Recent Podcast Appearances
July was a busy month for me on the podcast circuit. Here are the links and brief summary of our conversation topics. Some really good conversations here with introductions to upcoming content here.
The Carousel with Isaac Simpson
Isaac Simpson aka. the Disgraced Propagandist had me on to talk about the phenomenon of the regime Christian, the “regimevangelical” and how the churches are adapting themselves to regime politics and sensibilities. Isaac is a good interviewer who asks questions which get you off script. I think you will enjoy this one.
Fact Check This Podcast
Justin “Hillbilly Boy” Campbell, @jcamp1521, had me on his podcast and we dove into managerialism and the technological experience tying it into Justin’s work experience, lending the discussion some interesting insights and real world examples. We get into how the technological society specifically works to steal your work and political value. Click the picture for the link.
Conversations that Matter
Jon Harris had me on to discuss my provocatively titled piece “The Case for Coercive Christianity.” We discuss the meaning of the blasphemous opening ceremonies at the Olympics, and then take the time to walk through an understanding of Christian anthropology that challenges the nominalist individualism upon which much teaching about evangelism, and Christian quietism is based, whether people realize it or not. We discuss the communal nature of salvation and how “elites” influence society. A friend who listened said that this pod helped him really understand what is going on with infant baptism and why it makes sense. We also discuss the dangers of political engagement for Christians, that our faith becomes just another ideology and what we can do to resist that pull. Lasting almost two hours, it was a thorough discussion. I think you will enjoy.
J. Burden Show
J. Burden had me on twice this month, both times as a last minute fill in for another guest who had to bow out because of impromptu scheduling changes. I happened to be available both times and so we recorded a couple of interviews. Having just finished re-reading Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: the Formation of Men’s Attitudes, we picked this as the theme for both discussions. I haven’t begun to write my upcoming deep dives on this book, so some of this is me working out how best to communicate Ellul’s ideas on the fly, but overall I think both interviews went well and I am confident they will be a good introduction to better understanding the phenomenon of propaganda.
TruthScript - Introduction to Jacques Ellul
I was recently doing some updating here — adding links to the spoken version of my pieces right into the articles themselves…making it easier to find the audio for those who prefer to listen — and was reminded that its been a while since I wrote my introductions to Ellul’s thinking. Even some of the “deep dives” go back a while. If you are new here and are thinking that a quick overview of some of Ellul’s major political and sociological writings might be helpful, I was asked by TruthScript to write up an introduction to Ellul for their readers. Click the pic for the link.
A rich fund of linx; many thanx
EDIT: excellent summary of Ellul's works; is it on your stack?
OK one more from me (provoked by your first discussion with JB) and enough
I don't know whether you agree, but arguments over 'genealogy of woke' (I hate not merely the thing but also the word itself) that were HOTHOTHOT a month or so ago seem to me to miss the point. I say this not because I think inquiry should be suppressed, though I do believe that the wholesale rejektors of the J*wish influence hypothesis are obviously wrong in degree and wish they could at least appear to pander a bit less both to J*ws and to anti-Christians. I say it because the debate under-emphasises the *purpose* of 'woke', which I am starting to think is to flatten out the kinks and enable the smooth functioning of the managerial apparatus.
This might seem an absurd thing to believe. Overpromotion and incorporation at the managerial level of incompetents of all kinds leads to planes falling out of the sky and so on. But those things, in the mind of the managerial blob, are second-order effects which can be further managed (perhaps Ellul would agree with this idk). What matters to the managers is smooth first-order functioning of the system, and to accomplish it exceptionally talented--and, crucially, exceptionally innovative, therefore often disruptive--individuals must be excluded, at least from (approximately) middle management and lower. This is (almost verging on) enough to explain to me why white men are the target of 'woke'.
So maybe 'woke' is not in origin a question of laicist trends in Christianity or J*wish or POC hatred of Europeans but fundamentally and originally a device of managerialism. Despite whatever patterns one might be able to identify in various texts or history itself, 'woke' as we experience it today can't in seriousness be satisfactorily traced to the Talmud, Calvin's Geneva, the Frankfurt School, Vatican II (and still less Soviet Russia) or whatever.
Anyway I'm thinking aloud, as it were. I could well be wrong in whole or in part.