#politics
Links, June 2023
I think I've given up on systems that organise the world, even the world right around me. Even so, it's nice to dream about a way of living where everything is fast, smooth, organised... easy. That's why I still look at consumer electronic products and software even though I have long accepted none of them will make me happy in an enduring way. Picture then, a world where everything (everything) I have is organised into numerical folder trees. Johnny Decimal, everybody. A fellow foe of the Grand Narratives that organise our collective consciousness is Roland Barthes, who as it turns...
The data scientist who didn't have time to stop all the coups
— “I Have Blood On My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation, Craig Silverman, Ryan Mac, and Pranav Dixit in BuzzFeed News
Boys State
We watched Boys State this week. It’s a documentary that follows a cohort of Texan teenage boys going through an intense one-week political bootcamp at the Texas state capitol. They’re divided randomly into two parties*, given lessons in the state constitution, and then they run a compressed set of elections for party chairmen, gubernatorial candidates, and ultimately for state governor. I really enjoyed it, though I felt myself predictably enamoured with the charismatic and thoughtful liberals Steven and René. Conversely, I found myself predictably horrified with the mini-demagogue-to-be Robert, and the Steven Miller Jr. in Ben Feinstein. Ben was interesting...
How the Pandemic Revealed Britain’s National Illness
— How the Pandemic Revealed Britain’s National Illness, Tom McTague in The Atlantic
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument
— You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument, Caroline Randall Williams in The New York Times
Minneapolis Will Dismantle Its Police Force
— Minneapolis Will Dismantle Its Police Force, Council Members Pledge, Dionne Searcey and John Eligon in The New York Times
What a World Without Cops Would Look Like
— What a World Without Cops Would Look Like Mother Jones, Madison Pauly in Mother Jones
Is It Safe to Keep Employing a Cleaner? Wrong Question, Lady
— Is It Safe to Keep Employing a Cleaner? Wrong Question, Lady - The New York Times, Roxane Gay in The New York Times
American Police Departments
— 7 People Shot at Louisville Protest Over the Death of Breonna Taylor - The New York Times, Mike Baker in The New York Times — National Guard Called As Minneapolis Erupts in Solidarity for George Floyd, Matt Furber, John Eligon, and Audra D. S. Burch in The New York Times
Neofeudalism: The End of Capitalism?
— Neofeudalism: The End of Capitalism? - Los Angeles Review of Books, Jodi Dean in Los Angeles Review of Books
How La Haine lit a fire under French society
— How La Haine lit a fire under French society, Phil Hoad in The Guardian
Wait and see
In some other countries they’ve been re-opening society, slowly. Here things are fraying; many are talking about making decisions for their own mental wellbeing all government advice besides. On Sunday we said, “We’ll see what the Prime Minister says tomorrow.” “…If we don’t do it by those dates, and if the alert level won’t allow it, we will simply wait and go on until we have got it right.” “We will come back from this devilish illness.” Today is Monday. We still can’t go and see our families or touch our friends. It’s sunny outside, with a strong breeze. I...
Care package
The Prime Minister was moved into intensive care last night. They’re trying to downplay the seriousness of his condition. They’re emphasising that he hasn’t been intubated. Today some artist friends of ours, who we bought lots of art from at a show a few weeks ago, dropped off a parcel on our doorstep. It was a nice package of beautiful objects and warm wishes presented in the chaotic and pleasing way artistic people are seemingly able to carelessly toss together. It also contained some Easter chocolate, which brought home that we’ll be under these conditions for another of those calendar...
Continuity of government
Boris has the virus, as has the Secretary of State for Health, and the Chief Medical Officer*. They’ve built a hospital with 4000 beds inside a big conference centre in London. They’ve built another at the NEC in Birmingham. The one in London has been dubbed the NHS Nightingale. I don’t know if the Birmingham one has a name. A hangar at Birmingham Airport is being repurposed a temporary morgue. The city’s bored and socially isolated population crushed Deliveroo last night. Today we might go on a bike ride — I need to buy one first unless we want to...
There Is No Swing Voter
— An Unsettling New Theory: There Is No Swing Voter, Rachel Bitecofer in POLITICO
The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election
— The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election, Kevin Roose in The New York Times
How Iran Covered Up the Downing of an Airliner
— How Iran Covered Up the Downing of an Airliner, Farnaz Fassihi in The New York Times
This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined
— This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined, Jane Chong in The Atlantic
Eugenics & Statistics
There were lots of interesting and terrible things in Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini but here's something that stood out. Eugenics was a widely respected field of study around the time of the turn of the 20th century, well before the rash of state-sponsored genocide programs we now associate with Nazis etc. University College London established a Eugenics Record Office, that aimed to study races of man and conct the best ways to hone the (presumably white) superior race to perfection. Of the many people who were both active in the field then, and still respected...
Jacob Rees-Mogg Profile
James Meek (author of Private Island: Why Britain Now Belongs To Someone Else) did a great profile of new Leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mog. It sums up the argument incredibly well that the stuffy all-English persona he affects in Parliament is at odds with his source of income in a transnational investment firm. Meek goes deep on the problematic network of offshore financial instruments used to shroud Mogg's investment firm in secrecy, which makes sense given his work on Private Island. Meek goes beyond that oft-bandied about analysis, though. He argues that these "two Jacobs" are two sides of...