21/ I Can’t Breathe: A Virtual Dialogue
nmbx.newmusicusa.org/i-cant-breathe-a-virtual-dialogue/
Yesterday in The Guardian: The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked.
@Reichenstein pointed to this article (in German) back in December: Ich habe nur gezeigt, dass es die Bombe gibt.
And Adactio yesterday: A minority report on artificial intelligence.
Shortly after posting yesterday’s entry, a tweet by Kai Brach1 got me bookmarking a link:
😩 “Based on history we are due another period of destruction, and based on history all the indicators are that we are entering one.”
The quote is from History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump, an essay by Tobias Stone.2 He’s also followed up that essay with an in-depth response to some of the comments on it.
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The upcoming issue of his Offscreen magazine is themed around “taking a closer look at what’s ahead and how we can think meaningfully about the future.” ↩
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The essay has also since been published by the Huffington Post, only there “…what may happen next…” in the title, has been changed to “…What Will Happen Next…” ↩
Amid all the political reporting and commentary that I’ve been reading in the major newspapers, something that Dave Winer wrote on his blog has stuck with me: That he hoped Trump would “fail and fail big,” in order to “Get this fascist thing out of the American system.”
It seems that humans still have some way to go before they’ve burnt through their base instincts. Hopefully we won’t need to sink too low before we learn.
It’s puzzling that so many seem so willing to allow themselves to be blindly swept along by dramatic claims for easy fixes to complex problems.
The current situations in both Turkey and America have prompted comparisons with Hitler. Jason Kottke, with a nod to Mike Godwin, posted a succinct TED video that takes a look at the processes by which fascism might arise in a democratic society.
A tweet by Ben Werdmüller caught my eye this morning.
The thing about having more than one citizenship is that none are secondary. They’re all just a part of who you are.
That resonated with me.
The tweet was in response to changes in Canadian law affecting those that won’t become stateless should their Canadian citizenship be taken away – effectively turning them into second class citizens. Part of a series of changes the Toronto Star describes as singling out “others” within society as the object of fear.
A tendency in many parts of the world. Hopefully a darkest hour before dawn.