roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Feeling detached from local politics. I wish that platforms wouldn't show me local posts. I opted out of as much data gathering exercises as possible but somehow they keep showing me stuff from around here. 000
Reposted by roast potatoesEMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026I wrote a little essay on substack about how actually, quite a lot of people outside the academy are interested in books and other real things. The main reason to read this piece is that I discuss Frances, she of the bread-and-jam. emily613.substack.com/p/let-us-eat...emily613.substack.comLet Us Eat Cream-Cheese-Cucumber-Tomato-Sandwiches, On Rye-BreadI love my students and my colleagues, and I love the discussions that are possible in the classroom and among scholars, in academic contexts. 817719
Reposted by roast potatoesLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 20/09/2026‘Various nations have claimed to be its leader – France, Britain, the United States – but the central drama of the West has been its diet: which nations it has chosen to keep out, and which it has swallowed whole.’ Thomas Meaney on the West: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukThomas Meaney · Ranks of Humanity: West of where?The West can play at being universal, seeing itself as the only ‘civilisation’ and basing itself on metrics of... 0163
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The Chosen One ideology isn't exclusively Protestant. I suspect it is a universal tendency existing within most populations that may get amplified at certain times by certain personalities and perhaps certain events. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I do not give a fuck for Charlie Kirk or sympathise with someone who has spread so much hate and it should not be controversial to say it. 010
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I have more respect for people who are openly greedy and selfish than those who wrap their destructive opportunism in the language of vicious morality 010
Reposted by roast potatoesBranko Milanovic @brankomilan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I said there are three ways to deal with an increased capital share that may come with massive introduction of AI. 1 Create unconditional guaranteed minimum income (not ideal; people need meaning in their lives; they need jobs); 3104
Reposted by roast potatoesKat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026God that’s so real. I feel like Arab dads either preserve the culture sometimes to their own detriment or go Assimilation Mode Premium and there’s no middle ground. It’s funny that your fam is Lebanese bc I and lots of diaspora kids were told to tell people we’re Lebanese instead of Palestinian. 11354
Reposted by roast potatoesKat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Thinking about how a girl at Christian summer camp asked me if my dad was in Al Qaeda and I got in trouble for asking if her dad was a Klansman bc “her question was understandable” 621292474952
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Gross there are right wing advocates of UBI on Bluesky. Which is supposed to be a refuge from these freaks. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The stereotype of a Nouveau riche person and a pick me seem to stem from a similar essence 001
Reposted by roast potatoesLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 11/09/2026‘Often the terms on which English literature is defended concede so much to the dingy gods of the marketplace that they don’t capture the point, the real reason someone might want to study the subject.’ Colin Burrow on the uses of literary criticism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukColin Burrow · Good Weird or Bad Weird: Uses of CriticismLiterary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any... 0113
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026One thing that's weird about SBF is that he was a liberal / progressive version of a crypto bro EA billionaire. I wonder if this caused an identity conflict. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Something i noticed about ultra conservative religious fundamentalist politicians (this could have been before MAGA, anyway these people were not yet MAGA) was how off putting many of them were. And it made me think this was perhaps the only way they could become prominent and powerful. Eg Ted Cruz. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Something i never fully articulated was how a former UBI candidate I used to support when I thought he was liberal / progressive(I have not done so for years) seemed more at ease with the so called down to earth type even if reactionary and not with a kind of cultivated liberal society. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Vance having been much disgusted by conservative culture (at least in rural culture) as a VC (not exactly liberal then but more so than the people he derided) and then swinging to the ultra conservative far right shows you how disgust can only go so far without principles and people can change. 100
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The irony is that in vibe and in theory (obviously not in practice) someone with Vance's political affiliation should side with the "Hillbilly" group he condemns in his book. The stereotype is that liberals don't welcome them. Make up your mind about what you are ffs. 100
Reposted by roast potatoeslastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 09/09/2026My impression is this is pretty typical, and its another thing that persuades me that... to be honest... The Cosmopolitan Way Of Life is simply superior. The people throwing the authoritarian temper tantrum are simply those ignorant of its benefits. 301146196
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Something i notice about the weird e/acc Network State Silicon Valley proponents. They seem deadly serious. So are the (US) activists who oppose them. If someone said this in the UK the overall response would be to make fun of their fanatical earnestness. Even liberals and progressives would laugh. 100
Reposted by roast potatoesLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 08/09/2026‘A good critic is a kind of lightning conductor who picks out the energy in what they read and passes it on to others.’ Colin Burrow on Helen Vendler and the uses of criticism. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukColin Burrow · Good Weird or Bad Weird: Uses of CriticismLiterary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any... 1135
Reposted by roast potatoesClaire Zagorski, PhD, MSc, EMT-P @clairezagorski.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Jake Paul has announced on a podcast that he intends to 1. Go to Stanford 2. Walk on to their football team 3. Get drafted 4. Play for the NFL as a slot receiver So your imposter syndrome can, absolutely and without question, fuck right off 1792351251
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 08/09/2026www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...nplusonemag.comThe Origins of European NeoliberalismThe real source of neoliberalism in Europe is neither technocracy nor hegemony but a problem specific to the continent: intergovernmentalism. Accordingly, left nationalists in parties such as the Brit... 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I didn't realise the distinction before but even though he's a conspiracist crackpot this could be a useful guide about how these people think. From Gil Duran's The Nerd Reich. 000
Reposted by roast potatoesHugo Rifkind @hugorifkind.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Not to put words in anyone's mouths, but look out for the prominent British, Jewish, otherwise vociferous Zionists who are notable absentees from the chorus attacking the Uk's new sanctions. Because even among those who traditionally take a pro-Israel view, settlements are a big dividing line. 310519
Reposted by roast potatoesjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 07/09/2026this enormous wealth is driving the ideological transformation as much as anything else. where once the defense of slavery was “we don’t know what else to do and besides we can’t let the blacks go free,” by the 1840s it is much closer to “slavery is the single greatest social system ever devised.” 192390190
Reposted by roast potatoesjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 07/09/2026worth tying this into the political economy of the slave south as well. from roughly the 1820s onwards, slavery became enormously lucrative in ways that had never been seen before. slave traders became millionaires. large planters had tremendous purchasing power. just huge amounts of wealth. 8157261153
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I was casually shopping for gourd pendants on Etsy partly due to the recent trends of pankou jackets and such. Then it occurred to me that wearing one could convey the impression that I'm a traditional type. Even with the modern global Chinese trends. I felt frustrated ... 100
Reposted by roast potatoesBeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026this is true of, I would estimate, tens of million of people in the United States alone 723818
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026It really feels uncanny and disconcerting to realise when you've shared some life experiences and trauma with people you oppose (tech billionaires) and while you sympathise with their trauma you really don't want to be associated with those people 110
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Is it terrible to say that I don't feel like reading Wendell Berry? I am just not attuned to rural matters (though I like Thomas Hardy). 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026If i didn't know who had written them I would have assumed that what I have seen of Curtis Yarvin's writings resembled that of a teenager who had just picked up a few serious books, took them way too seriously and had more vocabulary than wisdom. 000
Reposted by roast potatoesHenry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Why we need the social sciences to understand AI www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/o...nytimes.comOpinion | We Can’t Know Our A.I. Future if We Don’t Study ItJust as A.I. is poised to change the world, we’re losing our best ways of studying what that change will look like. 610337
Reposted by roast potatoesLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 06/09/2026‘Literary criticism is like the mess of life, an exercise in tact and understanding.’ Colin Burrow on Helen Vendler and the uses of criticism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukColin Burrow · Good Weird or Bad Weird: Uses of CriticismLiterary criticism is a supremely occasional skill, where you have to be bold enough to operate where there aren’t any... 142
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Some people seem to think they are emulating elites by worshipping the Windsors. The latter don't usually. They seem to do but it is only what they say, because it is the proper fiction to do so. But many people take this act for actual sentiment. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Some people can't be satisfied with just being selfish in their personal lives. They have to go a step further and systemise it all into a movement with moral justification and everything. This is why I say many people have a moral drive. 100
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Funny how resentful white guys haven't covered Dan Ariely 031
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026People want an ego boost more than they want material assistance 000
Reposted by roast potatoesLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 06/09/2026‘Cusk seems to be seeking intimate knowledge of that which is ubiquitous but unattainable: the interior world of a projection, the promise of a three-dimensional reality on the other side of a screen.’ Emily Witt (@embits.bsky.social) on 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukEmily Witt · Proust is in the room: Rachel Cusk’s Celebrity CrushRachel Cusk asks her readers to re-examine what they thought was settled, including, in Life of M, the way each of us... 071
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I suspect if you look closely quite a number of right wingers' philosophy can be distilled thus (i am referring to those who felt sidelined or bullied as individuals when they were younger and disdain marginalised groups): "nobody ever sympathised with me, why sympathise with these groups?" 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026What i don't get about Yarvin's championing a monarchy is aren't they also part of what he denigrates as the Cathedral? 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Wow. I thought i was strange but reading about Yarvin in The Nerd Reich is informing me about the kinds of craziness that exist out there. This does not feel real to me. The irony is that Yarvin doesn't see other people as real yet he is the unreal-seeming one. 000
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Something i recently felt bad about. I was too blunt with a few friends in the past, thinking I was being helpful with the truth and giving personal direction. They took it badly. I realise that bc my own parents were always emotionally blunt and unsympathetic to me, i internalised this ... 100
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 06/09/2026It's annoying when you try to read something academic and it doesn't help you to understand people as people in a political / sociological context. You may see trends but it doesn't help you to define a person in their own world in a human way. 100
roast potatoes @insearchofwonder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026"To be clear, end times fascism is not a monolith; fascism is always much messier than that. Instead, it’s a fractious and dangerous alliance of three main factions: the religious fundamentalists, the tech accelerationists and the militant ethno-nationalists." www.ft.com/content/bd13...ft.comRerun or sequel? Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on end times fascismHow nationalists, theocrats and tech titans turned their backs on a shared future 100
Reposted by roast potatoesGil Durán @gilduran.com · 21/10/2025I interviewed Paulina Borsook, who warned of tech culture's toxic underbelly over 30 years ago. She wrote a prescient and scathing book, "Cyberselfish." It tanked her career, but a new generation is discovering her work as tech fascism tries to kill democracy 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL-k...youtube.comThe Woman Who Predicted Tech Fascism — Paulina Borsook Was RightYouTube video by The Nerd Reich with Gil Duran 16832401
Reposted by roast potatoesThe Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Just went to buy @gilduran.com's "The Nerd Reich" on Google Books, and discovered that the enshittification is so thorough that it's not safe to do so - I was very close to buying one that's actually AI slop with an identical title and author name. This is utterly insane. 36792305
Reposted by roast potatoesGil Durán @gilduran.com · 05/09/2026National “Nerd Reich” shortage continues! If you see a copy, grab it immediately—or buy at this Bookshop link to support local bookstores AND my newsletter (i get 10%). More copies on the way! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...bookshop.orgThe Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on DemocracyINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This transfixing debut from journalist Durán investigates the antidemocratic ideologies espoused by tech billionaires linked to the second Trump administration...I... 2119249
![The goal, he said, was to do to San Francisco what Musk had done to Twitter: Gut it, purge it, and harvest its power. Early on, Musk had upended the site’s reality by erasing blue checks, the official checkmarks that once appeared on the accounts of journalists, celebrities, and politicians and which had become an online status symbol. “Elon, in sort of classic Gray fashion… captures Twitter and then, at one stroke, wipes out millions of Blues’ status by wiping out the blue checks,” he said. “Another stroke… [he] renames Twitter as X, showing that he has true control, and it’s his vehicle, and that the old regime isn’t going to be restored.” Corporate logos would fill the skyline in the Gray sector, and streets would be renamed to honor tech figures. Meanwhile, the Grays would build monuments and screen propaganda films to remind people of the alleged horrors inflicted by progressive Democratic governance. As if this entire vision wasn’t already dripping in fascist cosplay, Srinivasan generated a masterpiece of authoritarian fantasy, which he called the “Gray Pride parade.” “A huge win would be a Gray Pride parade with 50,000 Grays,” said Srinivasan. “That would start to say: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ You have the AI Flying Spaghetti Monster. You have the Bitcoin parade. You have the drones flying overhead in formation… You have bubbling genetic experiments on beakers… You have the police at the Gray Pride parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:slkg4p6vkp3nqojzsr6j3ex2/bafkreidetmyxnyikdjhw6rgnl47bfqnk3cf5ddtfjkgngx4rrmqff4g66y)
