[a pleasurable headache] powerful new marxism
Why Are We in Ukraine?
<https://harpers.org/archive/2023/06/why-are-we-in-ukraine/>
Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Lane in Harpers ask the question. It's a lengthy 30-40 minute read, but well worth it in my opinion.
"The U.S. permanent representative to NATO explicitly identified “Russia and the malign activities of Russia” as NATO’s “major” target. The United States justified these moves as necessary responses to Russian hostilities in Ukraine and to the need, as the New York Times editorial board declared in a revival of Cold War rhetoric in 2018, to “contain” the “Russian threat.” And what made the Russians a threat? According to a 2018 report by the Pentagon, it was their intention to “shatter” NATO, the military pact arrayed against them."
The contradiction of American foreign policy summarised in a single paragraph. Golden.
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Could a far-right vs centre-left showdown be the future of British politics?
<https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/natcons-far-right-centrist-labour-party-global-crisis-showdown/>
The first of two pieces from OpenDemocracy in this edition of the newsletter. It all makes for thoroughly depressing reading:
"In its attitude to migration pressures and its core position on the central role of the state, the movement veers uncomfortably close to a fascist outlook. It believes it is, in its own words, “confronted by a rising China abroad and a powerful new Marxism at home”. In response it posits what it calls “an intellectually serious alternative to the excesses of purist libertarianism, and in stark opposition to political theories grounded in race”.
I especially love the part about a "powerful new Marxism at home".
Where?
Don't promise me a good time.
This leads onto the recent "NatCon" conference which a reporter from openDemocracy managed to sneak into.
"And, curiously, the most quoted political thinker was Karl Marx. More Marx was cited than at any Corbyn-era Labour Party conference. Delegates seemed obsessed with the idea that Marx lurks behind every corner."
Where are all these mayo brained eejits finding this Marxist threat? Can they give me directions?
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The 40 Best TV Finales of the 21st Century, Ranked
With the end of Succession (no, I haven't watched it) and Barry (please, everyone, go watch Barry) approaching, The Ringer have compiled a list of the 40 best TV finales of the 21st century. As far as these things go it's pretty decent and I'm happy to see current fave show of all time The Leftovers get on the list, as well as my first love, Lost.
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Discord, or the Death of Lore
<http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/5509>
A really good piece on the ephemeral nature of Discord, and how poorly they compare against the forums of old.
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Creature’s Pet
<https://thebaffler.com/latest/creatures-pet-macfarlane>
Steve Macfarlane at The Baffler on the life of Ricou Browning, the man who brought the Creature from the Black Lagoon to life.
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As TV Writers Strike, US Media Uncritically Echoes Film Studio Execs’ Bogus “AI Writer” Hype
If you haven't already, subscribe to Adam Johnson's excellent newsletter The Column. Whilst you're at it, check out the excellent podcast he co-hosts, Citation Needed. Then go read the article above.
"The belief that having humans simply punching up or “rewriting” ChatGPT outputs will reduce net writing labor displays a fundamental ignorance about the process of high-level writing. Anyone who’s been an editor for a day will tell you that re-writing bad writing takes longer than simply having a competent writer write it themselves in the first place. Feeding writers “AI”-generated scripts that are filled with bloodless, generic cliches, that can’t use metaphor, lack scene context, nuance, or fidelity to structure, that have no originality or humor or spark, and asking them to rewrite said scripts simply adds superfluous steps to the process.
There’s another word for rewriting: it’s called “writing.”
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I am off to rinse my brain-pan and hopefully get some rest. Dear reader, I am tired. See you in two!