Intellectual history, German & Jewish studies, climate catastrophe | Postdoc at the University of Rochester Humanities Center | PhD from Princeton | Edits @jhideas.bsky.social | Rochester • NYC • Berlin 🏳️‍🌈 https://rochester.academia.edu/JonathonCatlinhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mkr6tdplq22oNancy Fraser on German Staatsräson: “At root, philosemitic McCarthyism is antisemitic in both senses—anti-Jewish and anti-Arab. Its true aim is to advance the self-esteem of the German establishment rather than the well-being of Semites.” @newleftreview.bsky.social https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii158/articles/nancy-fraser-gaza-as-world-event01 May 2026 03:30 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkr6tdplq22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mkiyy2zpuc2l“Beckert insists that capitalism seeks to commodify ever more of the world and of human experience, a defining feature of the system that ensures that the arc of capitalist history has always bent toward the degradation of dignity and the shrinking of freedom.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/why-capitalism-persists-adelman27 Apr 2026 21:24 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkiyy2zpuc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mkiywd4c5c2l“Beckert insists that capitalism seeks to commodify ever more of the world and of human experience, a defining feature of the system that ensures that the arc of capitalist history has always bent toward the degradation of dignity and the shrinking of freedom.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/why-capitalism-persists-adelman27 Apr 2026 21:23 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkiywd4c5c2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mkixlpgkw22d$10 says the consulting fees paid to McKinsey are higher than the cost of the academic programs being slashed https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2026/04/24/penn-state-academic-program-cuts/stories/20260424007627 Apr 2026 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkixlpgkw22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mk7ezub2722pGlad to have seen Peter Gordon launch his elegant short intellectual biography of Walter Benjamin today in NYC. Its literary style charms on every page, and it answers some central enigmas of his life. Some "pearls" from the book subtweeted below. @yalepress.bsky.social @jewishlives.bsky.social24 Apr 2026 01:33 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk7ezub2722phttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mk6uyy7knk2sGermany has had its thumb on Israel’s side of the scale since reparations began in 1952 (then as now largely weapons used for war crimes). The land of genocidal Staatsräson could never be a fair mediator for the conflict. Fanciful and dangerously unrealistic proposal. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/books/review/israel-omer-bartov.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share23 Apr 2026 20:46 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk6uyy7knk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mk4oj4ddzk2d“The Frankfurt School worried about the ways in which mass culture could shape consciousness… But in the “upside down” conspiracy version of their work, these concerns are transmuted into evidence of their own success.” https://open.substack.com/pub/thebattleground/p/never-ending-blame-game22 Apr 2026 23:44 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk4oj4ddzk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjzksnq3xc2zQuite the choice of words! [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Apr 2026 18:00 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjzksnq3xc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjv4skyhbk2m“Hampshire’s announcement comes after the Huron Consulting Group recently projected that nearly 450 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year campuses could shutter or merge within the next decade.” https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/apr/17/hampshire-colleges-closure-signals-higher-ed-downsizing-trump/19 Apr 2026 23:39 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjv4skyhbk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjnnkpiaak2yWas just rocked to my soul by the oratory of UBuffalo Professor Henry-Louis Taylor in a keynote on reclaiming urban planning from racial capitalist wealth accumulation and gentrification, and then he mentioned his daughter….. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Now I get it!17 Apr 2026 00:17 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjnnkpiaak2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjmtsywk222yAwesome to have Rochester Mayor Malik Evans open our symposium on Climate Havens today at the @urochester.bsky.social Humanities Center!16 Apr 2026 16:37 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjmtsywk222yhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjmq5wi2u227Next week I'm glad to be responding to Seyla Benhabib's recent book on critical theory and law at NYU's Remarque Institute. RSVP required: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/remarque/events/Spring-2026/seyla-benhabib---at-the-margins-of-the-modern-state--critical-th.html16 Apr 2026 15:31 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjmq5wi2u227https://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mjcxwwpjak2v“There is nothing innocuous left… Even the blossoming tree lies the moment its bloom is seen without the shadow of terror; even the innocent 'How lovely!' becomes an excuse for an existence outrageously unlovely.” - Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia12 Apr 2026 18:24 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjcxwwpjak2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mj35bv6vnk2wElad Lapidot: "Our problem is that Judaism today has for some groups become an ideology of genocide. We need to face that now; any moral understanding of Judaism needs an immediate response to that. Are you working to stop the genocide? And what are you doing to stop it?" [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Apr 2026 15:38 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj35bv6vnk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mj35b4ct222wElad Lapidot: "What is being paraded around today as anti-antisemitism is basically the new antisemitism....What is being created with this bogus fight against antisemitism is a new wave of antisemitism." https://jewishcurrents.org/when-jewishness-means-genocide [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Apr 2026 15:38 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj35b4ct222whttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3mj2y4ycfjc2wThe inimitable @deborahfeldman.bsky.social on Germany today: “Of course we’re headed for disaster. What I can tell you for certain is that we’ll have a chancellor from the far-right party relatively soon, and that we’ll have fascism again.” @blnreview.bsky.social https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airlift-from-berlin-review/id1725127351?i=100075990060909 Apr 2026 14:06 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj2y4ycfjc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/joncatlin.bsky.social/post/3miyxjxgzic2wExcited for this event next week on climate havens—zones of refuge for climate migrants as vulnerable places become unlivable—including the Great Lakes region and Western NY. A collaboration between @urochester.bsky.social Humanities Center and RIT. Details here: https://events.rochester.edu/event/humanities-center-climate-havens-humanistic-perspectives-on-resilience-migration-and-resources-symposium08 Apr 2026 18:50 +0000at://did:plc:3ctfilke57uofqzaewe2movg/app.bsky.feed.post/3miyxjxgzic2w