Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

The boys drink and review Old Fezziwig Ale from Sam Adams, then ask why English isn't the official language of the United States.

Most countries have an official language. About 20 percent don't. What's the reason for the difference?

Generally speaking, a country needs a common culture, and a common culture usually requires a common language.

Language is the deepest carrier of culture -- via idioms, jokes, and so on. The common language frames the way people interpret reality.

Do we want to have a common culture in our country or not?

What happens when you don't have a common language? It obviously works sometimes. Switzerland seems to do fine with multiple languages. But in other cases, the lack of a common language can breed suspicion and distrust.

What is the barrier to declaring English the official language?

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The boys drink and review a Mexican lager, then discuss the developing story about the U.S. conflict with Venezuela.

Was the U.S. justified in sinking Venezuelan drug boats?

What about seizing oil tankers?

And then sending in a team to capture the Venezuelan president?

Did we go too far, or is this a legit response to a threat in our hemisphere?

And why is the U.S. so worried about Venezuela all of a sudden?

The boys review recent events and comment on the policy, legality, and political implications of our recent actions.

Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

The boys drink and review Mad Elf, a strong holiday ale, then discuss the idea that college kids are getting dumber. Is that true?

We've gone from a time when high schools taught Greek and Latin to a time when colleges teach remedial math.

Comedians love to poke fun at the stupidity of our college students with "man on the street" interviews, where college kids can't identify the country to the north.

What's happened? For one thing, reading has decline precipitously. For another, many colleges have abandoned entrance requirements.

But there's a lot more.

* Is it a good thing, as a matter of policy, to have a more educated population?

* Is college the right place for everybody?

* What's the federal role?

There's no question there are uneducated, unprepared, stupid kids in college. But does that mean they're all dumber?

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The boys drink and review Awkward Silence, a black lager from Flying Dog, then discuss a conversation between Milo Yiannopoulos and Tucker Carlson about homosexuality, gay rights, and related issues.

A 2012 clip from Ugandan TV went viral after the host asked his guest, "Why are you gay?" To American audiences the question itself was hilarious.

But why is it hilarious? Tucker explores that with Milo.

Milo Yiannopoulos was, for years, the darling of the political right -- despite being a flambouyant homosexual. He also claimed to be a devout Catholic. The intellectual tension eventually got the better of him and now he claims to be an ex gay.

Is that a thing? Are people allowed to quit being homosexual? Is it even possible? Milo says yes.

He also has a lot more to say about gay culture, the gay lifestyle, and related issues. He's still a provocateur, and he still makes exaggerated claims, but it's an interesting conversation.

(We apologize for the humming in the background for a few minutes. We couldn't filter it out completely.)

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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Christmas ale from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss stoicism.

It's not what you think. It doesn't mean that you go through life with no emotions.

There are two classic sources for Stoicism: Greek and Roman. But the Greek version only comes second hand. We don't have any of the original sources.

We do have primary sources for the Roman version of stoicism, most notably from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.

Stoics believe in a "providential structure of the world" and try to live their lives accepting the ordered, rational structure of nature. They try to accept things as they are and order their lives according to four basic virtues:

Justice

Courage

Wisdom, and

Temperance

A stoic wants to align his own life to the logos.

Stoicism seems to be experiencing a bit of a revival of interest. Why?

Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a raspberry cookie stout from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss a famous American novel.

It's not quite a Christmas book, but Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his prep school just before Christmas, so it's close enough.

Longinus starts off with some biographical info on Salinger, then the boys dive into the novel.

The book is written as if it's by Holden, a young man of about 16. The novel is all about tone -- about the attitude and perspective of Holden -- his angst and his worries.

The whole idea of adolescence was new when The Catcher in the Rye came out, and Salinger tried to capture it in this novel.

From Holden's point of view, everything is either depressing, phony, corny, or boring.

The Catcher in the Rye is often called a coming of age novel. If you're curious about this classic, give a listen and let us know what you think.

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From the archives, the boys drink and review Crowhill's 2020 Christmas braggot (an ale with honey), then discuss the secularization of Christmas.

P&C love the holiday festivities, but notice that the religious side of Christmas seems to be losing out to Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, and such.

What's the balance between the penitential season of Advent and the ho ho silliness in the snow?

And what about religion in public life? Should we be afraid to say "Merry Christmas" if we don't know the person is a Christian.

Some people call it "the war on Christmas." Is that fair?

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The boys drink and review Jubelale from Deschutes brewery then discuss Candace Owens.

Candace is a very intelligent, very articulate woman. She's the type who has done her homework and has her facts ready. She used to be with Prager U, Turning Point USA, and Daily Wire. She's testified before Congress.

After the October 7 attacks on Israel the cracks started to show. She left the Daily Wire and started out on her own. Now she's relentlessly anti-Jew, anti-Israel. She seems to have gone conspiracy theory crazy.

Some of them are disturbing, but one of them is just funny. Candace has taken up the story that Brigitte Macron is a man, which has caused international problems.

If that was the extent of her conspiracy theorizing it would just be amusing. But now she seems to say that the Jews control everything, the moon landing was faked, and Turning Point USA was complicit in the death of Charlie Kirk.

It's hard to parse it all out, but P&C give it a go.

Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

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The boys drink and review Brother Joseph's Belgian-style Double Ale from Straight To Ale then discuss the war on beauty.

Pigweed wonders why everything is so ugly.

Older buildings -- even sewage plants -- were beautiful. They were built to lift the human spirit.

Modern buildings are built to be hideous. Why?

It's so cheap to make things beautiful these days. Why don't we? It's almost as if we're choosing ugliness.

Even churches are ugly.

What about a banana taped to the wall as "art"? That's not an aesthetic statement, it's a statement about standards and meaning. That is, that there is no meaning.

The boys discuss the present reality of omnipresent ugliness and review its possible historical origins.

Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

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The boys drink and review Sam Adams winter white ale, then smoke their pipes and discuss the origin and history of smoking.

When you sit around the fire, you don't want the smoke coming your way. It's annoying. So who came up with the idea of intentionally breathing smoke into your lungs?

People in Africa, the near east, and in China did smoke some cannibis-like weeds, but smoking really took off when Columbus brought tobacco from the new world.

The whole world loved the stuff and tobacco became a key crop in the Americas.

The boys discuss the interesting history of smoking.

Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.

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