Category: National Politics

Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Audio)

January 23, 2021

In this concluding video on Charles Taylor’s The Malaise of Modernity I discuss Taylor’s critique of technical rationality (scientific, corporate, bureaucratic). Taylor does it in his characteristic style–technique/technology/technical rationality is not wholly good or bad. In order to get what we create back under control so that it serves us, we have to realize this and re-assert the primacy of politics (real politics) and political control. Taylor’s analysis speaks to our moment, in which we are too divided and our ideas too simplistic and negative, to engage in real political debate and discourse. How do we get back to a place of true democratic politics? Can we realize the moral impulse that Taylor argues initiated the Enlightenment promise in reason, science and technology (they long ago went off the rails), or are we doomed to be dominated by our own creations? … More Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Audio)

Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Video)

January 23, 2021

In this concluding video on Charles Taylor’s The Malaise of Modernity I discuss Taylor’s critique of technical rationality (scientific, corporate, bureaucratic). Taylor does it in his characteristic style–technique/technology/technical rationality is not wholly good or bad. In order to get what we create back under control so that it serves us, we have to realize this and re-assert the primacy of politics (real politics) and political control. Taylor’s analysis speaks to our moment, in which we are too divided and our ideas too simplistic and negative, to engage in real political debate and discourse. How do we get back to a place of true democratic politics? Can we realize the moral impulse that Taylor argues initiated the Enlightenment promise in reason, science and technology (they long ago went off the rails), or are we doomed to be dominated by our own creations? … More Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Video)

What led to this? A Longer View (ft. Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, Wendy Brown) Audio

January 9, 2021

In the wake of the events of the past week, most notably Trump supporters storming the Capitol Building in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, I encourage viewers to take a bit of a step back and to consider the bigger picture. If we cannot attempt to see that bigger picture using a longer view we will be doomed to repeat our mistakes. Can we look past the outrage felt by so many to ask the question “What led us to this point?” If we can, we will take the first step towards fixing the problem, rather than either making it worse or simply putting a bandaid on it. In this reading of a section of Chapter 6 of my book Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right, I build on the thoughts of Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, and Wendy Brown. … More What led to this? A Longer View (ft. Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, Wendy Brown) Audio

What led to this? A Longer View (ft. Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, Wendy Brown) Video

January 9, 2021

In the wake of the events of the past week, most notably Trump supporters storming the Capitol Building in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, I encourage viewers to take a bit of a step back and to consider the bigger picture. If we cannot attempt to see that bigger picture using a longer view we will be doomed to repeat our mistakes. Can we look past the outrage felt by so many to ask the question “What led us to this point?” If we can, we will take the first step towards fixing the problem, rather than either making it worse or simply putting a bandaid on it. In this reading of a section of Chapter 6 of my book Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right, I build on the thoughts of Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, and Wendy Brown. … More What led to this? A Longer View (ft. Jacques Ellul, Sheldon Wolin, Wendy Brown) Video

What’s Wrong–Election Crisis 2020 (Premier tomorrow at 1 pm CT)

November 6, 2020

Weaving insights from Eugene McCarraher (The Enchantments of Mammon), my interview with Chris Cutrone, and another authors I’ve covered over the last couple of years, along with my understanding of the history of political thought and rudimentary economics, I try to take the long view of the current impasse between “conservatives” and “liberals” in the US which has led to yet another very close and deeply divided presidential election, made worse by escalating resentments, tensions and paranoia. Why are we here? What’s wrong? The answer is way deeper than even “the democrats don’t get it” (although they don’t). … More What’s Wrong–Election Crisis 2020 (Premier tomorrow at 1 pm CT)

The Rise of the Illiberal Right: What We’re Missing

September 20, 2020

In this video I address, through some Ideas from Ch. 6 of my book Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right, some deeper systemic reasons for the rise of the illiberal right and other phenomena that are disturbing societies around the globe. The problem is bigger than just blaming one source of trouble, whether it be the Internet, new organizations, racial groups or university progressives. … More The Rise of the Illiberal Right: What We’re Missing

The Rise of the Illiberal Right: What We’re Missing

September 20, 2020

In this video I address, through some Ideas from Ch. 6 of my book Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right, some deeper systemic reasons for the rise of the illiberal right and other phenomena that are disturbing societies around the globe. The problem is bigger than just blaming one source of trouble, whether it be the Internet, new organizations, racial groups or university progressives. Here’s a link to Ch. 6, which discusses these ideas in more depth: https://lauriemjohnson.com/2020/09/16/signs-of-mass-psychosis-ideological-possession-and-the-rise-of-the-new-right/
… More The Rise of the Illiberal Right: What We’re Missing

Costco Karens: The Laschian Response (4-Video)

July 20, 2020

Our current situation demonstrates the extremes of what Christopher Lasch leaned into in his book The Culture of Narcissism. How did we get here? Lasch’s answers take us deeper than the typical observations of the day, which mainly dwell at the surface. In this video, which primarily deals with ideas from chapter 4 of Lasch’s book, we find an explanation for the loose hold many people have on the truth, the deep skepticism about facts, which leads to the childish acting out that we are seeing more and more of, as well as the more serious expression of discontent of protest and riot. Lasch’s views here are not all of even his answer, let along THE answer, as to how we got here, but they deal with one dimension of it that is often overlooked–our often meaningless and unthinking work and our highly “mediated” selves. … More Costco Karens: The Laschian Response (4-Video)