Category: Chesterton

Culture War Futility, Why Self Expression Beats Action (Distributism 5-Audio)

July 10, 2021

In this concluding segment from the 2021 Summer Seminar on Distributism, I discuss why it is so hard to imagine actually changing the economy in any meaningful way. Our capacity for collective action has been hollowed out and replaced by an expressive identity politics that cannot satisfy but works wonders to keep us all working and buying. It very effectively stops any real change from happening. The seemingly radical idea that contemporary protests are largely ineffectual and should be replaced by direct action is introduced. … More Culture War Futility, Why Self Expression Beats Action (Distributism 5-Audio)

Culture War Futility: Why Self Expression Beats Action (Distributism 5-Video)

July 10, 2021

In this concluding segment from the 2021 Summer Seminar on Distributism, I discuss why it is so hard to imagine actually changing the economy in any meaningful way. Our capacity for collective action has been hollowed out and replaced by an expressive identity politics that cannot satisfy but works wonders to keep us all working and buying. It very effectively stops any real change from happening. The seemingly radical idea that contemporary protests are largely ineffectual and should be replaced by direct action is introduced. … More Culture War Futility: Why Self Expression Beats Action (Distributism 5-Video)

Do We Live in a Servile State? ft. Hilaire Belloc’s Distributism (Seminar 2)

June 20, 2021

This is a section of audio from the Summer 2021 Seminar on Distributism, an economic philosophy that isn’t capitalist or socialist. Distributism advocates for a more even and equal distribution of private property. Hilaire Belloc was one of a few thinkers credited with founding 20th Century Distributism. In this video some of his ideas are discussed in the context of current application, particularly on the question of whether workfare would be recognized by Belloc as promoting the Servile State. … More Do We Live in a Servile State? ft. Hilaire Belloc’s Distributism (Seminar 2)

Can You Be Both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Communist? (Seminar 1-Rerum Novarum)

June 12, 2021

This is a segment from the first session of the Summer Seminar on Distributism (2021), part of an hour and a half long session on the origins of Distributism in Aristotle’s Politics and various Catholic encyclicals (the one mainly mentioned here is Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII, 1891, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution). Distributism is a line of thought that opposes both capitalism and socialism/communism as equally materialistic and destructive of freedom and proposes a third way–more widespread ownership of private property. It is separable from religion, because it is primarily a proposal about how to deal with property, but this session covers its roots in Ancient Greek and Christian thought. … More Can You Be Both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Communist? (Seminar 1-Rerum Novarum)

G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play and Empire (6-Audio)

April 11, 2021

In this concluding video in the series on The Outline of Sanity, I hit on some big themes in the last few chapters including the shallowness of mass entertainment and what makes work worthwhile. He again defends the peasant, this time as the true “settler” unlike the British colonialists who dominated parts of the world but never really settled down and cherished where they were. Writing not long before the collapse of the Empire, Chesterton mounts an argument for staying home and creating (or re-creating) tradition based on a occupation of space considered sacred. … More G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play and Empire (6-Audio)

G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play & Empire (6-Video)

April 11, 2021

In this concluding video in the series on The Outline of Sanity, I hit on some big themes in the last few chapters including the shallowness of mass entertainment and what makes work worthwhile. He again defends the peasant, this time as the true “settler” unlike the British colonialists who dominated parts of the world but never really settled down and cherished where they were. Writing not long before the collapse of the Empire, Chesterton mounts an argument for staying home and creating (or re-creating) tradition based on a occupation of space considered sacred. … More G.K. Chesterton on Work, Play & Empire (6-Video)

Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Audio)

April 4, 2021

In the fourth part of The Outline of Sanity, GK Chesterton deals with “Some Aspects of Machinery” in his usual ironic and witty way, making some solid points. I try to update his points and apply them to our current state of technology, noticing with Chesterton along the way that capitalist practices are not the most efficient or equitable way to go. Chesterton proffers his ideas on when to let go of technology and how the machinery we do want (or more accurately the fruits thereof) could be distributed. … More Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Audio)

Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Video)

April 4, 2021

In the fourth part of The Outline of Sanity, GK Chesterton deals with “Some Aspects of Machinery” in his usual ironic and witty way, making some solid points. I try to update his points and apply them to our current state of technology, noticing with Chesterton along the way that capitalist practices are not the most efficient or equitable way to go. Chesterton proffers his ideas on when to let go of technology and how the machinery we do want (or more accurately the fruits thereof) could be distributed. … More Distribute the Machinery (GK Chesterton 6-Video)

GK Chesterton: Agrarian Communalist (5-Audio)

March 29, 2021

In this podcast I cover the section of GK Chesterton’s book, The Outline of Sanity, that deals with agriculture. Chesterton does not agree that the industrialization of England was a good thing, and points out the flaws of massive urbanization. He defends the settled way of life as in some ways superior to the urban way of life. He also defends a mixed economy with some degree of socialism and a greater degree of private property, spread out by state edict. … More GK Chesterton: Agrarian Communalist (5-Audio)

GK Chesterton: Agrarian Communalist (5-Video)

March 29, 2021

In this video I cover the section of GK Chesterton’s book, The Outline of Sanity, that deals with agriculture. Chesterton does not agree that the industrialization of England was a good thing, and points out the flaws of massive urbanization. He defends the settled way of life as in some ways superior to the urban way of life. He also defends a mixed economy with some degree of socialism and a greater degree of private property, spread out by state edict.. … More GK Chesterton: Agrarian Communalist (5-Video)