Alexander Karn

Associate Professor at SLAC (NY, USA) and #Histodon working on #HistoricalJustice and #HistoricalDialogue. Personal acct, not representing employer. Interests: #HumanRights #Reconciliation #Restitution #Reparations

Social democracy when I can. Liberal democracy when I must.

Web: https://www.colgate.edu/about/directory/akarn
Select Publications: https://colgate.academia.edu/AlexanderKarn
Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/xankarn

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npub1ndjdlm4durn66h2rjkdvkd00ruvgnl02w7fr4w3h7lp9u0uj0xxsr4vl5c

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xankarn_at_mastodon.online@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqsfkexla6k7peadt4petxktxhh37xyflh480y36hgml0sj787f8nrgdwxhjq

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Last Notes

2024-09-23 14:34:07

Trump doesn't lie to change perceptions of reality. He lies to see who will submit to his power to lie freely.
Every outrage against truth is actually a loyalty test.

2024-09-20 12:40:47

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It looks like you’re trying to avoid a core reactor meltdown. Would you like some help with that?
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/169/922/099/908/892/original/1d8a49265776b2b0.webp

2024-09-19 14:55:04

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On that note, let me recommend, if you don't already know it, [@tzimmer_history](https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history ) substack project, Democracy Americana, and especially his latest post on "Blood and Soil"
We are on the cusp of violent stupidity and, imo, deep trauma and tragedy.
Please read what Thomas has to say. Please stay alert. Please keep working the problem.
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/blood-and-soil

2024-09-19 14:51:16

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Returning to the US after conducting research in Germany, Mayer writes:
"I came back home a little afraid for my country, afraid of what it might want, and get, and like, under pressure of combined reality and illusion. I felt--and feel--that it was not German Man that I had met, but Man. He happened to be in Germany under certain conditions. He might be here, under certain conditions. He might, under certain conditions, be I."
History doesn't repeat itself, but we ignore it at our peril.

2024-09-19 14:47:46

One of my posts--on the Nazi Revolution--has taken off a bit. More boosts and favorites than I accustomed to. Most seem understand I am not only talking or thinking abt Germany here.
Grappling with Nazism means getting familiar w ordinary Germans. Milton Mayer, the American journalist, tried to do this in the 1950s in a book titled They Thought They Were Free. Important read.
There something in his foreword worth contemplating, whether you're American, Israeli, German, Russian, or Chinese...

2024-09-17 13:30:20

Students in my War and Holocaust course struggle to understand the Nazi Revolution. How does a party which wins 38% in 1932 move so quickly to a one-party dictatorship? It’s several things:
1. Fear. Am I really prepared to oppose this violent, lawless clique?
2. Opportunism. What can I gain by aligning myself to the movement?
3. Ambiguity. Is there real danger here? Maybe I can ride this out and go back to my life when the clouds pass?

2024-09-13 14:16:26

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My undergraduate students have recently started to describe a kind of generational PTSD.
Kids are being asked to adjust themselves to what is intolerable.
Warm thoughts to you and your daughter.

2024-09-11 03:20:37

Taylor Swift had the guts to weigh in.
George W. Bush did not.
#uspol #debate

2024-09-11 02:50:18

“It was like a 4chan post come to life.”
—Jake Tapper on the man-child’s scrambled and predictably dishonest performance.

2024-09-10 13:42:20

Immigration has never been the problem.
When nobody seeks entrance to your community, when nobody takes inspiration from what’s inside, THAT’S when you’re in trouble.
Photo from my visit to Ellis Island last fall.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/113/539/592/439/605/original/b2cafd8478a5e85c.jpeg

2024-09-08 18:38:37

Straight out of the phone. #silentsunday #autumn #nature
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/103/381/236/561/786/original/0ddca074062b2335.jpeg

2024-09-06 12:51:14

My uni has a Common Read program and this year’s selection, Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond has generated a lot of good discussion.
We’ve done some programming on campus to sustain the conversation on wealth inequality and economic justice.
Last night we screened The Barber of Little Rock (2023), an Oscar nominated short doc (35 mins), which I can’t recommend enough.
Fortunate to have one of the directors and Arlo Washington w us for Q and A.
https://www.newyorker.com/video/watch/the-barber-of-little-rock

2024-08-29 16:24:36

New swag. Every purchase is a direct contribution to vote.org.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/046/233/526/992/993/original/ad481e38f845d3f0.jpeg

2024-08-17 18:56:24

Tesla Cyber Truck is the new Hummer.
Seeing one on the road, you know instantly that the guy driving it is an insufferable douche.

2024-08-13 00:34:52

Social media can be a distraction, and lots of “takes” are intellectual junk food.
But I still love #Mastodon.
I see such great stuff here. From erudite political analysis to wonderful scenes from nature to house pets.
Thanks to all who contribute positively.

2024-08-12 15:21:58

#job #academia
Please boost.
Ass’t Prof in Peace and Conflict Studies (tenure-stream) at Colgate University (NY, USA).
3/2 teaching load.
Dynamic, interdisciplinary program at a highly selective liberal arts college.
https://www.colgate.edu/academics/departments-programs/peace-and-conflict-studies-program/faculty-and-staff/pcon-faculty

2024-05-30 18:32:41

Won’t submit to legislative oversight.
Won’t commit to implementing a serious code of ethics.
Won’t lift a finger to save the Court’s legitimacy.
#law #SCOTUS #uspol
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/politics/john-roberts-ethics-alito-flag-supreme-court-durbin/index.html

2024-05-21 13:45:31

Boost your friends and allies.
Screenshot the dim bulbs and bad actors.
#mastodon #culture #online

2024-05-16 10:50:44

“In 1992, those whites scoring at the top of the authoritarianism scale split their two-party vote almost evenly between Bush and Clinton (51 to 49). In 2000 and 2004, the difference becomes statistically significant but still pretty small.
By 2012, those high-authoritarianism white voters went 68 to 32 for Romney over Obama. In both Trump elections it was 80 to 20 among those voters.
So from 50 Republican-50 Democrat to 80 Republican-20 Democrat in 24 years.“
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-democracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.OOs2.Py-ND3D--YE1&smid=url-share

2024-04-11 17:53:20

@npub1uc0…cpgf
Cultural history class this week includes the #bicycle boom of the 1890s.
Newspapers from this period are filled with the complaints of men who say bicycles ruined their marriages, since wives only care to ride and no longer tend to their "duties."
The Rev. Thomas Gregory saw the bike as a threat to his parishioners' intellect and health.
"It annihilates the reading habit. The libraries are deserted. It is a menace to domestic virtues. It breaks up and destroys the home."
🚲 🧵

2023-09-10 02:44:33

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Fascism is rooted in the idea of organic community and in the notion that a select and chosen people are bound by a common thread of fate and fortune. This spell is reinforced through the construction and subjugation of “alien others.” To build OUR ranks and fulfill OUR destiny, THE INTERNAL ENEMY must first be purged and later eliminated. Each raised arm, together with every shout, whistle, and cheer, reaffirms this logic.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/111/038/541/914/990/169/original/2f037df6f893bd94.jpeg

2023-09-09 09:12:21

Mass intoxication first requires small, private capitulations. The force of the group substitutes for the weakness of the individual.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/111/034/409/455/183/230/original/4af5e2687a45c319.jpeg