The Mind Renewed with Julian Charles

“I’m drawing a line in the sand and showing my face for what I believe is right. I’m Standing with the intention to show enough is enough.”—Brady Gunn, Founder of ASITP As many of you know, each Sunday morning I take part in "A Stand in the Park" in a nearby town here in Lancashire. Over the months I have been attending, I have found the experience very encouraging, not least because it has been great to talk to people who have similar (not identical) concerns about the way the world seems to be going, particularly since the so-called "pandemic". So, I thought it would be good to share something of that experience with TMR listeners—in the form of an "audio diary" (which I've done before)—just to give a sense of the atmosphere of the Stands and to give an idea of the kinds of conversation that can take place. So, please do join me—and my gracious friends at the Stand, who kindly agreed to speak for this recording—and consider it an encouragement to check out your local Stand (if there is one) and perhaps make it part of your own Sunday routine. [For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]

“I’m drawing a line in the sand and showing my face for what I believe is right. I’m Standing with the intention to show enough is enough.”—Brady Gunn, Founder of ASITP

As many of you know, each Sunday morning I take part in "A Stand in the Park" in a nearby town here in Lancashire. Over the months I have been attending, I have found the experience very encouraging, not least because it has been great to talk to people who have similar (not identical) concerns about the way the world seems to be going, particularly since the so-called "pandemic".

So, I thought it would be good to share something of that experience with TMR listeners—in the form of an "audio diary" (which I've done before)—just to give a sense of the atmosphere of the Stands and to give an idea of the kinds of conversation that can take place.

So, please do join me—and my gracious friends at the Stand, who kindly agreed to speak for this recording—and consider it an encouragement to check out your local Stand (if there is one) and perhaps make it part of your own Sunday routine.

[For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]

“We do not talk to say something, but to obtain a certain effect.”—Joseph Goebbels We are joined by our doubleplusgood friend Antony Rotunno for a relaxed, unstructured--and fullwise informative--conversation on "Propaganda in the COVID Era". Rabbit. Custard. Over the last two years (almost), we have been intimidated, cajoled, guilt-tripped and "nudged" (oh, what a cute word!) by the social engineers of Ingsoc. Where's your mother? Goodthinking behavioural psychologists, bellyfeeling mathematical epidemiologists, newspeaking media propagandists (and many other duckspeaking "ists" besides) have conspired to prod us out of our doubleplusungood ownlives into accepting so-called "non-pharmaceutical interventions" and "safe and effective" novel gene therapies in an ostensible "war" against a non-existentially threatening respiratory virus of dubious origin. Rudolph, can't see you now? Biscuits! Marigold? Fuzz, fuzz, fuzz. So join us as we attempt to dissect—with some oldthinking help from Jacques Ellul—aspects of the "invisible government" of "experts", "nudgers", "partnerships", "initiatives" and other plusgood organs of Ingsoc's "inverted totalitarian" underbelly. For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

“We do not talk to say something, but to obtain a certain effect.”—Joseph Goebbels

We are joined by our doubleplusgood friend Antony Rotunno for a relaxed, unstructured--and fullwise informative--conversation on "Propaganda in the COVID Era". Rabbit. Custard.

Over the last two years (almost), we have been intimidated, cajoled, guilt-tripped and "nudged" (oh, what a cute word!) by the social engineers of Ingsoc. Where's your mother? Goodthinking behavioural psychologists, bellyfeeling mathematical epidemiologists, newspeaking media propagandists (and many other duckspeaking "ists" besides) have conspired to prod us out of our doubleplusungood ownlives into accepting so-called "non-pharmaceutical interventions" and "safe and effective" novel gene therapies in an ostensible "war" against a non-existentially threatening respiratory virus of dubious origin. Rudolph, can't see you now? Biscuits! Marigold? Fuzz, fuzz, fuzz.

So join us as we attempt to dissect—with some oldthinking help from Jacques Ellul—aspects of the "invisible government" of "experts", "nudgers", "partnerships", "initiatives" and other plusgood organs of Ingsoc's "inverted totalitarian" underbelly.

For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

For the 10th of our TMR Movie Roundtables we welcome back our good friends Mark Campbell, Frank Johnson and Antony Rotunno for a four-way discussion on the 1978 conspiracy thriller, Capricorn One, starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Branda Vaccaro and Hal Holbrook, written and directed by Peter Hyams. About to embark upon the first crewed mission to Mars, three NASA astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston and OJ Simpson) find themselves suddenly removed from their command module, minutes before lift-off, and flown to a secret desert base. There they learn of an outrageous plan, hatched by establishment conspirators, to fake the Mars landing using a TV studio, props and themselves as actors—a deception in which they are forced to be complicit. Picking up on the trail of the conspiracy is news reporter Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), who goes further and further down the proverbial Rabbit Hole as tries to make sense of the increasing anomalies. But not all goes well—(or, perhaps, not all seems to go well)—with the plan. Upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, the astronauts' (crewless) module breaks up. Now, they are officially dead—their existence a threat to the lying narrative. Their only hope is to escape and reveal the plot to an incredulous world. Join us as we discuss the film's production, ponder its the "conspiracy" themes, and ask the question: Did "we" really go to the Moon? [Podcast theme music: "Crabs Up North" by KODOMASAN from the album "Capricorn One"; used with kind permission] For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

For the 10th of our TMR Movie Roundtables we welcome back our good friends Mark Campbell, Frank Johnson and Antony Rotunno for a four-way discussion on the 1978 conspiracy thriller, Capricorn One, starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Branda Vaccaro and Hal Holbrook, written and directed by Peter Hyams.

About to embark upon the first crewed mission to Mars, three NASA astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston and OJ Simpson) find themselves suddenly removed from their command module, minutes before lift-off, and flown to a secret desert base. There they learn of an outrageous plan, hatched by establishment conspirators, to fake the Mars landing using a TV studio, props and themselves as actors—a deception in which they are forced to be complicit. Picking up on the trail of the conspiracy is news reporter Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), who goes further and further down the proverbial Rabbit Hole as tries to make sense of the increasing anomalies. But not all goes well—(or, perhaps, not all seems to go well)—with the plan. Upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, the astronauts' (crewless) module breaks up. Now, they are officially dead—their existence a threat to the lying narrative. Their only hope is to escape and reveal the plot to an incredulous world.

Join us as we discuss the film's production, ponder its the "conspiracy" themes, and ask the question: Did "we" really go to the Moon?

[Podcast theme music: "Crabs Up North" by KODOMASAN from the album "Capricorn One"; used with kind permission]

For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

"No one has been given or will be required to have a vaccine passport"—Nadhim Zahawi We are joined once again by Rev Phill Sacre—an ordained minister in the Church of England and host of the YouTube channel "Sacred Musings : Making Sense of the World from a Christian Perspective"—for a second conversation on the theme of "COVID and the Churches". In the previous conversation—TMR 267 (Part One)—we discussed the relationship between the UK churches (by and large) and the state during the so-called "pandemic", and asked to what extent the churches have been willing to critique (with reference to Scripture) the seemingly endless stream of diktats issuing from government. In this second conversation we venture into more controversial territory and discuss issues relating to the churches and Vaccine Passports, COVID-19 vaccination policy, and the perennial question: Is this the End? [Please note that nothing said in this interview should be understood as medical advice in any way.] "Phill is a Christian minister. He is ordained in the Church of England and serves on a part-time basis in a parish on the Essex coast. The remainder of his time he devotes to his online ministries: Understand the Bible and Sacred Musings : Making Sense of the World from a Christian Perspective (on YouTube)." [Podcast theme music by Antony Raijekov (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).] For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

"No one has been given or will be required to have a vaccine passport"—Nadhim Zahawi

We are joined once again by Rev Phill Sacre—an ordained minister in the Church of England and host of the YouTube channel "Sacred Musings : Making Sense of the World from a Christian Perspective"—for a second conversation on the theme of "COVID and the Churches".

In the previous conversation—TMR 267 (Part One)—we discussed the relationship between the UK churches (by and large) and the state during the so-called "pandemic", and asked to what extent the churches have been willing to critique (with reference to Scripture) the seemingly endless stream of diktats issuing from government. In this second conversation we venture into more controversial territory and discuss issues relating to the churches and Vaccine Passports, COVID-19 vaccination policy, and the perennial question: Is this the End?

[Please note that nothing said in this interview should be understood as medical advice in any way.]

"Phill is a Christian minister. He is ordained in the Church of England and serves on a part-time basis in a parish on the Essex coast. The remainder of his time he devotes to his online ministries: Understand the Bible and Sacred Musings : Making Sense of the World from a Christian Perspective (on YouTube)."

[Podcast theme music by Antony Raijekov (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).]

For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

“Let one version come out, then another, then another. Let the public pick and choose. Nothing stinks more... than the classic seamless narrative.”—A Legacy of Chains

We welcome back the author Philip Kraske—who joined us in 2019 to discuss his novel, 11/9 and the Terrorist Who Loved Bonsai Trees—for a discussion about his latest book, A Legacy of Chains and Other Stories, a novella plus six shorter stories that "range from the personal to the political, from the comic to the dramatic".

In the novella, A Legacy of Chains, Kraske engages imaginatively with the issue of American POWs allegedly left behind in Vietnam after the Vietnam War, and crafts a vivid tale of nine American servicemen—now in their sixties and seventies—who turn up on the south coast of Spain having escaped from Vietnam after decades in captivity. By way of contrast in the short stories—"The Rainmaker", "Pioneer Woman", "Shoccer", "Alan the Newsboy", "Pirates" and "Exposures"—Kraske explores subjects as diverse as soccer, blackmail, poinsettia theft, and the imagined back-room planning for the "Raid" on Osama bin Laden's "compound" in Pakistan.

Join us as we discuss a few of the more "conspiratorial" aspects of the stories and consider some of the historical claims that underpin the fiction.

[Podcast theme music by Antony Raijekov (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).]

For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com

“Let one version come out, then another, then another. Let the public pick and choose. Nothing stinks more... than the classic seamless narrative.”—A Legacy of Chains We welcome back the author Philip Kraske—who joined us in 2019 to discuss his novel, 11/9 and the Terrorist Who Loved Bonsai Trees—for a discussion about his latest book, A Legacy of Chains and Other Stories, a novella plus six shorter stories that "range from the personal to the political, from the comic to the dramatic". In the novella, A Legacy of Chains, Kraske engages imaginatively with the issue of American POWs allegedly left behind in Vietnam after the Vietnam War, and crafts a vivid tale of nine American servicemen—now in their sixties and seventies—who turn up on the south coast of Spain having escaped from Vietnam after decades in captivity. By way of contrast in the short stories—"The Rainmaker", "Pioneer Woman", "Shoccer", "Alan the Newsboy", "Pirates" and "Exposures"—Kraske explores subjects as diverse as soccer, blackmail, poinsettia theft, and the imagined back-room planning for the "Raid" on Osama bin Laden's "compound" in Pakistan. Join us as we discuss a few of the more "conspiratorial" aspects of the stories and consider some of the historical claims that underpin the fiction. [Podcast theme music by Antony Raijekov (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).] For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com