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Noah Berlatsky

@nberlat.bsky.social

24K followers 4.6K following 37K posts

he/him, bylines Public Notice, Chicago Reader, Observer, CNN.com. Poetry collection: Not Akhmatova (Ben Yehuda, 2024) Substack: www.everythingishorrible.net Poetry: https://www.everythingishorrible.net/p/poetry-publications-noah-berlatsky

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · Jul 26

the best way to keep up with my work is to follow my newsletter

www.everythingishorrible.net

alternately you can follow my patreon (same content, different platform:

www.patreon.com/c/noahberlat...

Everything Is Horrible | Noah Berlatsky | Substack

Culture, politics, and misery. Click to read Everything Is Horrible, by Noah Berlatsky, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

www.everythingishorrible.net

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 6h

sort of a Christians were Nazis but the Nazis weren't exactly christian kind of thing.

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 6h

it's a bit more complicated than that. Hitler and many of his inner circle disliked Christianity for its Jewish roots. they needed church support and struggled to integrate/take over the churches in various ways.

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

Musk has repeatedly talked about his indebtedness to Tescreal ideologies.

He was in government for a short time, but killed millions of people. so I think that's consequential!

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

and yes, lots of people make that argument.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

when people say, "religion is the cause of all evil therefore we need to bomb the shit out of muslims", it's very obvious that their atheism is driving their actions.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

Beckett would be so pleased. 75 years on and he's still alienating the bourgeoisie. couldn't ask for a better review.

Lux "Nightmare" Alptraum @luxalptraum.com · 3d

TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it

One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway
I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way.
What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money.
Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight.
To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

just like I don't claim that leftists can't be racist (sometimes they can be!) and don't claim that Jewish people can't be oppressors (sometimes they can be!)

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

and the response there isn't to flip out. it's just to try to avoid those behaviors...by, for example, not blaming all the problems of the world on religion, not evangelicizing for atheism, not denying the way that atheism can be oppressive.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

like, I don't feel guilty or personally responsible for Christopher Hitchens or Stalin.

I do feel like it's important to acknowledge harms done and to recognize that some things I believe or identify with can be used in ugly ways.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

it's the exact dynamic you say doesn't apply to atheism. and you're demonstrating it in this thread!

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

and yes, that can be dangerous. it's how you get people willing to cover up atrocities in defense of co-religionists, or in defense of their institutions.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

the way you're getting defensive and seeing any criticism of atheism as a criticism of you personally?

that's ideology. you're turning a set of beliefs into an identity. you're treating a critique of some ideas as an attack on you personally.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

just like Jewish people often feel an obligation to reject Zionism. (I do.)

but that's not responsibility as in "guilt". that's taking responsibility for your community, maybe.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

no. all christians aren't responsible for the atrocities that some commit; all atheists aren't responsible for the atrocities atheists commit.

if they're in your community, I think you have an obligation maybe to stand up and fight for something better.

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Reposted by Noah Berlatsky

Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 15h

It's cool how when you try to search for the solution to a computer problem now you can pick from an AI summary, several out-of-date videos by a guy with a shitty mic, or some forum posts on the publisher's site dealing with an obsolete version of the software

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Reposted by Noah Berlatsky

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 15h

Bad Bunny went from bagging groceries recording music on SoundCloud to being one of the most streamed artists in the world. He embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of Latinos that Republicans say should make them natural conservatives. Instead they are crashing out on him.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

I'm not sure if the people blocking me now are khive are militant atheists...

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 15h

I'm an atheist fwiw. I don't know that I feel certain about much, but the arguments for divinity just seem really unconvincing.

I try not to prosletyze though.

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

that sounds nice honestly...

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

it doesn't really involve forceful movements for good either. like, "I'm indifferent" just isn't much of a rallying cry either way.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

I could be wrong and am open to counterexamples, but "I don't really care about cosmological issues" doesn't generally involve conversion efforts or much in the way of force.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

the thing that I think really isn't an ideology per se and that doesn't seem to get entwined with power really is agnosticism.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

there's literally a genocide of Muslims in China justified on the grounds that they are antithetical to the atheism of the government.

like, it's ethnic too...but christofascism is often also ethnic. that's how it works.

Steven (Cube) he/him @cubesteven.bsky.social · 18h

There is no “in the name of atheism”.

Stop being silly.

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Reposted by Noah Berlatsky

CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 19h

🚨🚨🚨Hunger strike at concentration camp in El Paso because a staff member told detainees that the food may have been responsible for the camps most recent death. 1/2

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 16h

yeah; Musk is a tescreal guy.