Sean Hannity Won't Save You

Silverfiddle Rant!

... but Tucker Carlson, Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald just might.

  

Salvation from totalitarian progressivism will not come from the Republican Party, nor will it come from the right.  It will come from the liberal left and non-aligned allies, including the Intellectual Dark Web .  

Many good liberals are getting stomped as well (Bret Weinstein and Anna Khachiyan for example), and are fighting back. 

Contrary to popular opinion, Sandy Cortez is not the future of American leftism; she is the last baby bubble burp of the old socialism of that shabby communist Bernie Sanders.  

I don't know how many people are in Sandy and Grandpa Bernie's neo-bolshevik camp versus how many are in the anti-totalitarian camp, but I know there is a substantial number of people on the left who are fed up with all this warmed-over 20th century totalitarian bullshit. 

Scholars of color like Glenn Loury and John McWhorter are blatantly calling Ibrahim Khendi, Robin DiAngelo and Nikole Hannah Jones frauds.  Professors at Cambridge have pushed  back recently on minor issues involving speech, and have won.  

That has happened in other universities as well, and it is left liberals within the institution, speaking the institutional language and appealing to the foundational principles of the institution.  That is how freedom wins. We can join in by stating our values clearly in a non-inflammatory way while respecting the considered views of others. And it will have to happen everywhere:  Hollywood, social media, the press, government, and private business. And I think it can.

We are not alone.  There is a whole world of thought and speech out there pushing back against the progressive totalitarians.  They seriously analyze, joyfully mock and openly flout totalitarian progressive orthodoxy and speech codes.  Many are self-described leftists and liberals, some are libertarians, but they all share a love of truth and liberty that transcends boundaries and labels. 

I commend to you the following individuals, web sites and podcasts in no particular order.  You won't always agree, but you will be educated and entertained. 

In no particular order...

* Matt Taibbi - Astute observer, brilliant liberal journalist taking down progressive totalitarianism 

* Glenn Greenwald - solid gold journalism

* Spiked Podcast (Brendan O'Neill) and Website

* Quillette podcast and website - IDW Flagship - Always excellent discussions

* Glenn Loury podcast - Wise professor who shares lessons learned

* Bret Weinstein podcast - Scholarly discussion

* Eric Weinstein podcast - Scholarly discussion

* Making Sense podcast (Sam Harris) - He will probably make you mad, but he is a great example of how to properly characterize the point of view you disagree with and then civilly argue against it, while conceding points and empathizing with those who you disagree with

* Joe Rogan - Trenchant discussion.  He brings on smart people and asks questions everyday people would ask.

* The Fifth Column - Raucous, rambling discussion of current events.  Irreverent and often vulgar, traditional conservatives would not like it.

* Blocked and Reported (vapid sounding lefty gurls busting on political correctness).  Also probably not for traditional conservatives

* Red Scare (Anna Khachiyan and and Dasha Nekrasova)

Intellectual Dark Web

Top 10 Anti-Woke Heroes of 2020

Meet the anti-woke left

Tune in Thursday!

Voices from the Intellectual Dark Web

Silverfiddle Rant!

"Political homelessness and classical liberal principles unify the IDW, not politics or ideology" (What connects the Intellectual Dark Web?)

I started listening to podcasts last year. After sampling this and that and winnowing out the comedians and political talk, it recently occurred to me that my small group of subscriptions are all members of the Intellectual Dark Web. Apologies, but no Jordan Peterson (turgid, cardboard dry and overly-long), no Joe Rogan (too manic, and overly-long).

Here are my faves:

Sam Harris - Making Sense.  He's gone off the deep end lately with his meditation advocacy, and he shifted to a paid platform at the beginning of 2020, but he still gives us a half-hour snippet of each podcast for free, and that's plenty for me.

Brendan O'Neill's Spiked podcast. Heavy on British issues like Brexit and the NHS, which makes sense since he is British, but he explores many issues of universal appeal with his wide variety of interesting guest interlocutors.

Quillett offers a wide variety of intellectually stimulating conversations, and is considered one of the founding members of the IDW

Half Hour of Heterodoxy, podcast of another charter member of the IDW, Heterodox Academy, is also a reliable podcast for reasoned debate by intelligent, educated people who can disagree without being disagreeable.

All of these podcasts discuss a wide variety of controversial topics, and the people discussing them are educated and bring rational, fact-based argumentation to the conversation.  Most striking (and a pleasant respite from our ragey pop culture) is how bereft of ad hominem the podcasts are.  Many episodes feature people who despise Donald Trump, but they are not unhinged over it, and they refrain from disparaging Trump supporters or backhandedly damning them with intellectually-superior condescension.  These are people who can understand something without agreeing with it, people who take the time to understand what they argue against, and who will concede an opponent's  point well made.

Do you listen to any podcasts?  Please give us your suggestions and tell us what's on your mind.