Give Them An Argument

Ben Burgis and Victor Bruzzone continue GTAA's weekly series of Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns by watching a recent debate between podcaster (and former Manhattan Institute fellow) Coleman Hughes and New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie on the topic "Does Color-Blindness Perpetuate Racism?" (Bouie says yes, Hughes says no.) They both say partially true things, but this voice could use several hundred times more Adolph Reed.

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Ben Burgis, Jason Myles, and Jordan Dubin are all in studio together. (Matt Christman was originally scheduled but he had to reschedule for late September.) After a half-hearted attempt to talk about a couple of Jacobin articles, they unbutton their metaphorical top buttons and talk about exactly the kind movie the three of them would likely spend an evening talking about off-air, or, OK, maybe that Jason and Ben would be talking about while Jordan sat there and rolled her eyes---the 1982 classic Stephen King/George Romero production "Creepshow." Also Jordan made a cake for Jason's birthday and brown liquor was abundant. A good time was had by all.

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Tibor Rutar is the author of a book called "Capitalism for Realists: Virtues and Vices of the Modern Economy" in which he argues that the best system is a moderate, social democratic form of capitalism. In making that case, he heavily relies on "economic freedom" rankings. In the book, Rutar criticizes an article Ben Burgis wrote for Jacobin arguing that such rankings are worthless and tell us nothing:

https://jacobin.com/2021/10/economic-freedom-rankings-frasier-institute-peter-leeson-socialism-capitalism

Rutar also wrote an article for Areo magazine called "Marxism: The Idea that Refuses to Die":

https://areomagazine.com/2023/06/27/marxism-the-idea-that-refuses-to-die/

....which Ben wrote about in last Sunday's Substack essay, "Why I"m Still a Marxist: A Response to Tibor Rutar":

https://benburgis.substack.com/p/tibor-rutars-flawed-critique-of-marx

In this episode, they finally sit down to. talk out the differences in their worldviews! Before that, Ben and the crew play a new Billy Bragg song (responding to "Rich Men North of Richmond"), and play a bit of Ben's recent appearance on the Left Reckoning postgame where he talked to Matt Lech and David Griscom about Marxism. In the postgame for GTAA patrons, they preview an in-person debate that Ben is going to be doing in-person in Los Angeles and watch a bubbly conservative pundit who seems to be deeply confused about how, as a conservative, she's supposed to feel about the French Revolution.

Check out Tibor's book:

https://www.routledge.com/Capitalism-for-Realists-Virtues-and-Vices-of-the-Modern-Economy/Rutar/p/book/9781032305929

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Freddie de Boer is back to talk to Ben Burgis about his new book, "How the Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement":

https://www.amazon.com/How-Elites-Social-Justice-Movement/dp/166801601X

Before that, we play Ben's appearance on Monday morning's Majority Report to talk about Michael Brooks (yesterday would have been Michael's 40th birthday) and Ben and the crew talk a little bit about the Nudieland shooting and J. Andrew World's experiences with the Minneapolis punk community. Debunk Song creator Ed Keenan joins us in-studio for the postgame for GTAA patrons to breakdown Michael Knowles and Glenn Beck talking about how to argue with the socialists in their heads.

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Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

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Ben Burgis debates New York Post writer Brad Polumbo on student debt forgiveness. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew look back at Norm Finkelstein's feud with Christopher Hitchens and talk about Ben's article on the Trump indictment:

https://jacobin.com/2023/08/donald-trump-prosecution-election-crimes-justice-department

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Matt McManus comes back for the fuller discussion of his new book "The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity" we teased a few weeks back, and then Ben and the crew switch to a distinctly more low-brow look at the strangest aspect of Matt Wlash's interests in the postgame. At the beginning of the main show, they talk about two of Ben's recent articles for Jacobin. One takes on the idea that we won't have bananas under socialism:

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/bananas-socialist-economy-production-consumption-abundance-twitter

The other talks about the way that conservative freakouts about pride flags and drag shows on military bases (along with several other issues) have made the process of nailing down this year's Pentagon budget unusually contentious--even as the vast majority of lawmakers in both parties if fundamentally on board with a country that doesn't even have universal healthcare pouring an unprecedented 900 billion dollars into its war machine:

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/pentagon-budget-right-wing-culture-war-amendments-house-bernie-sanders-ndaa

Last but very definitely not least, they mention Jason Myles' Kayfabe documentary. You can contribute to make that happen (and get various perks) here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kayfabe-documentary#/

Order Matt's book:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Political-Right-and-Equality-Turning-Back-the-Tide-of-Egalitarian-Modernity/McManus/p/book/9781032310831

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps

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Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

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This is Revolution podcast host and Sublation magazine columnist Jason Myles returns to talk about his latest for Sublation, "The Grifters: The Capitalist Realism of Left Media":

https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-grifters-the-capitalist-realism-of-left-media

We've all heard the term "grifters" thrown around as an all-purpose insult for whatever figures in left-wing media someone dislikes. But Jason wants us to think harder about what it actually means, whether the shoe fits, and whether it really captures what's wrong with even the most unhelpful and audience-captured figures out there. (And yes, we're talking about specific people in this discussion!)

Here's that link to the Indiegogo for Jason's feature-length documentary:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kayfabe-documentary#/

In the postgame for GTAA patrons, actress, filmmaker and SAG-AFTRA member Kt Baldassaro talks about the writers' and actors' strike shutting down Hollywood.

Check out Kt's IMDB page:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3539674/

Follow her on Twitter: @ZombieHunterKt

Follow Jason on Twitter: @J-Myles_TiR

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Cedric Johnson is a professor of African-American studies and political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of, most recently, After Black Lives Matter: Policing and Anti-Capitalist Struggle from Verso Books:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3057-after-black-lives-matter

Ben Burgis chats with Cedric about his book. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew talk about Ben's most recent Jacobin article on G.A. Cohen ("The Tragic Failure of the Soviet Experiment Doesn't Mean We Should Reject Socialism") and a previous one on human nature arguments against socialism ("Socialism Can Help Contain Humanity’s Worst Impulses and Encourage Our Best"), watch a video from a recently unlocked debate Ben did last year in the UK with Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire, and take a moment to remember the late great Michael Brooks. Ed Keenan--the musician and DSA-LA activist behind the TMBS Debunk Song--hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons and shares some more of his music.

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Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

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Returning champion Matt McManus, Jacobin contributor lecturer on Political Science at the University of Michigan, discusses his brand new book "The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity." It officially releases on the 21st, but you can pre-order it here:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Political-Right-and-Equality-Turning-Back-the-Tide-of-Egalitarian-Modernity/McManus/p/book/9781032310831

Before that, Ben and the crew watch a throwback clip of Ben, Ana Kasparian, and Michael Brooks reacting to the Zizek/Peterson debate and a recent clip of Ana's debate over Medicare for All with Adam Friended and PSA Sitch, and Matt and the crew watch Prager U's latest attempt to make sense of Marxism. At the end of the show, Ben makes the case against canceling Ana over recent micro-controversies and Ben and Graphic Designer Andy struggle-session a bit about some of the underlying issues. Mean Djene Bajalan and the one and only Jason Myles hang out in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProf

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Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

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Norman Finkelstein comes back to GTAA to discuss recent Supreme Court rulings and some themes from his book "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom" with Ben Burgis. This is Revolution host and Sublation magazine columnist Jason Myles rides shotgun. The film criticism of one Noah Berlatsky, scourge of "class-first leftism," is dissected in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

Buy Norm's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Heretical-Thoughts-Identity-Politics-Academic/dp/B0BSJXB7WN

Read Jason at Sublation:

https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles

Follow Jason on Twitter: @J_Myles_TIR

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

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Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read the weekly philosophy Substack:

benburgis.substack.com