Maarten Steenhagen

I'm a philosopher and writer.

I think and write about philosophy and psychology, but these days quite a lot about the dreadful state society is in.

Former fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge

#WearAMask #BIJ1

Kennisbureau BIJ1: https://clemenciaredmond.org/
Blog: https://indoxicate.me
Pronouns: he/they

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Last Notes

2025-10-23 13:35:47 GMT

Just discovered that 'rentier capitalism' was a term already used by George Orwell in 1943.
It's in his essay on the Spanish Civil War. There he writes about "what the years of rentier capitalism have done to us".
What have they done to us? They have made us "too civilized" to grasp that war is hell.

2025-08-22 19:55:56 GMT

The Dutch #government just collapsed... again.
They were already a caretaker cabinet, waiting for elections to happen.
But a debate about imposing sanctions on Israel resulted this evening in the minister of Foreign Affairs' resignation, after which his colleagues from the same party resigned as well.
I've never seen government in The Netherlands so unstable.
And yet, still no #sanctions on #Israel forthcoming.

2025-07-08 07:06:53 GMT

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I completely agree about the ableism. I'll look up the sources you mention, thanks!
The (far) right has effective indeed, and the perpetual antifascist trope that the far right somehow doesn't have a clue and is incompetent is really harming the fight against fascism. If you read what far right and alt right intellectuals have been writing since the 1990s, you see that everything is going according to plan, and the way they hijack the cultural domain is entirely intentional.

2025-07-07 20:29:34 GMT

I've just re-read Orwell's essay 'Politics and the English language', and let's say it's most definitely not irrelevant today.

2025-07-07 19:47:55 GMT

"The never-ending battle where police and intelligence services demand more/total access to communications shows no sign of stopping, even in the face of mathematical and practical impossibilities."
The European Commission calls experts to advise them on how to break encry... monitor communications.
Are you an expert on this? Read what [@bert_hubert](https://mastodon.nl/@bert_hubert ) says.
We need critical voices to counterbalance the lobby of cops and data-miners that will no doubt be well-presented.
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/possible-end-to-end-to-end-come-help/

2025-07-06 10:23:28 GMT

I've begun updating my Mastodon instance (long overdue, yes). I'm running Mastodon and postgresql plainly on a Raspberry Pi (Raspbian), not using Docker or other virtualisation.
Issue: For upgrading, postgresql needs to be v12 or higher. Yet my R-Pi runs v11, and there's no ARM package for newer versions.
What to do?
- Compile postgres v12 myself?
- Run postgres v12 as a docker image?
- Do a complete overhaul and run Mastodon in a docker image that includes postgres as well?
- Or?
#help

2025-07-04 09:18:09 GMT

Are you a #school teacher and has your school's head or management encouraged you to use #AI for generating lesson plans or other teaching materials? To use AI for marking and giving feedback?
I know teachers are underpaid and exploited, so I don't really blame you if you're using AI to get the work done. In some cases, I can imagine it as an act of workplace sabotage, really. But I'm curious to find out just how far the rot has set in.

2025-07-03 20:32:27 GMT

Belangrijk opiniestuk van Joris van Laarhoven en Eva van vandaag. Over het verbieden van generatieve AI in rechtenopleidingen.
Veel van hun argumenten zijn breder van toepassing, ik zou zeggen op een groot deel van het onderwijs.
Met cognitieve vaardigheden is het zo: als je ze niet gebruikt, dan kwijnen ze weg.
Nadenken is zo'n vaardigheid. Mensen doen dat steeds minder. Ze besteden hun denkproces steeds vaker uit aan Big Tech-diensten. Het gevolg laat zich raden.
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/07/02/lever-de-rechtsstaat-niet-uit-aan-chatgpt-verbied-ai-aan-de-juridische-faculteit-a4899056

2025-07-01 07:00:11 GMT

Ik lees dat het #LinkedIn-account van Berber van der Woude is verwijderd.
Het is niet de eerste keer dat mensen die invloedrijke kritiek op Israël hebben van dat platform worden geknikkerd.
Maar ja 🤷🏻 wat verwacht je van LinkedIn? In handen van Microsoft en in dienst van de economische groei. Natuurlijk ga je dan voor de bijl als je werkelijk een bedreiging begint te zijn.
Mocht je iemand spreken die hier verontwaardigd over is: wijs ze naar hier, en naar de #Fediverse. Anders leren we nooit.

2025-06-27 20:13:17 GMT

Is German Mastodon still defending Israel or have they finally come to their senses?

2025-06-26 13:31:44 GMT

Domain Catching is a nasty sort of #fraud. Ever heard of it?
Here's what happens:
Fraudster manages to register an expired domain, then creates a simulation of the previous website (using an archive version)
Next, they add (spam) content to this website
This way, they exploit the online identity of the previous domain owner
The damage done can be serious, and a personal violation
If you want to help someone, please read the story of @npub1rwe…rja5 on https://gofund.me/83b5f85e
Boosts appreciated

2025-04-28 08:12:45 GMT

Hello #encryption users! Does any of you have experience using #Tomb? Fun to use? Things I need to worry about if I want to rely on it?
(Tomb's developed by @npub1kgj…ng8l)
On Mac I used to work with encrypted disk images for storing/backing-up secrets, but to my horror I see these .dmg's don't seem to work on Linux (and so were a risk all along).
Tomb seems promising: encrypted folders. And the files remain accessible (alongside key) from any sensible machine that allows running cryptsetup, right?

2025-01-30 14:44:10 GMT

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Oh, sorry that was a map of electric cables. Same point.

2025-01-30 14:42:51 GMT

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True, they are liabilities too. I'm not saying we should continue pumping gas around. But if such pipelines get blown up, it's merely annoying and disruptive.
With radioactive fuels it's just a different league, and the damage would stay with us for a long time.
Until we know how to build reactors that can safely be blown to bits without serious consequences, we shouldn't build them.
In general, the 'technical fix' isn't going to be the solution to the problem we face.

2025-01-30 13:16:57 GMT

The benefits and safety of nuclear energy you might hear people rave about apply in a world of stability and responsible government.
We are not in that world. The mid-term future will be marked by instability and irresponsible government.
Climate change will cause war.
The question whether nuclear energy is safe or green cannot be answered narrowly, exclusively looking at the technology.
Today's nuclear reactors will be tomorrow's strategic liabilities and sites of military blackmail.

2025-01-23 13:41:52 GMT

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Ik ken niet zoveel andere juridische successen, buiten deze. (Die waarschijnlijk zal worden aangevochten, net als die zaak tegen Shell.) Dus 'vaak effectiever', dat lijkt mij niet.
Maar ik ben het met je eens dat het kunnen aanspannen van dit soort juridische procedures koste wat kost verdedigd moet worden.

2025-01-23 13:17:53 GMT

Gisteren sprak de #TweedeKamer over #demonstratierecht. Het debat was aangevraagd door de Partij voor de Dieren, maar die partij zette zeker niet de toon.
De ronduit gênante voorstelling in de Plenaire Zaal werd gedomineerd door een repressief en autoritair geluid van de coalitiepartijen en hun ondersteuners.
Defaitisme beheerst de linkse oppositie, die door lijkt te krijgen dat #fascisme zich niet parlementair laat bedwingen.
Lees mijn verslag op @npub1f49…7sp7
#politiek
https://www.doorbraak.eu/demonstreren-liever-niet/

2025-01-22 22:19:41 GMT

David van Weel gelooft niet zozeer in grondrechten of privacy. Hij vindt dat de overheid het beste kan bepalen wat goed is voor iedereen. Daarvoor moet de overheid aan zo min mogelijk regels gebonden zijn.
Dus heeft Van Weel niet geluisterd naar de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, of de Orde van Advocaten, of de Raad van State, of het Nederlands Juristen Comité voor Mensenrechten. Hij weet het immers het beste, en critici moeten niet zo zeiken.
https://www.doorbraak.eu/een-politiestaat-in-drie-eenvoudige-stappen/

2025-01-07 11:18:22 GMT

Er is een persoon overleden na een infectie met het hoogpatogene vogelgriepvirus #h5n1, in de Verenigde Staten, in Lousiana.
Het gaat om de D1.1-variant, dezelfde variant die in november een 13-jarig meisje in Canada ernstig ziek maakte.
Dit is niet de variant die nu veel onder koeien voorkomt in de VS en op dit moment de meeste mensen in de VS heeft besmet (B3.13).
D1.1 is een variant die vooral (nog) onder vogels rondgaat en waarbij menselijke besmettingen (nog) zeldzaam zijn.

2024-11-18 19:46:13 GMT

Craig Murray: "An airstrike hit central #Beirut a short while ago, near the UN headquarters and next to a Lebanese Civil Defence station, the [strike] came without prior warning. I went there to report"
Murray is in Beirut reporting as an independent journalist. He knows the world of Western diplomacy and international relations well. His perspective on the #genocide and ethnic cleansing committed by #Israel is invaluable.
#Lebanon #Gaza #Politics #CraigMurray
https://provo.lol/storage/system/media_attachments/files/113/505/660/954/174/974/original/b5be4d74567dc6ba.mp4

2024-11-14 09:32:07 GMT

Ramsey Nasr:
"Als onze leiders niet te vertrouwen zijn, voelt heel Nederland zich onveilig."
#politiek #gaza #amsterdam
https://provo.lol/storage/system/media_attachments/files/113/480/576/326/064/858/original/53fc2f465d3ee58e.mp4

2024-11-06 08:04:38 GMT

Kunnen we nu eindelijk met z'n allen afspreken dat de VS niet het land is om tegen op te kijken of achterna te lopen?
Dat als iets 'uit de VS' komt, dat je dan even twee keer nadenkt of je er je tijd aan wilt besteden?
Gewoon eens met z'n allen kijken hoe dat gaat, niet langer de godganse dag aan hun socioculturele infuus liggen.
Want het is giftig, en vannacht nog giftiger geworden.

2024-10-18 13:54:02 GMT

Ramsey Nasr heeft gelijk, mensen zullen inderdaad later vragen: Hoe hebben jullie het zover kunnen laten komen?
Weet dat een deel van het antwoord is dat veel teveel van ons het veilige midden blijven opzoeken, de zogenaamde 'nuance'. Daar is niets prijzenswaardig aan. Het is laf en het kost levens.
1/3
#palestina #genocide #politiek
https://provo.lol/storage/system/media_attachments/files/113/328/757/064/947/216/original/57c2192f5d855fd2.mp4

2024-10-14 14:01:02 GMT

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Ik noemde dat laatst als reden waarom ik een masker droeg, maar mijn gesprekspartner wilde me niet geloven. 🤷‍♀️

2024-09-25 15:42:25 GMT

Het beeld dat "militante actievoerders", natuurlijk "gemaskerd", een demonstraties zouden “kapen” is een veelgebruikt politiek frame.
Hier moeten we niet aan mee doen.
Wie de bewegingen kent, ziet een realiteit waar diversiteit van tactieken doorgaans omarmt wordt. Mensen die de ene demo in het zwart lopen, zie je misschien de volgende keer in een bloemetjesjurk.
@npub1q8a…rm79 schreef een goede reactie vandaag op een artikel in de NRC over precies dit punt.
https://www.doorbraak.eu/ga-niet-mee-met-tendentieuze-retoriek-over-kaping-van-demonstraties-door-raddraaiers/

2024-09-25 09:45:17 GMT

Eerdmans zei in de Kamer: “Wordt het niet eens tijd voor aanpassing van artikel 2 van de Wet openbare manifestaties [...]? Een wijziging zou kunnen inhouden dat een onevenredige inperking van de rechten van anderen het demonstratierecht kan beperken.”
De afgelopen dagen ging het vooral over gezichtsbedekking. Maar hoe zit het met wat Eerdmans tijdens de Algemene Beschouwingen zei over de Wom?
Voor @npub1f49…7sp7 probeerde ik die vraag te beantwoorden. #politiek
https://www.doorbraak.eu/de-discussie-over-gezichtsbedekking-verhult-mogelijk-een-groter-probleem/

2024-09-14 20:21:50 GMT

It’s important to move beyond our differences as much as we can and fight the far right steamroller that’s been set in motion.
But no, that doesn’t mean that the radical anti-fascist wing should embrace the centre.
It’s the other way around.
If you consider yourself a political moderate, this is the time to take a deep breath and look at what the radical anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial voices say that can teach you to turn your non-fascism into a much-needed anti-fascism.

2024-08-21 09:48:26 GMT

The UK is using its anti-terrorism legislation to detain and intimidate journalists.
"It is legal in UK law to support Israel’s genocidal and illegal acts of colonial occupation, but illegal in UK law to support Palestine’s legal acts of armed resistance to colonial and racist occupation."
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/richard-medhurst-and-the-right-to-armed-resistance/

2024-08-01 13:40:12 GMT

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To be frank, also the ICJ ruling is used by Israel as a pretext to continue the bombings calling them "self-defense" – it doesn't really matter what the courts say.
I get your point: be careful not to propose or demand something more extreme than is necessary to end this violence. (That's your point, right?)
But I think that the only way to end the violence and save Palestine is to end the occupation of Palestine (entirely). And that does seem to mean the end of Israel.

2024-08-01 08:24:32 GMT

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The example of South-Africa is complicated, because it freed itself from colonialism early in the twentieth century, but the armed resistance then consisted in part of (Dutch-ethnic) white supremacists. The liberation from apartheid was for a large part a liberation from their power.
But this is something I'm trying to understand better. Historical parallels are useful but always imperfect.

2024-08-01 08:00:31 GMT

Craig Murray: "For me it is now axiomatic that there is no two state solution and that apartheid Israel must be completely dismantled as an entity. I believe that more and more people around the entire globe believe that now."
I think that Murray is right on both points. Decolonisation of Palestine must now happen, and increasingly many people understand that this is what must be achieved.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/07/the-israeli-terrorist-state/

2024-07-22 08:12:41 GMT

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As I predicted: I got things to work, but don't understand why.
Situation: Root mounts the volume, mastodon cannot write to the volume, but the other files are served properly. Root has the volume unmounted: vice versa.
Hack: I mounted the volume as root, copied the files from /mountpoint/otherfiles/* to /temp. Then I unmounted the volume. Then I moved the files from /temp to mountpoint/otherfiles/
Hey presto. Mastodon works and the other files are served properly too.
🤷🏻

2024-07-22 07:53:51 GMT

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I will try to, but there's a real chance I will get things to work without fully understanding what exactly I did or what was going on 😅

2024-07-22 07:27:13 GMT

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Things are not all well, I see, because now some other files I serve from the same drive are no longer accessible.
So I have to open the hood again and fiddle around a bit more.

2024-07-22 07:18:55 GMT

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So could it be that because root had mounted the volume (on the same mount point, perhaps that's it) the mastodon user was no longer able to write to it?
The /etc/fstab file contains for the volume:
/dev/sda1 /media auto rw,user 0 0

2024-07-22 07:15:00 GMT

Very strange (to me). I think it shows I still have a lot to learn about Linux and permissions.
So, a while ago my instance crashed. I rebooted. All was working again, except the external media storage. Mastodon couldn't write to that drive any longer.
After a lot of trying, I seem to have fixed it by *unmounting* the volume (as root). And now I suddenly can upload images again (i.e. mastodon can write to the media storage drive). 🤔
https://provo.lol/storage/system/media_attachments/files/112/828/899/528/857/125/original/fb1be9c3bb5f8a99.png