Politics is one of the only practical disciplines where none of the main concepts have clear, coherent definitions. We define ourselves with terms like "left” and "right" and we believe in things like "democracy," “markets,” "capitalism" and "socialism" even though we don’t really know what any of these words actually mean. This series aims to make sense out of the political muddle that we've inherited from media, academia, and from decades of cold war propaganda, so that we can figure what ...
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Contrapoints Podcasts
When I was in second grade, I had a lunchbox with Bert and Ernie on it. On the lunchbox, Bert was carrying a lunchbox, with Bert and Ernie on it. On that lunchbox, Bert was carrying a lunchbox...and I wondered: how far do the lunchboxes go? Am I in a lunchbox too?? You're opening the Infinite Lunchbox, for a fresh take on what's going on. I'm Stephanie Lepp, your monochromatic host. If you're new here, start with DEEP RECKONINGS, How to Transcend Post-Truth, and How to Agree on Science. If y ...
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Solo philosophy podcast for Liv Agar which generally covers current political events through a continental philosophical lens. Look for the weekly premium episodes for 2$ a month on the patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/Livagar Read along with a script while listening on the substack at: https://livagar.substack.com/
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Who were the people of Palestine and what were their lives about in the late 19th century, before the first Zionists began arriving from Europe in the 1880s? This episode focuses on the fellahin – the peasants of Palestine who comprised 70% of its population in the late 19th century, who are the first to clash with Zionist immigrants, and who later…
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In the book Abundance, left liberal authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson identify unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape as an important factor in why there is a shortage of housing across the USA. Very quickly, billionaires and powerful donors have rallied to fund American politicians who campaign on an “Abundance Agenda”. Why is big money so excit…
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Why are human beings so greedy and why are our societies so hierarchical, if our ancestors were so fiercely egalitarian? What is “human nature” in this regard? A new theory about inequality of wealth and power in human societies. TO SUPPORT MY EXISTENCE: PAYPAL ONE TIME OR MONTHLY DONATIONS PATREON PER EPISODE DONATIONS KO-FI ONE TIME OR MONTHLY DO…
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My message to Jewish supporters of the war in Gaza. (TIMESTAMPS BELOW) TO SUPPORT MY EXISTENCE: PAYPAL ONE TIME OR MONTHLY DONATIONS: PATREON PER EPISODE DONATIONS: KO-FI ONE TIME OR MONTHLY DONATIONS: TRANSCRIPT BIBLIOGRAPHY / WORKS CITED VIDEO VERSION AUDIO PODCAST (or search for “worbs” on your podcast app) RSS FEED tweeter: @worbsintowords ALL …
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Market Exit, like many others before him, tells us that the left-right political spectrum is obsolete and does more harm than good. That’s because he doesn’t know what they mean. This video explains: 1. What the political left and right actually mean 2. Why elites don’t want us to know what they mean 3. How confusion about left and right is a major…
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Why are nationalist / populist / far right candidates and parties getting elected all around the world? Why isn’t the populist left enjoying the same success? Why does inequality keep getting worse nomatter who gets elected? PAYPAL ONE TIME OR MONTHLY DONATIONS: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XJ6HBHFJ6C3RU PATREON PER EPISODE…
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12.1 – The Secret History of Israel / Palestine, Part I: the Jews of Europe and the rise of Zionism
This series focuses on those aspects of the origins of the Israel/Palestine conflict that partisans on both sides mutually ignore. This episode examines jewish life in Europe and the conditions leading to the rise of Zionism until the first wave of Zionist immigration in 1882. Cover image: Marc Chagall, Falling Angel (1923-1947) PAYPAL ONE TIME OR …
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This is a Q&A where I respond to questions and critiques about episode 12: The ABC’s of Israel/Palestine (https://youtu.be/OLr_VCqnId0) and also go off on a whole bunch of related tangents. TIMESTAMPS BELOW! BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102834580 (no paywall) I purposefully don’t monetize my channel in order to spare you the annoying…
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What was supposed to be an informal QnA about the “Israel/Palestine ABCs” episode, turned into a What is Politics “live” brainstorm session à la Matt Christman “grillstream,” where I discuss my arguments and readings on who and what started the Israel/Palestine conflict which will appear in more detail (and coherence) in the next scripted episode. …
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12: From “Never Again” to “There are No Uninvolved Civilians”: The ABC’s of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Elites use identity, particularly national identity, as a way of advancing their own interests, often against the interests of the populations that they pretend to represent. But before we can understand this, we need an ABC of the conflict, to get a grasp of the basic events, and the conflicting historical narratives that Israelis and Palestinians…
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9.2 – Equity, Equality and Lizard People: when right wing politics masquerade as left wing politics
When ideas and movements that threaten to overturn established hierarchies of power are absorbed into elite institutions like Ivy League universities and for-profit corporations, they get transformed into ideas that support the status quo, while remaining cloaked in the language and symbols of radicalism and egalitarianism. The replacement of the w…
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(PREVIEW) 'Transmaxxing' and the Elite Couple Breeding to Save Mankind
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Pronatalism? Reddit Proposals? Genopolitics? Transmaxxing? all topics of todays episode which is a deep dive into the Collins', the silicon valley tech couple who want YOU to have sex for the sake of all mankind. Unlock the full hour long episode for 2$ a month on my patreon patreon.com/livagar
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The leaders of the Russian Revolutions of February and October 1917 sought to establish socialism: a deeply democratic economic and political system where the employee/employer relationship is abolished, and where workers control their workplaces, the means of production and the government via the “free association of the producers”. Instead the re…
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Why has every communist country so far been a one party dictatorship? Is it something inherent to Socialism or Marxism? Is human nature incompatible with political equality? Has “true” communism never been tried yet? If so, then why not? Is it “capitalist encirclement”? Richard Wolff can’t answer this question for some reason. Neither can Freddie d…
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A Critique of Ben Burgis' "Karl Marx Was Right"
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Here is a link to the article I was reacting to https://jacobin.com/2022/06/karl-marx-labor-theory-of-value-ga-cohen-economics Premium episodes for 2$ a month at patreon.com/livagar All my links at livagar.com
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In this episode we cover the rest of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything. In this chapter, the authors claim that the seasonal social structures of the traditional Nambikwara, Lakota and Kwakiutl were the result of conscious choice, grand theatre, play and expedience. In doing so, they repeatedly invent variou…
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10.3 The Ingredients of Hierarchy: Graeber & Wengrow’s Dawn of Everything Chapter 3, ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”
We cover the first part of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything: ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”, and we investigate the authors’ claims that human inequality has no origins based on archeology from upper paleolithic europe. In doing so we also look at the difference between dominance hierarchy and democratic hierarch…
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10.2 The Dawn of Everything: How Graeber & Wengrow’s book sets us up to fail like Occupy Wall Street
In this episode we cover chapter 1 of David Graeber & David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything, entitled Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood; or Why This isn’t a Book About the Origins of Inequality. In doing so, we look at the following: How the book’s underlying thesis: that human social structure is ultimately a matter of choice and experimentat…
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In this episode we read and critique the conclusion of Chapter 2 of Dawn of Everything, “Wicked Liberty: The Indigenous Critique and the Myth of the Noble Savage”, which was previously released in French in 2019 as La Sagesse de Kandiaronk. Given that the conclusion of the chapter is a tirade against the concept of “equality” we first examine what …
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A critical reading of “The Wisdom of Kandiaronk, The Indigenous Critique, the Myth of Progress and the Birth of the Left” from David Graeber & David Wengrow’s upcoming book The Dawn of Everything. In this chapter Graeber & Wengrow argue that: The European Enlightenment was heavily influenced by Native American critiques of European culture. That Eu…
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Contrapoints and Nietzsche: Why Twitter Is Bad For You
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Also available in video form at https://youtu.be/NUPWY_evu30 In a recent video by Contrapoints, she goes over her account of envy and its connection with online politics. In doing so she utilizes Nietzsche (alongside a critique of Nietzsche). How accurate is this account to Nietzsche's work and where does it go wrong? Thank you to We're in Hell, Ba…
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In Search of Hyperborea: Part 2, The Indo-European Homeland and Esoteric Fascism
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This episode investigates how a similarity between Hindi and Sanskrit, languages spoken in Northern India, and European languages such as Latin, Greek, and German helps spark an esoteric fascist ideology that would be an essential social and philosophical building block for the Third Reich. This episode was released a week early for patrons for 2$ …
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Interview with Arnold Schroeder of Fight Like an Animal, a wonderful and endessly fascinating show that looks through 20 years of experience of hardcore climate activism, at why left political movements are so weak and ineffective and how to change that, and which covers everything from history, to political psychology, to anthropology, psychiatry,…
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In Search of Hyperborea: Part 1, Ancient Greek Mythology and Modernity
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"Hyperborea" was noted by the Greeks to have been a land beyond the vicious boreal winds of the north, in a sunlit realm of justice with no disease, war, old age, or labour. Where did this mythology come from and why is it still being referenced today? Part 2 will be out early for 2$ a month for Patrons at patreon.com/livagar . Additional bonus con…
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The terms “cancel culture” and “political correctness” are used to delegitimize ideas like gender equality and racial equality by conflating them with toxic dominance behaviour practiced by up-and-coming elites who disguise their power plays in egalitarian social justice language. In this segment, by seeking to properly define these terms, we look …
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Explaining Marx's Capital Volume 1: Chapter 9
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Continuing with the Das Kapital reading series! Second half of the episode available for 2$ a month at https://www.patreon.com/posts/52742942/ Reading guides/secondary literature I've used: Harvey's "Companion to Marx's Capital" Stephen Shapiro's "How to Read Marx's Capital" Heinrich "An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Capital Fredric Jameson'…
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Explaining Marx's Capital Volume 1: Chapter 8
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Continuing with the Das Kapital reading series! Second half of the episode available for 2$ a month at https://www.patreon.com/posts/52506968 Reading guides/secondary literature I've used: Harvey's "Companion to Marx's Capital" Stephen Shapiro's "How to Read Marx's Capital" Heinrich "An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Capital Fredric Jameson's…
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Explaining Marx's Capital Volume 1: Chapter 7
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Continuing with the Das Kapital reading series! Second half of the episode available for 2$ a month at https://www.patreon.com/posts/52353952 Thank you to Corey, Please! Don't Fire Us, and Sierra for supporting me on Patreon (I forgot to say it in the episode my apologies) Reading guides/secondary literature I've used: Harvey's "Companion to Marx's…
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The foundation of “cancel culture” and “political correctness” is the wage labour employment contract. ARTICLES QUOTED: Corey Robin, Chris Bertram and Alex Gourevitch 2012 – Life at Work, Crooked Timber Amanda Hess 2013 – How Sexy Should A Worker Be? The Plight of the Babe in the American Workplace, Slate Yvonne Abraham 2015 – Tom Brady has more ri…
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