Stefan Mesch
smeschmesch.bsky.social
Stefan Mesch
@smeschmesch.bsky.social
queer | journalist | 42 | v.a. Deutschlandfunk Kultur | Buch 2023: "Unnützes Wissen für Marvel-Nerds" (mit Lino Wirag) | Buch 2024: "Unnützes Wissen über Manga und Anime" (mit Jasmin Dose, Jan Lukas Kuhn) | he/him | mail: smesch @ gmx . net
Pinned
I've been self-isolating since the start of the pandemic (March 2020):

my mom, two sisters and me get vaccinations and do medical appointments. but I never meet other people indoors, or visit stores, or travel.

if we saw each other before 2020 and you wonder why we never met again: that is why.
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
I don't think "nobody" uses Mastodon, but the crowd is definitely less diverse. My guess is this makes it harder for people to find their tribe and get some engagement. The lack of algorithm might also make it harder to find people to follow and interact with than other platforms.
February 14, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Using AI makes science communication worse. Period.

AI use necessarily reduces accuracy, transparency and authenticity.

But sci comm *needs* to be accurate, transparent, and authentic. Otherwise you’re just goofing around, which will destroy your audience‘s trust in you and in other sci comm.
🧪🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration.
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.

JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
February 14, 2026 at 8:16 AM
ich scrolle bei jeder Wortmeldung des Autors Chuck Wendig weiter - weil er gefühlt immer nur sowas johlt wie:

"Cranking up the awesomesauce, mofos and gentlenerds!"
if you're an older person who finds words like mogg and maxxing annoying, just starting using them. people over the age of 30 have the superpower to end trends by simply adopting them
February 14, 2026 at 6:21 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
And precisely because *any* Democratic candidate has the best chance of winning, we need to be SUPER careful in our vetting: see what happened in the U.K. with Labor turning out to be as bad if not worse in immigration and for trans people and the NHS.

No 'austerity' to 'solve' the crisis.
I'll support nearly anyone over Newsom in the primary (he's better than Rahm Emanuel lol), less because he's awful (he is) and more because material conditions will probably propel ANY Dem to a '28 win. That's an opportunity to pick someone who will aggressively push for change. Which is not Newsom.
February 13, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Suhrkamp sucht zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt eine Person für das Lektorat im Programmbereich Deutschsprachige Literatur. Die Bewerbungsfrist endet am 25. März 2026. suhrkamp-verlag-ag.jobs.personio.de/job/2512492?...
Lektor:in (m/w/d) im Programmbereich Deutschsprachige Literatur | Jobs bei Suhrkamp Verlag AG
suhrkamp-verlag-ag.jobs.personio.de
February 13, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Hierlang für @isdbund.bsky.social #BlackHistoryMonth Termine in Berlin ⬇️und in ganz Deutschland ➡️ isdonline.de/events
February 12, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Ich habe den #Appell2026 zusammen mit vielen Kolleg*innen unterzeichnet - wir stellen uns gegen die zunehmende Normalisierung der extremen Rechten im ÖRR und in der gesamten Medienlandschaft.
Mit einem offenen Brief fordern ganz viele tolle Kolleg*innen (und ich) klare, verbindliche Leitlinien für den Umgang mit der extremen Rechten im ÖRR und in anderen Medien. Menschenfeindliche Ideologie muss als solche benannt werden statt ihr eine Bühne zu geben. #Appell2026

appell2026.de
appell2026.de
Appell für einen demokratischen und humanistischen Diskurs in den Medien
appell2026.de
February 13, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"The internal memo also said the "political tumult" in the US was good timing for the feature's release. (…)

"We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.""
Meta Plans 'Name Tag' Facial Recognition for Ray-Ban Smart Glasses
Meta plans to add a facial recognition feature to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as this year, reports The New York Times ($). According to people involved in the plans who spoke to the publica...
forums.macrumors.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:58 PM
"The Atlantic" klingt so flott und kosmopolitisch.

trans Menschen und alle, denen queere Themen wichtig sind, HASSEN diese Seite meist. weil: shit like this. ⬇️

(und, wie gesagt: warum auch "Politico" nen guten Namen hat, aber nicht flott und kosmpolitisch ist, wissen Leute mittlerweile, oder?)
Helen Lewis is back in The Atlantic with "Youth Gender Medicine Is Indeed Up for Debate". It is a masterclass in manufacturing consent, framing the capitulation of medical bodies to political terror as a calm "return to reason."
February 13, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Der Perlentaucher meldet heute:
Übrigens: Das gab es noch nie in der Geschichte des Perlentaucher: In keiner der vom Perlentaucher ausgewerteten Zeitungen - FAZ, FR, NZZ, SZ, taz, Welt, Zeit - gibt es auch nur eine einzige Buchkritik, nicht eine!

#booksky #germanbooksky #literaturkritik
February 13, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Disabled people are part of the future.
We must and should imagine and dream of futures where disabled people don't just exist but are everywhere, as we should be.
This need to fix/cure all disability is a eugenicist dreaming, and we should want better for ourselves.
I have a friend who said, of Starfleet Academy, that this took them out of it - that seeing a person in a wheelchair in the 32nd century seemed unrealistic, since medicine in Star Trek "should be able to cure whatever was wrong with them."

That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.
February 12, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
I’ve spent years of my life trying to explain to people that anti-trans conservatism naturally flows from their belief that children in the American nuclear family are not individuals with autonomy, but instead property of the parents and state, and this guy just… tweeted it out
February 12, 2026 at 10:53 PM
BW-Wahlomat sagt bei mir: 97,5 Prozent DieLinke, nur 75 Prozent Grün.
February 13, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Opened Bluesky and immediately saw their CTO posting about how impressive AI is lmao
February 12, 2026 at 4:44 PM
💡 !

alles, was Data bei #StarTrekTNG passiert, nochmal ansehen mit der Frage:

"du hast Daten. was machst du mit/aus diesen Daten?"

(dass "ich habe extrem viele Daten" oft nicht reicht, um einer Situation gerecht zu werden, wird an Data dauernd klar.)
"AI is built on the collective knowledge of humankind."

No. Nononononono. It is not built on _knowledge_, it it built on _data_. And not everyone's experiences are available as data, many communities are excluded.
February 12, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Das IOC hält am Nazi-Shirt der Spiele von 1936 fest. Gerade deshalb darf Berlin 2036 keine Olympischen Spiele mit diesem IOC ausrichten. Das Jubiläum der NS Propagandaspiele verlangt maximale Sensibilität, historische Klarheit und eine eindeutige Abgrenzung. gruene-fraktion.berlin/pressemittei...
IOC verteidigt Nazi-Shirt von 1936 – Berlin darf kein Austragungsort der Spiele 2036 werden
Das IOC verteidigt das Nazi-Shirt „Germany Berlin 1936 Olympic Games“ in seinem Shop. Die Grünen fordern den Regierenden Bürgermeister auf, daraus seine Konsequenzen für die Berliner Bewerbung für 203...
gruene-fraktion.berlin
February 12, 2026 at 11:33 AM
CN Death

my ex said I was the biggest "Dawson's Creek" fan he knew and wanted to know how I felt about the passing of James Van Der Beek. ⬇️
February 12, 2026 at 8:12 AM
CN Tod

James van der Beek und die christlichen Tradwife-Vibes seiner Familienfotos haben mir seit Jahren nur noch: Angst gemacht.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
James Van Der Beek's Influencer Wife Is Peddling Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Instagram
Kimberly Van Der Beek, a wellness influencer, uses her platform to post photos of her family, their Texas compound, and Covid misinformation.
www.rollingstone.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Ich muss ja sagen: Seitdem Ray Ban mit Meta kooperiert und seitdem offensichtlich ist, dass diese Smart Glasses oft missbräuchlich gegen Frauen eingesetzt werden, hat sich mein Blick auf die Marke Ray Ban massiv verschoben

Weil sie ermöglichen mit eine Form von surveillance tech
February 11, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
CN #Eugenik
Mit am meisten ärgert mich an den Berichten zu masketragenden Olympiateilnehmenden die deutlichst mitschwingende Erzählung/Pseudoerklärung nach dem Motto: „Ja, SIE sin zu Höchstleistungen berufen, für ~uns alle~.. darum müssen sie sich eben besonders vor Infektionen schützen!💁‍♂️“ 🤢
February 11, 2026 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
Social-Media-Verbot und Sexkaufverbot folgen der gleichen Logik: Dinge verbieten, ohne die tiefer liegenden Strukturen zu adressieren und sich davon entlasten, viel komplexere Fragen angehen zu müssen.

Und es ist eine Mär, die komplexen Dinge würden nach einem Verbot angegangen oder finanziert.
February 11, 2026 at 8:04 AM
CN Transfeindlichkeit

es ist jetzt normal, dass rechte Accounts bei jedem Gewaltakt sagen: "das war eine trans Person!" Ziel ist auch, zu sagen: Hormone/trans Healthcare muss verboten werden, denn Hormone machen gewalttätig.
An image of a trans person (who lives on the other side of the country) is circulating online because of a bunch of far right accounts on social media are claiming it's the Tumbler mass shooter. This individual had nothing to do with it.

These kind of lies get innocent LGBTQ+ people hurt or killed
February 11, 2026 at 7:35 AM
CN Faschismus

redet oft und viel über Promis, die mit Rechten zusammen sind.
Ralf Schumacher heiratet seinen Front National Twink
February 11, 2026 at 6:44 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
More reports of Gmail turning over email content to ICE are coming out now.
techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/g...
Google sent personal and financial information of student journalist to ICE | TechCrunch
The tech giant handed over the personal information of a journalist and student who attended a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024. This is the latest example of ICE using its controversial subpoena power...
techcrunch.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:46 AM
Reposted by Stefan Mesch
With alt-text:
February 10, 2026 at 11:54 PM