There's a British poet named Toby Martinez de las Rivas. A few years back he published a collection with Faber called 'Black Sun'. A leftist 'critic' (read: ideologue) wrote a blog in which he claimed the poet was a fascist, and that all the poems in the collection were 'dogwhistling' to the far right (etc. ) All hell broke loose, and the British 'poetry community' (all hyper-woke upper middle class types) tried to cancel both de las Rivas and Faber with a vengeance. Rivas claimed he didn't know what the Black Sun was in a political context, and I tend to believe him. What poems of his I have read are of course in no way neo-Nazi: though they are not progressive or post-modern either, which may be his real crime. Anyway, he was abused all over the shop in the most dishonest of ways. I'd be willing to bet that many of those who jumped on that bandwagon are now going all-out for war on Russia.
Evidently, there was a protest / art thing-y at the Guggenheim in which "artists" threw paper airplanes into the central spiral of the Guggenheim: Demanding a no-fly zone.
Don't get me going on what M.F.A. programs have done to art. And don't get me going on artists who think that pronouns are politics.
Yet what may be most important to keep in mind about social media is that they have cultivated an unfiltered, unreflective self. Think of the "campaigns" to have all transgendered roles in film to be played by transgendered actors. It's the self in action, demanding, demanding.
The word "selfie" is the perfect coinage, although those who coined it are not likely to see the horrible ironies.
This is the first crowd-sourced war--backed by many, many photos of blond children to cause atavistic feelings among Americans. The Mongol hordes that you mentioned.
And many countries now want to bring in as many Ukrainian refugees as they can, not thinking of the unintended consequences, often seen in the US of A, of the worst sort of rightwing immigrants preaching that social change is not possible.
Speaking TV, speaking social media. That's striking! Marshall McLuhan is "liking" this from his grave! Or maybe he's simply nodding and grinning. Seems to me the giant elephant in the the ever collapsing binary realm is good and evil. “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is a hallucinating idiot...for he sees what no one else does: things that, to everyone else, are not there.” ~Marshall McLuhan
One thing to note is that Azov's political wing won ~2% of the vote in Ukraine at the last election. While it's worth talking about, it's also important to not overstate the influence of that particular group in a country where a Jewish entertainer won over 70% of the vote. That's always a fine line to walk.
The most interesting thing about Azov is how quickly those groups can coalesce given the right stimulus. Russia's arming/funding/training of separatists in Ukraine provided the stimulus and ultra-nationalists, football hooligans, nazis, and right wingers seized the moment in creating their militia. Then they managed to get themselves absorbed as an official part of the national guard (while theoretically splitting off the political component). And I imagine they will gain significant popularity thanks to this invasion; one need only look at what the US occupation did for the Taliban's popularity over time for a very recent example.
This is, of course, the same cycle we have seen around the world for decades. The US/NATO or Russia/USSR intervenes somewhere. This is a boon for fascists, religious extremists, and similar groups. Ideologies that might not have been particularly attractive in a vacuum now have greater meaning; now you're defending your homes and families. And not only that, you'll probably get guns, training, and money from either Russia or the US/NATO in opposition to the initial intervention!
And you're absolutely right - all of those guns and munitions are going to spill out of Ukraine at some point. After Ukraine falls, the insurgency will win in the long term; Russia simply doesn't have enough soldiers to occupy Ukraine. Rand puts the bare minimum number of soldiers required to secure a country at 1 per 50 inhabitants (not even counting the force dedicated to fighting an active insurgency). So at the end, you'll have a bunch of radicalized people with weapons who've just fought a prolonged insurgency.
It would be good for all to see the tribalism that is also driving the vax/antivax, mask/antimask, conservative/liberal, christian/pagan spit and hiss in the same light. Empire requires us/them. All of this is heading us in the same direction, especially in the U.S. and Canada, neither of which need to repel invaders to have an over abundance of guns.
In the end, the machine wins if we remain divided.
There's a British poet named Toby Martinez de las Rivas. A few years back he published a collection with Faber called 'Black Sun'. A leftist 'critic' (read: ideologue) wrote a blog in which he claimed the poet was a fascist, and that all the poems in the collection were 'dogwhistling' to the far right (etc. ) All hell broke loose, and the British 'poetry community' (all hyper-woke upper middle class types) tried to cancel both de las Rivas and Faber with a vengeance. Rivas claimed he didn't know what the Black Sun was in a political context, and I tend to believe him. What poems of his I have read are of course in no way neo-Nazi: though they are not progressive or post-modern either, which may be his real crime. Anyway, he was abused all over the shop in the most dishonest of ways. I'd be willing to bet that many of those who jumped on that bandwagon are now going all-out for war on Russia.
Evidently, there was a protest / art thing-y at the Guggenheim in which "artists" threw paper airplanes into the central spiral of the Guggenheim: Demanding a no-fly zone.
Don't get me going on what M.F.A. programs have done to art. And don't get me going on artists who think that pronouns are politics.
Yet what may be most important to keep in mind about social media is that they have cultivated an unfiltered, unreflective self. Think of the "campaigns" to have all transgendered roles in film to be played by transgendered actors. It's the self in action, demanding, demanding.
The word "selfie" is the perfect coinage, although those who coined it are not likely to see the horrible ironies.
This is the first crowd-sourced war--backed by many, many photos of blond children to cause atavistic feelings among Americans. The Mongol hordes that you mentioned.
And many countries now want to bring in as many Ukrainian refugees as they can, not thinking of the unintended consequences, often seen in the US of A, of the worst sort of rightwing immigrants preaching that social change is not possible.
Speaking TV, speaking social media. That's striking! Marshall McLuhan is "liking" this from his grave! Or maybe he's simply nodding and grinning. Seems to me the giant elephant in the the ever collapsing binary realm is good and evil. “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is a hallucinating idiot...for he sees what no one else does: things that, to everyone else, are not there.” ~Marshall McLuhan
In the logic of social media, every fascist should be outlawed, but some more than others.
One thing to note is that Azov's political wing won ~2% of the vote in Ukraine at the last election. While it's worth talking about, it's also important to not overstate the influence of that particular group in a country where a Jewish entertainer won over 70% of the vote. That's always a fine line to walk.
The most interesting thing about Azov is how quickly those groups can coalesce given the right stimulus. Russia's arming/funding/training of separatists in Ukraine provided the stimulus and ultra-nationalists, football hooligans, nazis, and right wingers seized the moment in creating their militia. Then they managed to get themselves absorbed as an official part of the national guard (while theoretically splitting off the political component). And I imagine they will gain significant popularity thanks to this invasion; one need only look at what the US occupation did for the Taliban's popularity over time for a very recent example.
This is, of course, the same cycle we have seen around the world for decades. The US/NATO or Russia/USSR intervenes somewhere. This is a boon for fascists, religious extremists, and similar groups. Ideologies that might not have been particularly attractive in a vacuum now have greater meaning; now you're defending your homes and families. And not only that, you'll probably get guns, training, and money from either Russia or the US/NATO in opposition to the initial intervention!
And you're absolutely right - all of those guns and munitions are going to spill out of Ukraine at some point. After Ukraine falls, the insurgency will win in the long term; Russia simply doesn't have enough soldiers to occupy Ukraine. Rand puts the bare minimum number of soldiers required to secure a country at 1 per 50 inhabitants (not even counting the force dedicated to fighting an active insurgency). So at the end, you'll have a bunch of radicalized people with weapons who've just fought a prolonged insurgency.
I think the poison path has caused a little bit of brain damage in some witches.
It would be good for all to see the tribalism that is also driving the vax/antivax, mask/antimask, conservative/liberal, christian/pagan spit and hiss in the same light. Empire requires us/them. All of this is heading us in the same direction, especially in the U.S. and Canada, neither of which need to repel invaders to have an over abundance of guns.
In the end, the machine wins if we remain divided.
great article, thanks. and thank you as well for having your links open in a new screen.