web02.fireside.fm Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:52:26 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Outsider Theory - Episodes Tagged with “Sacrifice” https://outsidertheory.fireside.fm/tags/sacrifice Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:45:00 -0500 Outsider Theory is an interview-based podcast exploring the mutations of theories outside of the authorized spaces of intellectual life as well as theories of that ever-alluring figure, the outsider, and related subjects. en-us episodic Theory on the outside, theory of the outside, outside of the theory Geoff Shullenberger Outsider Theory is an interview-based podcast exploring the mutations of theories outside of the authorized spaces of intellectual life as well as theories of that ever-alluring figure, the outsider, and related subjects. no critical theory, conspiracy theory, outsider intellectuals, outsiders, the outside Geoff Shullenberger gshullenb@gmail.com Plague and Myth with @fitnessfeelingz https://outsidertheory.fireside.fm/plague-and-myth 307313a3-ccbc-4905-ab4b-a41ed61f896a Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:45:00 -0500 Geoff Shullenberger full Geoff Shullenberger @fitnessfeelingz joins me to explore what René Girard can teach us about the Covid pandemic. 1:57:17 no @fitnessfeelingz posted a recent Twitter thread arguing that Covid is a modern myth: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1465794640481857542.html By this he means not that the pathogen SARS-COV-2 is not real, but that the existence of the pathogen does not account for its manifold social and political impacts. To make sense of these, we turn to René Girard's understanding of myth as a social technology that binds societies together in response to a common enemy. We consider how Covid-19 has come to perform this function, and why its limited efficacy in this regard only spurs more ritualized responses to it. https://outsidertheory.com/girards-revelation/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/rene-girard-cancel-culture-and-the-logic-of-sacrifice René Girard, scapegoating, sacrifice, Covid-19, coronavirus, myth, ritual, religion, divinity, pharmakos, pharmakon @fitnessfeelingz posted a recent Twitter thread arguing that Covid is a modern myth:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1465794640481857542.html

By this he means not that the pathogen SARS-COV-2 is not real, but that the existence of the pathogen does not account for its manifold social and political impacts. To make sense of these, we turn to René Girard's understanding of myth as a social technology that binds societies together in response to a common enemy. We consider how Covid-19 has come to perform this function, and why its limited efficacy in this regard only spurs more ritualized responses to it.

https://outsidertheory.com/girards-revelation/

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/rene-girard-cancel-culture-and-the-logic-of-sacrifice

]]> @fitnessfeelingz posted a recent Twitter thread arguing that Covid is a modern myth:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1465794640481857542.html

By this he means not that the pathogen SARS-COV-2 is not real, but that the existence of the pathogen does not account for its manifold social and political impacts. To make sense of these, we turn to René Girard's understanding of myth as a social technology that binds societies together in response to a common enemy. We consider how Covid-19 has come to perform this function, and why its limited efficacy in this regard only spurs more ritualized responses to it.

https://outsidertheory.com/girards-revelation/

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/rene-girard-cancel-culture-and-the-logic-of-sacrifice

]]> Joker in the Labyrinth with Mónica Belevan https://outsidertheory.fireside.fm/hyperbaroque 47ebcbfa-a97c-4f46-a662-75d636f28cbc Sun, 21 Feb 2021 16:00:00 -0500 Geoff Shullenberger full Geoff Shullenberger Outsider art historian Mónica Belevan joins Outsider Theory to discuss her various projects tracking the aesthetics of the Covid Era. 1:21:06 no Outsider art historian and hypnotist collector Mónica Belevan joins Outsider Theory to discuss her various attempts to track the structures of feeling of the present. We explore the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Baroque and their relevance for grasping the topoi of the Covid era – in particular, the image of the labyinth, the theme of the madness of the world, and the figure of the clown (embodied lately in Joaquin Phoenix's Joker). Finally, we reflect on the awakening of the sacrificial unconscious by the Dionysian onslaught of the plague and the still unfulfilled need for symbolic resolution. https://covidianaesthetics.substack.com/ https://www.lapsuslima.com/ aesthetics, baroque, covid, labyrinth, clownworld, Joker, Dionysian, sacrifice, scapegoating, Monica Belevan Outsider art historian and hypnotist collector Mónica Belevan joins Outsider Theory to discuss her various attempts to track the structures of feeling of the present. We explore the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Baroque and their relevance for grasping the topoi of the Covid era – in particular, the image of the labyinth, the theme of the madness of the world, and the figure of the clown (embodied lately in Joaquin Phoenix's Joker). Finally, we reflect on the awakening of the sacrificial unconscious by the Dionysian onslaught of the plague and the still unfulfilled need for symbolic resolution.

https://covidianaesthetics.substack.com/

https://www.lapsuslima.com/

]]> Outsider art historian and hypnotist collector Mónica Belevan joins Outsider Theory to discuss her various attempts to track the structures of feeling of the present. We explore the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Baroque and their relevance for grasping the topoi of the Covid era – in particular, the image of the labyinth, the theme of the madness of the world, and the figure of the clown (embodied lately in Joaquin Phoenix's Joker). Finally, we reflect on the awakening of the sacrificial unconscious by the Dionysian onslaught of the plague and the still unfulfilled need for symbolic resolution.

https://covidianaesthetics.substack.com/

https://www.lapsuslima.com/

]]>