Whoa, that was brilliant, my brain just went on a joyride :)
"manufactured dehumanization intentionally entwined with the structural fabrics of society to make indistinguishable the conditions of domination from the conditions of civilization." I'm not sure I've ever read a more succinct description of the way things are.
I sometimes think in this Societal Machine those doing the evil are as trapped by the mythology as those having evil done upon them, in a feedback system that is both ensnaring and demonising of everyone. I think it's my only way of coming to terms with the incomprehensible stupidity of dehumanisation, you know, in a "they know not what they do," kinda way. Maybe I just can't face how awful we all are and prefer to imagine that, beside the obvious psychopathic lunatics, on the whole humans just want to be loved. Maybe I'm just naieve. -- Anyway, reading your writing gives me a bit more faith in we fools. Thanks so much.
A joyride is such a fun way to describe the reading experience, oh my gosh. I love it. Thank you for that! And thank you for the thoughtful time spent, I am very grateful 💜
I can’t recall who the book was quoting, so please excuse me, but in Abolition. Feminism. Now there was a line about current events being historically made which feels like it very much aligns here. And I am with you, I truly believe we could heal all of this with just way, way more love. Not just on the individual level but on the systemic level—policies made out of love for humans, not the opposite.
Echoing Jonathan on the brilliance of "manufactured dehumanization intentionally entwined with the structural fabrics of society to make indistinguishable the conditions of domination from the conditions of civilization." That really got my attention this morning.
From the moment Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the church has been an inseparable part of this dynamic.
The DHS 's recently tweeted John Gast's "American Progress," showing Columbia, the white female avatar of America, dressed in Roman robes, leading the Westward expansion, pulling a telegraph wire and a sunrise behind her, and scattering Native Americans and animals, notably bison, into the darkness before her.
It's a timely reminder that this nation's founding fathers idolized the Roman republic, and that, as in the Roman role model, freedom for the few was built on patriarchy, misogyny, slavery, and genocide, and that there are those who would take us back there.
EW! John, I had not seen this and I had to put my phone down and disconnect for a second afterwards. Just, ew. There are so many current examples of exactly this — we don’t even need to search for the hidden stories anymore, they are telling us what they want openly, shame-free.
I am so grateful for you! Thank you for always spending such thoughtful time with my words—it truly does mean so much. 💜 May we keep spreading love to counter all of this hate.
Thank you for these connections across centuries. The Doctrine of Discovery shows the long arm of the intertwining effects from patriarchy. 2025 is a living example of its tentacles. May we learn to take new paths with awareness.
I think there is so much hope for those institutions which have positioned their doctrine to represent patriarchy to rectify the harm they've perpetuated into the world -- when finally confronted with the weight of said pain. So much hope! I am grateful for you, Hans, always sitting with these challenging conversations. Thank you 💜
Thank you for spending your time with it, Jonathan! 💜 And I so appreciate that - it was the first day I had access to full speech again and I really enjoyed making it. I’m guilty of trying to make the first ‘flashback’ a bit of a jumpscare though, it felt only fitting for the topic!
Thank you for this essay! Next time I watch sinners I’ll have you in mind. I definitely understand how the light=good dark=bad is used to reinforce white supremacy and xenophobia, but to be honest I’ve always felt a little conflicted on the idea that its origins are solely based in those spaces. It makes sense to me that a metaphor of dark=bad would come out of a world where nighttime is scary (it still is tbh), where damaged (white) skin bruised black and blue, disease and death and fire darken the skin in ways that are undesireable and fatal. I’m really not trying to disagree with you, and I know the more subtle conversations around race can be contentious and fraught, especially on the internet, so I hope you can take this question in good faith. I’m definitely not as well versed in medieval thought or writing as you are, so I just wanted to bring this up to you because I’d love your thoughts. Basically just like, we will inherently read those old writings about the “dark devil” as racist (and like I said, I’m sure that in some cases they are, and were definitely used to further white supremacy) but I can see an interpretation of many instances of dark=bad/scary (although maybe not any of the quotes you’ve used) in medieval writing actually genuinely have nothing to do with race- even if they ultimately help build to the dominant views. Hopefully this makes sense!
Hi Phoebe, I so appreciate the thoughtful time spent and reflection! I absolutely follow what you are saying — and if my thesis seemed to argue that these associations occurred purely for nefarious race-based reasons from the onset, then I argued beyond my intention. I don’t have my resources in front of me, so please excuse what is going to be a misquote, but I highly recommend reading through the argument of the essay The Folly of Racism, and how these associations were able to easily become assumptions as imperialism furthered, especially after the advancement of the printing press and larger scale distribution via the single story. Almost like a co-opting of preexisting topos to intentionally manufacture such assumptions. It’s not that dark=devil so therefore the assumption of the medieval mind would be Black=devil, but that the first association was weaponized to perpetuate the second. I’m really hoping I’ve understood what you were thinking through - because I agree with you! It is the ‘yes, and.’ This same scenario creeps into medieval beauty standards of fair/pale—it was in relation to divine imagery but through this relation it identified those outside of the standard as outside of the community.
Thank you again for such thoughtful reflections, I so appreciate it. 💜💜
I will check out the Folly of Racism, thank you! Yeah I don't think it comes across as you explicitly trying to argue that the associations occurred purely for race reasons, but every time I see something about this, it's never really mentioned or explored that these associations came about naturally on their own without the racial undertones, so I'm left to wonder if the general understanding is that the concepts started as a racist metaphor or not (as someone who hasn't studied history in any formal way.) The fact that it wasn't is actually even more interesting and insidious to me, like the idea that we take these very real human fears (afraid of the dark, for example) and twist them for societal and political and hateful purposes. Now that I'm thinking about it I think that it's something that happens quite frequently, but in extremely subtle ways so we're not aware of it. Hope this makes sense, I'm not feeling like I'm being very eloquent about this haha. Thanks for the great response, I very much appreciate your newsletter!
Thanks for spending time with it. The viscous one just cracked me up - I love that my brain just completely overlooked and went with viscous. I went ahead and fixed these, but please know in the future I actually don’t mind having a publication with typos — I am human, after all. In this age of AI, these typos wink back at me and remind me of that. 💜
Every post you make leads me down 100 different rabbit holes, which I know in your other research is how you arrived in the first place. History never stops giving. I loath that I’ll never be able to consume all the facts about people of the past
Oh my goodness I know this feeling well! More often than not the essay I end with isn’t the one I had originally set out to write. I’ll get on a tangent, and then suddenly I’m plotting an entirely separate essay which I then feel pulled to write first. It is an adventure! I feel much the same way - there are just too many lost to us. I want to know about the every person, their thoughts; motivations, yet it is lost to us for so many reasons. One of them being the frustratingly pervasive patriarchal single story. I so appreciate you spending your time with my words, I am so, so grateful for your thoughtful presence. 💜
Whoa, that was brilliant, my brain just went on a joyride :)
"manufactured dehumanization intentionally entwined with the structural fabrics of society to make indistinguishable the conditions of domination from the conditions of civilization." I'm not sure I've ever read a more succinct description of the way things are.
I sometimes think in this Societal Machine those doing the evil are as trapped by the mythology as those having evil done upon them, in a feedback system that is both ensnaring and demonising of everyone. I think it's my only way of coming to terms with the incomprehensible stupidity of dehumanisation, you know, in a "they know not what they do," kinda way. Maybe I just can't face how awful we all are and prefer to imagine that, beside the obvious psychopathic lunatics, on the whole humans just want to be loved. Maybe I'm just naieve. -- Anyway, reading your writing gives me a bit more faith in we fools. Thanks so much.
A joyride is such a fun way to describe the reading experience, oh my gosh. I love it. Thank you for that! And thank you for the thoughtful time spent, I am very grateful 💜
I can’t recall who the book was quoting, so please excuse me, but in Abolition. Feminism. Now there was a line about current events being historically made which feels like it very much aligns here. And I am with you, I truly believe we could heal all of this with just way, way more love. Not just on the individual level but on the systemic level—policies made out of love for humans, not the opposite.
Thank you again for the time spent!! 💜
It was time well spent :)
Echoing Jonathan on the brilliance of "manufactured dehumanization intentionally entwined with the structural fabrics of society to make indistinguishable the conditions of domination from the conditions of civilization." That really got my attention this morning.
From the moment Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the church has been an inseparable part of this dynamic.
The DHS 's recently tweeted John Gast's "American Progress," showing Columbia, the white female avatar of America, dressed in Roman robes, leading the Westward expansion, pulling a telegraph wire and a sunrise behind her, and scattering Native Americans and animals, notably bison, into the darkness before her.
https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1948150126494482555
It's a timely reminder that this nation's founding fathers idolized the Roman republic, and that, as in the Roman role model, freedom for the few was built on patriarchy, misogyny, slavery, and genocide, and that there are those who would take us back there.
EW! John, I had not seen this and I had to put my phone down and disconnect for a second afterwards. Just, ew. There are so many current examples of exactly this — we don’t even need to search for the hidden stories anymore, they are telling us what they want openly, shame-free.
I am so grateful for you! Thank you for always spending such thoughtful time with my words—it truly does mean so much. 💜 May we keep spreading love to counter all of this hate.
It's truly horrifying. And yes, the only antidote is love. ❤️
Thank you for these connections across centuries. The Doctrine of Discovery shows the long arm of the intertwining effects from patriarchy. 2025 is a living example of its tentacles. May we learn to take new paths with awareness.
I think there is so much hope for those institutions which have positioned their doctrine to represent patriarchy to rectify the harm they've perpetuated into the world -- when finally confronted with the weight of said pain. So much hope! I am grateful for you, Hans, always sitting with these challenging conversations. Thank you 💜
Wonderful essay and love the voiceover!
Thank you for spending your time with it, Jonathan! 💜 And I so appreciate that - it was the first day I had access to full speech again and I really enjoyed making it. I’m guilty of trying to make the first ‘flashback’ a bit of a jumpscare though, it felt only fitting for the topic!
You sound like a natural. 🤗
Thank you for this essay! Next time I watch sinners I’ll have you in mind. I definitely understand how the light=good dark=bad is used to reinforce white supremacy and xenophobia, but to be honest I’ve always felt a little conflicted on the idea that its origins are solely based in those spaces. It makes sense to me that a metaphor of dark=bad would come out of a world where nighttime is scary (it still is tbh), where damaged (white) skin bruised black and blue, disease and death and fire darken the skin in ways that are undesireable and fatal. I’m really not trying to disagree with you, and I know the more subtle conversations around race can be contentious and fraught, especially on the internet, so I hope you can take this question in good faith. I’m definitely not as well versed in medieval thought or writing as you are, so I just wanted to bring this up to you because I’d love your thoughts. Basically just like, we will inherently read those old writings about the “dark devil” as racist (and like I said, I’m sure that in some cases they are, and were definitely used to further white supremacy) but I can see an interpretation of many instances of dark=bad/scary (although maybe not any of the quotes you’ve used) in medieval writing actually genuinely have nothing to do with race- even if they ultimately help build to the dominant views. Hopefully this makes sense!
Hi Phoebe, I so appreciate the thoughtful time spent and reflection! I absolutely follow what you are saying — and if my thesis seemed to argue that these associations occurred purely for nefarious race-based reasons from the onset, then I argued beyond my intention. I don’t have my resources in front of me, so please excuse what is going to be a misquote, but I highly recommend reading through the argument of the essay The Folly of Racism, and how these associations were able to easily become assumptions as imperialism furthered, especially after the advancement of the printing press and larger scale distribution via the single story. Almost like a co-opting of preexisting topos to intentionally manufacture such assumptions. It’s not that dark=devil so therefore the assumption of the medieval mind would be Black=devil, but that the first association was weaponized to perpetuate the second. I’m really hoping I’ve understood what you were thinking through - because I agree with you! It is the ‘yes, and.’ This same scenario creeps into medieval beauty standards of fair/pale—it was in relation to divine imagery but through this relation it identified those outside of the standard as outside of the community.
Thank you again for such thoughtful reflections, I so appreciate it. 💜💜
I will check out the Folly of Racism, thank you! Yeah I don't think it comes across as you explicitly trying to argue that the associations occurred purely for race reasons, but every time I see something about this, it's never really mentioned or explored that these associations came about naturally on their own without the racial undertones, so I'm left to wonder if the general understanding is that the concepts started as a racist metaphor or not (as someone who hasn't studied history in any formal way.) The fact that it wasn't is actually even more interesting and insidious to me, like the idea that we take these very real human fears (afraid of the dark, for example) and twist them for societal and political and hateful purposes. Now that I'm thinking about it I think that it's something that happens quite frequently, but in extremely subtle ways so we're not aware of it. Hope this makes sense, I'm not feeling like I'm being very eloquent about this haha. Thanks for the great response, I very much appreciate your newsletter!
Thank YOU! I appreciate the time spent with my words, truly! What a gift!
Looking forward to spending more time with them :)
Brilliant analysis. There are a couple of typos that trip up the reader:
—“The good lord calls upon us to be viscous (should be vicious) of men who sin and show them the way!”
- KKK robs should be robes
Thanks for spending time with it. The viscous one just cracked me up - I love that my brain just completely overlooked and went with viscous. I went ahead and fixed these, but please know in the future I actually don’t mind having a publication with typos — I am human, after all. In this age of AI, these typos wink back at me and remind me of that. 💜
Every post you make leads me down 100 different rabbit holes, which I know in your other research is how you arrived in the first place. History never stops giving. I loath that I’ll never be able to consume all the facts about people of the past
Oh my goodness I know this feeling well! More often than not the essay I end with isn’t the one I had originally set out to write. I’ll get on a tangent, and then suddenly I’m plotting an entirely separate essay which I then feel pulled to write first. It is an adventure! I feel much the same way - there are just too many lost to us. I want to know about the every person, their thoughts; motivations, yet it is lost to us for so many reasons. One of them being the frustratingly pervasive patriarchal single story. I so appreciate you spending your time with my words, I am so, so grateful for your thoughtful presence. 💜
So good, thank you! I need to rewatch Sinners now!