Matt Seybold
@mattseybold.bsky.social
American Vandal Pod | Prof of AmLit & Twain Studies + Director of Media Studies, Elmira College | Resident Scholar @MarkTwain.bsky.social | Political Economy of Mass Media
TheAmericanVandal.substack.com
MattSeybold.com
buymeacoffee.com/americanvandalpod
TheAmericanVandal.substack.com
MattSeybold.com
buymeacoffee.com/americanvandalpod
Pinned
Matt Seybold
@mattseybold.bsky.social
· Jun 20
Against Technofeudal Education
Pillars For Protecting Our "Core Infrastructure" From OpenAI
theamericanvandal.substack.com
“The logical conclusion of a technofeudal oligarchy combining forces with an authoritarian political movement is compulsory enrollment in the security state’s platform architecture of surveillance, indoctrination, and behavioral modification.”
Reposted by Matt Seybold
In June I heard Robbins give a talk that made me want to buy this book
This was the push I needed
This was the push I needed
The hardcover edition of Bruce Robbins's most recent book, which is excellent & powerful, is currently available for under $5 on Amazon. 😳
Atrocity: A Literary History
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In June I heard Robbins give a talk that made me want to buy this book
This was the push I needed
This was the push I needed
The hardcover edition of Bruce Robbins's most recent book, which is excellent & powerful, is currently available for under $5 on Amazon. 😳
Atrocity: A Literary History
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The hardcover edition of Bruce Robbins's most recent book, which is excellent & powerful, is currently available for under $5 on Amazon. 😳
Reposted by Matt Seybold
in which I tell a story about Mark Twain and oil pipelines before the good part of this podcast begins, which is a great conversation with the brilliant @aprilanson.bsky.social and Alex Menrisky.
Among several reasons to recommend this episode is the lengthy good faith discussion of what fascism is, both during my convo with @aprilanson.bsky.social & Alex Menrisky, & during the Q&A that followed.
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
in which I tell a story about Mark Twain and oil pipelines before the good part of this podcast begins, which is a great conversation with the brilliant @aprilanson.bsky.social and Alex Menrisky.
Reposted by Matt Seybold
The Financial Times named GILDED RAGE one of its best tech books of 2025.
www.ft.com/content/af55...
www.ft.com/content/af55...
Best books of 2025: Environment, Science and Technology
Pilita Clark, Clive Cookson and John Thornhill select their must-read titles
www.ft.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
The Financial Times named GILDED RAGE one of its best tech books of 2025.
www.ft.com/content/af55...
www.ft.com/content/af55...
Reposted by Matt Seybold
So they can hear it in the back: $12 billion in profits generated by Elsevier, Springer, T&F, and Wiley between 2019-2024
"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."
November 18, 2025 at 1:08 PM
So they can hear it in the back: $12 billion in profits generated by Elsevier, Springer, T&F, and Wiley between 2019-2024
Reposted by Matt Seybold
Real email:
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Real email:
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
fully prepared to blame Ezra Pound for this as well
November 18, 2025 at 2:37 AM
fully prepared to blame Ezra Pound for this as well
At this point, I would like everybody to know Alex is from Elmira. I think, based on this shitpost alone, he should be the final face on the Mt. Rushmore of Elmira humor.
can bad prose be sexually transmitted
November 18, 2025 at 2:18 AM
At this point, I would like everybody to know Alex is from Elmira. I think, based on this shitpost alone, he should be the final face on the Mt. Rushmore of Elmira humor.
Real email:
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Real email:
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
“I had doubts about your ‘live’ season, but the first two episodes have erased them. I feel the energy in the rooms. Even though I’m not there (and who knows if I’ll be able to travel again), it’s so reassuring to hear scholarly debate right now. The life of the mind is not dead yet!”
Reposted by Matt Seybold
It was such an honor to be invited to this convo, but/and the weekend was a true highlight of my career thus far. Absolute joy and privilege. !!!
Among several reasons to recommend this episode is the lengthy good faith discussion of what fascism is, both during my convo with @aprilanson.bsky.social & Alex Menrisky, & during the Q&A that followed.
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It was such an honor to be invited to this convo, but/and the weekend was a true highlight of my career thus far. Absolute joy and privilege. !!!
Reposted by Matt Seybold
Might be the most useful discussion of “what fascism is” I’ve encountered, especially its status as a “scavenger politics.”
Among several reasons to recommend this episode is the lengthy good faith discussion of what fascism is, both during my convo with @aprilanson.bsky.social & Alex Menrisky, & during the Q&A that followed.
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Might be the most useful discussion of “what fascism is” I’ve encountered, especially its status as a “scavenger politics.”
"36-year-old boy mayor" is a phrase that should never occur.
This is some weapons-grade nonsense
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
November 17, 2025 at 6:05 PM
"36-year-old boy mayor" is a phrase that should never occur.
Reposted by Matt Seybold
teaching a short excerpt from rob nixon’s ‘slow violence’ this morning. this is how nixon starts the book, reminding you that the global south has always known larry summers for the moral degenerate that he is.
November 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
teaching a short excerpt from rob nixon’s ‘slow violence’ this morning. this is how nixon starts the book, reminding you that the global south has always known larry summers for the moral degenerate that he is.
Among several reasons to recommend this episode is the lengthy good faith discussion of what fascism is, both during my convo with @aprilanson.bsky.social & Alex Menrisky, & during the Q&A that followed.
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Everyday Ecofascism (Vandal Live at 2025 Quarry Farm Symposium)
with April Anson, Alexander Menrisky, & Jeffrey Insko
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Among several reasons to recommend this episode is the lengthy good faith discussion of what fascism is, both during my convo with @aprilanson.bsky.social & Alex Menrisky, & during the Q&A that followed.
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Inspired in part by Alex’s great book, published this year by @uminnpress.bsky.social
Kids mired in week-long Socratic dialogue about whether it is good to be a grown-up.
Economic rationality has claws in 7yo (for). Fiscal independence is his core argument (“you can buy McDonald’s whenever you want”).
4yo (against) brought hammer today tho:
“What if you don’t want to do your job?”
Economic rationality has claws in 7yo (for). Fiscal independence is his core argument (“you can buy McDonald’s whenever you want”).
4yo (against) brought hammer today tho:
“What if you don’t want to do your job?”
November 17, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Kids mired in week-long Socratic dialogue about whether it is good to be a grown-up.
Economic rationality has claws in 7yo (for). Fiscal independence is his core argument (“you can buy McDonald’s whenever you want”).
4yo (against) brought hammer today tho:
“What if you don’t want to do your job?”
Economic rationality has claws in 7yo (for). Fiscal independence is his core argument (“you can buy McDonald’s whenever you want”).
4yo (against) brought hammer today tho:
“What if you don’t want to do your job?”
Reposted by Matt Seybold
I have some thoughts, but there are a lot of people who devote their lives to studying and teaching American culture, politics, and history. I would like to know what those people think of this plan--not in posts, not in confused organizational open letters, in arguments accessible to the public.
I really would like to read something long-form on the Phoenix Declaration from someone more qualified than I am to weigh in on what it means to transmit “American tradition” in schools— www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/13/f...
Florida Becomes First State to Adopt Phoenix Declaration to Renew Education
Florida just became the first state to adopt the Phoenix Declaration, a declaration that seeks to restore excellence to American schools.
www.dailysignal.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I have some thoughts, but there are a lot of people who devote their lives to studying and teaching American culture, politics, and history. I would like to know what those people think of this plan--not in posts, not in confused organizational open letters, in arguments accessible to the public.
Every year we lose would-be Humanities PhDs down this path because the most precarious heterodox econ department will make Ivy League history programs envious of their resources.
I left one year into an economics masters at the furthest left program I could find, after realizing that even the supposed heterodoxy were still old white men with the worst personalities you can imagine
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Every year we lose would-be Humanities PhDs down this path because the most precarious heterodox econ department will make Ivy League history programs envious of their resources.
At Stanford we quickly figured out how to take Lemons & make Crystal Pepsi & New Coke.
November 16, 2025 at 7:51 PM
At Stanford we quickly figured out how to take Lemons & make Crystal Pepsi & New Coke.
Reposted by Matt Seybold
Truly, we all win if regular people think less like economists and more like the prison journalist who writes poems about butterflies.
November 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Truly, we all win if regular people think less like economists and more like the prison journalist who writes poems about butterflies.
What many already know, especially within economics, is that Summers uniqueness has nothing to do with his knowledge, & everything to do with his temerity pursuing the interests of the men he really works for, like Jeffrey Epstein.
That’s where Summers excels.
May there never be another like him.
That’s where Summers excels.
May there never be another like him.
I refuse to believe that Larry Summers' expertise and skills are indispensable in any way. Please find another economist and policy expert, @americanprogress.bsky.social. There are loads out there.
November 16, 2025 at 5:20 PM
What many already know, especially within economics, is that Summers uniqueness has nothing to do with his knowledge, & everything to do with his temerity pursuing the interests of the men he really works for, like Jeffrey Epstein.
That’s where Summers excels.
May there never be another like him.
That’s where Summers excels.
May there never be another like him.
Reposted by Matt Seybold
Yes I think the music stopping here is less the system being unsustainably circular and interdependent (what system isn’t circular and interdependent) but the public underwriting of this system becoming impossible to hide
November 16, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Yes I think the music stopping here is less the system being unsustainably circular and interdependent (what system isn’t circular and interdependent) but the public underwriting of this system becoming impossible to hide
Print is a rent strike. 🪧
I’ve wanted to brag about my Christmas gift last year and here’s my chance.
I got the whole family matching magazine subs! Adults got Southern Cultures, OA, Bitter Southerner, The Sun, & New Yorker. Kid got Lux, Oyla, and later we added The Onion.
We always have stuff to talk about!
I got the whole family matching magazine subs! Adults got Southern Cultures, OA, Bitter Southerner, The Sun, & New Yorker. Kid got Lux, Oyla, and later we added The Onion.
We always have stuff to talk about!
I got out of the habit of reading magazines bc of the social pressure of writers reading what's trendy/popular or frankly expected of you.
This year, I've dedicated myself back to reading magazines and I'm truly having the time of my life.
This year, I've dedicated myself back to reading magazines and I'm truly having the time of my life.
November 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Print is a rent strike. 🪧
Reposted by Matt Seybold
I highly recommend everyone to read this article for background on Summers’s entwinement in “progressive” economic policy nonprofits, including how that entwinement seriously undermines & compromises their work: www.thecaravelgu.com/blog/2020/12...
November 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I highly recommend everyone to read this article for background on Summers’s entwinement in “progressive” economic policy nonprofits, including how that entwinement seriously undermines & compromises their work: www.thecaravelgu.com/blog/2020/12...
Reposted by Matt Seybold
But world domination, in the realm of poetry education or anything else, is a warped goal.
November 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
But world domination, in the realm of poetry education or anything else, is a warped goal.