Erik Davis

When old friends become politicians, getting email from them becomes a very bewildering experience

Hahaha! I did get a very earnest apology for being g on the addressee list. I responded appropriately but wanted to reply “oh. I mean, if I wanted to come…like, could …” :b

I was just accidentally (I mean, I assume) invited to an undergraduate party via
mass email with all addresses visible. 😂

I used to teach a college level 'community organizing' class many years ago. After a class one day, a student came to me and said "it's so much work to organize. I thought change just happened." I think of that student often.

The dialogue is a whole other thing but the bit about "fuck you shoot me I'll die for this shit" and the reaction is the crux here, from Gandhi's time on down, no authoritarian in history ever knows how to respond to this and it's why it beats them whenever deployed

The question to ask all young men is 'how many people have you helped this week? how many have you cared for?"

Another way out: Building resistance when passivity is the norm The COVID-19 pandemic should have shown us that we’re supposed to be meeting needs, not falling in line behind fascist incursions

How did the U.S. public get to a place where we find it acceptable to passively watch collapse, catastrophic crises, & even genocide? @williamcson.bsky.social argues that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was a litmus test that revealed to the ruling powers just how much they could get away with.

Yep! I talked about it this morning in my “theory and method” course which was coincidentally discussing a different McCutcheon piece!

So….Trump is bragging about being too scared to walk down the street in Baltimore, even accompanied by the mayor and their security teams?

Blowhard masculinity norms have changed, I guess?

Google News Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by Google News.

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No disrespect to actual K-Pop artists, but it really feels like “K-Popped” could be the moment this bubble finally bursts.

BREAKING: BlueSky is blocking access to Mississippi.

This is the No. 1 platform for @mississippifreepress.org.

We ditched X for BlueSky early this year.

And now, at 3 pm on a Friday, poof.

I don't know what we'll do next.

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Chattel slavery was so bad that when we tell you how bad it in fact was most of y'all shut down and tell us we're making it up and pass laws against us ever telling you how bad it was again because your brains literally cannot handle how bad it in fact was.

Another way out: Hiding and obedience won't stop fascism By being obedient to the point of giving up all self-determination, we’re poised to return to what many before us fought to overturn

"No, you cannot hide from fascism, and unfortunately for many of us, our very lives are a threat. It doesn’t matter if you’re minding your business, fighting back, or hiding somewhere quietly—tyranny comes for everyone." prismreports.org/2025/08/21/o...

The Strange History of University Autonomy — and Why We Need It More Than Ever Academic freedom from the Middle Ages to apartheid South Africa to now.

The Strange History of University Autonomy — and Why We Need It More Than Ever www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Subject: The Review: The University of Chicago falls on hard times

Thongchai Winichakul on the Cambodia-Thailand Border Conflict “In such a situation,” the prominent Thai historian says, “maps cannot help because they are part of the problem.”

thediplomat.com/2025/08/thon...

This really sucks. Libby is already not very good but it’s also the almost universally-used ebook lending platform.

UC Officials to Face Lawmakers Over Failure to Return Native American Remains and Artifacts

I wish we’d had a chance to meet up; I saw you a couple of times in passing but never at a moment when it seemed appropriate. Glad to hear you had a good conference as well!

I have had a truly lovely time at the IABS conference in Leipzig and then subsequent workshop in Leiden. This was a bit of a surprise to me, and I’m grateful for it.

It is very difficult, when organizing people in this moment, to balance two true things in tension w/ each other:

1. The threat is bigger/longer than you are perceiving and you are underreacting on offense

2. The threat is less proximate/powerful than you fear and you are overreacting on defense

Hilarious; I’m so lucky even my performatively clueless ignorance is sometimes close enough for horseshoes or the other one.

Was there ever a “Dragon-Age Counter-Reformation?” (It’s fine, I’ll just leave via that door there)

Two cups of coffee are required.

The first is to destroy the calm of morning hormonal chemistry. The second gives you the focus needed to act to regain that calm.

This is not irrational but merely paradoxical.

You can, in fact, just decide to start a thing. I do it all of the time and it's a good way to execute ideas rather to just critique others' ideas. Critique by doing as Michelangelo said. Critique by DOING.

Friend? How do I know this luohan?

Our eyes locked across a room: so we know each other?

The weather in Northern Europe right now is just perfect, and I’m going to spend most of my day in museums!

Saw him last night! Trained out to Den Haag and hung out for a few hours. He’s thriving!

Awesome thanks! I’m going to visit my kid in The Hague This evening, but I have all day tomorrow to explore more! Have to see The Night Watch again at the Rijksmuseum, but otherwise without plans!