Tag: power
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Palestine: A Virtuous Cause
I’ve just finished the book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi and I found it very illuminating. The greatest impact it’s had on my thinking so far, and what I will be digesting for some time, is how the book changed my view of the Palestinian side of the conflict. This is…
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What Is General Fascism?
What I’m going to present is “general fascism”, with a similar meaning as Eco’s but not the same thing. Again, the difference isn’t so much in the goal but in the approach. Reading Eco’s piece, it’s clear that his analysis is based primarily on his experience of fascism. My approach is much more historicist. For…
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What Is a General Strike?
Among those who talk a lot and think they know, the general strike is seen as a pie-in-the-sky idea, like fully-automatic luxury gay space communism. I’m a guy who talks a lot and thinks he knows, but I don’t agree that the general strike is a pie-in-the-sky idea. I don’t agree that we should stop…
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A Non-Grand Thesis of Luxury Politics
My goal with this work is to explore this question: How does a smaller group of people manage to rule over a larger one? Why is “there are more of us” not enough to create change? My answer to that question is “the subjugation effect” and this work is my attempt to explain what that…
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Why Normal People Often Don’t Fight Fascism
It’s not as simple as “they’re secret fascists”
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Protest and the Construction of Power
The surest sign that a protest is effective is if the military opens fire on it. I want to explain why this is. Of course, I’m considering both “protest” and “effective” in a narrow sense here but I think the general point is understandable on its face: as a challenge to the government, a protest’s…
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Whipping Ourselves and Weeping
This broad tendency among the Western left, from the end of the French Revolution to the present day, is fueled by an impulse towards self-flagellation. The question then is: why does the left feel the need to lash itself in penance? This is not a thorough study but I have been thinking about this for…
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What Is Divine Kingship?
It’s obvious that this includes two historical concepts — the divine right of kings in Europe and the mandate of heaven in China (and nearby regions) — but what else does it include and what does it not include? I live in the United States of America, a country whose population is officially about 70%…
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Palestine, Resistance, and Ressentiment
When trying to make sense of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, few among the supporters of Israel concede that Hamas had anything in mind but trying to kill Jews. The goals of the Palestinian people are always attributed to a hatred of Jews. Why is this?