#mike rothschild

[notaplaceofhonour]

Antisemitism Required Reading

I get a lot of ignorant comments & tags on my posts about antisemitism, and I’ve already spent way too much time & energy engaging with them. So to preserve my sanity, I’ve made the decision not to engage too deeply with any commenters who haven’t at least read all of these in their entirety:

“Jewish Space Lasers” by Mike Rothschild

“People Love Dead Jews” by Dara Horn

“Jews Don’t Count” by David Baddiel

"More Than a Century of Antisemitism", GEC Special Report

If you’re not Jewish, please read all of this literature before adding anything to my posts about antisemitism.

Jews, please add any books you think should be on the list!

#I'll be adding and updating this post as I find & vet anything I feel should be required reading #antisemitism #people love dead jews #jews don't count #jewish space lasers #required reading #reading list #dara horn #david baddiel #more than a century of antisemitism #mike rothschild #jewish history

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As if Mondays weren’t bad enough, Elon Musk shared a photo of a Nazi soldier and then encouraged “independent-minded voters” to follow his lead and vote Republican in the midterm elections.

The Tesla founder posted a photo of a Nazi soldier with a crate of carrier pigeons on his back, with an unread notifications badge photoshopped onto the cage.

If Musk was looking for a photo of carrier pigeons to make a point about his new role as CEO of Twitter, he didn’t have to pick one of a Nazi soldier.

Less than an hour later, he tweeted a message to “independent-minded voters”:

Despite promising that Twitter would not become a “free-for-all hellscape” under his rule, the platform is already devolving into chaos, with Musk seemingly leading the charge.

Musk is entering his third week of ownership, and already, Twitter has been awash with hate speech. The social media research group National Contagion Research Institute said that in the 12 hours since Musk bought Twitter, use of the n-word increased almost 500%.

The self-described “free speech absolutist”—except, apparently, when it comes to jokes at his expense—has promised to roll back content moderation on Twitter. He has shared conspiracy theories about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband and allowed election deniers back on the platform.

His decisions have led advertisers to leave Twitter in droves. Musk complained they were being pressured by activists, but his claim was community fact-checked as Twitter users said it lacked context.

“I will say that if you’re trying to assuage the fears of the advertisers fleeing the platform you just [spent] billions on, you might want to have someone on your payroll spend five seconds looking at whether a meme you’re about to post has any link to the Nazis,” tweeted writer and QAnon expert Mike Rothschild. “But that’s just me.”

#us politics #news #2022 midterms #2022 elections #2022 #elon musk #Twitter #nazi germany #nazis #fuck nazis #Republicans #conservatives #gop #fascists be like #conservatives be like #republicans be like #the new republic #National Contagion Research Institute #hate speech #Mike Rothschild

[coulsonlives]

I was reading and came across these pages, and tbh I think some people need them stapled to their foreheads, because they refuse to stop othering conspiracy theorists and calling em all mentally ill by default.

ID:

Picture 1: "If you've had a conversation with a conspiracy theorist, and almost all of us have, you've met people who do not display symptoms of delusional disorder far more often than those who do," he said. "The ordinary conspiracy theorist is an intelligent, sane, and generally rational person. They are, in fact, unsettlingly less different from you than you may have thought."

Picture 2: "Conspiracy theories resonate with some of our brain's built-in biases and shortcuts, and tap into some of our deepest desires, fears, and assumptions about the world and the people in it," writes author and psychologist Rob Brotherton in the introduction to his groundbreaking book Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories. "We are all natural-born conspiracy theorists."

Tldr, conspiracy theorists are people who've been manipulated and taken advantage of psychologically. Most of em know what they're doing. They're just doing it for the wrong reasons. And even if their ideologies are super overkill (I'm talking the insurrectionists and all that madness), they still think it's the right thing! Just like how you know what you do is right, they "know" what they do is right, too. And the more people dig their heels in and pretend these conspiracy theorists are just mentally ill across the board, and gun for that as the treatment to all this, it's not gonna help anyone! It'll help a handful of people who are in fact mentally ill, but that's the same with any other group.

Source: "The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything" by Mike Rothschild.

Okay I'm done. P.S. Read the dang book.

#mike rothschild #qanon #cults #critical thinking #stigma #mental health #stereotypes #social justice #pizzagate #january 6 #fuck qanon #current events

[onebluebookworm]

Ranking Books I Read In 2022: 10-6

10. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center - bell hooks

What I Liked: Probably one of the most accessible books on feminist theory I’ve read. hooks, as usual, has some fire quotes in here that just sing to me. What I Didn’t Like: Nothing, it was great. Final thoughts: A perfect companion to Ain’t I A Woman, and a great jumping off point for anyone getting into or wanting to expand their understanding of feminist theory.

9. Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries - Rick Emerson

What I Liked: In-depth, compelling research. Very humorous, even for so dark a subject, but knew when it needed to stop joking and give something the tact it deserved. What I Didn’t Like: This isn’t the books fault, but I’m very mad I can’t go back in time and kick Beatrice Sparks in her fucking shins. Final thoughts: Another well-done book about a niche subject that appeals to me specifically, along with a heavy dose of a bittersweet desire to time travel and save the poor, misunderstood children this witch made her fortune on. TW suicide, mental illness, and poor handling of that mental illness.

8. The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything - Mike Rothschild

What I Liked: Another book that really balanced the humor and seriousness, but honestly even better than Unmask Alice because you can tell Rothschild is just...so tired. Gave great insight into this bizarre little internet phenomenon, which I appreciate. What I Didn’t Like: Some political discussion that got kinda boring. Final thoughts: The perfect way to learn about what the hell QAnon even is, how to fight it, and where we got from here. TW suicide, mental illness, and child abuse.

7. Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg

What I Liked: Beautifully simple prose. A protagonist I adored. That line from Queen Christina I read in Celluloid Closet - about being nostalgic for a place you’ve never been - was ringing in my head as I read about vintage lesbian bars. What I Didn’t Like: I know this book is semi-autobiographical, and therefore Feinberg based a lot of what happens in it on things that happened to her and people she knew, but goddamn it was depressing. It took me a long time to read it just because every page would bring new pain that I needed to process. Final thoughts: An essentially for young LGBT people, especially young butches and GNC kiddos. Heartbreaking, yet hopeful. TW for rape, homophobic and transphobic language.

6. Unbound: My Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement - Tarana Burke

What I Liked: Burke’s absolutely badass voice throughout the entire thing. I would have a beer with her, she seems hella cool. The fantastic metaphors used to describe her feelings of shame and guilt over her assault, only for it to come to a poetic climax when she’s forced to confront not only her child being victimized, but how her bottling up her feelings about her past has affected them both? Chef’s kiss. What I Didn’t Like: Nothing, it’s excellent. Final thoughts: Like Stone Butch Blues, this book will break your heart and rend you asunder, but I feel like it does a marginally better job with balancing the pain and the happiness. TW for sexual violence of all kinds.

#ranking books 2022 #feminist theory: from margin to center #bell hooks #unmask alice #rick emerson #the storm is upon us #mike rothschild #stone butch blues #leslie feinberg #unbound #tarana burke

[leo-fie]

Mike Rothschild won the title and cover game this year

#mike rothschild #jewish space lasers #currently reading

[arcticdementor]

(link)

#mike rothschild #twitter #screenshots #twitter thread #secession #blue state secession #caroline kitchener

[redgreenshowcaps]

Live Reaction to Gord's personal small animals videos:

#Red green show #Red green #steve smith #Ranger gord #Peter keleghan #Ranger gord educational cartoon intro #Wayne Robson #Mike hamar #Jerry Schaefer #Ed frid #Dalton Humphreys #Bob bainborough #Harold Green #Patrick McKenna #Jeff lumby #Winston rothschild iii

[theunsubtleknife]

Being interested in the subcultures around conspiracy theories does put you in a place of "I really hope folks don't get the wrong idea from the title of this podcast" and "please don't let there be an antisemitic quote in this audiobook when im rolling down my car window"

#im listening to mike rothschild's book 'jewish space lazers' its fantastically well researched. i recommend it!

[jokeanddaggerdept]

#Garbage Drawing #14 #Mike Kelley #(c. 1988) #MoMA: Drawings and Prints #The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift #Size: 13 x 32" (33 x 81.3 cm) #Medium: Synthetic polymer paint on paper

[galwednesday]

This week's deep dive rec is a combo pack exploring radicalization and the wellness industry, starting with this Guardian piece "Everything you've been told is a lie! Inside the wellness to fascism pipeline" by James Ball, which gives an overview of how these concepts became intertwined:

Peter Knight, professor of American studies at the University of Manchester, who has studied conspiracy theories and their history, notes that the link between alternative therapies and conspiracy is at least a century old, and has been much ignored. “New age and conspiracy theories both see themselves as counter-knowledges that challenge what they see as received wisdom,” he says. “Conspiracy theories provide the missing link, turbo-charging an existing account of what’s happening by claiming that it is not just the result of chance or the unintended consequences of policy choices, but the result of a deliberate, secret plan, whether by big pharma, corrupt scientists, the military-industrial complex or big tech.” Knight notes an extra factor, though – the wellness pipeline has become a co-dependency. Many far-right or conspiracy sites now fund themselves through supplements or fitness products, usually by hyping how the mainstream doesn’t want the audience to have them. [...]

“Alex Jones perfected the grift of selling snake-oil supplements and prepper kit to the libertarian right wing via his conspiracy theory media channels,” Knight says. “But it was Covid that led to the most direct connections between far-right conspiracism and wellness cultures. The measures introduced to curb the pandemic were viewed as attacks on individual sovereignty, which is the core value of both the wellness and libertarian/‘alt-right’ conspiracy communities.” The problem is, it rarely stops with libertarians. While they may not recognise it, those drawn in from the left are increasingly ending up in the same place as their rightwing counterparts. “Although many of the traditional left-leaning alternative health and wellness advocates might reject some of the more racist forms of rightwing conspiracism, they now increasingly share the same online spaces and memes,” he says, before concluding: “They both start from the position that everything we are told is a lie, and the authorities can’t be trusted.”

Part two of this combo rec is an episode of the Maintenance Phase podcast, hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes, with journalist Mike Rothschild joining them to talk about his research into the wellness to QAnon pipeline:

Special guest Mike Rothschild tells us how the road to wellness can be an on-ramp to a conspiracy theory. Along the way we debunk oil pulling, explore Instagram aesthetics and bemoan anti-vaxx argumentation tactics. Mike gets the date of the January 6th insurrection wrong and he is sorry.

#wednesday deep dives #I could do a follow-up at some point with an entirely different wellness/conspiracy podcast series #and an entirely different QAnon researcher guest star episode #but let's space things out a little since this is not exactly light and fun subject matter.

[mariacallous]

For months, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been dog-whistling to supporters of extremist far-right ideologies and wild conspiracy theories like QAnon. On Wednesday night, at the fourth Republican presidential debate, Ramaswamy went full tilt: After blasting the three other debaters for turning on former president Donald Trump, Ramaswamy argued, without evidence, that the January 6 Capitol riot was an inside job, the 2020 presidential election was stolen, the government had lied about 9/11, and the “deep state” was responsible for all these things.

Then, Ramaswamy claimed that the “great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.” The great replacement theory is a widely-debunked conspiracy that the liberal establishment, along with a cabal of “global elites,” is encouraging the immigration of people of color in order to “replace” white voters.

Immediately, white supremacists online celebrated the reference to the racist and antisemitic conspiracy.

Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist influencer who was livestreaming his reaction to the debate on the alternative streaming platform Rumble, appeared visibly shocked that Ramaswamy went so far. He watched open-mouthed as Ramaswamy continued to boost wild conspiracies. “Let’s go,” a visibly delighted Fuentes told his thousands of viewers.

A clip of Fuentes’ reaction was posted on X by Irish antisemitic and anti-immigrant influencer Keith O’Brien, known online as Keith Woods, with the comment: “Time to mainstream this discussion across the West.”

The post quickly racked up tens of thousands of likes and shares, including from Ramaswamy’s own official X account. “Repost by Vivek, very cool,” O’Brien wrote on his Telegram channel. “We love Vivek.”

“When someone like Ramaswamy promotes great replacement and other conspiracy theories, he's platforming a violent and paranoid ideology to a mainstream audience. It's clear that he speaks the language of conspiracy theory believers, antisemites, and extremists—many of these same people have embraced his candidacy,” Mike Rothschild, an author who writes about conspiracy theories and extremists tells WIRED. “And he's speaking to these people not to help his DOA campaign, but to cement them as his future base for whatever he does next in this world. It's a dangerous and cynical ideology.”

Ramaswamy subsequently deleted the post from his feed, but within minutes of Ramaswamy boosting the conspiracies, verified accounts on X and major far-right influencers on platforms like Telegram were celebrating. “Vivek says ALL the RIGHT things,” John Sabel, a QAnon promoter known as QAnon John, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Jordan Sather, another QAnon influencer, claimed that initial media reports of Ramaswamy spouting conspiracy theories “prove that Vivek kicked ass on the debate stage last night.”

Ramaswamy did not immediately respond to requests for comment from WIRED. The night before the debate, the candidate also boosted the conspiracy theory on X in a post calling the theory “basic immigration policy for Democrats.”

“We know this conspiracy theory can drive people to kill,” Jared Holt, extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, tells WIRED. “If this supremacist lie is further embraced by political leaders, I think it's reasonable to worry that the chance of violence will increase.”

The once-fringe theory has been cited as a motive by multiple mass shooters in recent years. It has been boosted not only by online far-right influencers but also mainstream right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson, who pushed the great replacement theory hundreds of times on his former Fox News show.

“The “great replacement” is just one of several iterations of racist “white extinction” theories that radical right actors have injected into American politics throughout the years. It’s motivated far-right extremists to carry out acts of grotesque racial violence, whether in the United States or abroad,” Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, tells WIRED. “At times, these theories have mainly found favor among the far-right fringe. In other cases their embrace among more mainstream political actors has led to devastating policy changes, such as the use of racial quota systems in immigration law.”

The great replacement theory has also been used across Europe to justify the rise of authoritarian regimes, such as that of Viktor Orbán in Hungary. It was recently cited as an excuse for the violent riots that engulfed Ireland’s capital last month.

[coulsonlives]

If you wanna learn just how batshit disturbed QAnon is and just how deep it goes, this book is 'The Storm is Upon Us' by Mike Rothschild and it's a really, really good read

#qanon #conspiracy #conspiracy theory #flat earth #mike rothschild #the storm is upon us #books #nonfiction #book reccs #book recommendations #qanon cw #cults #cult ment cw

[nando161mando]

"¡pew pew!

This week on 'Yeah Nah Pasaran!' on @3cr, @sexenheimer & I talk to @rothschildmd about space 🔫 & ¿The Rothschilds?

4.30pm, Thurs SEP 14 /// 855AM, 3CR digital, streaming, Community Radio+ app, podcats 🐈‍⬛"

via @slackbastard

@antifainternational @kropotkindersurprise @anarchistmemecollectivereturns @anarchistmemecollective @radicalgraff

#slackbastard #yeahnahpasaran #3cr #space #rothschilds #september 14 #2023 #855am #radio #app #podcast #178 #stormy daniels #fuck qanon #false beliefs of the qanon movement #qanonisacult #qanon conspiracy #qanon cult #qanon shaman #qanonsense #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #neoliberal capitalism #fuck neoliberals #anthony albanese #albanese government

[olderthannetfic]

I'm reading Mike Rothschild's "The Storm is Upon Us", a nonfiction about the Qanon cult's evolution (not in favour of Qanon - it's written by a Jewish author, and Qanon is famously antisemitic). It's terrifying because so much of the stuff in this book can easily apply to the anti (kink, fic, ship, etc) movements online. It makes you realize that this is all, in reality, one big cult, just with different branches; it's all the same shit from the same tree even if it feels different. I feel like my brain is breaking just trying to fathom just deep it all goes.

--

Well, humans tend to work about the same, and so manipulating them and whipping them up into angry mobs tends to work about the same too.

[strictlyfavorites]

[goodluckdetective]

Many reporters are brave but I have to give Mike Rothschild props forever for being a journalist with his last name who decided to cover the “conspiracy theory” beat.

#iz rambles #insert “braver than us marine here