How’s THAT for a click-bait headline, (albeit circa 2014)? You’re unlikely to read to the end of this, so I’ll spit out the tl;dr - It’s hubris, or pride, or arrogance, whatever you want to call it. Of COURSE it is also the wildly successful disinformation and delay campaigns run by the oil companies and... Continue Reading →
On the Antarctic, morbid symptoms and being court in a trap End of Days #25
It will be hard to remember what it felt like right now. There are two options, as I see it. In the first, we return to “normal” weather patterns etc(how? Why? Is this not human-centric thinking, as if the world were made for us. Of course, lots of people believe it WAS made for us)... Continue Reading →
Hate letter to a dead denialist. And the Telegraph
So, I was in Stafford today, seeing if I have MRSA ahead of a little light toe cutting. I absolutely did NOT go into the Oxfam bookshop, and I absolutely did NOT buy this book, and anyone who tells my wife is a snitch, and snitches get stitches. And in that book, which I absolutely... Continue Reading →
More reasons not to create cults of scientists
This is a really good article about Roger Revelle and how various scumbags (I can say that now he is dead) used his reputation in a cheap and nasty culture war. I always get nervous when activists set up any given scientist on a pedestal. For one reason, it's not how science works (or rather,... Continue Reading →
Archives – a love story…
Yesterday I was at the BBC Written Archives Centre, in Reading. Here's me. I think there's three things that make it so fun. First, there is the physicality of it - having objects/bits of paper in your hands, and the little touches - I'd not seen Treasury tags that connect to each other before, for... Continue Reading →
Cycles, yes, but see the broader context… #GroundhogDayOrEndOfDays
Groundhog Day or End of Days is a project I am doing to find out people's thoughts on the cyclical nature of UK climate activism. You can read more about it here. I'm interviewing various folks, some of whom I already know, and others I don't. The first interview was with Alastair McIntosh, and you... Continue Reading →
Interview with Alastair McIntosh about social movements, cycles, #GroundhogDayOrEndOfDays
Alastair McIntosh, the Scottish writer and activist, kindly did an interview last month, the first for my "Groundhog Day or End of Days" project (see here). You can (and in my opinion should!) read the transcript here, but here's a few clips to whet your appetite. And then I started to notice, you know, when... Continue Reading →
Abeyance – a crucial concept (video)
https://twitter.com/marcsrhudson/status/1637791469476954112 If you don't understand protest waves and movement cycles and ABEYANCE, you are a risk not just to yourself, but to those around you.
Looting the Ivory Tower – “Biographical Availability”
https://twitter.com/marcsrhudson/status/1636318881311588353 From here - McAdam, D. (1986) “Recruitment to High-Risk Activism: The Case of Freedom Summer.” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 92, No. 1, pp. 64-90
Durkheim the truffle-hunting pig, question begging, and – yes – “fuck nuance”
There's a very good paper (with a click-bait headline - "Fuck Nuance") about theory building, abstraction etc. Here's a link to a pdf. And there's a section in it (lots of it is eminently quotable) about Emile Durkheim, the French guy who can claim to be the father of sociology. "Indifferent to fairly representing his... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 