A Digest of This Newsletter So Far
For the newbies, or for those who missed it the first time.
I’ve been posting on this newsletter for two years now, and I’ve gotten a fair number of new subscribers in the past couple of months, so I figured I would make a (non-exhaustive) post collecting my work here so far, offering brief summaries and links for people to peruse in a digestible format.
Firstly, in case this wasn’t clear already, I am a dirty leftist. If you’re someone who signed up for this newsletter because you watched my video appreciation of The Band’s Garth Hudson, that’s awesome! That was a fun video to make, it came from the heart, and I appreciate the positive response it has gotten from people. But you should know that a person’s cultural interests such as music tastes and attire should have little to no bearing on their material politics. I am unapologetic with my leftist politics, so in addition to the odd bit of music criticism and cultural analysis here, you can expect much critique of the dastardly American empire from this newsletter. Sorry if you just came looking for more reviews of Americana music. Thank you for sticking around if you do. Also, here’s a reminder that you can support the creation of more work for this project by becoming a paying subscriber :)
1. How Does Someone Become a Leftist?
This charts my general political trajectory and offers recommendations for important books, films, and news outlets for anyone interested in exploring leftist politics.
2. The Cycle of Mass Layoffs in the Video Game Industry is Not a Problem of "Culture" – It’s a Problem of Exploitation
I interviewed some long-exploited video game workers who have either been laid off from their jobs or decided to form a labor union to protect themselves and their fellow workers. This article examines how the video game industry mistreats its workers and what those workers can do to fix a profoundly broken system.
3. Terrorism Is Whatever the Elites Say It Is
For the U.S., anti-terrorism is a tool that perpetuates the root causes of injustice and conveniently stifles dissent at home and abroad. This article examines how the state’s definition of terror is largely provisional, certainly hypocritical, and divorced from any consistent, universal principle of justice. Originally published by Current Affairs here.
4. Yes, Language Is Important, But Changing Words Does Not Change Material Conditions
An examination of why nonprofit liberals love changing terminology and policing language, and what we can do to get back to a more sane conception of politics.
5. Liberal Politics is Just a Football Game
People who treat politics like a sport are missing the very real and troubling undercurrents of American society. This article examines the stupidity of American culture wars through the lens of Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley.
6. Those Who Choose to Play the Game Are the Ones Who Win
The misfits of our modern society are often the ones with the clearest critique of what ails us, and thus they point the way forward to something better.
7. George Floyd Had Very Little to Do With the 2020 Uprisings
Arguments that try to call into question the worthiness of incidents that incite uprisings and riots, such as saying that what happened to George Floyd was more complicated than what was presented by the media, are missing the point entirely. The fact that such destructive uprisings can happen in the U.S. at all is indicative of a profoundly sick society.
8. The Self-Immolation of Aaron Bushnell Exposes the Need for an American Reckoning
Our society is not able to comprehend people like Aaron Bushnell and their actions because we have totally spurned the ability to be morally serious people, along with the vulnerability, earnestness, and humanity which this requires. This article compares Bushnell’s self-immolation with the self-immolations of climate and anti-war activists in the United States. Originally published by Salon here.
9. No, Mass Layoffs Are Not Just Part of the Videogame Industry's "Culture."
Examining the astounding number of layoffs that videogame executives have imposed on their overworked and precarious workforces in the last year, with approximately 16,000 people losing their jobs in 2023 and 2024 alone. I argue for a better conception of why these mass layoffs happen and how the videogame industry, and creative industries in general, can be significantly improved for workers.
10. Israel Treats Gaza and the West Bank Like the Wild American Frontier
What the United States is to the Native Americans, Israel is to the Palestinians. It is the same project of lies, propaganda, theft, rape, murder, and genocide all dressed up under encomiums to civilization and religion and liberal values. If this is what our vaunted Western values wreak, forever and ever, then they deserve to be torn asunder.
11. The Folly of American Militarism
We are training our children for war. The United States, through its powerful propaganda machine and its cruel, coercive economic system, churns out generation after generation of fresh canon fodder. What hope is there for a society that is hell-bent on perpetuating its insane imperial ventures?
12. Things Are Only Corny If You Can't Relate To Them
Some musings on growing old, degradation, growing into empathy, and crying at really corny parts in movies.
13. I Am Asking You to Count the Costs With Me
I have never owned a smartphone. This is a plea for people to look around them. An argument that the internet and smartphones are destroying everything that is good in this world. And a cry to do something about it.
14. Responding to Sam Harris and Yuval Noah Harari On Palestine
People like Sam Harris refuse to understand the world, and instead they defend the indefensible by pretending that they are more rational beings than everyone else. As such, they have blood on their hands. This post refutes a collection of pro-Zionist myths and propaganda.
15. The American Political System Is Broken
An examination of the state of politics in the U.S. today. What is the value of electoralism? Where should we invest our political energy? And what happens when we are shut out from a meaningful say in the political process?
16. In Memory of the Great American Novelist Russell Banks
The novelist Russell Banks, who died recently at the age of 82, made a life out of bearing witness to the forgotten, and of recording memory for the sake of survival itself. This is an appreciation of his life, work, and philosophy.
17. Dessa Has A New Album Out. Let's Review It.
For all you music lovers out there. Dessa, the eternally rising hip-hop artist, takes a turn for pop with her new album, "Bury The Lede." As a longtime fan, I offer my perspective on how her new album fits in with the rest of her impressive body of work.
18. The Fact that Henry Kissinger Died a Free Man is Nothing to Celebrate
Henry Kissinger got away with millions of murders. I'm not sure why we're celebrating his death. This post looks at some of his worst crimes, and wonders how we should respond to profound failures of justice.
19. Dispatches from Atlanta and the Movement to Stop Cop City
I spent September and November of last year participating in the protests to stop the construction of “Cop City” in a forest outside Atlanta. This is some reportage of my first month there, with an examination of how the attempts to Stop Cop City are related to previous environmentalist movements. Originally published by Monthly Review here. An after-action debrief of the Block Cop City action that took place in November is forthcoming!
20. Let Me Tell You About Garth Hudson of The Band
This is a deep, heartfelt appreciation for one of my favorite musicians in my favorite band, The Band. Whether you’re a longtime fan or you’ve never heard of them, this is a grounded, accessible examination of The Band’s legacy and how Garth Hudson helped make them who they are.
21. Israel Had No Gloves To Take Off
Providing some much needed context and nuance following the inevitable belligerent and dehumanizing rhetoric in the wake of October 7th.
22. I Want The Circle To Be Broken Already
I don’t generally get depressed about the state of the world, but if there’s one thing that drives me up the wall, it’s that people never learn from history because they simply don’t learn history. If they did, they might at least show some embarrassment when they play the same old, tired, murderous roles as those who came before them. It’s like we’re all reading from the script for Waiting for Godot, forever.
23. I Think Catastrophe Always Arrives. It's Just A Matter of How You Deal With It.
Some musings on our inability, both collectively and individually, to comprehend — let alone deal with — catastrophe when the moment arrives. I reference Kafka in this one. Shit is bleak.
24. NPR Is Not Your Friend
An examination of how the "liberal" news outlet targets a very narrow demographic and pays fealty to powerful interests while limiting our vision of the politically possible. Originally published by Current Affairs here.
25. The Terror That Goes Around Comes Around
Did you know that the U.S. has given material support to jihadists all over the world for decades? Did you know that it is currently giving funding and arms to ISIS? (Sam Harris doesn’t seem to know these things.) This is an examination of the incredibly cynical efforts by the U.S. to destroy leftwing movements for justice throughout the world by giving aid and comfort to murderous right-wing fundamentalists, thereby ensuring inevitable blowback.
26. We Need to Talk About Tech Boys
I’ve worked in live theatre for nearly 15 years. As such, I’ve seen some things. This is a critique of my profession generally, and specifically the annoying dorks who have totally lost the plot.
27. The Self-Immolations of Climate Activists Exposes The Need For An American Reckoning
In light of Aaron Bushnell’s recent self-immolation, I feel that the central thesis of this piece is, and will sadly remain, vindicated. Acts of self-destruction will continue so long as people cannot meaningfully change things. This article provides deep research of self-immolators of the anti-Vietnam War era who are sadly forgotten. It collects their stories, their documents, and their philosophies all in one place. I could write a book about these people, and, unfortunately, since no one else has done it, maybe I should. Any publishers in the audience feel free to hit me up with a contract.
28. As Western Media Again Becomes A Cheerleader For War, Bias in the Press Mirrors Imperial Ideology
Besides ignorance of history, the other thing that drives me absolutely batty is Western hypocrisy. Nowhere has this hypocrisy been more amply demonstrated in my lifetime than with the war in Ukraine. This is an examination of the lies America told its people in order to demonize its enemies. It also provides some much needed context to Russia’s criminal invasion. I find it very telling that nearly no one who was so quick to raise the Ukrainian flag over their doorways did the same with the Palestinian flag. Fuck you people.
29. Nancy Pelosi Is Running For Her 19th Term In Congress - Her Challenger, Shahid Buttar, Has Something To Say About That
Even though this was a timely article, it is still worth revisiting because the dynamics which upset Shahid Buttar’s campaigns against Nancy Pelosi in 2020 and 2022 sadly remain. Predictably, as a leftwing outsider, Buttar was smeared and sidelined, suffering from the weaponization of identity politics against him and bogus Me Too allegations. Buttar is not alone in this. Any leftwing challenger can expect to face the full repertoire of mainstream tactics against them. I interviewed Buttar for this article, and you can watch our full interview here. You can also read his Substack here.
30. On Dessa and the Novartis Brand of Biomedical Engineering
This is a serialization, in five parts, of a wide-ranging essay I wrote chiefly concerning a cure for cancer known as Kymriah that was developed by the pharmaceutical company Novartis using taxpayer dollars, as well as my thoughts on Dessa’s music and live shows. It’s an unlikely pairing! Maybe I accomplished that feat, maybe I didn’t, I haven’t read it in a while. But parts three and five are the ones that talk the most about the monopolized, privatized cancer cure. I plan to do an article that focuses just on that topic, because more people should be as enraged about it as I am. But for now, this is the form that it’s in.
31. Something Is Rotten With Our Food Banks
To this day, this is the most read thing that I’ve ever written (that I know of. I’m not sure what kind of numbers Current Affairs and Salon do). I worked at a nonprofit food bank for about a year and a half. Nonprofits should not hire leftists. Also, nonprofits should not exist. And if they do exist, they should cut the bullshit about trying to work themselves out of their jobs and just be honest about the fact that they are perpetuating the problems that they tell people they are trying to solve. This is my socialist argument for why food banks in the United States are in a unique position of power that could be leveraged to actually make meaningful strides in reducing hunger. Instead, we drip feed the masses in order to keep capitalism on life support.
32. And Finally! Poetry!
I write lots of poetry. Sometimes I post it on this newsletter if I think it’s good enough. Sometimes I make short films based on the poems. You can find all the Weird Catastrophe poems in the “Poetry” tab at the top of the homepage. I like these three in particular:
And that’s it! Thank you for being here. I will continue to post on here, on Youtube, as well as try to get things published in other outlets so that more people can get their eyes on it. I hope you find something provoking, engaging, or just something you simply like (or even hate) here. Share it with a friend. Share how you feel about it, like this person did. And help a brother out, like this person did:
