About the show
Co-hosts Emmet and John plumb the depths of history, culture, and philosophy to understand why it is that despite calamities and rapid change nothing feels possible anymore. Guests include artists, scholars, and thinkers from all over the world.
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Episodes
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Episode 17: The Eclipse of the Demos ft. Kyong-Min Son
December 22nd, 2020 | 1 hr 41 secs
carl schmitt, cold war, democracy, hayek, kyong-min son, neoliberalism, randcorp
We speak with scholar Kyong-Min Son about his book The Eclipse of the Demos: The Cold War and the Crisis of Democracy before Neoliberalism.
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Episode 16: American Canon: Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" and "Masque of the Red Death"
December 15th, 2020 | 1 hr 2 mins
19th century, american history, borges, edgar allan poe, literature, poe, simpsons
In the second installment in our American canon series, we look at our beloved, gothic failson Edgar Allan Poe.
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Episode 15: The Jesus Campening of American Politics
December 8th, 2020 | 51 mins 6 secs
christianity, conservatism, culture, george bush, jesus, liberalism, narcissism, politics
We revisit the 2006 documentary Jesus Camp to re-evaluate their perspective on the movie and to understand our current political moment.
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Episode 14: Two Piece: Con Jobs in Coal Country and Foxconn Jobs in Wisconsin
December 1st, 2020 | 1 hr 1 min
flyover country, foxconn, kentucky, trump, wisconsin
We read two articles: one about a failed jobs program in coal country and another about a bad deal with Foxconn in Wisconsin.
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Episode 13: American Canon: Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
November 24th, 2020 | 52 mins 37 secs
american canon, culture, emerson, history, religion, self-reliance, theology
We begin our American Canon series with Emerson's famous essay, "Self-Reliance."
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Episode 12: The Lasch Files: Revolt of the Elites Pt. IV: Black Bloc Patrick Bateman Ft. Geoff Shullenberger
November 17th, 2020 | 1 hr 2 mins
2020 riots, history, lasch, new left, politics, riots, weather underground
To conclude our series on Lasch's Revolt of the Elites, we talk to Geoff Shullenberger about his piece on Lasch's book for Wesley Yang's Correspondence Society.
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Episode 11: The Lasch Files: Revolt of the Elites Pt. III: Democratic Discourse in Crisis
November 10th, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
common core, democracy, higher ed, lasch
The lads dive into the middle portion of Lasch's book and talk about education, the press, and how "third places" helped them cultivate identities as a sense of civic virtue.
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Episode 10: Putting the Neocon in Neoconfuscianism: Conservative Responses to East Asia's Rise ft. Jennifer Miller
November 3rd, 2020 | 1 hr 9 mins
american history, conservative, east asia, foreign relations, history, japan, neoconservatism, protestantism, south korea
Historian Jennifer Miller joins Emmet and John to talk about two papers she's written on conservative responses to the rise of East Asia in the latter part of the Cold War.
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Episode 9: The Lasch Files: Revolt of the Elites Pt. II: Martyrs Don't Run the Church
October 27th, 2020 | 54 mins 48 secs
christopher lasch, democracy, john dewey, philosophy, politics
Emmet and John continue their reading of Lasch's The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy.
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Episode 8: The Lasch Files: The Revolt of the Elites Pt. I
October 20th, 2020 | 1 hr 14 mins
Emmet and John begin their investigation of Christopher Lasch's last book, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy.
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Episode 7: Animalization, Anglo-Saxon Masochism, and Entrepreneurbrain
October 13th, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
adam neumann, culture, elizabeth holmes, entrepreneur, narcissism, paris hilton, politics, psychology, steve jobs
John and Emmet have a sprawling conversation about narcissism, how efficiency maximization can encourage pleasure obsession, and more.
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Episode 6: Pacific Rim: Blockchain, Techno-Utopianism, and American Soft-Power ft. Olivier Jutel
October 7th, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
blockchain, neoimperialism, palantir, tech
Olivier Jutel from the University of Otago joins Emmet and John to talk about blockchain, techno-utopianism, and American soft-power in the Pacific.
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Episode 5: The Parasocial Music Marketing Machine ft. Ian Cory (Pt. II)
September 29th, 2020 | 34 mins 16 secs
heidegger, lamniformes, music, spotify, tiktok
The Lads finish up talking to Ian about the question of newness in music and whence artistic innovation comes.
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Episode 4: The Parasocial Music Marketing Machine ft. Ian Cory (Pt. I)
September 29th, 2020 | 57 mins 21 secs
heidegger, lamniformes, music, spotify, tiktok
The Lads to talk Ian Cory of the band Lamniformes about being a musician, the shape of the music industry, and how the internet has changed over our lifetimes.
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Episode 3: Two Piece: Dumbbells and the Death of Lucent Technologies
September 22nd, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
economy, manufacturing, politics, supply chains
Emmet and John talk about two articles: one about why no one in American can buy dumbbells, the other about the death of Lucent technologies and the American telecom equipment industry.
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Episode 2: American Dharma ft. Canada Mike
September 15th, 2020 | 1 hr 3 mins
2016 elections, bannon, errol morris, hilllary, russiagate, trump
Our friend Canada Mike joins us to review Errol Morris's American Dharma, his movie about Steven Bannon. Once we finish dunking on what turned out to be a disappointing movie, we try to understand The Bannon Moment.