Daniel Miller recently posted a piece on IM-1776 that’s deserving of high praise. It’s a provocative assessment of how the decades-long aftermath of World War II resulted in the gradual transformation of the West into something increasingly sinister. This transformation annihilates any posturing about the West (and perhaps America specifically) being an “anti-fascist” prototype. The…
Tag: crisis
w꙲꙲e꙲꙲e꙲꙲k꙲꙲e꙲꙲n꙲꙲d꙲꙲ ꙲꙲l꙲꙲i꙲꙲n꙲꙲k꙲꙲s꙲꙲: the Portents of Spring; King Rex; Ritualistic Death
Comes Thermidor: “America is headed for its own Thermidorian Reaction. It’ll end up being called something else, of course, because it is a different time, place, and set of circumstances. But it feels close, doesn’t it? Everybody I know or correspond with mentions this feeling that something is going to blow in our country, and…
WEEKEND LINKS: Breaking Points, Nightmares, Lying
Aging is No Blessing: “Twentieth-century science doubled the life expectancy of Homo sapiens, but our health still declines at nearly the same age today as it did in 300 BC. We’ve learned to keep chronically ill adults alive, and made some welcome progress in maintaining health. But in 2024, we’re about as likely to develop the diseases of aging—like cancers—if…
ẅ̴͍é̷̞̲͐e̵̺̊͜ķ̷̥́̃e̸͎̣̼͂n̴̬̄d̸̡̈́ ̴̯̲̠̈́̾ĺ̸̯͎̯̈́i̷̻̼̚n̸̰̲̽̈̍k̴̖͆̊s̴̤̓̄: How to Stop Worrying; Rebellions Against God; Machines to Replace God
Atheists in Space: “[Oswald] Spengler believed that even as the 20th century began, all of the theoretical edifices constructed by the West to replace its old sacred order — which mainly manifested as political ideologies — had failed. Beginning in the 21st century, he predicted, the grandchildren of the revolutionaries and the rationalists, adrift in…
WEEKEND LINKS: Whispered Intuition…Deep, Dark Psychodrama
Science as Enchantment: “…the new enchantment had its advantages, but it also has had tremendous costs, and the bills are still coming due.” The Crisis of 2025: “… it’s factually indisputable that Americans are a demoralized populace. You can see it in polls and the way people talk about their own country.” The Meta-Crises and…
w e e k e n d LINKS: Deathless Fame/Something Eerie at the Edge of Vision, Crisis
Ancient Pain: “[Anthony] Hecht’s influence on the lyrics of Steely Dan may be his most widely appreciated legacy today, given how few Americans read poetry anymore. The influence is obvious. Hecht was a formalist with a wry sense of humor. His poems are disciplined, articulate, and clever, always anchored to a moment, a place, and…
weekend links: the bone orchard, war as divination, punishing wickedness
Don’t Waste a Good Crisis: “If you want to know what might come next, read the memoir of ‘White’ Russian general Pyotr Wrangel, Always with Honor, about the Russian Civil War. I’m not joking.” Godzilla: “A highlight of Heisei period Godzilla movies is Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. It’s mostly a highlight for being completely bonkers Japanese nationalism. The…
ЩԐЭҜЭЙD LЇИҠS
America’s Mugshot: “…the American dream has been stolen from us, and it is now on trial.” A Theory of the Game: “…a system that has been hollowed out by a string of cascading failures runs into one more crisis than it can tolerate, and implodes under the weight of its own absurdities. We are much…
w҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉d҈҉҈҉ ҈҉҈҉l҈҉҈҉i҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉s҈҉҈҉
The Putney Spoons Interviews: Malcom Kyeyune – Knowing Me, Knowing Kyeyune (Fisted by Foucault) There’s a scene in the old Jurassic Park movie that is pretty instructive… After the hacker Dennis Nedry basically knocks out the entire computer system necessary to run the park in order to disable the security and cameras so he can…
W e e k e n d LINKS
music by b r e t t v a n d o n s e l Always Again Another Bloomsday: “To Blake, the evil acquired by man in the original sin is foundational for freedom and creative energy. Because it is so central to artists such as himself, he even retroactively attributes his view of…