Bodie A. Ashton
@manwithoutatan.bsky.social
historian | pet shop boys fanatic | australian in germany | very bisexual | constantly podcasting | "oh, dr. bodie!" per jordan gray | they/them | latest book: “the pet shop boys and the political”
Reposted by Bodie A. Ashton
Reposted by Bodie A. Ashton
I choose to believe that Scott Adams is in hell and it is just an endless expanse of office backrooms where no one, not a single soul, is around to care about your Takes and Observations
January 13, 2026 at 3:42 PM
I choose to believe that Scott Adams is in hell and it is just an endless expanse of office backrooms where no one, not a single soul, is around to care about your Takes and Observations
Look I’m all for pointing at the catastrophic state of US policing now, but come on. It’s not like it hasn’t been a murderous despicable apparatus since forever. Put another way: they *are* behaving professionally, because the violence *is* their profession; the target list has just expanded a bit.
Before Trump, law enforcement were trained to behave professionally. At a traffic stop they would start with words such as "Mam, may I see your drivers license and registration."
ICE evidently trains their goons to start a stop with screamed profanity, quickly followed by violence.
ICE evidently trains their goons to start a stop with screamed profanity, quickly followed by violence.
January 12, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Look I’m all for pointing at the catastrophic state of US policing now, but come on. It’s not like it hasn’t been a murderous despicable apparatus since forever. Put another way: they *are* behaving professionally, because the violence *is* their profession; the target list has just expanded a bit.
God but that new angle is desperately needed. There’s still this pervading feeling that if you point out that they’re being fash it’ll be the gotcha that wakes up the duped supporters when, like: the fascism is the feature! They know! We’ve lost the consensus that fascism is a priori bad!
January 11, 2026 at 1:02 PM
God but that new angle is desperately needed. There’s still this pervading feeling that if you point out that they’re being fash it’ll be the gotcha that wakes up the duped supporters when, like: the fascism is the feature! They know! We’ve lost the consensus that fascism is a priori bad!
I bang this drum a lot but: Donald Trump is not a fascist and danger to the world because he’s Adolf Hitler. He’s a fascist and danger to the world because he’s Donald Trump. It’s reasonable to find parallels with the two, but contingency is also important and doesn’t take away from the main point!
January 11, 2026 at 12:49 PM
I bang this drum a lot but: Donald Trump is not a fascist and danger to the world because he’s Adolf Hitler. He’s a fascist and danger to the world because he’s Donald Trump. It’s reasonable to find parallels with the two, but contingency is also important and doesn’t take away from the main point!
I’m all for seeing parallels to historical fascism but modern fascism doesn’t need to follow its antecedents 1:1 to be fascist. Else you get asinine semantic games, i.e. when border camps were labelled “concentration camps” and some tied themselves in knots to show how they’re not exactly Dachau.
January 11, 2026 at 12:49 PM
I’m all for seeing parallels to historical fascism but modern fascism doesn’t need to follow its antecedents 1:1 to be fascist. Else you get asinine semantic games, i.e. when border camps were labelled “concentration camps” and some tied themselves in knots to show how they’re not exactly Dachau.
The thing is, you don’t even NEED the slogan to have originated with Falangists or any other fascist or fascist-adjacent movement. Its meaning is obvious and — especially when explicitly aimed at their *own population*, extremely chilling.
They are absolutely fascists, but this slogan appears to be hallucinated
January 11, 2026 at 12:49 PM
The thing is, you don’t even NEED the slogan to have originated with Falangists or any other fascist or fascist-adjacent movement. Its meaning is obvious and — especially when explicitly aimed at their *own population*, extremely chilling.
Me: oh hey so I travelled across the country twice on the day that they thought would be catastrophic for trains, and I had no dramas. So on this sunny beautiful day my relatively quick trip up to Berlin should be easy.
Deutsche Bahn: you fool. You complete idiot.
Deutsche Bahn: you fool. You complete idiot.
January 11, 2026 at 12:38 PM
Me: oh hey so I travelled across the country twice on the day that they thought would be catastrophic for trains, and I had no dramas. So on this sunny beautiful day my relatively quick trip up to Berlin should be easy.
Deutsche Bahn: you fool. You complete idiot.
Deutsche Bahn: you fool. You complete idiot.
That responsibility *should be* primarily directed at protecting the vulnerable from the comparatively powerful — which could be Musk but could also be the arsehole with pictures of random women and a ready prompt for Grok. I know that’s not how the law or regulation tend to work. But they should.
January 11, 2026 at 9:51 AM
That responsibility *should be* primarily directed at protecting the vulnerable from the comparatively powerful — which could be Musk but could also be the arsehole with pictures of random women and a ready prompt for Grok. I know that’s not how the law or regulation tend to work. But they should.
What really pisses me off about “free speech absolutists” (ugh) is that there is not and has never been an unfettered right to say or publish whatever the fuck you want. You can argue the boundaries of that, that’s totally legitimate, but yes a functional society has a responsibility here.
January 11, 2026 at 9:51 AM
What really pisses me off about “free speech absolutists” (ugh) is that there is not and has never been an unfettered right to say or publish whatever the fuck you want. You can argue the boundaries of that, that’s totally legitimate, but yes a functional society has a responsibility here.
Well…yes? Okay? There is a good reason to censor material relating to the sexual abuse of children (among others — Grok has of course been manipulating images of many other people too!), in the same way that there are good reasons to police people yelling “fire!” in a crowded cinema.
Of course he does.
Wanting to ban AI manipulation of the sexualisation of children is now “censorship.” 🙄
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Wanting to ban AI manipulation of the sexualisation of children is now “censorship.” 🙄
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Musk says outcry over X's Grok service is 'excuse for censorship'
The government is urging Ofcom to use all its powers – up to and including an effective ban – against X.
www.bbc.com
January 11, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Well…yes? Okay? There is a good reason to censor material relating to the sexual abuse of children (among others — Grok has of course been manipulating images of many other people too!), in the same way that there are good reasons to police people yelling “fire!” in a crowded cinema.
Man with access to actual centuries of evidence of habitual US military atrocities, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam: hmm yes you see these were unavoidable and also Abu Ghraib just kinda did that.
January 11, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Man with access to actual centuries of evidence of habitual US military atrocities, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam: hmm yes you see these were unavoidable and also Abu Ghraib just kinda did that.
(And in fact gaining ground; it’s notable that more progressive West German outlets often looked to the UK as an example of laudable acceptance when it came to trans issues!)
January 10, 2026 at 10:49 AM
(And in fact gaining ground; it’s notable that more progressive West German outlets often looked to the UK as an example of laudable acceptance when it came to trans issues!)
I’ve got a chapter on West German press discourses on transness coming (Soon™) in the collection I’ve edited with @historyned.bsky.social and @sarahfren.bsky.social but suffice to say it remains galling that the reaction I write about is still so prevalent.
January 10, 2026 at 10:49 AM
I’ve got a chapter on West German press discourses on transness coming (Soon™) in the collection I’ve edited with @historyned.bsky.social and @sarahfren.bsky.social but suffice to say it remains galling that the reaction I write about is still so prevalent.
Secondly: this came during significant feminist headway: women being able to work without make permission, able to open bank accounts, and so on. For BILD et al, who wouldn’t acknowledge trans identity, trans men were another example of women encroaching on the last bastions of masculine privilege.
January 10, 2026 at 10:49 AM
Secondly: this came during significant feminist headway: women being able to work without make permission, able to open bank accounts, and so on. For BILD et al, who wouldn’t acknowledge trans identity, trans men were another example of women encroaching on the last bastions of masculine privilege.
I found two things deeply fascinating about that little episode. Firstly, the inversion of the “expected” panic from a 21st century perspective, where the most visible anti-trans forces are railed against trans women.
January 10, 2026 at 10:49 AM
I found two things deeply fascinating about that little episode. Firstly, the inversion of the “expected” panic from a 21st century perspective, where the most visible anti-trans forces are railed against trans women.
The UK playing the greatest hits of West German moral panics of the 1970s, when right-wing press organs such as BILD freaked out about the idea that “women [sic!!] will soon be able to call themselves fathers.”
A transgender man cannot be registered as “father” on the birth certificates of children delivered by his female partner, a senior judge has ruled. He could not be registered as such because he was neither the biological nor gestational parent of either child. [Times]
January 10, 2026 at 10:49 AM
The UK playing the greatest hits of West German moral panics of the 1970s, when right-wing press organs such as BILD freaked out about the idea that “women [sic!!] will soon be able to call themselves fathers.”
Hey Parker, good to see you back!
January 9, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Hey Parker, good to see you back!
Wait. Did people literally believe that Tim Walz replaced the state flag with the Somalian national flag?
January 9, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Wait. Did people literally believe that Tim Walz replaced the state flag with the Somalian national flag?
I love the Adelaide Writers Week, which makes their indefensible censorship of Randa Abdel-Fattah even more painful. But it’s great to see many of the writers taking a principled stand — knowing, firstly, just how important it is to them and, secondly, that this is not a definitive list.
January 9, 2026 at 6:40 AM
I love the Adelaide Writers Week, which makes their indefensible censorship of Randa Abdel-Fattah even more painful. But it’s great to see many of the writers taking a principled stand — knowing, firstly, just how important it is to them and, secondly, that this is not a definitive list.
Because if you don’t go full-throatedly into battle for Renee Good — one woman the entire apparatus of the government is attempting to destroy having already killed her, and for whom you have clear and obvious evidence of what they are doing — then what fucking use are you.
January 8, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Because if you don’t go full-throatedly into battle for Renee Good — one woman the entire apparatus of the government is attempting to destroy having already killed her, and for whom you have clear and obvious evidence of what they are doing — then what fucking use are you.
People claim that Democrats can’t make any big interventions against Trump because they have no power. Okay, so here’s a singular case. An agent of the federal government murdered a woman in broad daylight and the president is openly lying about her. Will you let that stand?
January 8, 2026 at 10:50 PM
People claim that Democrats can’t make any big interventions against Trump because they have no power. Okay, so here’s a singular case. An agent of the federal government murdered a woman in broad daylight and the president is openly lying about her. Will you let that stand?
Do you think that Renee Good’s wife, having had her love wrenched violently from her, should live with the stigma of being married to a “terrorist”? Should her children, having lost their mother, have to navigate that?
January 8, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Do you think that Renee Good’s wife, having had her love wrenched violently from her, should live with the stigma of being married to a “terrorist”? Should her children, having lost their mother, have to navigate that?
Beyond the obvious implications of all that’s been happening there, the US government has not only murdered a woman, but it is smearing her as a domestic terrorist to justify having done so. This seems like an easy moral question for Dems and indeed Americans as a whole: will you let this stand?
January 8, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Beyond the obvious implications of all that’s been happening there, the US government has not only murdered a woman, but it is smearing her as a domestic terrorist to justify having done so. This seems like an easy moral question for Dems and indeed Americans as a whole: will you let this stand?