Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava

The internet was a mistake. It’s not just that online life has been privatized and controlled by powerful, unseen forces. It’s that it’s very structure is antithetical to what is innately human, to what connects people, to the only things that really matter in this fleeting existence. We, all of us, are being forced into an increasingly inhuman world, told it is progress, and nobody is counting th...

For those who don’t know, prior to the pandemic, I spent my entire working life in the technical side of the live entertainment industry. This was primarily as a lighting designer for theatre and as a scenic carpenter, welder, and rigger. But more generally, I worked as a jack-of-all-trades event technician. These are the people who set up and run the sound and lighting equipment for all the live...

This episode is a response to pro-Israel arguments made by Sam Harris and Yuval Noah Harari in the midst of Israel's ongoing genocide of the Palestinians. Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava is a reader and listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber at weirdcatastrophe.substack.com Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Ca...

The case against Henry Kissinger as an indictable war criminal has been amply demonstrated for decades. And yet he died a free, comfortable, and highly lauded man in the West. He should have died by the hangman’s noose. The fact that his millions of victims were robbed of this justice is yet another crime against humanity. The fact that we in the West did not bring Kissinger to this justice is a s...

The particular details of any case such as George Floyd's are largely, unfortunately, immaterial to the response such cases provoke in the society at large. A healthy society would be able to deal with single instances of injustice such as these on their own terms. We do not have a healthy society. These uprisings happen because there is a permanent underclass in our nation, the social contract ha...

This episode of Weird Catastrophe is an examination of Aaron Bushnell’s sacrifice. Our society is not able to comprehend people like Aaron Bushnell and their actions because we have totally spurned the ability to be morally serious people, along with the vulnerability, earnestness, and humanity which this requires. When someone like Bushnell comes along and lights themselves on fire, they indict t...

What hope is there for a society that is hell-bent on perpetuating its insane imperial ventures? The United States, through its powerful propaganda machine and its cruel, coercive economic system, churns out generation after generation of fresh canon fodder. This episode of Weird Catastrophe is an examination of how our militarized society works and what its deadly implications are. Thank you for...

There is a deep nihilism in America today. Nihilism is not a kind of mopey cynicism or depression or edgy lifestyle. Nihilism is an ultimate separation between what our values are and the means by which we can assert and affirm those values. When no value can be truly honored or protected in either the political or the private life, and when our political and private lives converge and subsume one...

The novelist Russell Banks, who died recently at the age of 82, made a life out of bearing witness to the forgotten, and of recording memory for the sake of survival itself. Author of "Cloudsplitter," "The Sweet Hereafter," "Continental Drift," and many other works, Banks has left an enduring literary legacy. This is an appreciation of his work. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at...

Dessa, the eternally rising hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, takes a turn for pop with her new album, "Bury The Lede." This is my review of the album, seeing how it compares to her previous work. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substack.com/subscribe

The movement to Stop Cop City in Atlanta is gearing up for another mass action to halt construction in the Weelaunee Forest. This episode is an in-depth look at where the movement stands, what it can expect going forward, and what it can learn from movements of the past. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is a deep appreciation of Garth Hudson and his work with The Band as their main keyboardist and horn player. I’m really proud of this piece. I had a lot of fun making the video for it and I think the audio/visual elements really add something nice to the written word. If you like it too, tell a friend? Enjoy! Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substa...

The latest explosion of violence in Palestine and Israel is yet another in a long line of atrocities in the region. Who authored the violence? So long as the system of apartheid is imposed by Israel upon the Palestinians, there will be no peace. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substack.com/subscribe

This is an in-depth look at how the liberal NPR (National Public Radio) serves the dominant structures of neoliberalism and capitalism all while claiming that it is objective, balanced, and fair. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substack.com/subscribe

The following is a video and audio version of the article, “ The Terror That Goes Around Comes Around ,” published on October 12th, 2022. You can watch the video on the players below or you can listen to an audio-only version on the player above. This is an in-depth look at why and how the U.S. has funded jihadists throughout the world and how these policies have come back to haunt the West. You c...

This is an in-depth look at recent political self-immolations carried out by climate activists such as Wynn Bruce and David Buckel and how these immolations are related to antiwar demonstrators like Alice Herz and Norman Morrison. As the climate crisis worsens, we can expect to see more such acts of self-destruction. Get full access to Weird Catastrophe by Kody Cava at weirdcatastrophe.substack.co...

I sat down with Dr. Jack Mitchell, the very first producer of NPR’s flagship news program All Things Considered . Mitchell wrote a book about the history of American Public Radio called Listener Supported: The Culture and History of Public Radio . He gives insight to how NPR has changed over the years, who listens to their programming, what NPR’s news and analysis is lacking in, and why the outlet...

The following is a video and audio version of the article, “ As Western Media Again Becomes A Cheerleader For War, Bias in the Press Mirrors Imperial Ideology ,” published on Mar. 11th, 2022. You can watch the video on the players below or you can listen to an audio-only version on the player above. Just in case Youtube decides to censor the video, as has been happening , here’s a link to where th...

The following is a video and audio version of the article, “Nancy Pelosi Is Running For Her 19th Term In Congress - Her Challenger, Shahid Buttar, Has Something To Say About That ” published on Feb. 28, 2022. Click the previous hyperlink to read the original article, or watch the video on the player below. You can also listen to an audio-only version on the player above. To watch the full intervie...

Today, I am releasing an interview that I conducted with congressional candidate, civil rights activist, and constitutional lawyer Shahid Buttar. Buttar is running against Nancy Pelosi this year for her seat in the House of Representatives and to represent San Francisco. In the 2020 general election, his campaign received around 81,000 votes, which is more votes than any challenger of Pelosi has e...

This is an audio version of the first part of the ongoing “American Terrorism” series on Weird Catastrophe. “In 1964, the FBI sent an anonymous package to Martin Luther King Jr. In it, was audio recordings illegally obtained through the FBI’s extrajudicial bugging of King’s phone calls, as well as a letter.” Listen above or read the full article here: Originally published January 3rd, 2021. If you...

My friend David told me that he can’t be bothered to read anything more than 2,000 words at one time. So I recorded the “Open Letter to Our Food Banks” for people like him who would rather listen to the text. “Food banks in the U.S. have become institutions and the people that work at them have become institutionalized.” Listen above or read the full letter here: Originally published January 4th,...