Even Neo Can’t Log Off
The Matrix Resurrections makes a convincing case that the Matrix franchise is keeping us plugged into the Matrix. Unfortunately, it exhausts the viewer in doing so.
78 Article(s) by: Ryan Zickgraf
Ryan Zickgraf is a journalist based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Nancy Pelosi: 2021 Wall Street Trader of the Year
Thanks to her investing prowess, the Speaker of the House’s wealth grew by an estimated $16.7 million in 2020, just as millions of Americans fell into poverty and struggled to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Long live the Queen of Stonks!
Forza Horizon 5 Is Gaming’s Gateway Drug to Dystopia
Millions of players agree that Microsoft’s Forza Horizon 5 is a beautiful, fun, and endlessly seductive video game. It’s also an eerie transitional technology that hints at the dystopian metaverse to come.
The Opioid Crisis Hasn’t Gone Away. It’s Just Gone Underground.
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which played a key role in creating America’s opioid crisis, has dissolved. But the crisis rages on, lives are still in danger, and the profits are still flowing — now to street dealers who manufacture synthetic drugs.
Mark Zuckerberg’s “Metaverse” Is a Dystopian Nightmare
The Facebook founder intends to usher in a new era of the internet where there’s no distinction between the virtual and the real — and no logging off.
Michael K. Williams Had a Future as a Serious Left Activist
Michael K. Williams wasn’t just one of the most talented actors in America. He was also in the middle of a political awakening, speaking out on a range of issues from police reform to fighting poverty.
The State of Illinois Is Killing My Family
Once the proud land of Lincoln, downstate Illinois — devastated by unemployment, deindustrialization, and an infamously corrupt political class — is quickly becoming a failed state.
The Return of the Company Town
The Second Gilded Age is starting to look more and more like the first.
Pod Can’t Save America
Why are powerful leaders all trying to be Oprah Winfrey? From Obama's Netflix series to Bill Clinton's podcast, the political elite aren't content with being merely influential — they want to be influencers. But Pod Can't Save America, and we shouldn't come along for the ride.
Cyberpunk Needs a Reboot
Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction. Today, it’s been reduced to a cool retro aesthetic easily appropriated by the world’s second-richest man to market ugly Blade Runner–inspired trucks to nostalgia-drenched Gen Xers.
The Biden Administration Is the Californication of the Democratic Party
California’s post-Reagan drift into the welcome arms of the corporate-friendly Democratic Party has meant a politics that looks like an elite lifestyle brand. It’s a state where social liberalism reigns, but so does staggering poverty and inequality. The Democratic Party has failed California and unless things change, it will continue to fail our nation.
Cyberpunk Needs a Reboot
Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction. Today, it’s been reduced to a cool retro aesthetic easily appropriated by the world’s second-richest man to market ugly Blade Runner–inspired trucks to nostalgia-driven Gen Xers.
Illinois Progressives Wanted To Tax the Rich. A Right-Wing Billionaire Helped Defeat Them.
A ballot measure to tax the rich failed on election night in Illinois. The person behind the “no” campaign: right-wing billionaire Ken Griffin, who funneled $50 million of his own money to kill the referendum.
Donald Trump’s Class War Against the Poor Helped Destroy the YMCA
There’s something deeply ironic about Donald Trump’s bizarre, pre-election “YMCA” video: You can no longer stay at the Village People’s YMCA in Manhattan, because the gentrification carried out by real estate barons like Trump drove out housing for poor people.
Politicians Come to Selma Every Year to Commemorate the Civil Rights Struggle, But Nothing Changes
Democrats use Selma, Alabama as a political prop and ignore the city’s current struggles. Residents told Jacobin that they need real help, not just annual photo ops with Oprah and Joe Biden.
Class War on the Final Frontier
The Outer Worlds isn't quite a socialist video game. But it's close.
Newspapers Won’t Save Us
Newspapers are a key part of a healthy press that is vital to any democratic society. But we shouldn’t valorize the corporate media as our last line of defense against Trump or anything else.
A Video Game Workers’ Walkout
Despite brutal working conditions and massive industry profits, few video game workers have taken collective action on the job. That changed on Monday, when two hundred Riot Games workers walked off the job.