@musaalgharbi
Asst. Professor of Communication, Journalism and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stony Brook University. Author of, "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite" -- out now via Princeton University Press.
TikTok just demonetized Current Affairs. No explanation. Just kicked us out and eliminated our income stream and said we violated an unspecified policy. Of course the only thing we've done that could possibly be controversial is be critical of imperialism and genocide.
The RoboTaxi is roughly as safe as a brand-new teen driver. Which doesn't offer a lot of confidence, given that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15-20-year-olds in the US, with thousands of teen drivers dying each year.
fortune.com/2026/02/26/t...
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
@musaalgharbi.bsky.social will be at St. John's College tomorrow (March 1st) at 4:00pm MST to discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke! Learn how a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power—often at the expense of the marginalized—at this free event: buff.ly/C9UNtIT
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
@musaalgharbi.bsky.social will be at St. John's College next week, March 1st at 4:00pm MST to discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke! Learn how a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power—often at the expense of the marginalized—at this free event: buff.ly/C9UNtIT
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
See @musaalgharbi.bsky.social at Cleveland State University tomorrow (Feb 17) at 4:00 pm EST! With a panel, he will discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke, and questions about ideology, academic culture, and the role of universities in public life.
Register for this free event: buff.ly/nbrZS9C
"Emphasizing a priori theorizing over post-hoc analysis can potentially lead to sharper, more robust historical narratives and help to strengthen the inferential power of interpretations or theories regarding causes of past events."
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
See @musaalgharbi.bsky.social at Cleveland State University next week, Feb 17 at 4:00 pm EST! With a panel, he will discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke, and questions about ideology, academic culture, and the role of universities in public life.
Register for this free event: buff.ly/nbrZS9C
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... @princetonupress.bsky.social @musaalgharbi.bsky.social
Long story short: even if you've seen lots of podcasts/ interviews/ articles about the book, you should really read the book itself.
More about the book (and links to order it from your preferred vendor and in your preferred format) here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
As I've noted occasionally there are major swaths of the book that, to my mind, are some of its biggest contributions, but that are widely neglected in pretty much all interviews about the book because they're *super* uncomfortable and would be *very* awkward to discuss.
Great review of We Have Never Been Woke by @nicolebarbarophd.bsky.social: bookmarkedreads.substack.com/p/review-of-...
This should be the North Star of criminal justice reform.
You can check out the full list of 2026 Center for Community News Faculty Champions (and learn more about the great work of the CCN) here: uvmd10.drup2.uvm.edu/ccn/2026-fac...
Honored to be one of the Center for Community News.
Over the next year, I'll be working to build on SBU's partnerships with local news organizations to help provide students with experience, local news orgs with quality content, and LI folks a platform for their lives, communities & perspectives
New at Can We Still Govern: Here is one thing I wish more people understood about government. There is a lot of rent-seeking by private vendors in our social safety net. Trump's policies will make this worse.
@lukef.bsky.social breaks it down. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...
100%. I honestly believe political leaders ask too little of people. The thinking is you need an extraordinarily low bar - so ask people for money or to sign something. People want to be part of something and they're eager to do real meaningful work in defense of their community and their rights.
An extraordinary document. Read it.
“Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. … ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”
And here are the full remarks I offered to the times, which provide some additional context for the excerpts selected.
You can check out Tom Edsall's full column, with comments from lots of other smart folks, here: nytimes.com/2026/01/27/o...
No one should take from contemporary polling and likely midterm gains that the party is in good shape. There is still a ways to go at rebuilding trust and credibility, and putting together a more workable and durable coalition, as I detailed for @bostonglobe.com:
We saw this in 2020: average thermostatic gains in 2018. Biden won during the next cycle. But the deep problems with the party were not addressed. And so, here we are after the 2024 election when Dems lost all swing states driven by shifts among young people, women, minorities, et al.
Back in @nytimes.com today (link at end of thread). The thrust of my remarks is that Democrats are well-positioned for the midterms coasting on backlash to Trump. But there are deeper problems that need to be addressed to avoid a return to similar situations in the future. 🧵
With not just the killing but the lying about the killing the tyrannical core of Trumpism is now front and center in politics.
www.slowboring.com/p/a-turning-...
Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.
If you've never written for a magazine before, Current Affairs welcomes your submissions. We love working with first-time published writers.
www.currentaffairs.org/writers-guide
"If the prisons were to close, and the rapists, murders, and drug dealers were set free, they wouldn’t be going to live in the Hamptons, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, or anywhere else that symbolic capitalists tend to concentrate."
Much more on crime, policing, the criminal justice system, activism, and my evolving relationship to all of these in the full post (non-paywalled): musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/on-crime-a...
Although the "issue-attention cycle" seems to have shifted away from policing and criminal justice reform, these causes remain as important as ever: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/185032768/...
When we look at the expressed will of the populations most affected, they want more and better policing. They want a more humane criminal justice system, but they *do* want dangerous folks out of their community.
There is wisdom in the crowd: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/185032768/...