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It is, in other words, yet another example of the way revolutionary ideals have been aestheticized, repackaged, and commodified by those they’re meant to challenge.

And then remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

It’s not that people don’t recognize that something is seriously broken. But when you combine the effects of manufactured ambiguity with the temptations of ignoring the horrors completely and instead basking in the comfort of a life of entertainment and consumption, the result is revolutionary paralysis.

Similarly, in 2024, the viral, AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” graphic dominated social media, but did nothing to stop Israel from leveling the city because all people committed themselves to was resharing a photo.

Kony 2012 was a masterclass in branding. From the eye-catching posters to the bumping campaign soundtrack, all of it was formulated to make people feel powerful. And with the help of YouTube and Facebook, the movement did make Kony famous, practically overnight. But that is just about all the campaign actually achieved. With no long-term strategy... See more

I had the thought a little while ago that the design of the major social media platforms not only encourage schizophrenic symptoms in individual users, particularly through features like algorithms showing one more content like that which they have already seen or engaged with, but through the very shape of the platforms being that which resembles... See more

At Ionia State Hospital in Michigan—once a psychiatric institution, now a prison—Black men involved in the civil rights movement were disproportionately labeled schizophrenic, their political rage reframed as psychiatric pathology. Why? Because in 1968, the DSM-II redefined schizophrenia, adding “hostility” and “aggression” as symptoms. Suddenly,... See more

This is the reality: governments, corporations, and media outlets subtly (or explicitly) frame dissenters as mentally unstable—reducing radical thought to a symptom rather than an argument.

The point is: moral standing is a big deal in China...and their framing helps preserve the afflicted individual's moral legitimacy. Rather than being perceived as something foreign, defective, or alien, the patient is reframed as someone whose mind is operating in excess. Their neurotic cognition is simply unable to find a state of contentment... See more