The General Eclectic

Rod joins Kale to discuss several new eruptions of the ongoing culture wars: the latest kerfuffle at Yale and another sign that a Civil War (of sorts) is closer than we may want to believe. Our fragile infrastructure as a potential flash point, showing our vulnerabilities are all too available, notes Malcolm Kyeyune. The Biden administration seems to be playing a game of chicken with their mandates and the airlines. The whole vaccine narrative appears to be much more unstable than either Rod or Kale initially thought. Our Medical and Scientific establishment is not doing themselves any favors in their hard move towards ideology. Rod has been predicting the slide into Soft Totalitarianism, and we seem to be racking up evidence on a daily basis. We are being lied to continuously.

• Civil War? What Would US Civil War Look Like? - The American Conservative
• Hormone Skepticism:Ideological Medicine Undermines Trust - The American Conservative
• Yale Trap House of Horrors: Soft Totalitarianism's Legal Brigade - The American Conservative
• Prof. Kingsfield: After Obergefell, Revisiting Prof. Kingsfield - The American Conservative
• Jon Gruden is a Sinner: NFLPA to petition NFL to release all emails from Washington Football Team investigation after Jon Gruden's resignation (espn.com)

Rod and Kale talk about Robert Nozick's Experience Machine thought experiment. A longtime teacher tweeted out her shock that after years of teaching this to the class, a majority of her students decided that they would prefer the simulacrum to the real thing—they would prefer the pleasant lie to the painful truth. They hash out what this could mean from a cultural standpoint and the long-term effects of the lost Wisdom culture.

What happens when you put an Anglican, an Eastern Orthodox, and a Catholic in a zoom room? Kale and Rod are joined by Fr. Daniel French, Anglican priest and podcaster at Irreverend. They discuss the possible Green Passports, church shutdowns, and the specter of having to take the church underground. Do we know our faith? Are confessional divisions suddenly much less important. is the need to band together and have a Christianity of the Gulag. With state encroachment in the offing, what is the limiting principle? Are our co-religionists ready for what's coming?

Kale hosts a conversation with Rod and Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior writer at National Review. They discuss:

• Orban, Fidesz, and the "conservative fascination with Hungary."
• Is corruption a form of statecraft?
• The Fog Machine of the Culture War
• What will be left for posterity?
• Progressives aren't happy

Rod and Kale catch up after Rod's return from Italy and his meeting with Pope Francis. They talk about:

• The aftermath of Hurricane Ida's destruction of Louisiana
• Meeting Pope Francis during his trip to Rome
• The Ruling class's conflation of Nazi liberation with LGBTQ+ initiatives
• Do members of Conservative Inc. understand how far the Overton Window has shifted?
• Academic disruptions at Princeton, and Catholic schools Bostock violation
• Noone really wants to be weird, especially the W.I.E.R.D.
• Lewis' Inner Ring
• Rod's pilgrimage to Galgano

Kale is joined today by his brother Mark Zelden, a long-time Capitol Hill guy, to discuss the Trump administration from the inside. Mark talks about the differences between Trump and the so-called Republican Establishment, and his own journey from skeptic to supporter. They discuss the unintended consequences of free trade, the unexpected Trump win, the move to the transition team, and the shocking experiences of the first crazy days especially after the Russia storm hits hard two weeks into the transition. Mark and Kale move on to talk about polarization, and Trump as a symptom and not a cause. This polarization has been manufactured, and it's roots reach back over 30 years oftentimes inadvertently caused by otherwise understandable reforms. The surrounding culture of members of congress altered the politics. Seeing Trump in the context of Obama illuminates and exposes these already grooved trends. The character that haunts all of these long trends is of course President Biden, nearing the half-century mark of time in Washington. Mark closes on why he thinks the President will not be removed, and why Trump will be elected in 2024. Buckle up.

Rod and Kale discuss Rod's upcoming trip to Italy to promote Live Not By Lies as well as a trip to San Galgano and the strange story that has been part of Rod's life for the last few years. They move on to discuss an impending hostage crisis in Afghanistan, and the deep resonances with the Iran situation when Rod was a kid. He wonders if we are moving into our own version of the "Chernenko Years." Chernenko is the image Rod uses of the teetering Gerontocratic mess of late Soviet decline. We too are run by a gerontocracy, and they discuss why have we been unable to cycle this generation through. They move on to discuss Kyeyune's essay "Farewell to Bourgeois Kings and the sad truth that our elites are no longer effective. What they are doing simply no longer works. They move on to discuss the long-term effects of people being mediated through social media, and the growing rift between the real and the virtual. We are overwhelmed by complexity. What role do the pattern-watchers have in making sense of the madness? How does the truth get translated? Mentioned in this episode: Keyune's essay: https://tinkzorg.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/farewell-to-bourgeois-kings/ Carl Trueman: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Triumph-Modern-Self-Individualism/dp/1433556332 The Big Short: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0393338827/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+big+short&qid=1629980900&s=books&sr=1-2 The Benedict Option: https://www.amazon.com/Benedict-Option-Strategy-Christians-Post-Christian/dp/0735213305/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+benedict+option&qid=1629980940&s=books&sr=1-1 Live Not By Lies: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Not-Lies-Christian-Dissidents/dp/0593087399/ref=pd_bxgy_1/139-4770705-8318864?pd_rd_w=8rsGn&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=JFA4X70W1MZANGGKQH72&pd_rd_r=a7db35fc-082c-42bc-96e7-880a2ef75684&pd_rd_wg=ext9X&pd_rd_i=0593087399&psc=1

Rod and Kale discuss the immediate aftermath of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 20 years in the making debacle. How did this happen, and who is to be held accountable? They discuss the resonances between this disgraceful exit and the exit from Vietnam. Will there be a hostage crisis in the aftermath? Does this catastrophe reveal a breakdown in our intelligence capabilities, our diplomacy, our political will and overall sense-making? They they transition to a discussion of social media's role not only in public virtue signaling amongst the elites, but the increasing role the virtual spaces play in our ongoing cultural crisis. What have all these things done to the collective trust? Mentioned in this episode: Tuchman's March of Folly: https://www.amazon.com/March-Folly-Troy-Vietnam/dp/0345308239 Kipling's The Gods of the Copybook Headings http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm Andy Bacevich: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/books/review/after-the-apocalypse-andrew-bacevich.html Laura Jadeed: https://laurajedeed.medium.com/afghanistan-meant-nothing-9e3f099b00e5

Rod and Kale discuss: 1. The sad phenomenon of a culture that has lost hope--why don't we want kids? 2. Mid-century Madness and the failures of the post-Christian cultural elites 3. The Pillar story fall-out and the need for full disclosure Links: Rod on Helmut Kentler: The Second Coming Of Helmut Kentler | The American Conservative Benjamin Boyce de-trans stories: (1) DeTrans Stories - YouTube Pillar Fallout: From Pillar To Post | The American Conservative

Rod is back and joins Kale to discuss two main topics: the revelation of government surveillance using the Pegasus software and Pope Francis' latest Motu Proprio undermining the Traditional Latin Mass. Institutional rot continues to make itself visible, both with governments and with churches. Rod's story on Pegasus: Pegasus And 'The End Of Privacy' | The American Conservative Rod's story on Pope Francis: 'Et Tu, Francisce?' | The American Conservative