sparpart.bsky.social
German Studies @ Brown
(PhD in progress)
Critical theory / aesthetics & politics / speculative fiction
25 posts
50 followers
296 following
Regular Contributor
Conversation Starter
comment in response to
post
Returning to pre-WWI social hierarchies and gender roles was also a big part of the German fascist project
comment in response to
post
Doesn't "understand what the law really is or that his job is to enforce it. he has less capacity for moral cognition than a K9 unit" describes most cops
comment in response to
post
Feeling Bernie.
comment in response to
post
The extent to which human language acquisition and processing is probabilistic is a hotly debated question. As is the q whether and which higher cognitive functions are reducible to language. It's also entirely immaterial to the prospects of gen AI.
comment in response to
post
Glad to hear you cover the German elections, but there were some factual errors, as well as missing the bigger picture of the CDU's pronounced authoritarian shift. Would love for you to talk to someone on the show that has a deeper understanding of German politics and recent protests
comment in response to
post
More like 60%
comment in response to
post
Every party on the left needs to learn from this (and fast) if they’re interested in stopping the descent into fascism.
comment in response to
post
Die Linke only got their shit together late in the game, but their substantial gains in the last weeks show that a combination of: 1) smart online campaigning, 2) speaking to actual economic concerns, and 3) channeling popular anti-fascist sentiment is a successful strategy. (Who knew? /s)
comment in response to
post
Meanwhile, the Greens are still on the slow creep to becoming the main center-left party. If they’re smart (big if), they'll position themselves (against an unpopular coalition on one side and the far-right on the other) as the leaders of the democratic opposition, and leverage this position.
comment in response to
post
With no course-correction in sight, this will continue until they are either functionally identical to the AfD, or incapable of forming a coalition with anyone else. Quite possibly they'll have gotten there by the time of the next election.
comment in response to
post
Still, CDU’s continued push to the right resulted in their electoral victory, so they won't abandon this strategy anytime soon. Having to govern with the SPD will temper extremism for now, but they will continue to build racist and anti-democratic messaging into their brand.
comment in response to
post
The AfD’s base aren’t ‘concerned citizens’ who want more socially conservative, racist, nationalist policies – they’re fascists who want to overthrow 'the system'. The only party they’re going to vote for is the one promising a violent reorganization of the whole country.
comment in response to
post
The failure by both other right-wing parties and the BSW to draw a significant amount of votes from the AfD shows (for the umpteenth time) that encroaching on the territory of the far right only strengthens them.
comment in response to
post
Analyses will likely show that AfD managed to activate a lot of previous non-voters. But I'd be very surprised if they alone accounted for the majority of ~5 million additional voters compared to last year.
comment in response to
post
This election was never about an immediate far-right takeover, but about whether we're on track for one in four years. CDU will have to govern with the center-left for now, but is going to continue its reenactment of the GOP's MAGA radicalization. Next election could be the one that kills democracy.