Take it as a given that elephants don't tap dance. (They are super smart, and we are a horrible horrible species, busy exterminating them, but you knew thtis). Elephants don't even jump - because, why would they need to? And the elephants, if you don't know me, are one of my favourite metaphors for big,... Continue Reading →
“Isn’t it entropic, I really do think” – or “How Groups Zombify, and what, in theory, was to be done…” #HowGroupsZombify
If you are Really Damn Old you may recognise the song lyric reference in the first half of the title. "Whatever," as the young people used to say. "How Groups Zombify" - HGZ, as we will call it, (but which could also stand for Hypocrites Going Zealous?) is a key question. For me, anyway. Not... Continue Reading →
Hypocrites, Zealots and (in)activists – a cartoon (and inevitably unhelpful rant)
I asked my brilliant friend Marc Roberts if there were a cartoon in this blog post, and this is what he came up with. It is in the latest issue of Ethical Consumer Magazine, and it is genius, I am sure you agree. The problem is that the reality is EVEN WORSE THAN THIS, because... Continue Reading →
Funfair mirrors and the strength to see?
Boff. There is that line in the film "Bull Durham" - let me google that for me - "The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." Stuff has been going on of late (I have reasons for being elliptical) that got me into a more (lopy) ruminative mood than usual. And thinking... Continue Reading →
MSA, CCS, EU, NER300, OMFG. #LootingTheIvoryTower
I don't do enough Looting of the Ivory Tower (though see here). I really should be doing a minimum of one article looted per day. I'd be less likely to flunk Chomsky's mirror test. Hey ho. Really, enough about me. This article below is absolutely superb. If you're looking for a history of European Union... Continue Reading →
Book Review 8/42: Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (or “Am I shallow for wanting ‘plot’? Why yes, yes I am.”)
So I have a list of 42 books I am supposed to read before ("buying others" - yeah, good luck with that). And I absolutely have not read two Jack Reacher novels in the midst of this. Absolutely not. Now it is over to book 8, (there's no particular order, btw). It is a 2009... Continue Reading →
Martin Luther King – “Perhaps we shall not overcome after all.” (#satire)
"Our Dumb Century" by the folks at The Onion is a staggering satirical achievement. Lots more to say, but this fits my current mood (see the Cher, incentive structures and our inevitable doom post etc)
Neologism of the decade: nihiliberalism
(or should that be nihilogism of the decade?) There's this and this bit of an interview with the late Mark Fisher. "Now we are faced with nihiliberalism rather than neoliberalism. The phrases justifying neoliberalism are mechanistically repeated, but there’s no real conviction in it anymore." Hat-tip to @Dant_Lane for bringing this to my attention. Basically,... Continue Reading →
Did you exchange a walk on part in the war…
for the lead role in a cage. Yeah. Probably I did. Didn't you? Didn't we all? Or most of us at least. Somewhere between the Scylla of egomania/unfettered narcissism and the Charybdis of slave morality/abnegation for its own sake, lies... what exactly? Strutting and fretting our hour upon the burning platform, as we see our... Continue Reading →
Cher, incentive structures and our inevitable doom
Cher is on the CD in the lovely Arcadian café I am sitting in. “Do you believe?”, she is asking me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXRV4MezEw And then she sings the magic words “I really don’t think you’re strong enough.” Too right, Ms Cher. Strength is the issue. Last night I had a zoom call with an academic who... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 