Video clip from ANNIVERSARY (2025) #Hollywood #anthropology #totalitarianism
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 25/11/2025
Review of ANNIVERSARY (2025), a film that speaks to our fall back into totalitarianism. The US right now is very vulnerable to the emergence of a movement like "The Change," as all alternatives seem to have collapsed. See: disasterx.substack.com/p/the-change... #Hollywood #anthropology
disasterx.substack.com
The Change You Might Never Want
ANNIVERSARY (2025) is a powerful film for our fall back into totalitarian systems
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/11/2025
Whatever "Western culture" or "Western civilization" might be--if it even exists--it is something that the WORLD helped to make. We learned at least that much from the first generation of post-colonial studies in the 1990s. #anthropology
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/11/2025
Genius thinks he just scored a "win":
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/11/2025
Which is why junior--if he believed this--would now be telling his father NOT to remove those tariffs on hundreds of items. They are such a "success" after all, right? Also: they did not read the full paper, which details how tariffs increase unemployment and drops in production.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 17/11/2025
Did DeSantis ban #anthropology too? Because if he knew any, he might not be making the ignorant assumption that cultures thrive in isolation only. "Western culture" would never have been born in the cross-cultural Mediterranean crucible, had isolation been the norm. x.com/RonDeSantis/...
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 09/11/2025
It's astounding what a cesspit of suppression plus selective right-wing boosting that X has become. Even Grok says the suppression is worse now and the platform is degraded compared to pre-Musk Twitter.
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 29/10/2025
Trump probably already has a post ready for Truth Social, for a Halloween attack on Venezuela, that will start with: "Trick or Treat!"
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DISASTER X @disasterx.substack.com · 29/10/2025
When the #Trump regime tells media that #Venezuela "may" be attacked within "the coming weeks," it's the typical Trump head fake. That means the attack *will* be in *the next few days*. Trump is a perverse ghoul, so watch for an attack on Halloween night.
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