03 DEC 2025 by ideonexus
The Moynihan Report Characterizes Black Culture as Commun...
Doro is an ideal consumer who is both part of a “race,” “nation,” or “empire” (those terms being as confused and intertwined for Doro as they were for Burroughs) and its predator. This depiction of Doro highlights the ways in which a hyper-extended consumerism and an exceptionalist definition of nation both necessarily bring with them a permanent underclass—without which the empire would collapse—both feeding and being destroyed by those in the dominant position, and who thems...Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
1 03 DEC 2025 by ideonexus
All Utopias Are Conservative
Herbert’s critique of this seemingly countercultural utopia is precisely aimed at its conservatism. In necessarily rendering life static, the utopian vision must deny the instability of signification and that permits for change and development itself. In making this argument, I am aware that I am (or Herbert is) falling into what Kenneth M. Roemer calls that category of “muckrakers (or ‘stuckrakers’) preoccupied with exposing elements in literary utopias that tend toward changeless st...Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
1 
notes
notes03 DEC 2025 by ideonexus
The System of Oppression is Still in Place at the End of ...
o, directly opposing Rebekah Simpkins’ assertion that “By removing the control, Neo sets the prisoners free,” the first film ends with those controls still in place.45 At the end of The Matrix, after all, Neo does not awaken everyone to “the real,” but instead exploits the continued functioning of the Matrix, leaving the illusion intact so that he can fly. As Žižek writes, “all these ‘miracles’ are possible only if we remain WITHIN the VR sustained by the Matrix …: our ‘...Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
1 notes
notesThe Matrix makes many, very clear references to Black oppression. All of the antagonists are white men wearing business suits. Morphius tells one, "You all look the same to me." Later, Morphius is bound and gagged in a historically-evocative fashion.
At the same time, Neo is a white savior. In the end of each film, the oppressors remain in power. The Matrix is never dissolved and its victims remain trapped. The system of oppression remains in place.
03 DEC 2025 by ideonexus
How the Privileged Need Racism for Profit in "Black No More"
Antiblack racism continues not despite, but because of, the disappearance of blacks; this is only a paradox if the construction of blackness is seen as being essentially related to skin colour as opposed to economics. To bolster this position, Matthew emphasises the discourse of “blood purity”—as discussed in the first chapter of the current study—a form of racial identification that was less highlighted in the Knights’ previous racist rhetoric. He then uses this discourse to reinst...Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
Folksonomies: science fiction critical theory
1 notes
notes08 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Race in Tolkien is Reality Rather Than Socially Constructed
In Middle Earth, unlike reality, race is objectively real rather than socially constructed. There are species (elves, men, dwarves, etc.), but within those species there are races that conform to 19th-century race theory, in that their physical attributes (hair color, etc.) are associated with non-physical attributes that are both personal and cultural. There is also an explicit racial hierarchy which is, again, real in the world of the story. Middle Earth is literally a racist’s fantasy la...
1 07 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Locke's Philosophical Criticism Destroyed the Institution...
We must note two aspects of Locke’s method of analysis. One is that it was primarily a method of criticism, a method which by means of analysis subjected to critical scrutiny the many complex ideas which prevail in a society, and which because of their abstruse nature, cause confusion and misunderstanding. Locke proposed that all such ideas be analyzed into their simple components and examined critically so that the degree of their validity might be determined. The other aspect for us to no... 1 notes
notes05 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Locke Rejected Innate Ideas as a Defense of Arbitrary Aut...
The first target against which he directed his criticism was the doctrine of innate ideas. Since Locke s position was that all knowledge is derived ultimately from experience, it was altogether natural that he should repudiate this Platonic doctrine; but there was another reason for his determination to discredit it. The doctrine of innate ideas had become a weapon for the defense of arbitrary authority, of superstition, and of ridiculous theories. Men in authority argued that their actions w... 1 notes
notes05 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Locke Divided Experience into Sensation and Reflection
In his exploration into the nature of belief, seen from the psychological point of view Locke divided experience into two categories—first, sensation, or perception of external objects, and second, reflection, the activity in which the self observes its own state of mind, its own feelings and thoughts. According to Locke all human experience is embraced in these two categories; but the second, reflection, is based in and arises from the first, sensation. Sense impression of the external wor...Folksonomies: philosophy epistemology
Folksonomies: philosophy epistemology
1 notes
notesLocke believed every individual was capable of rational thought, and wanted to understand how individuals came to their beliefs.
05 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Cartesian Methodology Applied to Personal Intellectual Gr...
...Cartesian methodology calls for intellectual individualism; it emphasizes reason as the common possession of all men. The reason that people disagree is that their reason has been perverted by the wrong kind of education, or poisoned by superstition, or vitiated by preoccupation. Descartes held that all men had equal and natural ability to make sound judgments, and to distinguish the true from the false, until and unless these abilities were crippled or stunted by improper education or by ...Folksonomies: philosophy epistemology
Folksonomies: philosophy epistemology
1 notes
notes