The Vital Masculinity Podcast

Brian returns in this episode, for a further discussion on 'equal' and 'unequal' friendships via the lens of Aristotle and Cicero.

Show Highlights:

• Friendship of Equals vs. Friendship of Unequals.
• Why you need to recognize friendship disparities in order to have a virtuous friendship.
• Aristotle's comparison of friendship to political systems.
• Father - Son dynamics.
• Husband - Wife dynamics.
• Brother - Brother dynamics.
• Friendship within families.
• Why blood is thicker than water.
• Relative strength of bonds.
• Priorities of friendship compared to other relationships.

Resources:

• Interlude: Nice Guys

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In this episode, Stephen muses about the Christmas in the Trenches during WW1 and what it can tell us about kindness, affection, and true brotherhood.

Show Highlights:

• The Christmas in the Trenches
• The nature of enemies and rivals.
• Is it possible for us to be everyone's friend?
• Should we try to be everyone's friend?
• A redux of the kindness vs. niceness debate.
• Self-respect and justice towards self.
• The damaging push towards inclusion at the expense of exclusivity.
• The dilution of friendship through false affection.

What do you think? Do you agree with Stephen's assessment? Send us your thoughts via Twitter or on our website.

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this special episode, the gents revisit the COVID-19 Pandemic and various responses to it.

Show Highlights:

• Where are we 9 months in?
• 15 days to slow the spread/flatten the curve?
• The role of prudence and personal responsibility vs. government mandate.
• The vice of double standards.
• Personal responsibility and the rise of "mask Karens."
• Our duty to authority.
• Courage, justice, and resistance.

Resources:

https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/18/major-study-finds-masks-dont-reduce-covid-19-infection-rates/

https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/29/these-12-graphs-show-mask-mandates-do-nothing-to-stop-covid/ (includes NEJM study)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html#table-1 (see Scenario 5 in Table 1)

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4695

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/16/fauci-why-still-need-masks-social-distancing-after-covid-19-vaccine.html

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/which-covid-19-vaccines-are-connected-to-abortion

https://thehill.com/news-by-subject/healthcare/528619-pfizer-chairman-were-not-sure-if-someone-can-transmit-virus-after

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/michelle-malkin/michelle-malkin-covidgate-corruption-clinical-trials-part-one

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/michelle-malkin/michelle-malkin-covidgate-part-two-clinical-trials-and-crusader-bias

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/michelle-malkin/michelle-malkin-covidgate-part-3-attack-informed-consent

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this episode, the gents continue to discuss the book The Art of Being a Good Friend by Hugh Black, elaborating on ways to cultivate and maintain good friendships.

Show Highlights:

• Why does friendship require intentionality?
• Affability and being friendly.
• The responsibility of being a friend.
• How is friendship like a habit?
• The necessity of cultivating 'sympathy '.
• The Golden Rule.
• Reciprocity, mutual confidence, and faithfulness in friendship.
• Aspects of loyalty.
• How human friendship leads to love for God.

Resources:

The Art of Being a Good Friend by Hugh Black

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this episode, the gents kick back and discuss a whole range of topics:

Show Highlights:

• Recap of Thanksgiving.
• What are we grateful for?
• Big project teaser.
• Commentary on current events.

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Facebook group to continue the conversation.

In this episode, the gents discuss the book The Art of Being a Good Friend by Hugh Black, weaving in themes on friendship and the Four Loves from the previous episodes.

Show Highlights:

• Expanding on the appreciation of friendship.
• Friendship in the heroes of history.
• How does friendship enlighten you? What does that mean?
• Friendship is a gift of God.
• Why do you need humility and selflessness when you are trying to be a good friend?

Resources:

The Art of Being a Good Friend by Hugh Black

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this episode, the gents continue to discuss philia, or friendship, the second love in the C.S. Lewis/Ancient Greek hierarchy of love. This discussion focuses on Cicero's take on friendship in his classic work De Amicitia. 

Show Highlights:

• Greek vs. Roman Virtue.
• Why are good friends virtuous?
• The relationship between amicitia and amor.
• Honor and friendship.
• The "first law of friendship."
• Three erroneous principles of friendship.
• Limits and guides to friendship.
• The importance of loyalty.
• How does affability help define good friends?
• The foundation of friendship.
• New vs. Old Friends.

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this episode, the gents continue to discuss philia, or friendship, the second love in the C.S. Lewis/Ancient Greek hierarchy of love. This discussion focuses on C.S. Lewis' opinion of friendship and how he wrote about it in his seminal work The Four Loves.

Show Highlights:

• Why did the ancients revere friendship?
• What does it mean that friendship is the least "natural" love?
• The relationship between Romanticism, Naturalism, and our modern beliefs on friendship.
• C.S. Lewis' (likely) take on Aristotle's three types of friendship.
• Friendship and Companionship.
• How does friendship arise?
• Signs of a good friendship.
• Misconceptions of friendship.
• Friendship and homosexuality.
• Distortions of philia.
• In-group vs. out-group mindsets.

View the full show notes here.

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

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This week, the gents have a conversation with Nick Jamell of Conversation of Our Generation about how a man can discuss politics virtuously.

Show Highlights:

• Why are political discussions so difficult to navigate nowadays?
• How the personal became the political.
• Are there times when it is prudent to not discuss politics?
• False courage and standing up for one's beliefs.
• Are our differences that pronounced?
• What happens next?

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About Nick:

Nick is the founder of Conversation of Our Generation, a website and podcast dedicated to having dialogues about important issues through the lens of philosophy, politics, and the reading of our intellectual forefathers.

Keep in Touch with Nick:

Blog

Podcast

Twitter: @ConOfOurGen; @NickJamell

Facebook: The Conversation of Our Generation

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

In this episode, the gents discuss philia, or friendship, the second love in the C.S. Lewis/Ancient Greek hierarchy of love. The focus of this is on the Aristotelian conception of friendship and the three types of philia.

Show Highlights:

• Who needs friends?
• Why do we need friends?
• The three causes of love.
• Friendships of utility.
• Friendships of pleasure.
• Friendships of virtue.
• Similarities and differences between the types of Aristotelian friendship.
• The roles duration and absence play in strengthening friendship.
• The act of friendship vs. the "state" of friendship.

View the full show notes here.

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Please like, subscribe, and leave a rating and review. Be honest - this feedback is crucial to helping us improve the quality of our show and reach like-minded men across the globe. Also, check out our website at vitalmasculinity.org and apply to join our active Discord chat group which you can do by signing up for our newsletter. You can also contact us via email or Twitter (links are on our website). We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.