By Jonathan M. Feldman, January 10, 2024; Updated January 11, 2024 Introducing the BS-sequitur The editorial above, published in Dagens Nyhter (DN, a leading Swedish newspaper), shows clearly the growing formulaic logic of what I will now call the “mis-sequitur.” It is not a just “non-sequitur,” in which b does not logically follow a. Rather,…
Continue readingHow to Read the DN Ledare Page: The Art of the BS-sequitur
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, January 6, 2024; Updated June 13, 2024; November 27, 2024 The Israeli government’s transgressions are real, problematic, and dangerous. Yet, the counter reaction is often defined by an idiotic version of post-colonial framing that displaces the cycle of violence and hence is about moral posturing and often lying propaganda rather than…
Continue readingPush Button Memes, Anti-Zionist-Splaining, the Slander License and Neo-Stalinism
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, November 19, 2023; Revised version April 3, 2024 It is often assumed that post-colonial theory cannot, by definition, replicate the oppressive discourses which are, in part, the object of its study. None is more aware than Edward Said of the hazards of reproducing what he calls, in Culture and Imperialism, a…
Photograph of original Dagens Nyheter article, October 25, 2023. By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 27, 2023 The Intramural Split between Dagens Nyheter and the Left Party This short essay will examine the following editorial published in Dagens Nyheter, October 26, 2023, “Ledare: Kriget i Mellanöstern avslöjar Vänsterpartiet.” The essay begins by noting that “the flared-up…
Continue readingDagens Nyheter versus the Swedish Left Party: The Clash of Dirty Laundry
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 15, 2023; Revised October 26, 2023 Source: Author adapted from Pixabay. People who act as if terrorists aren’t responsible for their actions are de facto apologists for terrorists. The same for militarists. Those who simply blame Israel for all of Hamas’s actions eliminate free will. Those who simply blame Hamas…
Continue readingBeyond Terrorism and Militarism: An Alternative to Surplus Political Violence
Seymour Melman, 1917-2004 By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 1, 2023 I proposed the following to ChatGPT: “Using the ideas of Seymour Melman try to answer the following questions. First, what were the main causes of the recent and ongoing war between Russian and Ukraine? Second, what amount and types of weapons should or should not…
Continue readingA ChatGPT Experiment: What would Seymour Melman say about the War in Ukraine?
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, September 11, 2023 (Revised) “The immediate cause of World War III is the preparation of it. The indispensable condition for this kind of preparation is the fact of the sovereign state as a continental economic domain. International events are increasingly the result of the decisions and lack of decisions of men…
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, September 3, 2023 The Culture of Bear Hunting A prevailing stupidity and psychological indifference that prevails in foreign policy (such as arms exports that rob public welfare and support thugs), can also be seen in domestic policy, here the policy of hunting. The Swedish bear hunt helps us understand this dynamic…
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, August 10, 2023 “Radical hedonism and unlimited egotism could not have emerged as guiding principles of economic behaviour had not a drastic change occurred in the eighteenth century. In medieval society, as in many other highly developed as well as primitive societies, economic behaviour was determined by ethical principles. Thus for…
Continue readingThe Global Ecocide Network: Demilitarization or Civilizational Implosion
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, August 8, 2023 Ecocide Champion Nations A July 23, 2023 report by Kristoffer Tigue published in Inside Climate News explained that a proposal to commit the G20 “members to triple their renewable energy development by 2030…failed to pass amid opposition from Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.” Tigue wrote: “The deadlocked deals,…
Continue readingSweden’s Interactions with Ecocide Champion Nations