Outsider Theory
Episode Archive
Episode Archive
41 episodes of Outsider Theory since the first episode, which aired on January 31st, 2021.
-
The Great Debasement with Alice Gribbin
June 10th, 2022 | 2 hrs 5 mins
art, censorship, culture, institutions, john berger, literature, museums, poetry, propaganda
Alice Gribbin joins me to discuss her recent essay in Tablet, "The Great Debasement," on the recent ideological transformation of our major cultural institutions.
-
Right Critical Theory with Jacob Siegel
May 9th, 2022 | 1 hr 45 mins
blake masters, critical theory, elon musk, frankfurt school, herbert marcuse, jd vance, paul gottfried, paul piccone, peter thiel, samuel francis, telos
Jacob Siegel joins me to discuss the rightward trajectory of certain insights of critical theory, especially in light of the history of the journal Telos and its founder and editor, Paul Piccone.
-
Theorizing the Culture War with Michael Cuenco
April 25th, 2022 | 1 hr 50 mins
culture war, elites, george orwell, james burnham, marshall mcluhan, post-literate epistemology, postmaterialism, ronald inglehart
Writer and policy researcher Michael Cuenco joins me to discuss his recent American Affairs essay "'Victory is not Possible': a Theory of the Culture War," and two related essays.
-
Subversive Mobility vs Academic Orthodoxy with Jacob Shell
April 4th, 2022 | 2 hrs 19 mins
academia, biopolitics, de-growth, elephants, environmentalism, geography, infrastructure, ivan illich, marxism, mobility, transportation
Geographer Jacob Shell joins me to discuss the Canadian trucker convoy in light of his research on "subversive mobility," how academic radicals became establishment apologists, plus pipelines, Ivan Illich, de-growth, elephants, and more.
-
A Critique of "The Dawn of Everything" with Sam Biagetti
March 21st, 2022 | 3 hrs 3 mins
david graeber, david wengrow, dawn of everything, human origins, noble savage, rousseau, social evolution
Sam Biagetti of Historiansplaining podcast joins me to discuss David Graber and David Wengrow's "The Dawn of Everything."
-
The Invention of Symbology; or, Dan Brown, Part 2 (Angels and Demons & The Da Vinci Code) with Pseud Dionysius MPH
February 27th, 2022 | 3 hrs 6 mins
angels and demons, bloodlines, da vinci code, dan brown, institutions, opus dei, pierre plantard, priory of sion, robert langdon, secret societies, security state, semiotics, succession, symbology, the holy blood and the holy grail
Pseud Dionysius MPH returns for an epic exploration of Dan Brown's turn from post-Cold War techno-thrillers to a new sort of novel, centered around the adventures of Harvard professor Robert Langdon, and of the persistent themes of Brown's writing: institutional crisis, elite succession, secrecy and revelation, and the need to restabilize knowledge.
-
The Road to Wigan Pier with Angela Nagle
February 13th, 2022 | 1 hr 45 mins
capitalism, communism, futurism, george orwell, industrialization, progress, socialism, the left, unemployment
Angela Nagle returns to discuss George Orwell's 1937 book "The Road to Wigan Pier" and its many contemporary resonances.
-
HR-Karenism and its Enemies with Malcolm Kyeyune
February 6th, 2022 | 2 hrs 31 mins
canadian trucker convoy, class conflict, covid-19, elite overproduction, meritocracy, misinformation, populism, professional-managerial class, vaccine mandates
Malcolm Kyeyune joins me to map out the contours of class conflict today.
-
Romancing the Deep State; or, Dan Brown, Part 1 (Origins) with Pseud Dionysius MPH
January 18th, 2022 | 2 hrs 14 mins
alphabet agencies, dan brown, deception point, digital fortress, information bomb, nasa, nro, nsa, paul virilio, robert langdon, semiotics, symbology, the cathedral, the deep state, umberto eco, wasps
Dan Brown is one of the best selling authors of all time, but is largely forgotten. Pseud Dionysius MPH returns to the show to investigate the unlikely rise of Brown, his protagonist, Harvard Professor Robert Langdon, and the fictional discipline of "symbology" out of the demise of the cold war techno-thriller and the new threats of the information age.
-
Hubbard, Burroughs, Foucault with Dr Benway
January 7th, 2022 | 1 hr 41 mins
dianetics, gilles deleuze, l. ron hubbard, michel foucault, psychoanalysis, scientology, technologies of power, technologies of the self, william s. burroughs
Dr Benway returns to the show to discuss his extensive research on the vast oeuvre of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as well as William S. Burroughs's prolonged engagement with Hubbard's doctrines and practices and their odd resonances with post-structuralist thought.
-
Plague and Myth with @fitnessfeelingz
December 22nd, 2021 | 1 hr 57 mins
coronavirus, covid-19, divinity, myth, pharmakon, pharmakos, religion, rené girard, ritual, sacrifice, scapegoating
@fitnessfeelingz joins me to explore what René Girard can teach us about the Covid pandemic.
-
Monetary Long Covid with Fabio Vighi
December 16th, 2021 | 1 hr 27 mins
agamben, baudrillard, biopolitics, covid-19 pandemic, finance capital, marx, monetary stimulus, zizek
"[The pandemic] is a monetary event aimed at prolonging the lifespan of our finance-driven and terminally ill mode of production."
-
The Very Online Novel with Timothy Wilcox
December 8th, 2021 | 1 hr 39 mins
donald trump, hari kunzru, hyperconnectivity, internet novel, lauren oyler, literature, patricia lockwood, social media
Timothy Wilcox joins me to discuss three very online novels released in the past year: Hari Kunzru's Red Pill, Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts, and Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking about This.
-
Deep Internet History with Default Friend
November 24th, 2021 | 1 hr 26 mins
fandom, identity, multi-user domains, postmodernism, sherry turkle, the internet, theory, tumblr
Default Friend joins me to discuss Sherry Turkle's early sociological studies of the effects of the internet on identity, community, and the popularization of theory.
-
The Paper of Record's Dismal Record
November 18th, 2021 | 1 hr 19 mins
1619 project, bari weiss, fake news, hitler, jayson blair, judith miller, misinformation, new york times, stalin, sulzberger family, walter duranty, wmds
Ashley Rindsberg joins me to discuss his book "The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History."
-
Postmodern Medicine with Dr Benway and Pseud Dionysius, MPH
November 11th, 2021 | 1 hr 29 mins
evidence-based medicine, medicine, postmodernism, postmodernity, science
My native informants from the realm of Science make the provocative case that medicine is now postmodern.