Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
@patrickgilner.bsky.social
I am a historian specializing in 20th century Germany, academic coach, recovering academic, disability activist, narrator, and chihuahua-dad.
I also like sci-fi/fantasy, ice hockey, and gaming (both board and video).
I also like sci-fi/fantasy, ice hockey, and gaming (both board and video).
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
Class war persists and intensifies every day in America. The ebb and flow is merely a matter of who is cognizant of this struggle, and to what extent they understand their place in it.
August 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Class war persists and intensifies every day in America. The ebb and flow is merely a matter of who is cognizant of this struggle, and to what extent they understand their place in it.
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
"Capital is dead labor, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labor."
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
July 7, 2025 at 7:29 PM
"Capital is dead labor, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labor."
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
Today is my dad's first birthday since he passed away. He would have been 87 today. He had a good life and a full life, and, mercifully, he passed very quickly. He was always afraid of lingering. But I miss him so much.
May 29, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Today is my dad's first birthday since he passed away. He would have been 87 today. He had a good life and a full life, and, mercifully, he passed very quickly. He was always afraid of lingering. But I miss him so much.
When first studying Nazi Germany, and lasting well into my career, I did so as a person without a disability.
Now I have several, and at least one that would have had me targeted for murder.
How does this change my perspective?
Not one damn bit. Eugenics has always been immoral.
Now I have several, and at least one that would have had me targeted for murder.
How does this change my perspective?
Not one damn bit. Eugenics has always been immoral.
April 18, 2025 at 12:36 AM
When first studying Nazi Germany, and lasting well into my career, I did so as a person without a disability.
Now I have several, and at least one that would have had me targeted for murder.
How does this change my perspective?
Not one damn bit. Eugenics has always been immoral.
Now I have several, and at least one that would have had me targeted for murder.
How does this change my perspective?
Not one damn bit. Eugenics has always been immoral.
Between moving, trying to sell a house in the current economy, dealing with bad flair ups from a chronic condition, and this entire, huge, exhausting moment as we teeter on the verge of technofascism, I am just utterly exhausted.
How are folks managing all the stress?
How are folks managing all the stress?
April 8, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Between moving, trying to sell a house in the current economy, dealing with bad flair ups from a chronic condition, and this entire, huge, exhausting moment as we teeter on the verge of technofascism, I am just utterly exhausted.
How are folks managing all the stress?
How are folks managing all the stress?
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
Dr. Oz, in his committee hearing to head Medicare and Medicaid, called maintaining good health a “patriotic duty”. This is the kind of language used to justify doing terrible things to disabled people, and deserves some scrutiny. This from the man who would control disabled people’s access to care.
March 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Dr. Oz, in his committee hearing to head Medicare and Medicaid, called maintaining good health a “patriotic duty”. This is the kind of language used to justify doing terrible things to disabled people, and deserves some scrutiny. This from the man who would control disabled people’s access to care.
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
Whether it's ADHD, autism, benefits or PIP, the way we disparage what we don't understand reflects both on our own fear and lack of literacy – and the irresponsible way we stigmatise disabled members of our society, writes Kat Brown
No, people with ADHD are not making it up: Calling it a scam is a disgrace
www.independent.co.uk
March 15, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Whether it's ADHD, autism, benefits or PIP, the way we disparage what we don't understand reflects both on our own fear and lack of literacy – and the irresponsible way we stigmatise disabled members of our society, writes Kat Brown
Elon Musk's profound inability to understand anything nuanced about history, and then flood the internet with pathetically ego-centric and juvenile wannabe expert takes on social media, is the greatest argument for reviving humanities education in a generation.
March 13, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Elon Musk's profound inability to understand anything nuanced about history, and then flood the internet with pathetically ego-centric and juvenile wannabe expert takes on social media, is the greatest argument for reviving humanities education in a generation.
"The rise of diagnostic levels of most of these conditions comes from increased awareness, and also from the environmental changes in our society that place ever-increasing pressure on individuals to perform at a certain standard...
Mind over body: the trouble with treating chronic conditions | Letters
Letters: Readers respond to an extract from Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan’s book on the pathologising of mental health problems and behavioural disorders
www.theguardian.com
March 8, 2025 at 1:41 AM
"The rise of diagnostic levels of most of these conditions comes from increased awareness, and also from the environmental changes in our society that place ever-increasing pressure on individuals to perform at a certain standard...
Best #NHL trade deadline for the #ColoradoAvalanche in about two decades.
March 8, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Best #NHL trade deadline for the #ColoradoAvalanche in about two decades.
This week I had the immense privilege of meeting the Armless Archer, Matt Stutzman. I got to ask him about disability, mindset coaching, and international disability discourses, and he broke down some of his most incredible shots.
Did you also know he drag races and unmodified car?!?!
#disability
Did you also know he drag races and unmodified car?!?!
#disability
How ‘armless archer’ Matt Stutzman transformed a Paralympic sport
Inspired by Michael Jordan, the American Matt Stutzman created an entire training method and is now dreaming of an ‘armless 1-2-3’ at Paris 2024
www.theguardian.com
March 7, 2025 at 6:21 PM
This week I had the immense privilege of meeting the Armless Archer, Matt Stutzman. I got to ask him about disability, mindset coaching, and international disability discourses, and he broke down some of his most incredible shots.
Did you also know he drag races and unmodified car?!?!
#disability
Did you also know he drag races and unmodified car?!?!
#disability
When you spend your life studying Germany in the age of nationalist mass politics, you tend to become critical of militarism, but precedent has shown that just about the only thing worse than war is having to fight a war unprepared.
International peace relies on the good faith agreement between
International peace relies on the good faith agreement between
Big announcement from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “We are living in dangerous times. Europe‘s security is threatened in a very real way. Today I present ReArm Europe. A plan for a safer and more resilient Europe.”
€150 billion in defence loans for pan-European security.
€150 billion in defence loans for pan-European security.
March 4, 2025 at 8:58 PM
When you spend your life studying Germany in the age of nationalist mass politics, you tend to become critical of militarism, but precedent has shown that just about the only thing worse than war is having to fight a war unprepared.
International peace relies on the good faith agreement between
International peace relies on the good faith agreement between
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
One of our best security experts sums it up:
Worth stating simply what’s happening. An American government is launching a full-scope political & economic assault on an ally repelling an ongoing invasion to compel them to terminate martial law, topple their president, hand over minerals to America & accept a ceasefire w/out security guarantees.
March 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
One of our best security experts sums it up:
I just finished reading the latest book from one of my favorite historians: "Hitler's People: the Faces of the Third Reich" by Richard J. Evans.
The biographical approach has its limits, but also insights that aren't captured by structural approaches quite as well.
The biographical approach has its limits, but also insights that aren't captured by structural approaches quite as well.
February 27, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I just finished reading the latest book from one of my favorite historians: "Hitler's People: the Faces of the Third Reich" by Richard J. Evans.
The biographical approach has its limits, but also insights that aren't captured by structural approaches quite as well.
The biographical approach has its limits, but also insights that aren't captured by structural approaches quite as well.
One of the things I love about hockey is that is simultaneously the most aggressively pugilistic of all the team sports and the one that is both built on and actually demonstrably practices the kind of sportsmanship it espouses.
#hockey
#4nations
#NHL
#ColoradoAvalanche
#hockey
#4nations
#NHL
#ColoradoAvalanche
February 22, 2025 at 2:30 AM
One of the things I love about hockey is that is simultaneously the most aggressively pugilistic of all the team sports and the one that is both built on and actually demonstrably practices the kind of sportsmanship it espouses.
#hockey
#4nations
#NHL
#ColoradoAvalanche
#hockey
#4nations
#NHL
#ColoradoAvalanche
Reposted by Patrick Gilner, Ph.D.
Helpful explanations here.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...
Opinion | Here Are the Digital Clues to What Musk Is Really Up To
What will DOGE do with access to personal data on almost all Americans?
www.nytimes.com
February 22, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Helpful explanations here.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/o...
Pup cup aftermath:
February 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Pup cup aftermath:
Taking my dog for a date. He doesn't know he's about to get a pup cup.
February 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Taking my dog for a date. He doesn't know he's about to get a pup cup.
Complicity is essential for dictatorship.
The dictatorship established by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 would not have been possible without the consent of the 73 representatives of the Catholic Zentrum Party who joined the NSDAP and DNVP in voting to grant Hitler emergency powers.
#History
The dictatorship established by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 would not have been possible without the consent of the 73 representatives of the Catholic Zentrum Party who joined the NSDAP and DNVP in voting to grant Hitler emergency powers.
#History
February 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Complicity is essential for dictatorship.
The dictatorship established by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 would not have been possible without the consent of the 73 representatives of the Catholic Zentrum Party who joined the NSDAP and DNVP in voting to grant Hitler emergency powers.
#History
The dictatorship established by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 would not have been possible without the consent of the 73 representatives of the Catholic Zentrum Party who joined the NSDAP and DNVP in voting to grant Hitler emergency powers.
#History
Obviously he already was before, but if Elon Musk uses his unprecedented abuse of power to destroy the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau there can be no question he is a clear enemy and threat to the American people.
February 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Obviously he already was before, but if Elon Musk uses his unprecedented abuse of power to destroy the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau there can be no question he is a clear enemy and threat to the American people.
Best pizza I've had in a loooong time.
February 5, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Best pizza I've had in a loooong time.