Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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101) Richard III: The Self-Made King - Michael Hicks. Audiobook. 2019. Very dry but well researched and argued by a Tweedy John Gielgud looking mfer who's spent his life in those ol' Ricardian mines. Despite that, it remains a good read with a fascinating narrative about a medieval king no worse than any other in that long list of villains. He ruled for a very short time and then got stomped on reputationally by the Tudors.

102) Thusness - Alan Watts. Audiobook. Published 2015. The usual soothing Buddhist philosophy from a great speaker. May end up reading every thing the guy wrote.

103) Tenants: The People on the Frontline of Britain's Housing Emergency - Vicky Spratt. Audiobook. 2022. A lot of this book is already out of date, with examples about how the energy industry is regulated, as the rental market should. No fault of the writer, who honestly and with humanity reports the state of the housing crisis and the wealth extraction methods that landlords are able to utilise from the needy thanks to a government policy of intentional neglect and the scandal of short sightedly selling off social housing. Depressing, necessary, and overtaken by an insanely awful downward trend.

104) Tao The Ching - Lao Tzu (translated by Ursula Le Guin). I'm hardly about to sum this up with my lil aide memoire notes, am I? Enough to say that this has done me a lot of good in the past and I'm confident will continue to do so for as long as I draw breath and can comprehend its meanings. Beautiful translation by Le Guin. Different and the same.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Lecture research:
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Jessa Crispin, Why I am Not a Feminist. A short and provocative book that, I suspect, would find a receptive audience here. The short and dirty is that Crispin rejects the idea of a feminism that doesn't seek to overhaul a system of repression, that it is not worthy of the name. What is commonly called feminism these days is mere cover by women who seek to buy into the ruling system, to succeed within it for themselves. That kind of goal just lets women be exploiters themselves. It's not enough to not want to be marginalized and exploited; one has to also want to dismantle the structures and perspectives that marginalize and exploit others. If feminism doesn't make people uncomfortable, it ain't worth a damn.

Tub reading:
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Howard Browne, Thin Air. I've read this before, a classic mystery. A man, his wife, and daughter drive home after a long drive, early in the morning. The wife goes into the house and disappears without a trace. The police suspect the husband of murder.

Audio:
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James Ellroy, Hollywood Death Trip. Starting this tomorrow. Ellroy does the true crime thing.

Finished listening to Gary Gerstle's book on neoliberalism. Recommended. Very approachable for the non-academic and a useful way of looking at the past fifty years beyond the usual left/right politics. Instead, Gerstle sees far more continuity/commonality from Reagan to Obama.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Very interested in the book about what often gets called 'white feminism' but that is of course a term that ignores the centrality of class and geography.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finished listening to Gary Gerstle's book on neoliberalism. Recommended. Very approachable for the non-academic and a useful way of looking at the past fifty years beyond the usual left/right politics. Instead, Gerstle sees far more continuity/commonality from Reagan to Obama.
There's been zero reflection or re-order on this and it's why so many of our countries are in the horrible state we find ourselves consciously placed in.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:48pm
Finished listening to Gary Gerstle's book on neoliberalism. Recommended. Very approachable for the non-academic and a useful way of looking at the past fifty years beyond the usual left/right politics. Instead, Gerstle sees far more continuity/commonality from Reagan to Obama.
There's been zero reflection or re-order on this and it's why so many of our countries are in the horrible state we find ourselves consciously placed in.
Gerstle argues—and I do agree—that Trump and Sanders represent a turning point in rejecting the neoliberal hegemony. That is, the agreed-upon truths of neoliberalism—free markets equal human freedom, open borders, deregulation of business—are not only regularly questioned but increasingly rejected across the spectrum. What replaces this is unknown, and probably won't be for many years, but we are living in the interregnum between what was and what will be.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:47pm
Very interested in the book about what often gets called 'white feminism' but that is of course a term that ignores the centrality of class and geography.
She doesn't use the term (I don't think), but, yes, it is a faux feminism embraced by predominantly white, but more so upwardly mobile women as a way to justify their personal success within the prevailing system. Hillary Clinton or Beyonce, for example, are not feminists in any meaningful way because their success serves to validate a system to continues to exploit and marginalize billions of people. It's not supposed to be about making patriarchy a big tent because once people taste comfort and success from within, they become its defenders.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:59pm
Silent Majority wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:48pm
Finished listening to Gary Gerstle's book on neoliberalism. Recommended. Very approachable for the non-academic and a useful way of looking at the past fifty years beyond the usual left/right politics. Instead, Gerstle sees far more continuity/commonality from Reagan to Obama.
There's been zero reflection or re-order on this and it's why so many of our countries are in the horrible state we find ourselves consciously placed in.
Gerstle argues—and I do agree—that Trump and Sanders represent a turning point in rejecting the neoliberal hegemony. That is, the agreed-upon truths of neoliberalism—free markets equal human freedom, open borders, deregulation of business—are not only regularly questioned but increasingly rejected across the spectrum. What replaces this is unknown, and probably won't be for many years, but we are living in the interregnum between what was and what will be.
I saw someone on twitter, can't remember who, say something along the lines that Obama represented the attempt to do a welfare state within the logical confined of neoliberalism. Which, sure, I suppose (their point was that even Republicans post-lbj we're doing conservative projects within new deal/great society logic up until Reagan shattered that framework).

Without going too far on a limb of sounding like a proactive Biden supporter or something, I do think it's interesting that he's done the most spending on domestic social programs since, I believe, LBJ. Which I think just underlines the point that we may be seeing a shift away from the Reagan-to-Obama neoliberal consensus (even if, say, Biden almost certainly wouldn't contemplate it that way,).
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Flex wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 1:39pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:59pm
Silent Majority wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 12:48pm
Finished listening to Gary Gerstle's book on neoliberalism. Recommended. Very approachable for the non-academic and a useful way of looking at the past fifty years beyond the usual left/right politics. Instead, Gerstle sees far more continuity/commonality from Reagan to Obama.
There's been zero reflection or re-order on this and it's why so many of our countries are in the horrible state we find ourselves consciously placed in.
Gerstle argues—and I do agree—that Trump and Sanders represent a turning point in rejecting the neoliberal hegemony. That is, the agreed-upon truths of neoliberalism—free markets equal human freedom, open borders, deregulation of business—are not only regularly questioned but increasingly rejected across the spectrum. What replaces this is unknown, and probably won't be for many years, but we are living in the interregnum between what was and what will be.
I saw someone on twitter, can't remember who, say something along the lines that Obama represented the attempt to do a welfare state within the logical confined of neoliberalism. Which, sure, I suppose (their point was that even Republicans post-lbj we're doing conservative projects within new deal/great society logic up until Reagan shattered that framework).

Without going too far on a limb of sounding like a proactive Biden supporter or something, I do think it's interesting that he's done the most spending on domestic social programs since, I believe, LBJ. Which I think just underlines the point that we may be seeing a shift away from the Reagan-to-Obama neoliberal consensus (even if, say, Biden almost certainly wouldn't contemplate it that way,).
Gerstle claims that, as a % of GDP, Biden's social spending approaches that of during WWII. Admittedly, that part of the book necessarily has to be brief and an incomplete picture, but his reading was that Biden has not been looking to recreate the neoliberal order. He might not have a sense what he's pursuing, but it's not "let's get back to 2016." If all this is correct, Trump and Biden have played somewhat of a Jimmy Carter role, transitional figures before a full embrace of whatever comes next (fascism, welfare state democracy redux, etc).
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 1:55pm
If all this is correct, Trump and Biden have played somewhat of a Jimmy Carter role, transitional figures before a full embrace of whatever comes next (fascism, welfare state democracy redux, etc).
Flexian Autocracy
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Flex wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 2:02pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 1:55pm
If all this is correct, Trump and Biden have played somewhat of a Jimmy Carter role, transitional figures before a full embrace of whatever comes next (fascism, welfare state democracy redux, etc).
Flexian Autocracy
Image
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finishing up this book, which is ok, but really heavily focused on situationism and Malcolm. Which is fine, it pretty much delivers what it said it's going to, but after reading Jordan's autobio, there's certainly a lot of repeated info for me.
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ALSO decided to bite the bullet and begin reading In Search of Lost Time, by M. Proust—something I've wanted to do forever—I'm about 20 pages into Swann's Way and liking it quite a bit, but I'll see how it ends up in a few months (hopefully).
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Kory wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 4:56pm
Finishing up this book, which is ok, but really heavily focused on situationism and Malcolm. Which is fine, it pretty much delivers what it said it's going to, but after reading Jordan's autobio, there's certainly a lot of repeated info for me.
Image
Could you summarize? I do use Marcus in my punk course as a basic piece on punk and situationism. If I could replace it, I'd be interested.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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From Crispin and men who have "concerns" about feminist claims:
If so, this is my response: Take that shit somewhere else. I am not interested. You as a man are not my problem. It is not my job to make feminism easy or understandable to you. It is not my job to nurture and encourage your empathy, it is not my job to teach you how to deal with women being human beings.

And don’t take that shit to other women either. It’s not their job. Your lack of enlightenment is not our problem. Figure it out. Do the reading, feel your own feelings, don’t take them to someone else. Men have to do this work on their own and for each other. You cannot ask women to spend the next century carrying the burden of your discomfort and confusion. Do your own fucking work, gentlemen.
I read this to The Boss and she smiled because she's given a more polite version to white people who need reassurance that they're not racist even tho they are uncomfortable by some of things indigenous activists are saying about colonialism and structural racism.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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105) The Right to Sex - Amia Srinivasan. Audiobook. 2021. A collection of intersectional feminist essays including the title piece which was written after one of the incel shootings. There are reflections on talking with students about porn, about relationships between lecturers and their classes, about TERFs and more. Enlightening, but with some (likely unconscious) soft borders on areas within academia and the author's own arena.

106) The Last Kind Words Saloon - Larry McMurtry. 2014. Audiobook. A cowboy book from the writer of Lonesome Dove. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the gunfight at the OK Corral. This McMurtry book - the first of his I've read - is beautifully, understatedly written but doesn't seem to add up to much. Perhaps that's the point.

107) Ban This Filth: Mary Whitehouse and the Battle to Keep Britain Innocent - Ben Thompson. 2012. Paperback. Written in the laboured syntax of a broadsheet profile, peppered with the pedantic, passive aggressive style that defines any complaints letter, but perfected by Whitehouse in her fight to try and keep a country in the 1920s. The bigoted and philistine Whitehouse is given a very fair hearing and I came away from the book in the same mood I would have been if I'd met Mary.

108) The Little Book of Vaginas - Anna Lou Walker. 2022. Audiobook. Big fan of the topic, always put to learn more. This is aimed at young women and is a kind of users manual, so not exactly what I was after. The best one on that topic remains Come As You Are. Still, well worth learning as much as possible about a body part that more than 50% of us have.

109) Love Labour's Lost - William Shakespeare. 159something. Play, read on Kindle and audio production listened to. Didn't like this at all. A pile of what people think all of Shakespeare is, punning idiots and a plot that fail to justify its length. I felt this an excuse to use up some early poems, but have been told it's a pure piece of attempting to impress patronage.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 7:40pm
Kory wrote:
06 Sep 2022, 4:56pm
Finishing up this book, which is ok, but really heavily focused on situationism and Malcolm. Which is fine, it pretty much delivers what it said it's going to, but after reading Jordan's autobio, there's certainly a lot of repeated info for me.
Image
Could you summarize? I do use Marcus in my punk course as a basic piece on punk and situationism. If I could replace it, I'd be interested.
When I said "finishing up," I meant I was half-done and planned to read the other half that night, but it didn't work out with my timing. In any case, it's started going into other topics now—focusing on Derek Jarman, Andrew Logan, the cross-section of queer culture and fascist imagery among the Bromley Contingent, Penny Rimbaud's piece "Banned from the Roxy," etc. I'm not sure it's going to be a good replacement for Lipstick Traces if that book is REALLY situationism-based (I never got too far into its pomposity), but I'll let you know when I wrap up.
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