lastpositivist.bsky.social

lastpositivist.bsky.social

@lastpositivist.bsky.social

Aspiring philosopher; tolerable human; "amusing combination of sardonic detachment & literally all the feelings felt entirely unironically all at once" [he/his]

37.3K followers2.2K following18K posts

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I really think at its heart philosophy is one giant battle, taking place over many eras and nations, between people who are basically pleasant bureaucrats and people who are sexy murder poets, and it’s both super important and super boring that the pleasant bureaucrats must win.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

I would temper my expectations about a new era coming to Serbia. The election winners have virtually the same geopolitical positions as Vucic; most previous election winners (Vucic included!) ran on anticorruption; the student movement is above all populist. Good luck to them but let’s be realistic.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @deontologistics.bsky.social

The only constituency who genuinely liked him are PMC types who recognise him as one of their own (‘competence’ and ‘adult’ as a political aesthetic) and atlanticists who understood his foreign policy priorities. But liberal pundits did their best to sell him to the public nonetheless.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

There is no chance that Labour will hit their current housebuilding target. But hitting it over the *next 5 years* is entirely possible if Labour recommit to it. If they don't it means much higher rents - and a worse cost of living crisis.

Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social

Andy Burnham’s government has privately given up on reaching Labour’s target of building 1.5mn new homes by 2029, and ministers will refer to the goal less and less, according to government figures www.ft.com/content/285a...

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

This was why I never was on board with “flip flopper” as an insult (besides the fact that Reefs are my daily wear), like, yeah, I said one thing but figured out I was wrong, so now I think something else, what of it?

The overwhelmingly consistent thing in every poll for the past couple of years is that the UK is basically evenly split between a Liberal Social Democratic Block and a Right Conservative Block.

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk

Westminster Voting Intention: LAB: 27% (=) CON: 22% (-1) RFM: 20% (-2) LDM: 11% (=) GRN: 10% (=) RES: 4% (+1) SNP: 2% (=) Via @yougov.co.uk, 25-26 Oct. Changes w/ 18-19 Oct.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

What’s that you say? Liz has a new book out which even the Telegraph is saying is even more unhinged than the last one? Wonderful, I’ll post this then.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

I mean, the latter is pursuing a kind of Working Class that hasn't really existed (if it ever did) since 1975, so you just end up with frauds like Platner.

lastpositivist.bsky.social@lastpositivist.bsky.social

In fact I will say the Earnest and Pious Charismatic Ethnic Minority political figure (AOC, Mamdani, El-Sayed) has been a pretty good bet for the American left so far, whereas the Disaffected Gruff White Guy Showcasing True Masculinity (Fetterman, Platner) has been a worse bet. Just an observation.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @rimidar.au

Yeah start insinuating he has morning chai rather than coffee, say that he knocks things for 6 rather than hits a home run, allege that he is generally a clean living good boy who loves his mother and prays every Friday (pejorative).

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

the Cheesecake Factory thing is a little surreal for me because I once literally had this argument with an ex who thought it was a really nice and fancy restaurant. I felt like a little bit of a classist asshole and apologized, I was right tho, so thank you for vindicating me Obama.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

Mélenchon is not exactly in the second category but he's definitely adjacent to it (in addition to being French rather than American)

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

while this *seems* true on the face of it as good empiricism and politics, next time there's an off-putting unprincipled white guy with a checkered past running for comptroller we leftists should probably shout down everyone pointing out the red flags until electoral loss becomes inevitable

lastpositivist.bsky.social@lastpositivist.bsky.social

In fact I will say the Earnest and Pious Charismatic Ethnic Minority political figure (AOC, Mamdani, El-Sayed) has been a pretty good bet for the American left so far, whereas the Disaffected Gruff White Guy Showcasing True Masculinity (Fetterman, Platner) has been a worse bet. Just an observation.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

Bernie was interesting because he seems to be the latter but is really more the former, which is why some leftists took the wrong lessons from his run

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Michael Atiyah 🇪🇬: Fields Medal 1966 (also Abel Prize 2004), for K-theory. Ahmed Zewail 🇪🇬: Nobel for Chemistry 1999, for his work on femtochemistry. Omar M. Yaghi 🇯🇴: Wolf Prize 2018, Nobel for Chemistry 2025, for his work on reticular chemistry Naguib Mahfouz 🇪🇬: Nobel for literature 1988

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

"When the facts change I change my mind with them, pray tell what's your policy sir?" seems like a pwn by Keynes, but judging by the way many in our press talk about Brexit and Rejoining they would simply have no shame whatsoever in responding "I never update my opinion, and if you do you are evil".

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Why are the people who accuse those talking about reversing Brexit of "living in the past" never asked about their own plans to rip up an international agreement that was first signed by the UK some 75 years ago?

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

Right. I meant that you need to be warm and personable and funny for the piety. Humourless and earnest (like Hegseth / Miller / Vance) would definitely not work for a religious person from an ethnic minority.

In fact I will say the Earnest and Pious Charismatic Ethnic Minority political figure (AOC, Mamdani, El-Sayed) has been a pretty good bet for the American left so far, whereas the Disaffected Gruff White Guy Showcasing True Masculinity (Fetterman, Platner) has been a worse bet. Just an observation.

lastpositivist.bsky.social@lastpositivist.bsky.social

Yeah start insinuating he has morning chai rather than coffee, say that he knocks things for 6 rather than hits a home run, allege that he is generally a clean living good boy who loves his mother and prays every Friday (pejorative).

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

It doesn’t make sense but it also doesn’t need to make sense because the important point is that Mamdani Not White Now if they were to accuse him of installing a cricket pitch. That would be an interesting direction

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @lastpositivist.bsky.social

But how will the NYPD manage without their 11pm hoops?

I didn't initially realise this was meant to be a negative thing, but when you read the piece it obviously was. Their attempt at a political hit job is quite literally to tell you that Mamdani is baller, and to connect him in your minds with Knicks' victory. Astonishing stuff, let's see how it goes.

Chris Sommerfeldt@c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social

New: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a group of his friends have been secretly using the NYPD Police Academy’s gymnasium in Queens to play pickup basketball — scrambling some operations at the facility. w/ @grahamrayman.bsky.social & Joe Anuta www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

It's kind of an interesting phenomenon how "talented orator and politician from despised minority group" breaks certain kinda brains. Because, I guess, for them the very fact that he is talented is what bothers them, that's precisely why he gets under their skin so much. And therein lies a trap.

Because it's now always tempting for them to draw attention to him being cool in the hopes that it will annoy you as much as that very fact enrages them. This has the potential to backfire. In my own little way I suspect my philosophy career benefited from some similar effects at times.

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @headfallsoff.com

generally speaking posting "mods, we're losing, send the cia to help me out please :(" is one of those things you want to keep implied rather than on your main feed

lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @rafiews.com

- The streets matter as much as online: yes, Janones’ groundbreaking Lula’s Army WhatsApp channel was key in securing the win, but it was the student movements that began less than 24h after the first round that showed the far-right the willingness of the people to fight for democracy. It ballooned.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @bizabizow.bsky.social

One of the biggest parts of truly becoming an adult is being able to see something you find cringe and think "ah this just isn't for me" and move on. So many people are still living in their 14 year old mindset as 20+ year olds