Luke Roelofs

Texas censorship news.

Sometimes I defend high-minded principles of peace and goodwill that I think consonant with leftist values, but my opponents are always able to cite all the worker led socialist paradises that ruthless willingness to deploy violence have wrought so I'm forced to bow before their superior pragmatism.

Students and faculty at over 100 US universities protest against Trump’s attacks Student, national and local groups across US organized day of action to condemn Trump’s assault on academic freedom

Our November 7 day of action to defend higher education has taken the country by storm! ✊

“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united...We have to become a new political force.”

— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

Hands Off Higher Ed demonstration outside Apollo

Hear @proftwolf.bsky.social: “OUR compact is: higher education as a public good—that means free college for all; that means an end to student debt; that means work with dignity for everyone on our campuses; it means freedom to teach and freedom to learn without Big Brother on our back!”

Trump: "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

At this point, anyone—a university, a law firm, a corporation, a Democrat—bending the knee to Trump is doing it because they want to, not because of any political reality.

Yale lab reports mass killings in Sudan, calls for student activism The Humanitarian Research Lab was told this week that over 10,000 people in Sudan were killed within three days.

“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”

On November 17 and 18, there will be an online launch of the book “Are ant colonies conscious? Collective minds and philosophical implications,” with the participation of the authors. We invite all interested parties to attend the event. Registration via QR CODE.

Leaving It to the Imagination — The Junkyard A post by Luke Roelofs There’s a common idea that sometimes the best aesthetic choice is to “leave something to the imagination”, where that primarily means not presenting it explicitly. Sometimes...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Luke Roelofs junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...

NO KINGS II In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings. Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Born…

Join us tomorrow at No Kings II! AAUP members will be out in force. indivisibletompkins.org/event/no-kin...

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin "Loyalty Oath" Compacts The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda is entirely corrupt.

Check out AAUP’s statement denouncing the Trump admin’s compact and undemocratic loyalty oaths here👇

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

This is big government run amok; will Texas students have to endure government officials censoring professors in the classroom? That isn’t Texas and it isn’t America.

4/5

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads theconversation.com/studying-phi...

When Moderation Becomes Appeasement If your chief goal is to find a middle ground with the far right on social issues, you’ll end up condoning its values—just ask Keir Starmer.

"Because reactionary centrists do not really have values, they struggle to understand the motivations of those who do."

www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...

If you started paying attention to the US in 1960, this sure feels like the darkest timeline. But unfortunately, purges against Black & brown people are normal US behavior.

You know what's NOT normal US behavior?

This is the first time there's been a mass movement to STOP a purge in real time.

This Is How You Lose the Sex Wars Trying to pick a pathway through forty years of the ugliest conflict in feminism.

hands-down the best thing i've read about the sex wars (and why they still really matter for today's politics)

jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...

RIP Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) 💔

Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...

I looked this up, and yes, it is real. I've included an article about it in the comments.
Please share for those who may need it.
Thank you!

YouTube video by LeonardCohenVEVO Leonard Cohen - Democracy (Official Video)

Some topical listening...

Hyenas Lion King GIF Alt: Clip from "the lion king" where three hyenas dance in a circle singing "no king no king la-la-la"

Honestly surprised I haven't seen more use of this clip today

APA board issues letter opposing Texas Senate Bill 37 - American Philosophical Association Today, the board of officers of the American Philosophical Association issued a letter to Texas government officials in opposition to the version of Senate Bill 37 currently under consideration. As stated in the letter, “The APA has two main areas of concern: 1) the politicization of academic matters of curricular review in the important area of general education; and 2) the erosion of shared governance and the systematic disempowering of faculty governance bodies.”

First the AHA, now the APA, comes out in opposition to Texas Republicans attempts to kill higher education by a thousand cuts:
www.apaonline.org/news/702273/...

(Looking back at this and realising that my use of quotation marks might be confusing: this is my paraphrase of the theory, not Musk's exact words.)

Musk isn't saying this because he's worried about nurses and vet techs who suffer empathic burnout. He's saying this because he's a conspiracist whose model of the world provides a ready-made excuse for why any inconvenient feeling of empathy is actually a trick by the nefarious cabal in charge.

It's just a factually false picture of how politics and immigration works, based on viewing every undesired policy outcome as an intentional, self-serving, action by one's enemies.
This is no criticism of Colin and Emad's philosophical case for empathy here, it's just that...

But also feel it needs to be said: Musk's original remark about empathy presupposes a conspiracy theory! "Empathy is weaponised by Democrats to trick people into allowing more immigration, which is both 1) destroying the country and 2) itself a cynical ploy by Democrats to get more voters."

Absolutely co-signing this defene of empathy, as a source of knowledge and a form of strength, that we need more of rather than less.

EP37: Philosophy and Abortion with Luke Roelofs Podcast Episode · Veridical · 05/19/2025 · 1h 32m

Had a great chat recently with Jack Sezer at Veridical Podcast! Mostly about abortion but more broadly about the philosophy of mind and contemporary politics.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

"Fuck you, make me" (@clairewillett.bsky.social's phrase) turning out to have an incredible win rate so far in this administration