Give Them An Argument

Tonight in NYC, Ben Burgis is going to be debating Tim Pool, Tulsi Gabbard & James O'Keefe at the Minds Festival of Ideas at the Beacon Theater. (See festival.minds.com.) This week's GTAA main guest Matt Lech (co-host @ Left Reckoning, producer @ The Majority Report) joins Ben for a hard look at all three of those people. Before that, Ben & the crew go through some of Krystal Ball's appearance on Real Time w/Bill Maher and discuss some extremely odd claims made this last week by Dennis Prager & Jordan Peterson. (Yes, this is a ghoul-heavy episode. Sorry?) Rob Larson hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons--where Rob, Ben & the crew check out the rest of Krystal's Real Time appearance (during which, for example, Bill reveals that he has no memory whatsoever of Wall Street crashing and being backstopped by the federal government at the beginning of the pandemic).

Watch Left Reckoning: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCerkndrD3Z6rceekc4emVpA

Follow Left Reckoning on Twitter: @LeftReckoning

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLech

Follow Rob on Twitter @IronicProfessor

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

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

Visit benburgis.com

Tim Pool has some thoughts about the Trolley Problem, so obviously we had to cover that. The main event, though, is a debate on free will between frequent GTAA guest Ryan Lake (who wrote an award-winning doctoral dissertation on the subject) and philosopher Gregg Caruso (who recently co-authored a collection of battling free will essays with Daniel Dennett). Dr. Jennifer Burgis joins Ben for a segment on Plato's Euthyphro at the end of the episode and then Jason Myles and Dr. Kuba from This is Revolution hangs out in the postgame for patrons.

Read Ryan's dissertation:

https://scholarship.miami.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/No-Fate-But-What-We-Make/991031447144502976

Order Gregg & Dennett's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Just-Deserts-Debating-Free-Will/dp/150954576X

Follow Gregg on Twitter: @GreggDCaruso

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @chaospet

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

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

Visit benburgis.com

Majority Report host Sam Seder returns to the show as the main guest for the GTAA season finale. Ben Burgis and his wife Professor Jennifer Burgis talk about Plato's "Crito" for the philosophy segment. Ben, Jenn & the GTAA crew raise a glass to toast all the high points of this season (Rogan! Charlie Kirk! Zizek!) and then good friend of the show Jason Myles (of This is Revolution) hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons. We'll be back in a few weeks for Season 4!

Watch the Majority Report:

https://majorityreportradio.com/

Follow Sam on Twitter: @SamSeder

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

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

Visit benburgis.com

Economics professor, socialist writer, and Current Affairs magazine "House Economist" Rob Larson joins Ben Burgis for a deep dive on "the Tuttle Twins"--a series of libertarian children's books. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew review some of the best moments from his recent debate in Texas and talk about the value of the debate. In the philosophy segment at the end of the main show Ben and his wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis continue their discussion of Plato's apology by chatting a bit about his (fairly weird) claims about moral motivation. Friends of the show Conan Neutron and Ethan Herschenfeld hang out with patrons on the postgame.

Follow Rob on Twitter: @IronicProfessor

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow Jenn on Twitter: @profjennburgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

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

Visit benburgis.com

In the opening segment, Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about a Tennessee lawmaker's strange use of Hitler in an argument about the homeless, watch a video about Tucker Carlson's demagoguery and get into Christian Smalls's masterful appearance on Tucker's show. The main event is an interview with Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage about his article "The Republican Party Is Waging a War Against Personal Freedom and Free Expression." Continuing with the free speech theme, Ben and his wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis talk about Plato's apology in the philosophy segment at the end of the main show. Finally, Current Affairs writer Dan Walden hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons where we try very hard to make sense of James Lindsay's demented diagram about Hegel, Marx and "leftism"--and finally watch that previously promised libertarian take on Sesame Street. It's an extremely good time all around.

Read Luke's article in Jacobin here:

https://jacobinmag.com/2022/03/gop-texas-florida-trans-youth-crt-censorship

Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! 
Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a postgame after every regular Monday night episode, access to the Discord server, and many other benefits--most importantly including our undying love and gratitude for keeping this thing going.

Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgis
Like, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAA
Visit benburgis.com

Two of our favorite guests (Prof. Richard Wolff and Jacobin Staff Writer Branko Marcetic) return to hash out a disagreement on vaccine mandates. Prof. Wolff is critical of such mandates on workers' rights grounds while Branko has strongly endorsed them in Jacobin. Ben Burgis is, just this once a moderator instead of a participant in a debate.

Before the debate, Ben chats with the GTAA crew about his article in The Nation on Daniel Muessig, who's about to head to federal prison for 5 years for non-violent cannabis offenses:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/muessig-biden-marijuana-pardon/

After the debate, Ben chats with Matt McManus (filling in for Jenn for the philosophy segment) about his latest piece in Areo Magazine debunking the idea that postmodernism is some sort of "neo-Marxism":

https://areomagazine.com/2022/04/11/is-postmodernism-neo-marxist/

....and in between those there's the debate!

Check out the work Prof. Wolff does at Democracy at Work:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK-6FjMu9OI8i0Fo6bkW0VA

Read Branko in Jacobin:

https://jacobinmag.com/author/branko-marcetic

Follow Prof. Wolff on Twitter: @profwolff

Follow Branko on Twitter: @BMarchetich

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter @Gtaa_Show

Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! 
Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get an exclusive postgame every Monday night, access to the Discord server and much more—most importantly including our undying love and gratitude for supporting us while we do this work.

Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgis
Like, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAA
Visit benburgis.com

THE AMAZON LABOR UNION WON! That's huge. Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew celebrate. Then there's a little discussion of Ben's upcoming trip to Toronto (see here for details on be book event at Duke of York and the lecture at Ryerson: https://twitter.com/BenBurgis/status/1509997688162594820) and as the main event we unlock Ben's conversation with academic Jesse Spafford on G.A. Cohen's argument for socialism. In the philosophy segment w/Ben's wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis at the end of show, we talk about the Liar Paradox and Ben's new book. Finally, Matt McMaus hangs out and debunks Prager U with us in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

To listen to that postgame and every other postgame, as well as to get access to the Discord server and several other benefits--most importantly our eternal love and gratitude for supporting the work we do here and letting us keep it going--become a GTAA patron:

patreon.com/benburgis

Read Jesse's paper:

https://jessespafford.com/files/Community.pdf

Follow the Amazon Labor Union on Twitter: @amazonlabor

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgs

Follow Dr. Jenn on Twitter: @profjennburgis

Follow Matt McManus on Twitter: @mattpolprof

Visit benburgis.com

Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about The Oscar Slap and the way it perfectly encapsulates the way our weird late capitalist hellscape manages to turn every stupid little thing that happens into a political issue at the sake time as the most important issues are barely mentioned. Ben talks up a class he's teaching at the School for Social and Cultural Change about the arguments in Marx's "Capital" and promotes a couple of upcoming events in Toronto. (For details on those see: https://twitter.com/BenBurgis/status/1509997688162594820 ) The main event is a crossover with one of our favorite non-GTAA podcasts, "What's Left of Philosophy?", in which two of the co-hosts (Owen Glyn-Williams & Gil Morejón) join Ben to go through Jordan B. Peterson's recently released list of alleged "postmodern neo-Marxists." (You'll be shocked to learn it's not a well-though-out list.) In the philosophy segment w/Dr. Jenn Burgis, Ben & Jenn introduce the Teleological Argument for the existence of God and play an an old clip of Bill O'Reilly making an....odd argument against atheism. Last but definitely not least, Matt Lech of Majority Report & Left Reckoning hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

To become a patron and for the monthly cost of a milkshake at the fifties nostalgia diner in Pulp Fiction check out that postgame and every other postgame, as well as get access to the Discord server and get numerous other benefits (most importantly our eternal love & gratitude for supporting the work we do and letting us keep it going), go to:

patreon.com/benburgis

Follow GTAA on Twitter: @gtaa_show

Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis

Listen to What's Left of Philosophy? and become a patron of *them*:

https://www.patreon.com/leftofphilosophy

Follow What's Left of Philosophy on Twitter: @leftofphil

[Before you read the episode description: Listeners in Toronto should check out these upcoming events! https://twitter.com/BenBurgis/status/1509997688162594820 ]

Ben Burgis and the GTAA Crew (this week featuring the Prodigal Producer Cale returning to sub for Current Producer Jake) are talk about the latest free speech controversy and Ben's article in Current Affairs about "whataboutism" and the anti-war Left being accused of being Putin apologists. Then Ben's interview with philosophy professor, popular YouTuber and popularizer of neo-Stoicism Gregory B. Sadler, released to patrons late last year, is unlocked as the main event. Gregory talks about subjects ranging from teaching philosophy in prison to the Stoic practice of "premeditatio malorum." It's very good stuff.

In a second substitution, the part of Jennifer Burgis (on her way to Texas for a family commitment) is played by philosophy professor Ryan Lake, who in return for his generosity with  his time is subjected to having to watch a Ben Shapiro clip on Lake's specialty (free will and determinism) in the philosophy segment. Finally, Jason Myles from This is Revolution hang's out in the postgame for GTAA patrons.

To watch the postgame w/Jason and every patron-exclusive postgame, as well as to access the Discord server and various other benefits--and most importantly to earn our undying love and gratitude for supporting the work we do and letting us keep it going--become a GTAA patron:

patreon.com/benburgis

Watch Gregory B. Sadler's YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/GregoryBSadler

Follow Gregory on Twitter:

@philosopher70

Order Ben's new book from worker-owned Red Emmas:

https://redemmas.org/titles/36536-christopher-hitchens--what-he-got-right--how-he-went-wrong--and-why-he-still-matters

Follow Ben on Twitter:

@benburgis

Like, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAA

Visit benburgis.com

Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew look at some insane responses to Joe Biden's declaration that he won't start World War III and review a mini-debate that Ben and Ryan Lake had with a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist during Ben's Callin show. Benjamin Teitelbaum, author of "War for Eternity," is the main guest. Ben Burgis tends to think Steven Bannon is just a regular Reaganite Republican (which is bad and dangerous enough!) withe edgy prince-of-darkness branding, while Teitelbaum thinks Bannon is something different and qualitatively more dangerous. At the end the two Bens' positions converge a bit. In the philosophy segment at the end of the main show, Ben (Burgis) and his wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis watch a clip of a third Ben, Ben Shapiro. Finally, in the postgame for GTAA patrons, Plastic Pills co-host Victor Bruzzone and YouTuber "Mouthy Infidel" (whose channel has more recently been renamed "Electrons in Love" and whose parents named him Ethan) rejoin Ben to watch the Q&A from the debate the three of them broke down last Thursday. 

Become a GTAA patron:

patreon.com/benburgis

Watch the debate breakdown last Thursday: "Is Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Justified? (Jackson Hinkle & Infrared vs. Destiny & Dylan Burns)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaLWmdiokMo

(We always skip the Q&A when we do debate breakdowns but we've been assured from many sources that in this particular case the Q&A is worth watching at least a spectacle. Sparks were already flying during the debate itself but apparently they get spark-ier and fly-ier during the Q&A.)

Order Benjamin Titelbaum's book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SD11Z2Y/

Order Ben Burgis's most recent book:

https://redemmas.org/titles/36536-christopher-hitchens--what-he-got-right--how-he-went-wrong--and-why-he-still-matters