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Most recently published stories in Critique.
"The Shell in the Ghost, I Am Major"
In 2017, Hollywood did something predictable and scandalous at the same time: it remade the Japanese cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell and placed a blonde American star at its centre. The actress was Scarlett Johansson. Critics argued about cultural appropriation, about empire, about whether the United States had once again absorbed a foreign myth and refashioned it in its own image. Yet beyond the controversy, the American Ghost in the Shell remains a philosophically provocative film. It forces a simple but radical question: what is a human being made of?
By Peter Ayolovabout 11 hours ago in Critique
The Theory of the New Leisure Class
The Theory of the New Leisure Class: Homo Essentialis Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899 to describe a social order in which status was displayed through visible idleness and conspicuous consumption. More than a century later, idleness has disappeared as a badge of honour, yet Veblen’s central insight has only intensified. The ruling class of the twenty-first century does not sit idle; it performs busyness. It does not withdraw from work; it transforms work into theatre. What we are witnessing is not the disappearance of the leisure class but its mutation. This is Leisure Class 2.1. This is Homo Essentialis.
By Peter Ayolova day ago in Critique
Matter in Revolt
Matter in Revolt: How Diamat Becomes History (The Architecture of Chaos in the 21st Century) The twenty-first century does not suffer from chaos; it suffers from misunderstood structure. Climate breakdown, algorithmic governance, financial volatility, pandemics, digital feudalism—these are not isolated crises. They are converging contradictions. What appears fragmented is in fact systemic. What appears accidental is material. To read this moment properly, one requires a method that does not panic before complexity. That method is Diamat.
By Peter Ayolova day ago in Critique
Teyana Taylor Joins Elite List as Time Magazine Woman of the Year 2026
At the outset of Women’s History Month, Teyana Taylor is already in the winner’s circle. Fresh from a Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actress in the film One Battle After Another, a GRAMMY® nomination, and an Academy Award nomination, she has been named one of TIME Magazine’s Women of the Year.
By Skyler Saunders2 days ago in Critique
Just Thinkering
Just Thinkering: Talking about Thinking Philosophy begins with a strange upgrade to ordinary speech. Instead of talking about things, people start talking about the talking itself, then about the thinking behind the talking, then about the words used to name the thinking. This second level of language feels noble, even heroic: reflection, critique, self-awareness, ‘the examined life’. But it also carries a quieter risk. Once speech turns back on itself, it can become a room full of mirrors. The sound continues, yet nothing moves forward. There is talk about words, talk about thinking, talk about talk, and soon the whole performance becomes a kind of verbal tinkling: elegant, repetitive, self-pleasing noise.
By Peter Ayolov4 days ago in Critique
The Beauty of the Word
The Beauty of the Word: When “Beautiful” Becomes Power We rarely say “ugly truth.” We prefer to say “beautiful.” The choice is not innocent. “Truth” sounds like information: a fact, a report, a statement to be verified or dismissed. “Beauty,” by contrast, is an experience. It is not merely known; it is felt. When we call something beautiful, we lift it from the level of data to the level of meaning. We grant it weight, dignity, even sacredness. The word itself performs an elevation.
By Peter Ayolov4 days ago in Critique
Celluloid Comrades
A review of: Nadège Ragaru (2023). ‘Millions for the Movies’ in Late Socialist Bulgaria: : The Political and Moral Economy of the Cinema Industry. Sociétés politiques comparées. Revue européenne d’analyse des sociétés politiques . [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.36253/spc-18718.
By Peter Ayolov4 days ago in Critique
The Shaped Self: Images Without History
The Shaped Self: Images Without History Peter Ayolov, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 2026 Abstract E-democracy is not a technical upgrade of representative government. It is a transformation of citizenship inside a regime of visual formatting. Drawing on Žarko Paić’s analysis of video-centrism and the world-picture, this article argues that contemporary political life unfolds in an environment where images no longer reflect history but organise reality in advance. In this condition, the citizen does not merely participate; the citizen appears through an interface. Political agency becomes inseparable from visibility, recognisability, and circulation. By placing Paić in dialogue with Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, Tom Wolfe, and Jean-Luc Nancy, the article develops the concept of the shaped self as the central figure of e-democracy: an interface-formed subject structured by edges, templates, and repeatable visual patterns that enable identification but risk reducing agency to performance. The struggle for democracy becomes a struggle over representation itself: over ownership of likeness, transparency of distribution systems, and the capacity to distinguish voice from simulation in an environment saturated with images, metrics, and deepfakes. As the concluding work of the Mirror Selves Trilogy, this article presents the book The Shapes of the Self: Identity and Recognition in Visual Space (2026) that investigates how the self emerges not as an inner essence but as a shaped and formatted presence within contemporary visual space.
By Peter Ayolov4 days ago in Critique
Why Saying Less Makes Words Feel More Valuable
There is a widely held belief that words gain value through scarcity. When someone speaks rarely, their statements are treated as weightier, more deliberate, and more worth attending to. When someone speaks often, their words are assumed to be interchangeable, disposable, or less carefully considered. This intuition is not entirely wrong, but it is frequently misapplied. Scarcity does affect perception, but perception is not the same as truth, and rarity is not the same as meaning.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 days ago in Critique
Cassie and Johnny. Top Story - March 2026.
I’m the kind of dame you notice. I’m no femme fatale, but you can’t ignore me, at least not until I warn you about what’s coming, then everybody ignores me. Hell, they usually blame me afterwards and give Johnny all the credit for saving the day, but my Johnny couldn’t save a seat at the movies without my help. Sure, he’s brawny, but brainy? Not so much. Like that time I asked him to spot me five bucks, and he said he didn’t see it anywhere on me, and believe you me, he looked but good.
By Harper Lewis5 days ago in Critique
