New Ideal, from the Ayn Rand Institute Ayn Rand Institute

https://youtu.be/LJ20jmhEE7s









Podcast audio:















In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Libertarian Party’s (LP) convention, especially the speeches by Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and what it reveals about the nature of the libertarian movement.







Among the topics covered:









* Why chaos in the Libertarian Party is a result of disunity about what liberty even is;







* Why the one point of unity in the LP is their stance against Israel’s war in Gaza;







* How the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent positive ideology led to the LP’s decision to invite Trump and Kennedy;







* How the LP’s acceptance of Kennedy despite his advocacy of statist policies reveals the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent set of pro-freedom policies;







* How Trump’s convention speech reveals a willingness to support anarchistic authoritarianism within the LP;







* How Americans who believe in liberty are betrayed by the LP.









Recommended in this podcast are the New Ideal Live episodes “Libertarian Apologists for Putin” and “Libertarianism: Big Tent or Big Mess?”







ARI has a philosophical mission, and as such its function is to analyze current events from that framework. Given our 501c3 status, our function is not to advocate for or against particular candidates.







The podcast was recorded on May 30, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yz-9X11ck









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss why and how DEI has become so dominant in American institutions, from universities to corporate businesses, despite its questionable nature.







Among the topics covered:









* How DEI is sold as a form of justice for historically marginalized groups;







* How “diversity” relies on a package deal;







* How “inclusion” results in moral relativism;







* How “equity” means equality of results irrespective of merit;







* Why business leaders are unable to resist DEI despite its impracticality.









This episode was broadcast live on May 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGhis0_6Jw









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger, a philosopher and longtime friend of Ayn Rand’s, about his observations as a graduate student at Columbia during the 1968 protests and how those protests compare to those taking place now at Columbia and other campuses.







Among the topics covered:









* How the 1968 protesters hoped to bring about a communist revolution;







* Why the university tolerated the protesters and ceded to their demands;







* Binswanger’s role in opposing the activists;







* Ayn Rand’s analysis of the student protest phenomenon;







* The long-term legacy of the student protests;







* Why today’s protests are worse than the 1968 protests.









Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s 1968 radio commentary “The Student Rebellion at Columbia” and Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech.”







The podcast premiered on May 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/8NdmIOYTB4s









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is interviewed by Ziemowit Gowin about his article on the phenomenon of academic plagiarism following the resignation of Harvard University president, Claudine Gay. They discuss why academia’s greater interest in combating issues such as sexism and racism over academic dishonesty is consistent with their deeper view of morality.







Among the topics covered:









* Bayer's personal experience combating student plagiarism as a former professor;







* How the morality of altruism creates an indifference to academic dishonesty;







* How plagiarists cheat themselves of the value of knowing and living in reality;







* How altruism prevents us from seeing how plagiarists harm those they deceive;







* Why we need moral virtues, like honesty, for achieving personal values in life;







* How academic plagiarism relates to the deeper topic of individual value creation.









Recommended in this podcast are Bayer’s “The Real Problem with Plagiarism,” “Why Scientific Progress in Ethics Is Frozen,” and “The Old Morality of the New Religions,” and the Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on “Honesty.”







The podcast was recorded on May 16, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/RGhQLpYXo6Y









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the ongoing anti-Israel campus protests and analyze the demand that universities divest from Israel.







Among the topics covered:









* How the divestment crusade is animated by hatred of Israel, not concern for the Palestinians;







* The dishonest claim that Israel practices apartheid;







* How the protesters whitewash Hamas' vicious treatment of homosexuals;







* Why Christianity is the root of the celebration of Palestinian weakness and the hatred of Israeli prosperity;







* The US government's outrageous financial support for corrupt organizations;







* Why the violation of Palestinians’ rights by some fanatical Jews doesn’t amount to apartheid.









Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and her essays “For the New Intellectual” and “The Age of Envy,” Peter Schwartz’s “Hamas and the Tyranny of Need,” and Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.







The podcast was recorded on May 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.







Image credit: KelseyJ/Shutterstock.com.

https://youtu.be/Bg9BFE1-49Y









Podcast audio:















In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Milton Friedman’s impact as a public intellectual and how his advocacy of the free market differed from Ayn Rand’s radical philosophical case for capitalism.







Among the topics covered:









* Why Milton Friedman is an essentially positive influence on free market thought;







* How Friedman’s moral conventionality reinforced the ideas he tried to oppose;







* The importance of stating the ideal when advocating for gradual reform;







* Why questions of morality are at the root of economic issues;







* How Friedman’s amoralism and pragmatism blinded him to the statists’ motivation;







* Ayn Rand’s critical evaluation of Friedman;







* Why the abolitionist movement is a model for moving the world toward freedom.









Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate and Yaron Brook’s course “Cultural Movements: Creating Change” and Ayn Rand’s essay “Tax Credits for Education.”







The podcast was recorded on May 2, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.