Beyond Talking Points

5/28/2021 - In the fifty-ninth episode of Beyond Talking Points, we have a conversation that sprang out of an inside joke: "Marxist" Matt will one day become a neo-conservative someday because Ancap Matt sees parallels between his co-host's worldview and the Buckleyites. This leads to a very general discussion on war, imperialism, an analysis of neoconservatism as an ideology, and the role that public intellectuals have in the many wars that the US has found itself in.

5/20/2021 - In the fifty-eighth episode of Beyond Talking Points, Matt and Matt use a video of the late psychiatrist Thomas Szasz as a starting point for a discussion on psychiatry, and the mental health field as a whole. Does mental illness exist? Is it morally permissible to hold people against their will in a psychiatric institution? These questions and more are explored here. This is not necessarily an outright political topic, but it is a relevant and polarizing topic.

5/13/2021 - In the fifty-seventh episode of Beyond Talking Points, Keegan (aka EssentialSalts) joins the Matts to discuss Universal Basic Income, an idea popularized by former Presidential candidate and current candidate for mayor of NYC Andrew Yang. But we begin with Thomas Paine's 1797 pamphlet "Agrarian Justice". In that pamphlet, Paine proposed UBI for anyone older than 21. In this way, we cover both the first principles behind the policy, the economic costs and benefits related to UBI, and the practical issues and implications that would go into implementing such a policy.

5/6/2021 - In this episode of Beyond Talking Points, Matt and Matt have a wide ranging conversation about rhetoric, language, and propaganda. We had two jumping off points: we had both read the George Orwell essay "Politics and the English Language" and we've had a long standing disagreement about the importance of political pundits using charged language.

4/29/2021 - In this episode, Matt and Matt discuss their intuitions about the value of discussing politics and policy. Is there value of discussing the issues that we argue about every week?

4/23/2021 - In this episode of Beyond Talking Points, Matt and Matt discuss an Intelligence Squared debate on the question of student loan forgiveness. These conversations are always a tightrope walk between abstract general principles and specific policy positions and the material implications of each policy. But as usual, I like to think these podcasts allows us--and allows the audience--to think more deeply and to consider the opposing viewpoint.

4/14/2021 - In this episode of Beyond Talking Points, Matt and Matt talk about their opinions related to guns and gun control. Ancap Matt is a big supporter of gun rights and very anti-gun control. Ancomm Matt is torn between philosophically supporting gun rights and also believing that certain freedoms should be limited for the greater good of the community. This discussion is comparatively civil to a few recent episodes.

In this episode, Matt and Matt begin the show by talking about their general thoughts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But then we get into a broader conversation regarding the justness of political violence.

This episode is very broad and isn't a substitute for knowing the history of the conflict. This is mostly our reactions to the general narratives for both sides and our reactions.

In this episode, we talk about two topics that are very different: the philosophy of Anti-Nalatism and Jury Nullifcation. he first half is very laid back, and the second half gets much more heated (even though we actually agree on both issues). This gives you the chance to see our thought process on two totally unrelated topics in order to better understand our over-arching worldview. This is a fun one because both topics aren't covered often and are worth thinking about!

After having Keegan on twice, Matt and Matt decided to have another guest on. Kohei has a very specific and interesting worldview which focuses on power as foundation for human affairs and the world more broadly. Matt and Matt actually generally agreed in our disagreements with Kohei; that is to say we agree with Kohei's general argument, but our worldviews simply do not emphasize power in the way that Kohei's worldview does. We dig into the implications of this worldview.

Kohei's YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnIS3IE5cCBc9gpapMPnPIA