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not surprised

@notsurprised.bsky.social
89 followers 159 following 279 posts

ask and ye shall be cited. academicians 1:3 you are. the rest is description.

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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
1. A pretty park. Kids play. People stroll by and stop to smell the flowers. Some smile. 2. Vicious money-grubbing morons see "an opportunity" and pave over the park to build "an exciting new consumer experience". 3. THE PLAGUE. 4. BOMBS. And you thought this was a story. #monday #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Once again, that broadcaster showed its true colours. Heinous slurs on a global stage? No problem. Terrorize entire demographics with verbal abuse, because who cares about them. They're just [more slurs], right? Probably even greenlit it all for clicks and engagement. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou #academicsky #writingsky
The 44th President and the First Lady
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
You know that eery prickling before a bad storm? Yeah... Something wicked this way comes #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
This is the 3rd system collapse in 100 years, isn't it? Are we simply witnessing the real End of Empire, i.e. the End of 500 years of European hegemony + inheritors? 1945-1965: Centre 1990-1995: East 2015-2025: West Empires collapse from within after all. Just a thought. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Given that it's become pretty obvious no one with real power will stop the intentional cruelty and mayhem: Go about your day as planned and spare a thought for the poor civilians who absolutely did not ask for this. Light a candle, yell at God, donate to a GoFM, whatever you have the energy for.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
It's difficult right now, but remember to recharge, rest, and recuperate before you run empty. #academicsky #writingsky
Two batteries showing energy levels:
One battery is in the yellow (caption: Take a break here...) and the other is empty (caption: NOT HERE)
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Excuse me WHAT #academicsky #writingsky
1800s style painting of shocked woman in biblical draperies Stick figure is speechless
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
A party that runs on betrayal. Weak. Performative. Useless. Such utter contempt for anyone who isn't them. Such certainty they will get away with it unscathed. How trust an organisation whose members will sell you down the river any chance they get? Disgraceful. #academicsky #writingsky
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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 10/11/2025
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
1 million a week? Isn't that a massive public health issue? *looks at current state of US public health infrastructure* New question: Is this deliberate endangerment of minors and vulnerable people by a heavily funded corporation? For profit? Or for something much worse? #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Imperial History: Come again? 2025: They're not paying or feeding the troops, sir. Imperial History: Say that again. 2025: Soldiers are not being paid or fed, sir. *checks past 6000 years* Imperial History [incredulous]: How precedented do you want this to get? #academicsky #writingsky
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Jesse @requiemarm.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter. He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
News Person: "Military Families are counting on food banks." The Planet: Come again? NP: US Soldiers are lining up at food banks. Planet: Why? NP: Payroll is frozen due to the shutdown. *Imperial History enters chat* Imperial History: EXCUSE ME WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
"This Committee was initially created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs [...]" To the voices that will be heard / May they speak loud and clear. #academicsky #writingsky www.npr.org/2025/10/01/n...
npr.org
Hundreds of celebrities relaunch a McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech
The Committee for the First Amendment first launched in the 1940s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee accused Hollywood actors, directors and writers of being communists or sympathizers.
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Michael @fleerultra.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
so many dead canaries and we just keep on mining
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Every couple hours it's like a new level of absurdity unlocks: Oldheads are avoiding (Boomer) parents' bewildered texts, The Chronically Online feel like they're on crazy pills, all while The Hypocrisy™ burns through yet another layer of the social contract. The vibes aren't just off. They're gone.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
What are you reading right now? Fiction, non-fiction, speculative, genre, you name it. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
WTF. Project MUSE is an academic lifeline! Cutting access is deliberately hurting researchers' access to multiple knowledge bases! Horrible. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
The vibe these days: All the juice has been squeezed. The violent re-squeezing for the last few drops. A vending machine stops working. Cue banging, rattling, more banging, more rattling. Nothing. Irresponsible persons clicked on obvious malware. All computers jitter, freeze, bluesceen. #humpday
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
A necessary read. Considering developments, this is a good reminder of the macro-currents at play. It's noteworthy that Klein & Taylor frame what's happening as a religion-adjacent global assault. Yes, it's bad. No, it's not hopeless. #academicsky #writingsky www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
/rant on/ This commitment to deep dysfunction is entirely baffling. So many people are committed to keeping a sick system going, it's unconscionable. Not just a few: millions. What is this religion-adjacent faith in a system that clearly only serves a handful of people?1/5 #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
It's like he's actively looking for The Yuckiest Thing To Do and hitting it bullseye each time 🤢 Beyond weird.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
You know that saying, "How you get them is how you lose them"? *looks at History of the United States of Yikes* ..ethnic cleansing, religious extremism, brutal racialized oppression, vicious misogyny, massive wealth theft, horrific hypocrisy.. *looks at news cycle* Huh. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
The heartbreak at witnessing the deciders in beloved institutions click their heels and salute is understandable. It might help to look at other countries to see how they dealt with this shift, because it's going to get much worse. *cracks open Klaus Mann's Mephisto* #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
What a disturbing amount of pple seem to refuse to understand is that the Disunited States of WTF exist on a planet and everybody is watching. The revolting portrait in the attic is on full display & millions are vomiting into their purses, morally puking into flower pots. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Something is rotten in the State of You Know Where. #academicsky #writingsky
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
We are seven months in, and the speed with which vital civic institutions are capitulating to authoritarian demands we once would have regarded as inconceivable in an established liberal democracy is jawdropping. I hadn't thought I was polyannaish about America, but it's really stunning.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't at least 50% genAI wrecking autocorrect. That mess sneaks into everything like toxic pollen, adding unnecessary letters, changing correct words into nonsense. Autocorrect is basically Automess now. And thus the Enshittification continues 😒 #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
A young teen is shocked by what they are seeing on their phone screen
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Honest question: Are you reading any fiction right now? #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Bad Moon Rising #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Stay safe out there. Take it slow and drink your water. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
This is where we are right now. Except it's not even remotely funny. #academicsky #writingsky
Several Bad Decisions Later in the SpongeBob SquarePants font.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Welp.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
I live in a world where I am supposed to just accept that this sentence exists
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 12/06/2025
Enjoy your canned vegetables for Thanksgiving, people. This is only going to get worse.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Just lived through one of those, "Why are The Womenz talking to me, Important Man"-meetings. Incredible. One lady finally had enough and broke down the tricky problem that needed solving. Lo, behold, Important Man hadn't read the initial memo. Everyone else in that meeting: #academicsky #writingsky
media.tenor.com
a young boy is sitting on a couch with his hand on his forehead .
Alt: Exasperated and fed up young boy is sitting on a couch with his hand on his forehead
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
This video encapsulates the current "historical moment" pretty well. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
The fact that everyone still writes work emails and stays professional in meetings like nothing world-changing is happening makes it all so much worse. At what point does one's commitment to old normalcies break? Makes those first scenes in Arrival look pretty accurate tbh #academicsky #writingsky
media.tenor.com
a woman in a plaid shirt stands in front of a sign that says " arrival "
Alt: An exhausted Amy Adams in the Sci-Fi movie Arrival brushes her hands over her face and down her hair
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Reminder: Take a break. You need it. #academicsky #writingsky
Take a break here (1/3 charged battery), not here (empty battery)
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
AI slop on main? Blocked. "You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of [artists] to accomplish something as fast as you could, [and] you patented it, and packaged it, [and] now you're selling it." #academicsky #writingsky
media.tenor.com
a man wearing glasses and a leather jacket is sitting at a desk with a lamp .
Alt: Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993) saying, "Well, there it is."
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Think of all the deliberate decisions and intentional choices that had to be made to get you to this point. Every step of the way, every single person made a decision. Every step of the way, every single person made an active choice. Nothing about this is a coincidence. #academicsky #writingsky
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
The planetkilling plagiarism machine needs to be stopped, yes.
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
I can't with this insistance on ever more Dependence Tech. And yes, searches have a goal: Finding what you're looking for. Yes. However: finding all those strange & interesting things on the way was what made OG web searches wonderfully whimsical, a little weird, and impressively informative. 1/4
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
It's escalating, isn't it. #academicsky #writingsky
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 14/05/2025
One dream I have is that one day physical scientists and biological scientists recognize that they don’t have the same systemic training in social analysis that their colleagues in the humanities and social sciences do and that this means we need help when it comes to doing politics
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
A thread🧵 for those of you on your publishing journey #writing #writingcommunity
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not surprised @notsurprised.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
"But Keir wanted you to know that Keir had always had it in for foreigners. He wasn’t the sort of prime minister who would play politics with other people’s lives. No. He had always believed this stuff ... There was nothing more Labour than targeting immigrants." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
The race to the bottom is on as Starmer delivers his great immigration reset | John Crace
A week after Reform cleans up at the local elections, the prime minister decides it’s time to ‘take back control’
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