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Superheroes and the Police

Literate Machine

Release Date: 06/11/2020

Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy show art Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy

Literate Machine

How Tony Stark, the myth of meritocracy, and our unspoken beliefs about genius explain Elon Musk and the (re)turn of eugenics to the right wing Blog version and information about podcast and mailing list: If you enjoyed this, please tell someone, as word-of-mouth is how projects like this grow. For as little as $1 an episode, you can get exclusive authors notes, excerpts, and early access to episodes by supporting me on Patreon at: Thanks to my current Patrons: Kathryn Carruthers, Gabi Ghita, Hristo Kolev, Kevin Cafferty, Ulysse Pence, Wilma Ezekowitz, IndustrialRobot, Not Invader Zim, Jason...

info_outline How Will Capitalism End? The Orville, Eduard Bernstein, and What is to Be Done? show art How Will Capitalism End? The Orville, Eduard Bernstein, and What is to Be Done?

Literate Machine

What does comedic science fiction television show The Orville tell us about how capitalism will end? How did Germany go from having the largest and most powerful socialist movement in the world to finding its movement gutted and its country given over to fascists? How did Eduard Bernstein, despite his best intentioned, upend the Marxist movement and provide cover for those who wanted to destroy it? And was he actually right all along? All this and more will be answered! The previous video, Star Trek into Socialism, is not necessary for appreciating this one, but the two inform each other:...

info_outline Star Trek into Socialism: or Who Deserves the Future show art Star Trek into Socialism: or Who Deserves the Future

Literate Machine

Does Star Trek show us what socialism looks like? What would it look like if we organized society democratically instead of allowing a few people to control most of the resources?   Bibliography and Further Reading * Obviously, the work of Marx and Engels is key to this piece. Particular texts I drew on here include The Civil War in France (1871) (modern editions contain the first draft and the address on the Civil War) and The Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875). Marx's "La Liberte" speech (1872) is where he proposes that some countries might transition to communism peacefully:...

info_outline Loki and How Conservatives Become Fascists show art Loki and How Conservatives Become Fascists

Literate Machine

Marvel's Loki shows us what fascism looks like, and how it comes to take root within innocuous conservatism.   Corrections: • Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Bros are not Jewish. Actual examples of Jewish funders of the right include Sheldon Adelson and Ike Perlmutter. I may upload a revised version of this audio with the names changed. • Malthus never directly said that the poor and unskilled should be liquidated, but he did oppose aid to the poor on the theory that they should be allowed to naturally die out if they were of no use to society in order to preserve resources. Interstitial...

info_outline The Confused Ideology of Schitt's Creek show art The Confused Ideology of Schitt's Creek

Literate Machine

How a show about poverty that can't ever bare to really show poverty illustrates everything we've been blind to. Support the show on Patreon and get early access to episodes and exclusive Authors Notes: Text of the show and more information about other formats it's available can be found at: Bibliography and Further Reading - Hallmark Christmas movie montage sourced from: - On the urban-rural divide of Christmas movies: - The TV Tropes entry for From New York to Nowhere: - Ted Koppel's piece on The Andy Griffith Show and modern politics: - A fascinating video that explains how the ethos...

info_outline Defund the Paw Patrol show art Defund the Paw Patrol

Literate Machine

Is the Paw Patrol an unintentional conservative utopia? What can the show tell us about how the political spectrum views the police, its purpose, and its funding.

info_outline How the Hippies Became Yuppies: The Trial of the Chicago 7 show art How the Hippies Became Yuppies: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Literate Machine

How Aaron Sorkin whitewashes the story of hippy activism, and how the hippy activists whitewashed themselves.

info_outline Pixar's Soul: Finding Yourself Under Capitalism show art Pixar's Soul: Finding Yourself Under Capitalism

Literate Machine

Pete Doctor takes us into the meaning of life, but is there something hollow at its center of it?

info_outline Why Stories? Henry Fool and What the Artist is For show art Why Stories? Henry Fool and What the Artist is For

Literate Machine

What does it mean to be an artist?

info_outline Doom, Myst, and the War for the Soul of Video Games show art Doom, Myst, and the War for the Soul of Video Games

Literate Machine

In the 1990s, Myst and Doom fought a war for the soul of video games. Myst sold almost twice as many copies. Within ten years, the entire industry had remodeled itself around Doom. Special call out to Jimmy Maher at the Digital Antiquarian (https://filfre.net) whose work covering early video games I drew on extensively.

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Bibliography and Further Reading