Link to an interview with Kristen R. Ghodsee conducted by Meagan Day:
Bonus link: “Listen: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism”
Tag: History
Daniel Zamora – Should We Care About Inequality?
Link to an article by Daniel Zamora:
“Should We Care About Inequality?”
This is really an article about historical battles for ideological hegemony.
Bonus links: Slavoj Žižek On Political Struggle and Trouble in Paradise and Making Money and The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives and The Lie of Global Prosperity: How Neoliberals Distort Data to Mask Poverty and Exploitation
Ryan LaMothe – The Occult Injustice of Laws Supporting Capitalism
Link to an article by Ryan LaMothe:
John Steppling – Before the Law
Link to an article by John Steppling:
While fairly detailed in its analysis and proffered support, the asserted parallels with fascist regimes of the past aren’t fully convincing. Does the current moment not have neo-feudalist (or neo-Bonapartist) aspects? Doesn’t the present moment have some unique features without complete historical precedent?
Bonus link: The Courts Are Political
Jacques Pauwels – 1918: How the Allies Surfed to Victory on a Wave of Oil
Link to an article by Jacques Pauwels:
“1918: How the Allies Surfed to Victory on a Wave of Oil”
Bonus link: “Foreign Interventions in Revolutionary Russia”
Chip Gibbons – Obstructing Justice
Link to an article by Chip Gibbons about George Crockett Jr. and the FBI:
Slavoj Žižek – Three Variations on Trump Quote
“There is an even greater problem with the underlying premise of those who proclaim the ‘death of truth’: they talk as if before (say, until the 1980s), in spite of all the manipulations and distortions, truth did somehow prevail, and that the ‘death of truth’ is a relatively recent phenomenon. Already a quick overview tells us that this was not the case. How many violations of human rights and humanitarian catastrophes remained invisible, from the Vietnam War to the invasion of Iraq? Just remember the times of Reagan, Nixon, Bush… The difference was not that the past was more ‘truthful’ but that ideological hegemony was much stronger, so that, instead of today’s greater melee of local ‘truths,’ one ‘truth’ (or, rather, one big Lie) basically prevailed. In the West, this was the liberal-democratic Truth (with a Leftist or Rightist twist). What is happening today is that, with the populist wave which unsettled the political establishment, the Truth/Lie that has served as an ideological foundation for this establishment is also falling apart. And the ultimate reason for this disintegration is not the rise of postmodern relativism but the failure of the ruling establishment, which is no longer able to maintain its ideological hegemony.”
Slavoj Žižek, “Three Variations on Trump: Chaos, Europe, and Fake News”
Bonus links: “Fake News: How to Watch the News, Episode 03” and “The World Is Returning to Pluralism After American Hegemony, Says German Philosopher” and “Why the Democratic and Republican Establishments Can’t Stop Insurgents” and “Centrists Are Pining for a Golden Age that Never Was”
Michael Parenti – The JFK Assassination
Link to a revised excerpt from the book Dirty Truths (1996) by Michael Parenti:
“The JFK Assassination: Defending the Gangster State”
This is quite a few years old, but still seems mostly on the mark. A significant amount of new information points in precisely the same direction as the information Parenti collects.
John Steppling – The Dying Light
Link to an article by John Steppling:
Bonus link: “The Wisdom of Serpents” (see also “Sorry, Bernie, We Need Radical Change”)
Benjamin Fong – Inventing the Weekend
Link to an article by Benjamin Fong:
One quibble with this article: reference to “a cultural trajectory that would eventually bring us the three-minute pop song” seems off, when taking into account the history of music recording technology recounted in Michael Denning’s book Noise Uprising.