Charles T. Mathewes

Charles Mathewes

@ctmathewes.bsky.social

1.7K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts

I teach religion & ethics @ UVa
I'm mostly here to find books & articles I don't yet know about
Sometimes also interested in opinions, but not as often as many of you seem to believe

Videos

Philosophy 35%

Political science 31%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 18h

Could this be our Sputnik Moment for a Marshall Plan for Manhattan Projects? Or is it more of a 9/11? Or the Hundred Days?

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 19h

My only quibble with this Paul Musgrave post is that he omitted the “War on X” option. open.substack.com/pub/musgrave...

We Need a Marshall Plan for Manhattan Projects

The AP-ification of metaphors is dumbing us down

open.substack.com

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 19h

My only quibble with this Paul Musgrave post is that he omitted the “War on X” option. open.substack.com/pub/musgrave...

We Need a Marshall Plan for Manhattan Projects

The AP-ification of metaphors is dumbing us down

open.substack.com

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

REM, Radio Free Europe
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
Amy Winehouse, Rehab
The Clash, London Calling
Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in Blue

(Xtra cred: Dire Straits, Down to the Waterline)

Patrick Bromley @patrickbromley.bsky.social · 2d

Top 5 Side 1, Track 1s

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

this is made worse & more powerful b/c they don't see it, b/c they think their phones are not institutions, but their phones ARE institutions, among the most powerful ever invented by humanity, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

(b) they get most of their info from social media which come to them via their phones, therefore (c) young people today are the most "institutionalized" generation ever, because they are unprecedentedly influenced, even sometimes determined, by their phones, &

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

Ppl esp young ppl today claim to mistrust institutions but (a) their mistrust of institutions is enormously amplified by the cynical nihilism with which news @ institutions is mediated to them thru social media, www.washingtonpost.com/.../2025/pho...?

www.washingtonpost.com

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

Have we reached Peak Foucault?

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d

I know Rob Iliffe a little bit--a generous and serious scholar. Thanks for his lecture!

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 2d

The ‘Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus’ depicting battle scenes between Romans and Barbarians. The sarcophagus dates to the 3rd century AD, and is part of the collections at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #Rome

Reposted by James Goodwin, Brian Weatherson, Sam Kamin , and 1 more James Goodwin, Brian Weatherson, Sam Kamin, Charles T. Mathewes

Patrick Bromley @patrickbromley.bsky.social · 2d

Top 5 Side 1, Track 1s

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 2d

District court judges are engaged in a bipartisan project of [forgive me] actually calling balls and strikes. Republican circuit judges are largely going full-tilt partisan.

Stats as of last month:
courtaccountability.substack.com/p/where-law-...

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, John McLaren, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 1 more Scott L. Greer, John McLaren, Rosemary A. Joyce, Charles T. Mathewes

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

i just want to say that i wrote this exactly one year ago.

This election was not a grand public affirmation for his most expansive plans and aggressive schemes. The electorate was as close to evenly divided as is possible (Trump is ahead by less than two percentage points in the popular vote) in a system where someone has to win. The marginal Trump voter — that is, the person who put him over the top — wants lower prices and cheaper homes, not chaos, dysfunction and autocratic, strongman government. But there are no real Trump plans to improve life for most Americans.

If there is such a thing as favorable terrain for a fight, this is it. This is the opportunity to weaken Trump and make his administration even less effective than it is already shaping up to be.

The 2024 election was the end of one iteration of the American republic. But the new one is still gestating — still formless, its outlines still unclear. And we, as free and equal citizens, have the capacity to shape it.

Yes, Trump will fight to try to impose his vision of the new world. Yes, he will lay claim to the powers of a monarch. Yes, he will speak as if he has royal prerogative. Yes, he will work to undermine our revolutionary heritage. But there is a large gap between a stated intention and an accomplished fact. And it is within that space that politics happens.

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 3d

Where now? Who now? When now? Unquestioning. I, say I. Unbelieving. Questions, hypotheses, call them that. Keep going, going on, call that going, call that on, Charlie Brown

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 3d

and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes, Charlie Brown

Neville Morley @nevillemorley.bsky.social · 3d

God is dead. God remains dead. And it is we who have killed him, Charlie Brown.

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 3d

“Through”?

Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 3d

Huge thanks to the @islingtontrib.bsky.social for a brilliant write-up of the Courting Disaster event at @ink84books.bsky.social in #London last week which saw author @thezhm.bsky.social host a feminist discussion of Austen's male leads:
www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/whic...
#booksky

Which of Jane Austen's men would you through out of a balloon?

Mr Darcy emerges as best man at bookshop talk

www.islingtontribune.co.uk

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 3d

Which of Jane Austen's men would you through out of a balloon?

Mr Darcy emerges as best man at bookshop talk

www.islingtontribune.co.uk

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 3d

Neville Morley @nevillemorley.bsky.social · 3d

God is dead. God remains dead. And it is we who have killed him, Charlie Brown.

Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 4d

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, Charlie Brown, in this life or the next.

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

How To Read This Chart @howtoreadthisch.art · 5d

Not only are generations fake, they’re also something we basically invented a few decades ago. Compare when generations occurred (shaded areas) with when we settled on their names.

From this week’s newsletter: www.howtoreadthisch.art/ample-exampl...

Reposted by John Palfrey, Mark Rice, Jason Williams , and 1 more John Palfrey, Mark Rice, Jason Williams, Charles T. Mathewes

Evan Simko-Bednarski @simko-bednarski.bsky.social · 6d

The Queens Daily Eagle remains undefeated.

Queens men meet — Queens Daily Eagle

The first man from Queens to be elected president and the first Queens resident to be elected mayor of New York City met for the first time in the Oval Office on Friday.

queenseagle.com

Reposted by Jacob T. Levy, Mark Rice, Simon Lester , and 4 more Jacob T. Levy, Mark Rice, Simon Lester, Charles T. Mathewes, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Dan Immergluck, David Darmofal

World's Second-Biggest AtlasIntel Hater @corncobanalysis.bsky.social · 6d

just bleak, man

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Lawrence Freedman, Katharine Hayhoe , and 12 more Anne Applebaum, Lawrence Freedman, Katharine Hayhoe, Nandita Sharma, Will Jennings, Peter Murphy, Steve Peers, Jean Burgess, Evelyne Schmid, Edgar Morgenroth, Michael H. Whitworth, James Goodwin, Pauline Stafford, Greg Linden, Charles T. Mathewes

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 6d

X has changed their policy and now you can see where the accounts are based.

Here’s an “influencer from Texas”

ence morse @ence.bsky.social · 6d

We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.

We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.

washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Michael Horowitz @michaelhorowitz.bsky.social · 6d

China is mobilizing an armada of civilian ships that could help in an invasion of Taiwan – a mission that could surpass the Second World War’s Normandy landings.

Interesting visual analysis by Reuters

www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...

Shadow navy: How China's civilian fleet could be a potent weapon in a Taiwan invasion

A Reuters visual investigation of China's annual naval exercises off the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan shows how Beijing's

www.reuters.com

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 7d

Flush the pond?
Also, this is news?

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 7d

Fundamental Attribution Error alive and well in the Ancient Near East

Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 7d

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 7d

But I thought Trump was playing 4D chess

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 7d

Democrats, who once thought they would come up short in a gerrymandering war, are on track to net an estimated five seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

And while that could shift, they may still end up with an advantage.

In surprise shift, Democrats are ahead in redistricting fight

After early redistricting wins, Trump faces setbacks over maps for Texas, Indiana and other Republican-led states, frustrating his allies.

www.washingtonpost.com

Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 7d

Tell me again how it's The Left who are The Snowflakes

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 14d

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

Liam Adams @liamsadams.bsky.social · 7d

This past month, four different Protestant groups/denominations, most evangelical, have been at the center of in-depth news reports detailing how those denominations’ systems of oversight have failed victims of alleged abuse. In chronological order…