Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
@drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
17K followers 2.7K following 7.5K posts
Historian. Monster consultant (documentaries, etc.). Words in LA Times, TLS, Aeon, Nature, Science. Buy HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY now: https://www.surekhadavies.org/humans-a-monstrous-history Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/surekhadavies?tag=bluesky
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Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
gbrockell.bsky.social
This is a problem with so much legacy media raising journalists with underdeveloped personal morality, trained to seek “iDEoloGIcaL diVErsitY” and not right and wrong. Because this argument is stupid and puny, and any columnist who can’t call it out immediately is not a serious person.

Watch: 1/2
stephenwest.bsky.social
Counterpoint:

You absolutely do not have to hand it to enslavers
Wilson: Now, one of the things I want to do is say: I’m really glad that slavery’s gone, and good riddance. And I want to say that the Southern slave owner, who read the books of Ephesians and Colossians and 1 Timothy and treated his slaves decently, remembering that he had a master in heaven who he studiously tried to obey — what Paul said slave owners were supposed to do — I would say he was not an orc, and he is part of the reason why slavery ended. In other words, I would say he’s a good guy.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
bschillace.brandyschillace.com
Hey, happy #friday! I’ve decided to post a list of things I’ve written that have nothing to do with the garbage fire we call 2025. Cause we could use a flipping break. Have some #HISTORY & #SCIENCE! 🧪

elemental.medium.com/what-really-...
What Really Happens in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber?
Fountain of youth or fatuous fad, hyperbaric oxygen therapy requires a lot of nerve
elemental.medium.com
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
bschillace.brandyschillace.com
THE INTERMEDIARIES covers the time period leading to the Nazi take-over. I have been keeping time with current developments like a doomsday clock. We are getting damn close to ‘midnight’ (1933). We need to know our enemy’s moves to fight them. Book at discount:

www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-interm...
The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story book by Brandy Schillace
Buy a cheap copy of The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story book by Brandy Schillace. Set in interwar Germany, The Intermediaries tells the forgotten story of the Institute for Sexual Science, the world's ...
www.thriftbooks.com
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
brotigupta.bsky.social
so much of the american experience is being on hold with pharmacies for so long you decide it might just be easier to die
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
karlbode.com
you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope!

and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate
NYT headline: "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats"

subheadline: "Mark Bray was teaching courses on antifascism. Turning Point USA accused him of belonging to antifa, which he denies. His flight to Spain was canceled abruptly on Wednesday night."
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
lmacthompson1.bsky.social
I am writing this because it has swiftly become crystal clear to me that many people have no idea what is happening or how this works. Here is a thread for non-academics to put into context what just happened to Dr. Mark Bray, a fellow historian.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Extraordinary that people need reminding of this, but anyone with US relatives - parents, grandparents... - who fought in the US army in the Second World War has relatives who fought against fascism.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
wokestudies.bsky.social
Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.
“Focused and persuasive ... the first English-language transnational history of antifa, a how-to for would-be activists, and a record of advice from anti-Fascist organizers past and present.”
—THE NEW YORKER

#HigherEd #research
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
I recognize this tactic from the academic job market I abandoned years ago:
Book not done? Problem.
Book in production? Problem.
Book published? Problem.
Book won prizes? We didn't think your brand new project was sufficiently developed.
#academicsky
mtsw.bsky.social
If grocery prices had gone down or voters started saying they trusted Harris on grocery prices, the result would not be Harris walking away with the election but the media choosing in a different bad-for-Harris economic issue as the number one issue of the campaign.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
russellengland.bsky.social
Professor Mark Bray is on Bluesky - @mark-bray.bsky.social
russellengland.bsky.social
American Anti-Fascist Professor Mark Bray, trying to relocate to Spain with his family after death threats

Their flights were mysteriously "cancelled"

Seems fascism Professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder were right to leave the US when they did
US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport
Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled
www.theguardian.com
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Extraordinary that people need reminding of this, but anyone with US relatives - parents, grandparents... - who fought in the US army in the Second World War has relatives who fought against fascism.
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Thank heavens. Was just searching for this feeling increasingly anxious.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
pookleblinky.bsky.social
It turns out to be hard to accept that the guy trying desperately to cram orphans into an orphan crushing machine, really truly isn't trying and failing at achieving a totally different goal.

Even if he's spent his entire career loudly and repeatedly declaring that crushing orphans is his goal.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
pookleblinky.bsky.social
A journalist not asking basic followup questions to a person in power, has a goal.

If you assumed that goal was "informing the public," you would think they were failing at that goal instead of very successfully attaining it.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
drnaomibaker.bsky.social
One of the most daring theological works of the C17th, published by Elizabeth Avery in 1647. It reconsiders every mainstream Protestant teaching about the apocalypse, and caused her to be denounced as a heretic, including by her own brother. I tell Avery’s story in Voices of Thunder #earlymodern
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Yes! Fingers crossed for a smooth trip and exit from the airport.
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
I recognize this tactic from the academic job market I abandoned years ago:
Book not done? Problem.
Book in production? Problem.
Book published? Problem.
Book won prizes? We didn't think your brand new project was sufficiently developed.
#academicsky
mtsw.bsky.social
If grocery prices had gone down or voters started saying they trusted Harris on grocery prices, the result would not be Harris walking away with the election but the media choosing in a different bad-for-Harris economic issue as the number one issue of the campaign.
Reposted by Dr Surekha Davies (she/her)
nromanek.bsky.social
Tremendous
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.