Tag: media

The witch-hunting we all witnessed, listened to, and chose to remain silent

Kabir Deb Women in power have always been a threat to patriarchy because their presence challenges the very structure that has taught society to associate authority, leadership and decision-making with men. This is not only about the social dilemma or cultural conditioning that we usually discuss when we talk about feminism. It is also about… Read More The witch-hunting we all witnessed, listened to, and chose to remain silent

Dilip

How gen Z exposed India’s prime-time propaganda machine

The Cockroach movement protesters used memes, mockery and collective action to cut through mainstream media’s refusal to tackle problems plaguing the country’s politics Niha Masih Hello! Welcome to This Is India from the Guardian. I’m Niha Masih and I’ll be writing to you every week about the stories, ideas and news makers of modern India. I’ll do… Read More How gen Z exposed India’s prime-time propaganda machine

Dilip

The media missed the biggest story: How a generation fed on consumerism and hate found its voice

NB: Listen to Arvind Anjum’s interviews with the new arrivals at the protest site. Pakistani youth express their admiration and solidarity with struggling Indian students: BBC report. DS The protest has convincingly established not just the irrelevance of legacy TV channels but also their continued abandonment of basic journalistic norms Kalpana Sharma There were broken… Read More The media missed the biggest story: How a generation fed on consumerism and hate found its voice

Dilip

Why Is Digital Freedom Making Us Exhausted and Sad? The philosophy of Byung-Chul Han

From “The Burnout Society” to “The Tonality of Thought,” tech philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s ultra-short books reveal why online liberation has felt more like voluntary captivity. Matt Elmore Byung-Chul Han is one of Europe’s most widely read philosophers. His audience in the United States has grown considerably over the last decade, though mostly outside the academy;… Read More Why Is Digital Freedom Making Us Exhausted and Sad? The philosophy of Byung-Chul Han

Dilip

The Joke Is on Us

The retreat into satirical attacks on Trump and his supporters fuels the solidification of fascism When satire is the end point, it is deleterious. It masks what is coming. It must be, as Niebuhr pointed out, the entry point. It must push us, as Gramsci understood, into hard analysis and the organization of mass movements… Read More The Joke Is on Us

Dilip

Suhas Palshikar: Anatomy of India’s New Regime

NB: An instructive essay on our current dispensation. I would sum up this regime’s method as a confusion of wisdom with cunning; its speech as unending sophistry (लफ़्फ़ाज़ी); and its goal as the eradication of simple human decency from public life. DS India’s current regime rests on three interwoven factors: Hindutva, a captured civil society,… Read More Suhas Palshikar: Anatomy of India’s New Regime

Dilip

Dear Parents: Everything You Need to Know About Your Son and Daughter’s University But Don’t

Ron Srigley Universities, in the interest of increasing enrollments (= money), are willing to flatter you and your children so shamelessly … “During one class a couple of years ago, I dimmed the lights in order to show a clip of an interview. The moment the lights went down I saw dozens and dozens of… Read More Dear Parents: Everything You Need to Know About Your Son and Daughter’s University But Don’t

Dilip

‘The era of invincibility is over’: the week big tech was brought to heel

Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social media Dan Milmo and Robert Booth The young woman at the heart of what has been called the tech industry’s “big tobacco” moment was on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine. More than a decade later, she says, she still can’t live without… Read More ‘The era of invincibility is over’: the week big tech was brought to heel

Dilip

Epstein and the politics of distraction

Scandal individualises corruption, creating a spectacle that redirects anger away from structural power. By Yoav Litvin After the beginning of Trump’s second term, the connections between capitalism, white supremacy and imperial domination became increasingly clear. These have been highlighted through ICE raids as modern-day slave patrols, global criminal operations such as the kidnapping of Venezuelan… Read More Epstein and the politics of distraction

Dilip