More smart things I've read about Ukraine and Russia

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You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This edition, which consists of links to smart and worthwhile coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is for paid subscribers.

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Like last week, this newsletter consists of smart things I’ve been reading about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I didn’t include any tweets or videos this week because once I’d gotten through my bookmarks the email was already too long. Please enjoy, and forward to anyone else you think might find it useful!

A lot of pixels have been devoted already to the ways in which the Ukrainian crisis has played out on social media. I think I would be happy to never have to see the word “misinformation” again in my entire life, and lord knows I have absolutely no desire to read about “the First TikTok War,” but I am interested in what Kate Knibbs calls this the “Marvelization” of the conflict:

Believing that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is an atrocity and that Zelensky is behaving courageously does not mean that it’s wise to apply the googly-eyed logic of fandom to his actions. In fact, it’s distinctly unwise. Treating Zelensky like a superhero—call it Marvelization—recasts a geopolitical conflict in which real people are really dying into entertainment, into content. As Russia bombed Kyiv, the New York Post published an article about who might play Zelensky in the inevitable film adaptation of the conflict. (The consensus? Avengers actor Jeremy Renner.)

Where does this distorting “Marvelization” come from?