Orfhlaith Mulvihill
@orfhlaithm.bsky.social
she/her 🇮🇪🇳🇿Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa via Ciarraí, Éire.
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
My latest for the LRB is on the insights of David Graeber's 'baseline communism', and 'dialling to the left'. As @aycacu.bsky.social puts it, Graeber was an anthropologist of human possibilities.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Richard Seymour · Baseline Communism: David Graeber’s Innovations
In his critique of economics, as in his philippic against ‘bullshit jobs’, Graeber stresses the political decisions...
www.lrb.co.uk
August 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
My latest for the LRB is on the insights of David Graeber's 'baseline communism', and 'dialling to the left'. As @aycacu.bsky.social puts it, Graeber was an anthropologist of human possibilities.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
August 6, 2025 at 1:01 AM
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
'People say that we all have a book in us, and I don't believe that, but I do believe we all have a perfect radio interviewee in us, someone who can ramble on about our lives and dreams with great fluency,' writes @ashleighyoung.bsky.social.
www.rnz.co.nz/life/culture...
www.rnz.co.nz/life/culture...
'Greatness is available to all of us, in our heads'
Opinion: Imagining yourself interviewed on the radio is one of life's great joys, says author Ashleigh Young. The hard part is when you have to do it for real.
www.rnz.co.nz
July 28, 2025 at 1:52 AM
'People say that we all have a book in us, and I don't believe that, but I do believe we all have a perfect radio interviewee in us, someone who can ramble on about our lives and dreams with great fluency,' writes @ashleighyoung.bsky.social.
www.rnz.co.nz/life/culture...
www.rnz.co.nz/life/culture...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
When I post that #AI destroys everything I am not getting all hyperbolic and shit
Some places will have to start rationing water - to enable AI slop.
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
www.nytimes.com
July 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM
When I post that #AI destroys everything I am not getting all hyperbolic and shit
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Obscene ideas are injected into public life with "humour" ... and then enacted. My column this week is pegged to the recent calls in the Spectator to murder people at Glastonbury, and on GB News to starve and shoot disabled people.
You could call it wink murder.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
You could call it wink murder.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How does the right tear down progressive societies? It starts with a joke | George Monbiot
Whether it’s bloodshed at Glastonbury or starving people on benefits, their ‘irony poisoning’ seeps obscene ideas into the range of the possible, says Guasrdian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
July 10, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Reminder to vote for your fave Aotearoa children’s books because it makes a HUGE difference to our local writers! Voting closes soon! www.whitcoulls.co.nz/kids-top50?s...
Whitcoulls
Whitcoulls
www.whitcoulls.co.nz
July 10, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reminder to vote for your fave Aotearoa children’s books because it makes a HUGE difference to our local writers! Voting closes soon! www.whitcoulls.co.nz/kids-top50?s...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
The question we need to keep asking people who wish to rewrite history about our Covid response, is how many of the 20,000 would you be comfortable killing?
Have some guts, put a number on it because that’s the equation they wish to revisit.
Have some guts, put a number on it because that’s the equation they wish to revisit.
July 3, 2025 at 4:56 AM
The question we need to keep asking people who wish to rewrite history about our Covid response, is how many of the 20,000 would you be comfortable killing?
Have some guts, put a number on it because that’s the equation they wish to revisit.
Have some guts, put a number on it because that’s the equation they wish to revisit.
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
John McGahern Book Prize shortlist revealed.
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon, Alan Murrin, Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Fitzgerald, whose debut novels have been selected for this prestigious prize. Colm Tóibín will choose the winner.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon, Alan Murrin, Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Fitzgerald, whose debut novels have been selected for this prestigious prize. Colm Tóibín will choose the winner.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
John McGahern Book Prize shortlist revealed
Novels by Ferdia Lennon, Alan Murrin, Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Fitzgerald selected
www.irishtimes.com
July 3, 2025 at 6:09 AM
John McGahern Book Prize shortlist revealed.
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon, Alan Murrin, Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Fitzgerald, whose debut novels have been selected for this prestigious prize. Colm Tóibín will choose the winner.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon, Alan Murrin, Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Fitzgerald, whose debut novels have been selected for this prestigious prize. Colm Tóibín will choose the winner.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
I never want to see another human trot across a crosswalk, hurry their stroller/kids/mobility device or rush a senior resident through an intersection or any road.
It’s ridiculous, like we’ve been gifted some incredible act of patience from those driving.
It’s ridiculous, like we’ve been gifted some incredible act of patience from those driving.
June 30, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I never want to see another human trot across a crosswalk, hurry their stroller/kids/mobility device or rush a senior resident through an intersection or any road.
It’s ridiculous, like we’ve been gifted some incredible act of patience from those driving.
It’s ridiculous, like we’ve been gifted some incredible act of patience from those driving.
Can’t help but feel that we are living in an era of overwhelming anti-intellectualism on every front, with AI being the corporate vanguard of this cultural emptiness.
June 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
June 22, 2025 at 1:44 AM
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
I'm surprised when I see a motorist *not* playing with their phone while driving. Zero exaggeration.
If you walk or bike anywhere with regularity, you can easily see what's happening behind the wheel of cars through a lens that motorists can't see of other motorists. It's absolutely alarming.
If you walk or bike anywhere with regularity, you can easily see what's happening behind the wheel of cars through a lens that motorists can't see of other motorists. It's absolutely alarming.
June 10, 2025 at 5:23 PM
I'm surprised when I see a motorist *not* playing with their phone while driving. Zero exaggeration.
If you walk or bike anywhere with regularity, you can easily see what's happening behind the wheel of cars through a lens that motorists can't see of other motorists. It's absolutely alarming.
If you walk or bike anywhere with regularity, you can easily see what's happening behind the wheel of cars through a lens that motorists can't see of other motorists. It's absolutely alarming.
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
"the social order is about who can speak in the public sphere, and who can not" - Shih-Diing Liu
Free to read, because it's an issue I think is important
www.feijoadispatch.nz/p/free-speec...
Free to read, because it's an issue I think is important
www.feijoadispatch.nz/p/free-speec...
Free Speech, respectability politics, and the the Safe for Work Self
Or, the Free Speech Union gets it right for a change
www.feijoadispatch.nz
June 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
"the social order is about who can speak in the public sphere, and who can not" - Shih-Diing Liu
Free to read, because it's an issue I think is important
www.feijoadispatch.nz/p/free-speec...
Free to read, because it's an issue I think is important
www.feijoadispatch.nz/p/free-speec...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Unpaid women doing the work that governing MPs wouldn't do before deciding that women should remain underpaid for doing women's work ...
Former MPs unite for ‘people’s select committee’ into pay equity
Women who served for the National, Labour, NZ First and Green parties will form a committee to analyse the Government’s pay equity changes.
www.stuff.co.nz
May 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Unpaid women doing the work that governing MPs wouldn't do before deciding that women should remain underpaid for doing women's work ...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Comment: 'The housing emergency is more than a national disgrace that has produced record homelessness and mass suffering. It is an attack on our ability to foster meaning in our lives and to develop communities.'
www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...
www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...
The housing crisis is an attack on the chance of community
A society of non-places is a non-society: fragmented, rudderless and incapable of collective action.
www.ontheditch.com
April 7, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Comment: 'The housing emergency is more than a national disgrace that has produced record homelessness and mass suffering. It is an attack on our ability to foster meaning in our lives and to develop communities.'
www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...
www.ontheditch.com/comment-the-...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
I wrote about the Trump administration’s embrace of the pro-natalist movement, and the need to combat pro-natalist misogyny in cultural terms. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
April 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I wrote about the Trump administration’s embrace of the pro-natalist movement, and the need to combat pro-natalist misogyny in cultural terms. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Good read about why libraries are more important than ever, and some of the fabulous things you can do in them. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
'I haven’t heard a librarian say ‘shush’ in 20 years': how libraries are about more than just books
Libraries in New Zealand are no longer just for books. They are learning hubs, language schools, havens for the homeless and support centres for those who have nowhere else to go for help.
www.rnz.co.nz
April 21, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Good read about why libraries are more important than ever, and some of the fabulous things you can do in them. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
“there is no way to build the artificial mirror world that AI promises to construct without sacrificing this world – these technologies consume too much energy, too many critical minerals, and too much water for the two to coexist in any kind of equilibrium.”
THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM
My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social.
The governing ideology of the far right has become a
monstrous, supremacist survivalism.
Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social.
The governing ideology of the far right has become a
monstrous, supremacist survivalism.
Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The rise of end times fascism
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them
www.theguardian.com
April 13, 2025 at 11:46 PM
“there is no way to build the artificial mirror world that AI promises to construct without sacrificing this world – these technologies consume too much energy, too many critical minerals, and too much water for the two to coexist in any kind of equilibrium.”
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
"The British weren’t exporting democracy to New Zealand because they didn’t have it at home to export anywhere" Vincent O'Malley
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...
A shallow, unconscionable political stunt | E-Tangata
“It is obvious that the drafters of the bill were not only appallingly ignorant, deliberately or otherwise, of Aotearoa New Zealand history, but also British history.” — Vincent O’Malley.
e-tangata.co.nz
April 12, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"The British weren’t exporting democracy to New Zealand because they didn’t have it at home to export anywhere" Vincent O'Malley
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
“It is as if any lid of liberal decency has been lifted, releasing a surge of manospheric pressure to saturate our social atmosphere.”
Important commentary from my colleague!
Important commentary from my colleague!
Anti-women views aren't confined to the manosphere
From Auckland University - Opinion: The same masculinist ideology portrayed in 'Adolescence' is espoused in the words and actions of powerful adult men on the world’s largest political stage.
newsroom.co.nz
April 12, 2025 at 7:49 PM
“It is as if any lid of liberal decency has been lifted, releasing a surge of manospheric pressure to saturate our social atmosphere.”
Important commentary from my colleague!
Important commentary from my colleague!
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Robert Reich quoted this on the TL and maybe the Nats could read it #nzpol
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
April 8, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Robert Reich quoted this on the TL and maybe the Nats could read it #nzpol
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
lying is bad youtube.com/shorts/f_AQD...
lying is bad folks
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtube.com
March 28, 2025 at 1:58 PM
lying is bad youtube.com/shorts/f_AQD...
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
I cannot describe how much I oppose this, nor how furious it makes me.
Universities have to be at the forefront of addressing racial inequality, and doing so consciously with evidence, because if not the ones who do the research that shows this, then who else, and what use is our research?
Universities have to be at the forefront of addressing racial inequality, and doing so consciously with evidence, because if not the ones who do the research that shows this, then who else, and what use is our research?
I cannot express how much I hate ACT & their policies. Their values are fundamentally opposite to mine. I don’t get how such humans get to be.
ACT MP launches member's bill to stop universities offering services 'based on race' www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
ACT MP launches member's bill to stop universities offering services 'based on race' www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
ACT MP launches member's bill to stop universities offering services 'based on race'
An ACT MP has drafted a member's bill she says would "ensure universities do not allocate resources, benefits or opportunities based on race".
www.rnz.co.nz
March 29, 2025 at 3:07 AM
I cannot describe how much I oppose this, nor how furious it makes me.
Universities have to be at the forefront of addressing racial inequality, and doing so consciously with evidence, because if not the ones who do the research that shows this, then who else, and what use is our research?
Universities have to be at the forefront of addressing racial inequality, and doing so consciously with evidence, because if not the ones who do the research that shows this, then who else, and what use is our research?
Reposted by Orfhlaith Mulvihill
“In the meantime, we must hold politicians to account for these betrayals; force them to share power and resources with communities and ordinary citizens; and demand much stronger controls on campaign donations, lobbying and the power of corporations, while we still can.”
Thank you Dame Anne Salmond
Thank you Dame Anne Salmond
Read👉🏼”Neoliberalism treats ‘growth’ as an end in itself. If we just keep working harder, ‘1 day’ we’ll generate public services we crave..
But everywhere we’re told, ‘Not yet,’ as ‘we can’t afford it…claim made..by govts who..squander vast sums on ..favoured interests & tax breaks for rich.” #nzpol
But everywhere we’re told, ‘Not yet,’ as ‘we can’t afford it…claim made..by govts who..squander vast sums on ..favoured interests & tax breaks for rich.” #nzpol
Anne Salmond: The Emperor's clothes
Comment: An illuminating book on the favoured policies of the right of economics and politics has lessons for New Zealand.
newsroom.co.nz
March 23, 2025 at 10:35 PM
“In the meantime, we must hold politicians to account for these betrayals; force them to share power and resources with communities and ordinary citizens; and demand much stronger controls on campaign donations, lobbying and the power of corporations, while we still can.”
Thank you Dame Anne Salmond
Thank you Dame Anne Salmond