Barack Obama is the American politician I most admire. So I'm, well, giddy with excitement to learn that he has read and enjoyed The Great Experiment (and decided to include it in his summer reading list)! Rarely at a loss for words but...

Quote Tweet

Barack Obama

@BarackObama

Jul 26, 2022

I’ve read a couple of great books this year and wanted to share some of my favorites so far. What have you been reading this summer?

548

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Jan 9

The rioters in Brazil were cosplaying American insurrectionists. These mob attacks on democratic institutions need to be taken very seriously. But the biggest danger remains that demagogues will return to power via the ballot box. My latest

@TheAtlantic

theatlantic.com

Brazil’s ‘January 6 Moment’ Is a Warning

The threat from authoritarian populists endures.

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Dec 4, 2022

(Also a public service announcement that I may not see any direct messages you sent me on this platform. You can email me via my website.)

Very happy to continue being off-Twitter (as I have been since summer). But just interrupting my absence to say that I am in awe of the brave Iranian women and men who have won this significant concession from the theocratic regime. My deepest respect.

257

(And with that, I shall resume my Twitter break.)

As Orwell observed, political convenience always helps to determine which victims of war crimes are widely commemorated and which widely ignored. This is a great campaign to, belatedly, remember some victims of Russian aggression to which we should have paid attention all along.

Quote Tweet

Ani Chkhikvadze

@achkhikvadze

Sep 21, 2022

A campaign that deserves your attention. Ukrainian war revived the memory of the atrocities in Abkhazia for many in Georgia. Story of the victims was never told. Please help spread a word. gofundme.com/f/Forgotten-Vi

(Also: Slava Ukraini!)

Very much enjoying my break from Twitter. So I'll stay away for a little while longer. Have a great fall!

OK, gonna give this another try. (Please can we have just a few weeks without terrible breaking news?)

Quote Tweet

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Aug 12, 2022

It's summer and I'm spending too much time on this website instead of writing or... sitting in the sun. Bye for now!

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Aug 14, 2022

Is there any school system in Europe that does not teach people phonics? I know this is a long-standing debate in the United States. But I've never heard of an equivalent in Europe—not even in Waldorf schools or other places you might expect it. (May just have missed it?)

It took me a long time to comprehend that the "reading wars" in the United States are about... whether or not students need to actually learn how the English alphabet works. It's mind-boggling that millions of kids in America have not been taught that.

time.com

The Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read

“A lot of times the teachers have no idea that they’re not teaching things that are beneficial to the kids”

186

To make the policy prescription here explicit: Protection from Section 230 must be conditional on social media platforms engaging in minimal content moderation which is content neutral. Otherwise they're just publishers (who happen to have a soft spot for theocratic regimes.)

264

So wishing death upon Salman Rushdie does not violate

@Twitter

's terms of conditions. There are two options: 1) Either Twitter must stop its arbitrary regime of censorship. Or: 2) It must be liable for everything published on this platform. The status quo is intolerable.

364

1,736

Again? Really?! According to police, "an initial investigation suggests Matar has made social media posts in support of Iran and its Revolutionary Guard and in support of Shi’a extremism." How on earth are his motives unclear? And why are you playing dumb? Have you no shame?

207

It's galling that Twitter doesn't try to apply its standards consistently. But in truth any platform would fail even if it had the decency to try. That's precisely why we must not tolerate major venues for public debate being subject to arbitrary and unaccountable censorship.

316

This is the thing about acting line a censor: Once you start deciding what is too offensive to keep on your platform, you kind of own the stuff you do allow. So I hope some day y'all will come to be deeply, achingly ashamed of your cowardice and provincialism.

543

I see that, a day after Salman Rushdie has been brutally attacked, and severely injured,

@khamenei_ir

is still on Twitter. Which one is it,

@Twitter

? Will you allow freedom of speech for everyone? Or just for the leaders of murderous theocratic regimes?

643

2,765

"It's really a mystery what might have happened here. Try as we might, we can't think who could possibly have born any ill will against a writer... whose death would be rewarded with a million-dollar bounty by the theocratic regime that is loudly celebrating the attack on him."

636

(From the New York Times.)

177

Are you fucking kidding me? The motive may not yet be proven. But to claim that it is "unclear" is just absurd.

115

473

4,341

So much for the promises (which some people shamefully parroted for partisan reasons) that the Taliban had changed... To appropriate a fashionable meme, "your belief in the value of freedom is universal or it is bullshit." nytimes.com/2022/08/12/wor

😭

Finding it really hard to focus on anything while waiting for news on Salman Rushdie's condition. Please let him pull through this...

481

🙄

This is one of the problems with Silicon Valley companies acting as global censors: If something offends the specific sensibility of young, highly educated Americans, it's likely to get suppressed. If it is deeply disgusting but does not touch America's culture wars, it stays.

234

I am against censorship on Twitter because I don't see why a bunch of random people in Silicon Valley should decide the boundaries of acceptable speech. But so long as there is censorship on here, it's doubly disgusting that Twitter allows dangerous bile like this to spread. twitter.com/Ali_Datari1/st

This Tweet is unavailable.

243

What an awful morning. Here's to hoping that Salman Rushdie survives. Here's to hoping that his attacker and his ideological sponsors are swiftly brought to justice. And here's to hoping that the world shows more courage in the face of this intimidation than it did in 1988.

124

892

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Aug 12, 2022

It's summer and I'm spending too much time on this website instead of writing or... sitting in the sun. Bye for now!

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Aug 12, 2022

(One of the strange things about this proposal is that the right-wing parties likely wouldn't be able to agree about which of their leaders should be president--especially if the presidency would, as per the proposal, have vastly expanded powers.)

The coalition consists of: * The Brothers of Italy, a postfascist party led by Giorgia Meloni. * The Lega, a northern independence movement turned nationalist populist led by Matteo Salvini. * And Forza Italia, the power base for 86 year-old Silvio Berlusconi. Povera Italia.

The right-wing coalition in Italy, which is likely to win a majority in elections this September, has just proposed that Italy should switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system. Have they... not looked at any news about America lately?

For those who are desperate to read something into my tweet that it does not in any way say: No, "both sides" are not equally responsible for the state of America. But you can think that Trump has it coming to him and also realize that America is in a very dangerous situation.

The car might yet stop or swerve. Perhaps it will. But today, at least, that doesn't feel likely.

Following American politics right now feels like watching a car slowly but steadfastly drive off a cliff.

187

Thing is: Italy has lots of McDonald's. And I think that's a good thing! Italians are bad at burgers. A BigMac is actually pretty damn good. So this adds to the options Italian diners have. But just about every damn pizza you get in Italy is a 1000x times better than Domino's.

I ♥️ Italy.

In Italy, Where Pizza Was Born, Domino’s Bows Out

The company entered the Italian market in 2015, but seems to have been done in by a proliferation of home-delivery food during the pandemic and a desire for more artisanal pies.

(Wasn't doubting the authenticity of the photograph I shared but couldn't be sure that the thing the photograph showed was what it pretended to be.)

Deleted a tweet because I had doubts about the authenticity of something I was sharing and, on reflection, decided it wasn't enough to mention that down-thread.

Update: "On Tuesday, the police said they had arrested a man who was himself Muslim and who may have targeted at least two of the victims because he was angry that his daughter had married a man from the other major branch of Islam." nytimes.com/2022/08/09/us/

Quote Tweet

Yascha Mounk

@Yascha_Mounk

Aug 7, 2022

"The authorities did not elaborate on why they thought the killings may be connected and did not say whether there were any witnesses to the homicides, but they said they believed the Muslim community was being targeted." This is very worrying. nytimes.com/2022/08/06/us/

Quote Tweet

People. I am aware that Trump lost in 2020. But he has a democratic right to run again in 2024. So we will need to beat him at the ballot box again. Unless he has committed a serious crime. In which case he should go to prison. As I clearly stated. twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/s

Show this thread