Dear friends,
A few weeks ago I was invited to give a speech at the fourth International Crisis Summit in the Romanian parliament – you might know this already because I shared the text and the recording of my presentation in …
The Rise of Propaganda-Dependent Elites and Lonely Masses
ICS4 – Day 2 – 18. Mattias Desmet {"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@id":"https:\/\/straight2point.info\/the-rise-of-propaganda-dependent-elites-and-lonely-masses\/#arve-youtube-vrhcds4ma7u662357f027e54524741979","type":"VideoObject","embedURL":"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/vrHcdS4ma7U?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=1&autoplay=1&enablejsapi=1","name":"ICS4 - Day 2 - 18. Mattias Desmet","thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/vrHcdS4ma7U\/hqdefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2023-12-26T16:03:52+00:00","author":"International Covid Summit","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vrHcdS4ma7U In my opinion, one of the more important speeches provided at the recent Fourth International Covid\/Crisis Summit, held last month in Bucharest…
How the Madness of Crowds Wrecked Something Navy
Corporate bankruptcies in the US just hit the largest rate since the worst of the lockdowns. It’s a reflection of a wild boom and bust fed by $8 trillion in stimulus plus crazy impositions that broke supply chains and destabilized …
No Institution is Safe: DEI Thought Control in the Military
[co-author is Phillip Keuhlen, a retired naval officer and nuclear industry senior manager. He was educated at the US Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School and had the privilege to command the USS Sam Houston (SSN-609), a nuclear submarine. …
What the Obamas Fear: The Rest of Us
Much has been made of the Netflix peri-apocalyptic yawner, Leave the World Behind, directed by Sam Esmail and produced by Michelle and Barack Obama. Most reviews focus on the supposedly contentious racial attitudes expressed in the film, the bizarre collapsing-world …
Lives Unleavened by the Gift of Wonder
Not long ago, I spent a long day in a European capital in the company of a group of young Americans in their 20s and 30s who had been brought together as a result of their elite academic and creative …
Letters to the Patronising Fools in Parliament
“Dear Richard,
I am an adult. Some of my adult friends say that all members of parliament have our best interests at heart and that they are intelligent and respectful. Papa says if you see it on Substack it’s so. …
Living Everywhere in a Carceral Surveillance State
If you live in a Chinese city, or even in London, you are probably so used to surveillance cameras all around you – on lamp posts, the corners of buildings, and so on – that you would hardly bat an …
The Grateful Dead Succumbed to Coronamania, but We Didn’t Conform
I’ve played and have enjoyed hearing others—who are better at it—play live music.
I’ve seen well over 100 shows, including Springsteen (for $6 in 1977), Wilco, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joan Armatrading, The Pogues, Queen Ida, Lucinda Williams, Pat Metheny, Habib …
Slave or Master of Technology: The Choice is Ours
After writing the post on what Martin Heidegger can teach us about technology, I realised that some readers might come to the conclusion that everything about technology is ‘bad’ – after all, Heidegger’s conception does strike one as being a …
Is Naomi Klein “Othering” Me Due to Family Ties to Vaccine Money?
The writer, Naomi Klein, wrote a whole book, Doppelgänger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, weirdly, I gather, centering on me.
I have intentionally not read it yet, and I had hoped not to have to do so.
But I …
Those Who Cry “Far Right” Have No Idea What’s Happening in Dublin
You might think that a government faced with a barbaric public stabbing of schoolchildren and an unprecedented night of rioting in its capital city would extend condolences to the victims, take a deep breath, and try to figure out how …
Counseling a Gaslit Nation
In 1944 the truly remarkable movie Gaslight, starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, was released to theaters to great success and acclaim. Its plot centers around a woman who is being manipulated by her husband to believe that she is …
Can Thanksgiving Traditions Survive a Four-Year Pause?
For decades, I enjoyed Thanksgiving. Each year, we traveled to my parents’ or one of my brothers’, or in-law’s, houses. Twelve to fifteen people sat around two, age-defined tables and ate a hearty, redolent, mid-afternoon meal of turkey, stuffing, homemade, …
Beware the Autism-Friendly City
On 6th November, Dublin launched its Autism-Friendly City plan in a bid to become the world’s most autism-friendly capital city.
‘It’s a really exciting day,’ Dublin’s Lord Mayor said. ‘I do hope where Dublin leads, the rest of the country …
