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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

@paalhal.bsky.social

170 followers 260 following 41 posts

Associate prof, Library and information science, OsloMet + postdoc in sociology. Interested in social theory, digital media and culture, taste, sociology of literature and WW2. Also, chair of the Norwegian Sociological Association

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Jan 24

How do writers respond to authoritarian developments? Are they the famous metaphorical canaries in the coal mine? In this new article we research the case of the response of writers to the German occupation of Norway, 1940–45. Historical sociology meets sociology of literature! OA, link in next

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · 2h

Krasznahorkai!!!! Great award, most deserved!!
telex.hu/kult/2025/10...

Krasznahorkai László kapta az irodalmi Nobel-díjat

Az indokolás szerint látnoki erejű műveiért részesült az elismerésben, amelyek az apokaliptikus terror közepette is képesek megerősíteni a művészet erejét. Kertész Imre 2002-es sikere után nyerte újra...

telex.hu

Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · 10d

Oh no, may I no longer use the em dash? Afraid I’ve been sending wrong signals for a while now: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/m...

With the Em Dash, A.I. Embraces a Fading Tradition

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

Nicole DeWitt @catastro-v.bsky.social · 10d

i love ta-nehisi coates so much

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Allison Pugh @allisonpugh.bsky.social · 12d

Today translators, tomorrow... We need to prioritize human-to-human connection.

“The more we remove human elements from human interaction, the more it could distort relationships between people. Now more than ever, we need humans connecting with humans.”

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Victor Shammas @victorshammas.com · 29d

The dangers of AI slop: “AI content can push our emotional buttons easily, re-affirming or amplifying existing beliefs with generated imagery. Practically every social media study since 2012 has found that the secret to virality is in making you emotional . . . .”

No, that wasn’t Angela Rayner dancing and rapping: you’ll need to understand AI slopaganda | Marcus Beard

The qualms about using AI imagery and deepfakes in politics are breaking down. It will soon just be part of the political language we all use, says digital, disinformation and AI specialist Marcus Bea...

www.theguardian.com

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Sep 8

Spurt i 2009 om Ungarere lever under bedre, verre eller samme forhold som under kommunismen, oppga 72 prosent verre forhold. Selv russerne har et mer positivt syn på regimeendringene etter 1990 enn ungarerne. Les min bokanmeldelse av Tibor Valuchs nye bok (2025) tidsskriftet-nof.no/index.php/no...

Contemporary Hungarian Society. Social Changes in Hungary from Late State Socialism | Nordisk Østforum

tidsskriftet-nof.no

Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · Sep 7

this is one of the things where they’re clearly doing it to trigger the libs, but the triggering thing is “the government should be allowed to kill people for no reason”, and if you’re not gonna ‘take the bait’ on that, why even have a politics?

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Sep 6

Yale Law School never beating the “they don’t teach law at Yale” allegations

JD Vance & @JDVance • 1h
Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.
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Brian Krassenstein @ IK @krassenstein • 1h Killing the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process is called a war crime.
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JD Vance v @JDVance • 1h
I don't give a shit what you call it

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Sep 6

Currently enjoying being a part of the group «man with an unpublished book manuscript about World War II», but a bit hesitant to having the group «man with rejected book manuscript about World War II» as a possible future

Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · Aug 17

17 August 1942 | Irène Némirovsky, a French-language novelist born in the family of Russian Jews, died of typhus after a month of imprisonment in the German Nazi #Auschwitz camp. She was 39.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ir%C3%A...

A portrait photo of Irene Nemirovsky, holding a copy of "Les Nouvelles Littéraires" and smiling at the camera.

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Martin Årseth @martinarseth.bsky.social · Aug 12

Håvard Brede Aven skreiv ein veldig god tekst om Førdesfjorden og andre miljørettssaker i Syn og Segn i fjor. Kan vera verd ei nylesing no som naturorganisasjonane vann mot staten i lagmannsretten.

www.synogsegn.no/2025/tilbake...

Tilbake til råvarene - Syn og Segn

For Oslo tingrett er Førdefjorden ein av 30 000 vassførekomstar i landet. For meg er fjorden noko som har gjort meg til den eg er. Men kva seier utfallet av Fjordsøksmålet om framtida til dei norske f...

www.synogsegn.no

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Aug 8

Furthest I’ve been:

North: Tromsø 🇳🇴
East: St. Petersburg 🇷🇺
West: California 🇺🇸
South: Marrakesh 🇲🇦

Daniel Laurison @daniellaurison.bsky.social · Aug 8

(I guess "furthest" East and West is relative to where one normally/currently lives - so, using Philly.)

Furthest I've been:
North: somewhere in Alaska when I was 14
West: Beijing
South: McAllen, TX
East: Budapest

(I thought for sure Morocco would be the furthest *somewhere* but maps say no.)

bobby @bobbylewis.bsky.social · Aug 8

furthest i’ve been:

north: berlin 🇩🇪
east: santorini 🇬🇷
south: ko samui 🇹🇭
west: chiang mai 🇹🇭

Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Jul 18

Kjærås, NFF og leder for UEFA playmakers i Norge sier på radio at Innsiden ut 2 (!) er mer utbredt som kulturell fellesnevner enn Ambjørnsen og Moe, underforstått Askeladden. Jeg har alltid synes det har vært litt komisk med sånn kulturimperialisme-kritikk, men den har jaggu framleis sin plass!

Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · Jul 16

There's something about the way men use LLMs that feel like those men at the strip club who believe that the dancers like them for their personality and wit.

They just want a toy that makes them feel good.

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · Jul 16

My god these guys are such spectacular morons

gizmodo.com/billionaires...

Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber who no longer works at the company, appeared on All-In to talk with hosts Jason Calacanis and Chamath Palihapitiya about the future of technology. When the topic turned to AI, Kalanick discussed how he uses xAI’s Grok, which went haywire last week, praising Adolf Hitler and advocating for a second Holocaust against Jews.

“I’ll go down this thread with [Chat]GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” Kalanick explained. “And we’re approaching what’s known. And I’m trying to poke and see if there’s breakthroughs to be had. And I’ve gotten pretty damn close to some interesting breakthroughs just doing that.”

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · Jul 3

Orban Playbook.

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Jul 3

This is from AdImpact, the canonical outfit tracking political spending on advertising. Note that the "top advertiser" so far this year is the Department of Homeland Security, so the Trump administration's spending taxpayer dollars in support of the President.

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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · Jul 4

In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered one of the greatest speeches in US history. Today it’s often presented in abridged form, though, and skips what seems like a long-winded introduction. If you read the intro closely, however, there’s an ingenious structure. THREAD👇🏽

Oval-framed daguerreotype portrait of Frederick Douglass, a prominent 19th-century African American abolitionist, writer, and orator. He wears a dark jacket, patterned waistcoat, white shirt, and bow tie. His expression is serious and resolute, with his wavy hair parted to the side. The photograph reflects his dignity and strength as a leader in the fight against slavery.

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Jul 3

God sommer fra Balaton 🇭🇺🏳️‍🌈 Årets sommerlesning: Contemporary Hungarian Society av T. Valuch. Anmeldelse kommer i Nordisk østforum i august!

Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Jul 3

Gratulerer med den lille!!

Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

UNITED24 Media @united24media.com · Jun 26

⚡ Ukrainian writer Viktoria Amelina, who was killed in 2023 in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk, has been posthumously awarded the prestigious Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

Ukrainian Author Posthumously Awarded Orwell Prize For Unfinished Book About Women and War

Ukrainian author Viktoria Amelina receives the Orwell Prize for Political Writing posthumously for her unfinished work on women's experiences in war.

united24media.com

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Pål Csaszni Halvorsen @paalhal.bsky.social · Jun 25

Nordisk litteratursosiologi-konferansen i Helsinki var stor suksess, og i 2027 kommer den til Oslo og ABI 🎉 📚
Femten år siden jeg skreiv en bloggpost sist, tror jeg, men her er sannelig en til:
#NOLS2025 #NOLS2027

uni.oslomet.no/abi/

Åpent magasin – Nytt fra ABI

Institutt for arkiv-, bibliotek- og informasjonsfag

uni.oslomet.no

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Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · Jun 22

22 June 1942 | A Hungarian Jewish boy, István Blankenberg, was born.

In May 1944 he was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber.

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Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · Jun 19

19 June 1941 | A Hungarian Jewish boy, Tibi Yaakov Yisrael Veis, was born.

In June 1944 he was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after the selection.

Black and white vintage portrait of a young baby boy with a topknot hairstyle.

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Reposted by Pål Csaszni Halvorsen

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · Jun 15

John Fogerty objected to Trump using "Fortunate Son" in 2020 -- because Trump was a rich, draft-dodging tax cheat, which is what the song is about.
x.com/John_Fogerty... ht @karengregory.bsky.social

I object to the President using my song, "Fortunate Son" in any way for his campaign. He is using my words and my voice to portray a message that I do not endorse.
Therefore, I am issuing a "cease and desist" order.
I wrote this song because, as a veteran, I was disgusted that some people were allowed to be excluded from serving our country because they had access to political and financial privilege. I also wrote about wealthy people not paying their fair share of taxes. Mr. Trump is a prime example of both of these issues. The fact that Mr. Trump also fans the flames of hatred, racism and fear while rewriting recent history, is even more reason to be troubled by his use of my song.
- John Fogerty

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