Gaming Democracy

Daniel Trilling · Is this fascism? As the historian Ian Kershaw says, trying to define fascism is ‘like trying to nail jelly to a wall’, yet for all...

A thoughtful review by ‪Daniel Trilling @trillingual.bsky.social‬ of Richard Seymour's new book 'Disaster Nationalism'. Trilling invites us to think harder about what this conjuncture really means: Birth of Fascism 2.0 or a New Popular Conservatism?

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

The Origins of Trumpism and the Birth of the Present Reflections on the pre-history of Trump’s rise, the peculiar nature of Trumpism, and the radical politics of white despair – based on John Ganz’s masterful "When the Clock Broke"

When the Clock Broke by @lioneltrolling.bsky.social looks like the book we all need to be reading to understand the political and cultural forces that brought us to this historical moment. Excellent summary by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social

thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

“One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over,” as we “simply remember the things we regard as creditable and inspiring.”

W.E.B. DuBois, “The Propaganda of History”

Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck on Substack @Chris Hedges saying it ALLLLL!

'With magic Jesus you don't need labour unions or health care'

Chris Hedges has been warning the world about the rise of Christian American fascism since the early Obama era.

substack.com/@smfleck/not...

Fight For America!

Fight for America! is a live tabletop wargame based on the January 6 insurrection. It has it's London premier June 8- July 6

www.fightforamerica.games

the church pete hegseth is a part of, the CREC, is led by a lunatic who gives talks about "the lost value of sexism" and wants to drive women out of public life. this fully accords with hegseth's public comments. and he's been selected to run the largest corporation on earth

Yes it was a Nazi salute

Agreed. The corporate capture of public spaces is corroding democracy

She shone a spotlight on BBC mendacity in the face of oligarchic power

Total information collapse It's started. And it's only going to accelerate from here.

We need to start thinking of Facebook and Xwitter as weapons of information warfare @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

substack.com/home/post/p-...

ChatGPT v The Guardian Take my hand and come with me down into information dystopia...

@carolecadwalla.bsky.social will be one of the most essential voices to listen to this year. Her investigations into Russian interference in Brexit and '16 US election were ignored, dismissed, mocked, and derided by the BBC and the press. And here we are.

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

One of the very few hologram stories I like, mainly due to Aaron Eisenberg's performance

What I wouldn't give for the classic Voyager reset button. I'd even settle for 'it was all holograms so nothing matters'

It begins

Peak liberal bias is believing with virtually no evidence that publics in authoritarian states only venerate their leaders out of fear. Hatred of LGBTQ+ ppl (for example) is deeply embedded in many cultures. It isn't just for show.

Theatre as a weapon against fascism is the big theme in V For Vendetta. V mobilises theatricality to perform resistance to tyranny. He embodies a suppressed idea of freedom to expose the weaknesses of autocracy.

The alleviation of women's abuse "is made less likely by the mandated subservience of women by Christian fundamentalists. What is especially disappointing...is the docile acceptance by so many strong Christian women of their subjugation & restricted role." - Jimmy Carter (RIP)

'The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true'

It would be bloody Ezri wouldn't it :)

factions of the far right may be eating each other alive, but they always do this, and would be just as glad to turn and sink their teeth into your neck. the sniping can be entertaining and useful, but don't mistake it for meaningful fractures in the project of ressentiment.

The task is to break the logocentric stranglehold of Eurocentrism. So many centre left commentators talk about the need for Labour to become storytellers (this is true) yet simultaneously sneer at the far right's sophisticated use of spectacle to control political narratives.

The left needs to think about ways of distinguishing between politics as performance and mobilise embrace the idea that politics - at a fundamental level - is performance.

How Fascism Came America’s democracy was destroyed by the two ruling parties who sold us out to corporations, militarists and billionaires. Now we pay the price.

Full article here.

open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

Instinctively I agree with Chris Hedge's assessment on the superficiality of modern democracies. But the implication that theatricality is inherently deceitful and shallow ignores how ideologies must be staged in order to produce systems of political identification.

WE ARE STILL IN THIS.
Wipe your tears.
This is the difficult business of hope and defying expectation.
We do not give up.
We run through the tape.

Y’all aren’t allowed to throw in the towel until I do. 😉

Big breath. Locked in. Let’s do this.

Inclusion Isn't Enough When does a culture stop changing?

In 2011, David Cameron declared that state multiculturalism had failed. His (neo)liberal model of inclusion helped to lay the ideological groundwork for the ethno-nationalist discourse of cultural decay.

josephdunnehowrie.substack.com/p/inclusion-...

*Correction - Theo Aiolfi @theoaiolfi.bsky.social

The Populist Style The Populist Style

3/3

edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-pop...

Staging Change Exploring a wide variety of examples of activist performances, such as David Buckel's self-immolation, and the January 6th capitol insurrection, this book analy…

2/3

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/staging-c...