Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Snarkiness

A still-recovering-from-COVID Aaron (hence the excessively scratchy voice) is joined by fellow OU Alum, psychologist, and grad student Marie Altgilbers, whose research focuses on the study of conspiracy theories. Aaron and Marie discuss the QAnon conspiracy theory, as well as related conspiracy theories like Pizzagate, and discuss their broad-reaching influence, the harms that emerge from that influence within present American political discourse, and of course, their connection to President Trump. Along the way, Aaron and Marie discuss conspiracy theories more broadly, including topics like why people believe in conspiracy theories, what makes conspiracy theories harmful, and how we can “fix” conspiracy theories in our political society.

The QAnon-related incident at the Hoover Dam that Marie references: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2020/02/11/man-who-blocked-hoover-dam-part-qanon-beliefs-takes-guilty-plea/4724161002/

More about QAnon’s links to terrorism (just a note, the comments section of this is a great example of how QAnon people respond to being called conspiracy theorists, even in the face of evidence showing them to be): https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/1/fbi-says-qanon-conspiracy-theories-domestic-terror/

Even Fox News condemning QAnon and the president’s recent embracing of QAnon: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-qanon-conspiracy-theory-first-time

Theme-song information:

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/hMLSa6-cXT0

As Pastor John McArthur takes on the state of California, Aaron is joined once again by Pastor David Keating to talk about the religious response to COVID, including the government public health regulations designed to prevent it, as well as discussion why it is that so many within organized Christianity seem to resist these public health measures.

BioLogos’s Statement: https://statement.biologos.org/

Theme-song information:

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/hMLSa6-cXT0

In the light of the upcoming miniseries “The Good Lord Bird,” Aaron and Jason are joined by Connor Gleason to discuss the circumstances, actions, and legacy of John Brown. They discuss the national circumstances surrounding slavery, including the Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott case, and the caning of Charles Sumner, as well as how those events culminated in Bleeding Kansas, where John Brown made his name. Also discussed are raid on Harper’s Ferry, the legacy of John Brown in his own day, and what lessons, if any, we can learn from John Brown in the current day.

Youtube historian Atun-Shei Films on the issue of even common Confederate soldiers explicitly fighting for slavery (language warning): https://youtu.be/nQTJgWkHAwI

Theme-song information:

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/hMLSa6-cXT0

As we head into our third year of the podcast, Aaron, Austin, and Jason sit back together (well, separately, there are literal hundreds of miles of distance between them) to discuss the differences between where they were politically when they first joined the podcast, and where they are now. Austin describes his descent into “political agnosticism,” and how doctrinaire libertarianism has become something he can’t uphold anymore. Aaron likewise talks about why he wouldn’t use the term “libertarian” to describe himself anymore, and how he’s come to appreciate perspectives on the Left as well as on the Right. Jason describes why, though he doesn’t believe his political beliefs have changed that much, the changes in America’s political discourse have left him feeling without a political home.

Austin, Jason, and Aaron also take a squabble as a chance to advertise our next episode.

Themesong information

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/hMLSa6-cXT0

For our final episode of Season 2, Aaron is joined by Liz Whyte, a journalist and fellow Hillsdale Alum, who recently wrote a piece summing up her thoughts on the national attention that Hillsdale is receiving for recently refusing to take sides on the racial issues plaguing the country, and why the College should not claim to be remaining neutral based on both its past and its present. Aaron offers a couple of thoughts on a recent issue of Hillsdale’s magazine “Imprimis,” where the college saw fit to give a voice to Heather MacDonald, a woman whose anti-criminal-justice-reform policies make it hard for Aaron to say anything nice about her.

Liz’s original piece for the Bulwark: https://thebulwark.com/hillsdale-must-join-the-national-reckoning-on-race/?fbclid=IwAR21fnij5KKDXhsGfswdda_AXuZncwHIqh7vZSvMcnHl6tHRDsV6SZxUfxg

Hillsdale’s statement in response to the open letters: http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2020/06/on-the-college-and-silence-a-letter-from-hillsdale-college/

Fellow Alum John Daniel Davidson’s response to Liz in The Federalist: https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/28/no-hillsdale-college-doesnt-need-to-join-the-national-reckoning-on-race/

Hillsdale’s recently-republished Imprimis piece on BLM and Police Brutality: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-danger-of-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

The Roger Kimball Imprimis piece that Liz mentioned in her article: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/shall-defend-common-history/

We’ve often discussed how the letter and spirit of the law are not always the most strongly correlated - i.e., just because something is technically “legal,” that does not mean it is ethical, moral, or even a good idea. Aaron and Austin apply this principle to the Portland situation, with Austin giving his views on not only the strict constitutionality of DHS’s actions in Portland, but also explaining why just because they may be conforming to the strict letter of the law, this does not justify their actions. Aaron, meanwhile, plays Devil’s Advocate for Austin (something Aaron hates doing), in order to allow Austin to address and refute a number of popular justifications for DHS’s actions against the protestors.

A report on the legal response to detaining journalists in Portland: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/judge-bans-federal-use-of-force-journalists-portland?fbclid=IwAR15mM1dj0ySPGLpE4QOJ6_qNhdVWrNxKWQIPzGCk95NKKJzx95zUSt8zN4

Andrew Napolitano on the Unconstitutionality of the situation: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/508205-foxs-napolitano-rips-unconstitutional-trump-crackdown-on-portland-just-plain?fbclid=IwAR1g1j_oKecozE7zjhiXIY2n2wRsK9juiWjRysrKmoUE_eIYLjM3oS-e3HY

A followup on BLM and how they have responded to the Portland situation: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/after-hours-chaos-at-portland-protests-overshadows-black-lives-matter-message-our-movement-has-been-co-opted.html

Forbes’ Evan Gerstmann on the unconstitutionality of Federal law enforcement in Portland: https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2020/07/18/federal-law-enforcement-is-making-unconstitutional-arrests-in-portland/#67454de912a6

Theme by Nathan Keightley

After, no joke, SIX attempts to record this episode, and after negotiating power failures, Oklahoman “wind events,” computer crashes, and just plain weirdness (seriously, we think this episode might be cursed), Aaron is FINALLY successful in being able to talk to Faith Liu about the issues of representation in media. While last year they talked about casting controversies with Disney’s upcoming remake of “The Little Mermaid,” this time, now that Faith is officially a Hollywood Writer, they talk about the importance of diversity in how stories are told in entertainment, including just what the phrase “representation matters” actually means (and why it matters), why “actors just pretend to be other people all the time” isn’t an excuse for whitewashing, and how there’s more to diversity than just the ethnicity of chosen actors.

The Prentice Penny piece that Faith referenced: https://deadline.com/2020/07/prentice-penny-hollywood-blackface-commentary-diversity-plan-guest-column-1202978040/

Aaron and Jason continue their discussion of our “forgotten founders.” Jason brings up a businessman who was the only signer of all four major American founding documents and who quietly motivated some of the most important founding principles when the American government was being established, the “financier of the revolution,” and a founder who is better known by the college named after him than for his own legacy. Aaron, meanwhile, talks about the ACTUAL first chief justice (as opposed to Jason bringing up John Marshall last week), a playwright, propagandist, and historian whose role in the Founding goes totally unnoticed, and a remarkable Calvinist clergyman from the North who served as one of the most powerful voices for abolition until Frederick Douglass himself.

Jason also shills for Coca Cola and Aaron gets more into the Christian theological/philosophical perspective of Calvinism and some of its intersections with American history.

Two sources on Mercy Otis Warren:

http://www.projectcontinua.org/mercy-otis-warren/

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/mercy-otis-warren-1728-1814/

A series of resources on Lemuel Haynes:

https://thefoundingproject.com/lemuel-haynes-african-american-founder/

http://inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history/US_History_reader/Chapter2/LemuelHaynesLibertyFurtherExtended.pdf

https://leben.us/lemuel-haynes-patriot-pastor/

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-black-puritan

https://archive.org/stream/lemuelhaynesspeech/Lemuel%20Haynes%20Speech_djvu.txt

Theme by Nathan Keightley

For our July 4th episodes, Aaron and Jason decide to take a look at some of our lesser-known Founders, looking for those whose influence has unjustly been denied, or those who don’t conform to the popular image of the Founding, be it in their contributions, their beliefs, or their actions. In Part 1, Aaron talks about a particularly famous New Englander whose reputation has been unjustly tarnished and how one of the first psychiatrists, veterinarians, and abolitionists were all the same person, and how that person was actually an important part of the American Founding. Jason talks about the first “real” American Chief Justice, as well as an Anglo-American who exemplified the dangers of a revolutionary spirit.

John Marshall and Judicial Review: https://www.constitutioncenter.org/blog/marbury-v-madison-and-the-independent-supreme-court

John Alexander’s Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician.

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”: http://totallyhistory.com/common-sense-pamphlet/

Alyn Brodsky (author of “Benjamin Rush, Patriot and Physician”) being interviewed about Rush: https://www.c-span.org/video/?180836-1/benjamin-rush-patriot-physician

Theme by Nathan Keightley

Aaron and Connor continue their discussion of Winston Churchill. They discuss the legacy of other troubling historical figures, as well as bringing up the fact that statues are not vehicles for teaching history, and thus it would be better for statues to find their places in museums, rather than in public places of honor, when the subjects of these statues held beliefs that might trouble modern perspectives and consciences.