Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6h

This is not a claim I’ve ever encountered, including when I went to Israel to report a story. But then I wasn’t hanging with the far right so maybe they claim that

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6h

That whole 2015 Tumblr era when everything was problematic. Seems trivial and quaint now

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Reposted by Dorian Lynskey

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 10h

Everyone knows at least one person (normally, but not exclusively, a guy) whose gone properly mental due to net rabbit holes.

We see public figures regularly go mad and destroy themselves.

And we have, at a policy level, just decided to put our fingers in our ears and go nahnahnah

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 10h

Last night I heard of another friend of a friend who has been lost to a rabbit hole of online propaganda. We need to start treating this as a serious public health concern.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6h

Please don’t let’s bring back cultural appropriation discourse

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6h

OK do you believe that Israel claims to have invented Middle Eastern cuisine? What’s the funny joke here?

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 6h

Have you ever heard of Mizrahi Jews? Do you think all Israelis are descended from Europeans?

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Reposted by Dorian Lynskey

wordsornumbers.bsky.social @wordsornumbers.bsky.social · 8h

As others have already said, can we please not share Nazi memes under the pretext of calling out Israel for genocide? I think most everyone here agrees that what Israel has been doing to Gaza is indeed terrible. We don’t need to imply that Jews are cultural parasites while we’re at it.

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Reposted by Dorian Lynskey

Craig Jenkins @craigsj.bsky.social · 9h

tired of blather from public intellectuals that haven't understood the political moment at any point in the last ten years

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 8h

Yes but you’re meant to hide it from the readers

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 8h

The Atlantic has a lot of thin-skinned, unhappy writers

Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 10h

Ratio me. Please. It's a badge of honor. If you don't like a link, go follow some chicken-heart who needs the approval of the thought-police. Caitlin Flanagan of @theatlantic.com is a tremendous writer and this piece is an excellent read. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss

The new editor in chief of CBS News triumphs over her critics.

www.theatlantic.com

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 11h

Yes decades before the Holocaust. Back in the 1890s and 1900s. Establishment Jews favoured assimilation at that point and Zionism was a minority cause

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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 13h

I was trying to put my finger on what bothered me about this portrayal and I think it’s that it just takes the guy’s words at face value, like he was a nice guy and reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death just pushed him over the edge www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/u...

She Despised Charlie Kirk. He Resolved to Make People Like Her Pay.

www.nytimes.com

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 13h

As soon as someone says inevitable I stop listening

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 16h

No, the surprise was there among politicians and commentators at the time. There’s plenty of evidence

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

It's a moot point because there won't be an election until 2029 unless Labour is way ahead in the polls and wants to go early

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

These people are nuts. Like socialists who think if Labour loses the replacement will be more left-wing and not some kind of Tory/Reform government. They're just not in touch with reality

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

I've not encountered that particular argument thankfully

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

It's possible that in 2029 we see a Democrat in the White House after the catastrophic failure of Trumpian populism and anti-state vandalism. If that were the case, UK politics would look very different

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

But it's more like the dotcom bubble than the banking crisis. There could be a big crash without threatening the global financial system the way 2008 did

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

2008-style might be overstating it

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

Even more counterintuitively, most people, including the Labour leadership, expected Churchill to lead the Tories to victory in 1945. Admittedly polling was very patchy back then but what we see in hindsight as inevitable was almost never seen as inevitable at the time (1997 being a big exception)

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

Even if you look at previous elections, Labour would probably have won had it gone to the polls in 1978 and 2007, the SDP would have trounced the Tories in a 1981 election, Labour lost in 1970 (expecting to win) and won in 1974 (expecting to lose), Tories feared losing in 1987, etc etc

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17h

I find it weird how people can acknowledge that UK politics is volatile to an unprecedented degree and yet talk very confidently about the shape of an election in 2029. Reform is depicted as a permanent and unstoppable force and Labour as utterly doomed. Doesn't add up to me

James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 18h

It's almost exactly four years since Tim Shipman's notorious "Boris Johnson squats like a giant toad" tweet.

Seems like important context given how we often talk as though the next election – four years away – is a done deal.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 18h

No problem. I think we agree

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 18h

That said I think you're right that the CM conspiracy theory is what has kept "Marxist" alive as a bugaboo since the fall of the USSR

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