Hope is a performative emotion

This is David with a new issue of the Weekly Filet, the newsletter for curious and open minds.

To be absolutely sure, I briefly checked with the non-billionaire owner of this newsletter and I'm happy to report that I'm not limited to sharing only articles in support of «personal liberties and free markets».

1. Why Hope is Political

This essay is too good not to be shared with all of you, even though it's in German (Google Translate is your friend). My colleague Daniel Graf on how to distill hope in these godforsaken times. Key quote: «Hope, as Eva Illouz puts it, is a performative emotion: it is strengthened in solidarity, because this counteracts fear [...] and enables experiences of (self-)efficacy. To put it more succinctly: it strengthens the political fighting spirit. And this is desperately needed in the current situation of the threat to democracy.»

Warum Hoffnung politisch ist

Die Lage ist aussichtslos. Also hoffen wir. Serie «Demokratie unter Druck», Folge 4.

RepublikRepublik

2. How Long Does Grief Last?

«Imagine if a person close to you died every day for three years straight. That’s what war feels like. It snowballs until it runs you over.» Reflections on grief, on day 1096 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

How Long Does Grief Last?

On the anniversary of the war in Ukraine

EVROPAAnastasia Lebedenko

3. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Microplastics

Not so sure about the title. It reads more like «Everything You'd Rather Never Knew About Microplastics». That said, it's really worth your time. (And it comes with a sentence not found in many articles: «It’s sometimes a challenge to find brains.»)

There’s a Spoon’s Worth of Plastic in Our Brains. Now What?

An investigation into what microplastics are doing to our bodies.

IntelligencerCarolyn Kormann

4. The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything

Rebecca Solnit on rape culture and how power means being «in charge of blame». She is pulling no punches. «The left was so annoying about pronouns or liberals made people feel so guilty about plastic straws they had no choice but to get on board with the second coming of the Third Reich and the destruction of the planet.»

The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything

The rhetoric and logic of the abuse of power operates similarly at all scales, which is why I’ve found feminism such useful equipment for understanding authoritarians in public and political life. Because no matter what abusers take from their victims, they don’t want to take the blame. And one of

Meditations in an EmergencyRebecca Solnit

5. In an Age of Right-Wing Populism, Why Are Denmark’s Liberals Winning?

Is being tough on immigration the key to finding majorities for progressive policies? It strikes me as a cynical and reductionist, and I sure hope there are other ways of making progressivism great again. Then again, at a time when right and extreme right parties are winning everywhere, I appreciate any serious attempt at understanding how this trend could be reversed. (Gift link so you can read it without a subscription)

In an Age of Right-Wing Populism, Why Are Denmark’s Liberals Winning?

Around the world, progressive parties have come to see tight immigration restrictions as unnecessary, even cruel. What if they’re actually the only way for progressivism to flourish?

The New York Times