Noah Berlatsky

How Liberalism Uses Jews, and Why It Shouldn’t Do That

It is not healthy to treat Jewish people like an abstracted symbol of liberalism.

Elon Musk and Conservative Non-Electoral Politics

Democrats, whether politicians or pundits, constantly urge their partisans to vote as the solution to just about every possible problem. Obama famously told a crowd not to boo Donald Trump, but to vote against him. Willie Nelson campaigned for Democrats by leading a crowd in a sung chant: “Vote them

Glenn Greenwald and Reverse Colonization

In 2005, shortly after he started blogging, Glenn Greenwald wrote an infamous and incendiary anti-immigrant post defending reactionary bigot Tom Tancredo. “Current illegal immigration—whereby unmanageably endless hordes of people pour over the border in numbers far too large to assimilate, and who consequently have no need, motivation or ability

The Dangers of Overestimating America's Power to Determine Events

In opposing US imperialism, progressives often emphasize US power. The logic here is straightforward; if the United States has great power to affect international events, it also has great culpability.  The problem, though, is that the focus on US actions and US capacity can lead to the conclusion that the

Freedom of Contract, Unfreedom in the Workplace

Recently New York magazine published a long interview with Joss Whedon in which the film director and television showrunner attempted to defend himself from charges of abuse, harassment, sexism, and racism. Charisma Carpenter, an actor on Whedon’s shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in the late 1990s and

Decolonizing Politics: An Interview With Robbie Shilliam

“It was a bit random,” Robbie Shilliam tells me of his decision to become a political scientist. A professor at Johns Hopkins, Shilliam returned to school in his late twenties, planning to major in history. But he happened to see a poster about the UN, and suddenly thought he could

False Equivalence Will Not Help the Anti-War Movement

“America is back,” anti-war and erstwhile progressive journalist Glenn Greenwald sneered on Twitter after it was announced that Democratic president Joe Biden had launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria and Iraq. Andrew Murray at Jacobin cosigned the sentiment in an article labeling Biden and British Labour leader Keir Starmer as

Be Skeptical of Anti-Establishment Branding

“I am the antichrist/I am an anarchist,” John Lydon famously snarled on the Sex Pistols’ 1976 debut single “Anarchy in the UK.” The song is an angry punk rock call for revolution and destruction—an elemental rejection of your staid, oppressive social structures. Lydon wants to destroy the Man

Justice Breyer's Misguided Institutionalism

Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer has served on the Supreme Court for almost 27 years. He is 82 years old. Right now, there is a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate. That means this is his chance to retire and be replaced with a justice who broadly shares his values, and

Antisemitism and Intent

“Antisemitism, like racism…requires intent,” Ben Shapiro declared. Shapiro was defending his decision to hire actor Gina Carano to a movie deal, despite the fact that she had shared an ugly antisemitic meme on social media. The meme showed old men with piles of money conspiring to control the globe;

The Tyranny of Parents

Most parents, and most adults, don’t like to think about parents as tyrants. Usually instead parents are framed as selfless and hard-working, while children are framed as entitled and needy. Kids are lovable, but also demanding and draining. Parents, we’re told in sitcoms and in parenting advice columns,

Trump Versus Twitter

Last week following the fascist insurrection at the Capitol Building, Twitter permanently suspended Republican President Donald Trump’s account. The company explained that Trump’s  constant false claims of election fraud in 2020 were inciting violence.  Some First Amendment advocates, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), quickly responded with