“What’s really behind America’s men v women election” – Katty Kay (BBC)

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“It’s 2024 and few people want to be the jerk who’ll tell a pollster outright that they don’t think a woman is fit for the Oval Office (though plenty are prepared to share misogynistic memes on social media). A Democratic strategist suggested there’s a code, when voters tell pollsters that Harris is not “ready” or doesn’t have the right “personality” or “what it takes,” what they really mean is that the problem is she’s a woman”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr430gry81o

“Fandom has toxified the world” – Alan Moore (Guardian)

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“And while the vulgar comic story was originally proffered solely to the working classes, soaring retail prices had precluded any audience save the more affluent; had gentrified a previously bustling and lively cultural slum neighbourhood. This boost in fandom’s age and status possibly explains its current sense of privilege, its tendency to carp and cavil rather than contribute or create. I speak only of comics fandom here, but have gained the impression that this reflexive belligerence – most usually from middle-aged white male conservatives – is now a part of many fan communities. My 14-year-old grandson tells me older Pokémon aficionados can display the same febrile disgruntlement”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/26/fandom-has-toxified-the-world-watchmen-author-alan-moore-on-superheroes-comicsgate-and-trump

“Good grief” – John Elledge

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“But the thing about grief I never got before is that it’s not a straight line, or a curve, but a wave form. I sort of imagined, before all this, that it would be linear: things would be bad, but gradually they would get better; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. But those stages don’t happen one after another, but pile onto you at random; you can be triggered by anything or nothing at all, and the pain of everything you’ve lost and the hole it left behind can still hit you like the first time again. Sometimes, when you think you’ve turned a corner, you run straight into a wall”

https://jonn.substack.com/p/good-grief

“Starmer deserves a better class of critic” – Ian Dunt

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“I’ve never wanted to love a politician. I evaluate them entirely negatively – not by wondering what wonderful things they will achieve, but by embracing all the terrible things they might prevent. I am prepared to accept all sorts of compromises with my own values as long as the government is better than the alternative. Voting is not an expression of my soul. It is not a demonstration of my identity. It is my attempt to secure marginal improvements on what came before, regardless of all the various disappointments it will necessarily entail.

If there is a central principle that this government is all about, it is about this chief distinction in politics – between those who want pragmatism and sobriety and those who want a great zero-sum battle in the sky”

https://iandunt.substack.com/p/starmer-deserves-a-better-class-of

“Issue 68 – Opportunity agenda” – Molly White

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“If there’s one thing crypto fans won’t give up on, it’s trying to create their own countries, sovereign communities, seasteads, and other things of that nature. One such community is the rather uncreatively named libertarian paradise that will be “Liberland” — at least if they can convince the Croatian government to stop arresting its supposed “citizens” every time they try to visit the roughly 1700-acrem patch of floodlands next to the Danube that Liberlanders claim is a sovereign state. (Croatia apparently disagrees)”

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-68/

“You Can’t Make Friends With The Rockstars” – Ed Zitron

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“To be clear, Zuckerberg started dressing differently in May, yet he’s still getting headlines about it in October. This has been a successful — and loathsome — PR campaign, one where the media has fallen for it hook, line and sinker, all while ignoring the environmental damage of Meta’s pursuit of generative AI and the fact that the company fucking sucks.

This is a problem of focus and accountability, and illustrative of a continual failure to catch a conman in the act”

https://www.wheresyoured.at/rockstars/

“Hawaii Makes the Shaka Its Official State Gesture” – Lowering the Bar

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“Obviously, the meaning of symbols can change over time, maybe the best example being the swastika, which once was a symbol of “good fortune” and “friendship” but now … not so much. Certainly now the shaka seems to have only positive connotations. Even if there is a good chance it was invented by a bunch of kids making fun of an amputee. Just try not to think about that part”

https://www.loweringthebar.net/2024/10/hawaii-makes-shaka-its-official-gesture.html

“The Retreat To Muskworld” – Ed Neidermeyer

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“This trajectory, from simulating future capability on public roads to creating a fantasy world for fantasy cars to show off fantasy capabilities, should worry Tesla’s supporters. We can already see Musk retreating into a misinformation-fueled fantasy world every day on Twitter, and the jarring divisiveness of the Cybertruck suggests that his runaway ego is already making Tesla’s products less palatable. If Musk’s retreat into a self-soothing fantasy bubble is also making his hype game less effective, and the 8% drop in Tesla’s stock price suggests that it is, his most important skill set is on the line”

https://niedermeyer.io/2024/10/11/the-retreat-to-muskworld/