Diet Soap - a podcast

Stefan Bertram-Lee discusses his life story, nihilism, and his upcoming book "How to Stop Being a Teenage Nihilist." In the parrot room he talks about his illegal activism, Jesus Christ, and how the left should find a meaningful project beyond reaction.

This episode of Critical Cuts was my birthday present to myself. You can have fun counting the number of times I try for the proper German pronunciation of "Walter Benjamin" and fail. The variety of mispronunciations is astounding. Also, stupid pet tricks, Andy Kaufman, and the world's most dangerous band.

Derick Varn (formerly of Pop the Left) returns to the Diet Soap podcast in order to discuss what the left needs to remember and relearn. He is now the host of Varn Vlog and has his own YouTube channel.

John Bunch joins Douglas Lain in order to debate the limits the left doesn't want to face. While leftist believe in human subjectivity and freedom, he does not. Instead Bunch believes we are mostly fixed in our proclivities and irrational in our thinking. Along the way they debate whether the philosophy of science has any bearing on science itself, whether the fact that we have no good answer for what constitutes scientific truth is consequential.

Douglas Lain and Cyber Dandy discuss the differences between Marxism and Anarchism starting with Bakunin and Marx and moving forward. The second half of this conversation is available for patreon supporters in what's called "the Parrot Room." Cyber Dandy on Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/@UCO-wcSkNuzJcW_riqERizqQ Support Us on Patreonhttps://dietsoap.com/patreon

Freddie deBoer and Douglas Lain discuss Freddie's recent essay "The Left's Vapid Anti-Musk Discourse" in this week's Diet Soap podcast. In his essay deBoer writes, "The amount of attention Musk has attracted can be chalked up to culture war: Exxon’s CEO, whatever his business practices, isn’t shitposting in a way that annoys progressives. Musk, by contrast, regularly tweets things that provoke liberals."

 Paul Cockshott is a Scottish computer scientist, Marxian economist, and a reader at the University of Glasgow. Since 1993 he has authored multiple works in the tradition of scientific socialism, most notably Towards a New Socialism and How the World Works. In this interview Cockshott discusses how he came to be a socialist and his understanding of the Cultural Revolution. 

 As Ukraine pushes the Russians back and is bombarded by missiles, the situation is seeming murkier and murkier. What are we to make of the war in Ukraine? Our foreign policy analysts attempt to provide an answer.Support Us on Patreon:https://patreon.com/dietsoap 

 Stephen Janicki returns to the podcast to debate socialism. How should we conceive of socialism? What do MAGA republicans really want? Support Us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap 

Urszula and Ron from the Marxist Humanist organization News and Letters discuss dialectical thinking, freedom, and the war in Ukraine. Is there an opportunity for working-class solidarity in Ukraine and Russia? Doug's CGAS Seminar on Radical Podcastinghttps://gcascollege.ie/radical-content-producer Support Us On Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap