Louis Römer
@lromeranth.bsky.social
9.1K followers 2.3K following 270 posts
🇨🇼🇳🇱🇺🇲 | he/him | PhD | anthropologist @vassar.bsky.social | opinions mine | retweet & like≠endorsements |
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lromeranth.bsky.social
How did "free speech" become a cudgel to silence dissent? My latest in @bostonreview.bsky.social

www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-ri...
In past rounds of moral panics on campus, when “cancel culture” and “trigger warnings” were still the threats du jour, pundits and social media outrage peddlers converged to frame campus protests at large as threats to “free speech.” Responding to the steady churn of outrage-bait framing protesting students as “snowflakes” and “crybullies,” state legislatures across the country passed a flurry of “campus free speech” bills drafted by right-wing think tanks, which expanded the range of anti-protest measures available to college administrators. To be sure, boycotts and deplatforming protests were useful props in these efforts. Still, what made it possible to inflate deplatforming incidents into threats that required expansion of repressive state power was the failure to question a securitized vision of liberty that, since Bush’s “they hate our freedoms” speech, has become increasingly dominant.
Reposted by Louis Römer
mattpolprof.bsky.social
"Mamdani is bad for being a Muslim and hating trans people, who I also hate..." is reaching Aaron Sorkin levels of Republican
Reposted by Louis Römer
greenbackbetter.bsky.social
It’s now routine for pundits to ask Mamdani, Pritzker etc. if they are afraid Trump will arrest them, kill them, etc.

And somehow it doesn’t disrupt the horse race bit—they ask it like it’s a government shutdown or poll numbers.
Reposted by Louis Römer
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
The Frog is the best thing to happen to American politics all year, but the fact that politics has devolved into Posting is ultimately a bad thing.

www.theverge.com/policy/79849...
American politics has devolved into shitposting and aura farming
The Frog is owning the president.
www.theverge.com
Reposted by Louis Römer
taliajane.bsky.social
Nobody wants it as a story but I have multiple NYPD sources who voted for Mamdani, are eager for his win in November, and who say their colleagues quietly feel the same.

They like that he wants NYPD to focus on crime, not quality of life enforcement.
misoshnik.bsky.social
Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?
A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”
Reposted by Louis Römer
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Russell Vought embodies the radicalization of the conservative movement; his example captures how far removed from democratic politics the Trumpist Right is. Vought is convinced to be fighting a noble war against a vast leftist conspiracy that has supposedly taken over the country.
Reposted by Louis Römer
mbazzi.bsky.social
An underreported aspect of the Gaza ceasefire: The business deals that Trump's family made with Gulf Arab states gave Trump a personal stake in restraining Netanyahu — my piece @theguardian.com | www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Louis Römer
jamellebouie.net
a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.
Reposted by Louis Römer
donmoyn.bsky.social
New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Purge, Merge, and Surge
Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state
donmoynihan.substack.com
Reposted by Louis Römer
thomaszimmer.bsky.social
What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.
Reposted by Louis Römer
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
the virtue signalling vs. not discussion just strikes me as a social drama that makes sense within the class of people that don't think they have anything else at stake in these discussions other than clout, some of whom also can't imagine any other way of relating to these discussions
Reposted by Louis Römer
aurelmondon.bsky.social
Populism was never the issue

The issue was calling far-right politics "populism" which was not only inaccurate but euphemised and legitimised them as a so-called alternative to the status (while they aim to take the worst of it and push it further)

Yes, I'll keep banging on about this
lromeranth.bsky.social
Once upon a time had an ENT who began to regale me with his conspiracy theories about chinese solar panels. I promptly switched drs. after that
jowolff.bsky.social
Was reminded of a neuro-surgeon who, on hearing I was a political philosopher, told me that society needs wars every couple of generations to ‘get rid of the riff-raff’. People like him are in charge of things now.
Reposted by Louis Römer
thefarce.org
"You can make a principled stand for what you believe while welcoming in alienated voters looking for hope and community."

Notably, Anat points to a similar place Andrea Pitzer did in her dissection of the conversation between Klein and Coates:

Expert in framing 🤝 Expert in authoritarianism
Reposted by Louis Römer
richraho.bsky.social
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
Reposted by Louis Römer
ebonyteach.blacksky.app
Audience was traumatized. I was not. I'm not anyone's Superwoman but to quote the former VP, my people have always been clear about some things... although much has been forgotten these days.

We've HAD to be clear.

(And some of those practices are syncretic and preceded our forced conversion.)
Reposted by Louis Römer
ethnography911.bsky.social
TIL that ICE tried to detain a colleague’s teenaged son, asked him about his “color,” held a gun on him as he produced ID
Reposted by Louis Römer
numb.comfortab.ly
"Why can't Trump murder civilians indiscriminately at home like he does abroad" - Ross Douthat
Why Can't Trump's Domestic Policy Be More Like His Foreign Policy?

Three keys to his success on the world stage could be applied at home.
By ROSS DOUTHAT
Reposted by Louis Römer
sifill.bsky.social
Exactly.
galvinalmanza.bsky.social
Seriously, Judges *do no do things like this*

They don't give their opinion to the media

They don't criticize how SCOTUS works

This is them breaking the emergency glass, folks
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Louis Römer
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...
Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job
US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board
www.telegraph.co.uk
Reposted by Louis Römer
dieworkwear.bsky.social
seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back
Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
 why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"
Reposted by Louis Römer
lottelydia.bsky.social
Tom Morello not only has a social sciences degree from Harvard, his great-uncle was also JOMO KENYATTA
dieworkwear.bsky.social
seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back
Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
 why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"
Reposted by Louis Römer
prisonculture.bsky.social
One of the only welcome things about this current period in the U.S. is that the "this is not who WE are" stuff might finally be over.
Reposted by Louis Römer
trooperbari.bsky.social
The same people who turned "safe space" into an object of ridicule and lectured others about their "echo chambers" sure do like to seal themselves off from the outside world whenever the melanin rises above Mayberry levels. But I'm sure Lee Greenwood and Ted Nugent will put on a great show.
theathletic.com
Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, announced that it will be hosting its own Super Bowl halftime show to rival the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/670...