The UK Election

This is much better than the 1997 Labour landslide. Why?

It's not happening inside of Tory space. The Conservatives owned political space since 1979 and were able to vilify and pathologize Labour. No more.

Now they will have to compromise, and been seen to do so, aka "being weak" from the point of view of the rigid right. UKIP will abandon them therefore. Labour will be the moderating voice of reason in Brexit.

The media will have to take Labour seriously and in a different way than simply saying "they're just like Thatcher only better."

The Tories won't be in charge of the symbolic framework at all, for the first time since 1979. People will see them having to listen to and respect Labour. They won't be able to idealize May or whatever, idealize what might have been, because she wasn't defeated massively. They will own all the failures. May and the Tories as currently configured will wither away. Labour broke their serve. The Tories are finished in a much worse way than in 1997. Bye!

You Can Pre-Order Humankind

If you're in the USA, the UK or elsewhere I think you can do it on Amazon. I haven't looked at other places yet.

Look at the nice blurb (that's what the description is in fact called; an endorsement is in fact traditionally a puff!):

A radical call for solidarity between humans and non-humans

What is it that makes humans human? As science and technology challenge the boundaries between life and non-life, between organic and inorganic, this ancient question is more timely than ever. Acclaimed Object-Oriented philosopher Timothy Morton invites us to consider this philosophical issue as eminently political. It is in our relationship with non-humans that we decided the fate of our humanity. Becoming human, claims Morton, actually means creating a network of kindness and solidarity with non-human beings, in the name of a broader understanding of reality that both includes and overcomes the notion of species. Negotiating the politics of humanity is the first and crucial step to reclaim the upper scales of ecological coexistence, not to let Monsanto and cryogenically suspended billionaires to define them and own them.

Powerful Practical Righteousness

My lovely old bandmate Mike's lovely older brother laying down some righteousness against Trump on Democracy Now:

Speaking in a Forest in Brussels Last Year (video)

The lovely imaginative group that put this together fantastically lit the path into the forest in the park.

Speaking at the Miracle Marathon Last Year (video)

...at the Serpentine in London, right after Genesis P-Orridge, whose psychedelic visuals are here by dint of special effects.

Morton and Campagna Reinventing Communism

Yeah...That. Was. Good.

Japanese Ecology without Nature

That's right: it's coming later in 2018 and it'll appear with Ibunsha Publishing.

Me at the Serpentine's Miracle Marathon in October 2016 (video)

Beautifully paired by Hans-Ulrich Obrist with Kathelin Gray and Genesis P-Orridge.

Steve Bannon Was in Biosphere 2 (and was a jerk)

From my lovely friend Kathelin Gray, the key figure in said project.

I'm Doing This Today in LA at 4pm

Yesterday

Derniers instants d'une lecture de tarot de Blake, au Palais de Tokyo pendant Notte Lusoria. #theta360 #theta360fr - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Come to Notte Lusoria Tonight and I'll Read Tarot for You

At the Palais de Tokyo. 5pm to midnight. In the basement of dreams. Alex Cecchetti's Notte Lusoria.

Piano, whales, glass harmonica, choir, tarot readings, a bar where a centaur will hear your love stories as payment for cocktails, and ever so much more.

12 Year Old Kids Exposed to Fascist Disinhibition and What I'm Doing about It

Dear Ms. ***, 

Thank you for your apology. 

As for the explanation, you know what? No. This isn’t about free speech. 

This is about fascist violence invading social space. 

This is about a disinhibited atmosphere in the country at large. At *** School boys now think it’s okay to yell “Male supremacy!” and “White power!” in front of my daughter. 

“Free speech” isn’t speech at all if it’s being used without listening, attention or care. 

Or perhaps I should demand that I do a PowerPoint in your class insisting that ***'s dad is a ********* (insert suitable very bad words here). Free speech, right? 

This is the same atmosphere that since November 9 2016 (the election of Donald Trump) has caused quiet, introverted kids at my job (Rice U) to wear swastikas, daub them on statues, and deface a piece of the Berlin Wall with “Trump 2016” and “aloha” (aka “good riddance Obama”). 

*** 

I’m going to start by reporting this incident and that involving her best friend, *** (see below) to my friends at the Houston Chronicle, Houstonia Magazine and Huffington Post. 

Then when the New Yorker phones me up for a scheduled interview on Thursday, I’m going to report it to them too. 

I will not stop until you, Principal *** and the school at large have joined me in doing everything in our power to end this outpouring of obscenity in social space. 

Yours sincerely,

Timothy Morton

On Feb 19, 2017, at 10:19 AM, ***  wrote:

I apologize to you and most especially to your daughter. 

As I think you know, parents coming to lecture is encouraged in our *** class with community building in mind.

We had a presentation from an attorney who chose to speak on free speech. Mr. *** reviewed the concept in context of several examples. He made it very clear that hate speech is never legal or acceptable in school or any institutional setting. 

I was surprised when students clapped and thought it was due to politeness, definitely not prompted by me.

Thank you.

_____

(February 18)

Thank you for brining to my attention.  Let me meet with Ms. *** and get all the details.  I will follow-up with you.  Please provide a number you can be reached at.

***

_____

(February 17)

Thank you ***. How did it go? 

I'm afraid I have something else to report. 

It's about Miss ***'s *** class. 

Today there was a PowerPoint by ***' dad. 

It said that the KKK and the Nazi party are exercising their freedom of speech by using swastikas etc. 

It also said that the women's marches, by excluding pro life women, "are tearing our country apart." (His actual words in quotation marks.)

They were all made to clap at the end. 

What are we going to do about this?

I'm considering reporting it to the Houston Chronicle. 

With best wishes,

Tim

____

 (January 30)

We will follow-up.

***

_____

(January 30)

Dear Ms. ***, 

I'm deeply concerned about hate speech against ***, the daughter of a Muslim. Many things have happened to her recently, but perhaps the worst happened today, where students said "she should be killed before she bombs the school," 

This is absolutely unacceptable as I'm sure you know. 

The disinhibiting effect of the current president's speech has resulted in students at my job (Rice U), who are normally very shy and introverted, doing things such as wearing swastikas in the library. 

I understand from my daughter, who is *** best friend, that students have drawn swastikas on the dividers of students who attend classes that *** attends. 

When stuff happens at my school I tell the president to make a statement--he usually doesn't do it, for whatever reason--but I just couldn't hear what I have been hearing without writing to you to share. 

Yours sincerely, 

Timothy Morton

Another Incident

I'm afraid I have something else to report. 

It's about Ms. ****'s Model UN class. 

Today there was a PowerPoint by ****' dad. 

It said that the KKK and the Nazi party are exercising their freedom of speech by using swastikas etc. 

It also said that the women's marches, by excluding pro life women, "are tearing our country apart." (His actual words in quotation marks.)

They were all made to clap at the end. 

What are we going to do about this?

I'm considering reporting it to the Houston Chronicle. 

You're So Gonna Hate This

The only problems are

--It's correct.
--Are you ready to diss the vast majority of African Americans, southern women in particular, who voted for Clinton?
--If you voted for (I can't write it) out of spite or actually believing him, are you happy now?

“Donald Trump, ever ready to pounce on the gullible and disenchanted, chimed in to confirm the pet fear of the far left, convincing many on the fence that the primary was rigged. Supported by legions of Putin operatives, Trump trolls infiltrated online groups to pick up the hammer to do further damage to Hillary Clinton — all the while propping up Bernie Sanders, the weaker candidate. It was classic ratfucking, a reliable scheme employed by the GOP since the Nixon era.

[By the way, my friend Danae, a massage therapist who voted for Sanders, knows several Sanders supporters who ended up voting for Trump.]

...

“Not only did he never invest the time and money to woo non-white southern voters, he shrugged them off as too ill-informed to be worth the effort — his supporters continue the ugly lie that only racist whites voted for Hillary in the South, discount the majority of votes she did have: women of color.”--Sasha Stone