New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 148

A critical theory can be made out of anything. You can have a Critical Race Theory about race, a Critical Gender Theory about sex, even a Critical America Theory about America. And, we have all of these. In universities, Critical America Theory is usually branded as "American Studies," but we have it everywhere. It's not just in schools but in media, entertainment, law, and everything else. It also doesn't just appear in left-wing ways like Howard Zinn's infamous People's History of the United States or Nikole Hannah-Jones's crappy "1619 Project." It comes at us in right-wing forms as well, most visibly from Tucker Carlson. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay explains the idea of Critical America Theory and how we encounter it today across the political spectrum, including its funding and support by George Soros and his foundations. Join him to understand this wicked attack on America.

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The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 197

The Jewish Question, which is "what do we do with the Jews?" rests on the presumption that they aren't wanted here, or maybe anywhere. It is therefore intrinsically antisemitic. Since the catastrophe of World War II, all civilized societies have come to recognize this fact and refuse the Jewish Question except in the dark margins of society (at least, until recently). With the state of Israel on the world stage again, though, the question hasn't gone away but has changed shape. Now, instead of asking about what we do with the Jews, presuming they aren't wanted, it is a sign of nationalist erudition to ask what we should do with Israel, still on the presumption that it isn't wanted. This is called "the Israel Question," and it is merely a proxy for the Jewish Question in our post-WWII world. In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay explains in thorough detail how the Israel Question is just a modern reinvention of the Jewish Question that hides the same darkness. Join him to learn why almost all anti-Zionism is just the same old antisemitism pretending to be high-minded global politics and foreign affairs.

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New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 147

The friend-enemy distinction, as it is called, is the underlying organizational principle of the Marxist Left, radical Islam, and the Fascist Reactionary Left (usually mislabeled "Right"). It is spelled out in detail in a 1932 book by Carl Schmitt called The Concept of the Political, (https://amzn.to/4rbQpFN) and in that book Schmitt goes into great detail to explain what is meant by the term "enemies." He gives much less clear attention to the opposing term "friends," in his fundamental construction. So who are the friends in the friend-enemy distinction? Friends are those who will join with you to fight the enemy, who has been declared by the leader (or Führer). In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay exposes this ugly fact about the "friendship" (or, allyship) in the friend-enemy distinction and reveals that it is the root of authoritarian and totalitarian thinking. Join him to learn why this concept is so evil.

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The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 196

Today in America, we face a confusing "Christian Nationalist" (https://newdiscourses.com/2023/04/two-wolves-of-christian-nationalism/) movement that is reaching into many legitimate complaints and anxieties of American Christians and turning them to its project. While the term can mean many things, at least some of the meanings of "Christian Nationalism" are undeniably a kind of political movement (https://newdiscourses.com/2024/12/the-hoax-that-broke-the-conservative-internet/) posing as a theological movement. In fact, the most movement-ish strains (https://newdiscourses.com/2023/08/wtf-is-christian-nationalism/) of that line of thinking are precisely that. Something like this has happened before. When Hitler and his National Socialists were establishing the Third Reich, they had a huge cultural problem to overcome: nearly all Germans were Christians, not National Socialists. Their solution was an ambiguous term called "Positive Christianity" that increasingly got used as a bridge faith to turn believing German Christians into Nazis. In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay continues his Nazi Experiment series (https://newdiscourses.com/?s=nazi+experimentto) explore the justifications for Nazi "Positive Christianity," revealing concerning echoes from the past. Join him to hear about the Third Reich's unique "Christian Nationalism" movement in their own words.

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New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 146

The essence of a critical theory is a philosophical stance we can and should call "negative idealism," and this negative idealism explains why "critical" movements like Communism, Fascism, and Woke of all types trend toward violence. Setting the stage against the recent sprees of "transgender" violence as an important backdrop, host James Lindsay explains the psychological destruction of holding a negative idealist worldview in this cutting-edge episode of New Discourses Bullets. Join him to understand these troubling phenomena in a deep and important way.

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The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 195

When we face the question of what makes us who we are, different people have different answers. Some see ourselves as receptacles of tradition. Others see us as a self to be discovered in the world. Still others see us as blank slates who can become whatever we can dream. In some sense, these dispositions are in all of us, and that's healthy. They also define broad political orientations and movements. Importantly, they can also all go bad. Some months ago, James Lindsay, host of the New Discourses Podcast, wrote an essay for New Discourses called "Man with Three Faces" (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/04/man-with-three-faces-politics-pathology-and-the-modern-selves/) discussing this idea, and in this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, he talks through it casually, explaining its meaning and relevance for a wider audience. Join him for a deep exploration into what it means to be ourselves and what it can teach us about our politics.

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New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 145

Carl Schmitt captured the essence of totalitarian politics in his book The Concept of the Political (1932) (https://amzn.to/4sf2Rpk). It is the distinction between friend and enemy. The poison of this kind of thinking is in the ugly fact that the declared enemy must be treated as the declared enemy once a political faction has declared one, and anyone who doesn't go along with that declaration declares himself one of the enemy. That is, it's not just the us-versus-them nature of the declaration of friend and enemy that poisons politics and societies; it's the logic of the friend-enemy political program entirely. Host James Lindsay explains this dangerous logic in this new episode of New Discourses Bullets. Join him to understand.

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The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 194

James Lindsay's second trip to Israel was very different from his first (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/11/am-yisrael-chai/). On this trip, he got what he calls his "Real Jerusalem Experience," and he did a wide variety of things, not so much a coherent, organized tour. In the process, he was introduced to Israeli and Jewish life in a new way, which has offered him insights on what it means to be American and why America is the way that it is. Perhaps most poignantly, while visiting Kibbutz Nir Oz with Seth Dillon, Rob McCoy, Karys Rhea, and others, he heard directly how the heartbeat of life, strength, and endurance in the face of tremendous evil and adversity can be summarized in two simple words: "Jewish values." Join James on this new episode of the New Discourses Podcast and travel with him through Israel for a second time.

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New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 144

The ever-insightful Michael Malice once explained, "most people do not process information through a true/false filter but through an us/them filter." There are pretty deep and interesting reasons why this is true, and there are also insightful comments to be made about the necessity and value of at least some of us disciplining ourselves to prefer a true/false filter, or at least to defer to the results of one. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay explores this idea out loud and explains its relevance to politics, society, and education. Be sure to join him!

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The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 193

As we encounter both the material in the infamous Epstein Files and revelations from some of Epstein's associates, not to mention the advances in AI and robotics, we're confronted with what seemed like dystopian science fiction just a few years ago: transhumanism. Tech futurists, however, have been predicting it and working toward it for decades, including the curious figure of "Martine" Rothblatt, creator of SiriusXM Radio and board member at the Mayo Clinic. Rothblatt is trans and has written at least two very odd books about sex and gender, The Apartheid of Sex: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Gender (https://www.amazon.com/Apartheid-Sex-Manifesto-Freedom-Gender/dp/051759997X/) (1996) and an updated version called From Transgender to Transhuman: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Form (https://www.amazon.com/Transgender-Transhuman-Manifesto-Freedom-Form/dp/0615489427/) (2011). In this latter book, Rothblatt explains, perhaps ironically now, that the same arguments that justify "transgender" also justify transhuman: ultimately that who we really are does not depend on our physical body at all. In this creepy episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay presents some of this troubling book to you. You will not want to miss this.

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