Dialectical Zach-Zack Loeffler
@thezachloeffler
I teach philosophy. Formerly a musicologist. Writing a book on Adorno’s life without fear. Editor @crit_theory_grp. Victorian hinge enthusiast.
An 82 year old grandfather granted political asylum in the US after surviving disappearance and torture under Pinochet was grabbed by ICE, who then told his family he died in custody; a month later turns out he was deported, is now in a Guatemalan hospital mcall.com/2025/07/18/lui…
Absolutely insane and disgraceful to the entire university theguardian.com/education/2025…
I haven’t looked at academia dot edu in years and just noticed a $299 charge on my credit card. Has anyone experienced anything similar? I don’t even remember ever giving academia dot edu my credit card info!
Gretel Adorno to Benjamin in 1938 on NYC: “perhaps the most surprising thing for me is that everything is not quite as new and advanced as one might actually expect; on the contrary, one is faced everywhere by the contrast between the extremely modern and the downright shabby.”
Benjamin’s suicide note to Fromm’s future wife, Henny Gurland,who also likely took her own life in 1952. It survives only in HG’s hand among Adorno’s papers.“I would ask you to pass on my thoughts to my friend Adorno+explain to him the situation in which I have now found myself.”
Benjamin’s suicide note to Fromm’s future wife, Henny Gurland,who also likely took her own life in 1952. It survives only in HG’s hand among Adorno’s papers.“I would ask you to pass on my thoughts to my friend Adorno+explain to him the situation in which I have now found myself.”
Domination is always acceptable when it’s humble so remember to dominate humbly
Benjamin speaks often in his letters of difficulties with his son, Stefan. He somehow survived the War and ended up in London dealing rare books.
why don't we talk about Adorno's point that fascists have replaced art criticism with "the inane notion of 'art appreciation'"?
Adorno and Benjamin hate Kracauer’s Offenbach book so much (“[it’s] so irredeemably terrible that it could easily become a best-seller”) that they can’t decide if they should organize an intervention (with Bloch’s help) or just stop being friends with Kracauer.
![thezachloeffler's tweet image. Adorno and Benjamin hate Kracauer’s Offenbach book so much (“[it’s] so
irredeemably terrible that it could easily become a best-seller”) that they can’t decide if they should organize an intervention (with Bloch’s help) or just stop being friends with Kracauer.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GwZdL-LXYAA9MMY.jpg)
![thezachloeffler's tweet image. Adorno and Benjamin hate Kracauer’s Offenbach book so much (“[it’s] so
irredeemably terrible that it could easily become a best-seller”) that they can’t decide if they should organize an intervention (with Bloch’s help) or just stop being friends with Kracauer.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GwZdL-ZXIAA45JS.jpg)
I would trade all the ice in the US for a decent cappuccio and brioche at the bar for $2 or a jambon beurre for $4.
Hot take: Europe is a bunch of third-world countries with better branding. No A/C. No dryers. Ice is a luxury. You’ll sweat through dinner while the waiter ignores you for 2 hours. Say what you want about America, but at least eating out doesn’t feel like hot yoga with bread.
Another rainy day at Ken Griffin’s museum of pseudoscience and industry
Insane that anyone presumes it could be exculpatory to argue about the conditions under which the mass murder of children is a problem
Billy Joel with a goatee really bothers me
“His father, who rushed to save him, was beaten, handcuffed, and forced to sit beside his dying child.”
Adorno on when critiques of bureaucracy go wrong remains apposite: “If one rails against bureaucracy and works toward restoring more direct relations between people amid unchanged ownership conditions, this almost inevitably leads to [fascism].”