Essay Questions

Jester Radio Network
  • 4.3 (6)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Essay Questions is the podcast in which your hosts, Joe & Josh, read an essay that's interesting to them and/or of historical importance, and then talk about it. Pretty simple, right? Well, we like to think we're using these essays as a starting point for conversations that end up going in strange and surprising directions. Nothing makes us happier than dragging luminaries like Mencken, Orwell, Adorno, and Didion into our own long-standing obsessions with conspiracy theories, the National Security State, media consolidation, high and low culture, and the meaning and purpose of religion. But this isn't a seminar, and we're not scholars or experts. Joe is a comic, Josh is a writer, and for them, this is just fun. So if you love to read but feel like you don't do enough of it, and you think you might enjoy hearing two ordinary guys shoot the s*** about things other than sports, politics, or pop culture, this is the podcast for you. Each episode, we choose a reading that's publicly available and encourage all our listeners to read it beforehand so you can follow along with our conversation. And of course, you can also always contact us with your thoughts, too!

  1. Who Went Nazi... And Who Will?

    04/30/2018

    Who Went Nazi... And Who Will?

    In this little wrap-up of Season 2, Joe & Josh discuss Dorothy Thompson's famous 1941 Harper's essay "Who Goes Nazi?" In it, Thompson asked readers to look around the room at their next dinner party and guess who would collaborate with a fascist government in the United States. This piece, and the grim parlor game it describes, made the rounds on social media immediately before and after Donald Trump's election, and it has a lot to say about the personality types that are attracted to far-right movements, and maps pretty well on to the profiles we've read this season of major Alt-Right figures. We also tease our topic for Season 3, which hopefully will get to record before the world actually ends. "Who Goes Nazi?" by Dorothy Thompson, Harper's, 1941 https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/ Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    50 min
  2. Virtue Shaming

    04/23/2018

    Virtue Shaming

    Mark Fisher (1968-2017), aka k-punk, was one of the most sensitive and original Leftist writers the internet age has yet produced. In both his major work, Capitalist Realism, and his many essays and blog posts, Fisher expounded on literature, technology, and pop culture from a class-conscious but undogmatic perspective. For his gentle but firm critique of the pseudo-progressive call-out culture that still dominates online spaces, "Exiting the Vampire Castle," he was viciously - but predictably - attacked by petulant children obsessed by a bourgeois sense of proprietary, disguised as liberal political sentiment. In this episode, Joe & Josh discuss his legacy and ask how his thought and writing offer an alternative to both the toxicity of the Alt-Right and the narcissism of the fake Left. “Exiting the Vampire Castle” by Mark Fisher, The North Star, 2013 http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=11299 “Mark Fisher, 1968-2017” by Alex Niven, Jacobin, 2017 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/01/mark-fisher-capitalist-realism-vampire-castle/ “The Safety Pin and The Swastika” by Shuja Haider, Viewpoint, 2017 https://www.viewpointmag.com/2017/01/04/the-safety-pin-and-the-swastika/ Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 33m
  3. Nationalist Born Killer

    04/16/2018

    Nationalist Born Killer

    Dylann Roof's murder of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC shocked the nation in 2015, the most appalling act of right-wing terrorism in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing - and the first inspired by the proliferation of racist, neo-fascist, and Alt-Right ideas online. Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah's masterful 2017 essay for GQ captures the heroism of Roof's victims, the rage of their survivors, and the world of Roof himself, who emerges as both mentally unstable and also utterly earnest in his racist ideology. He was also clearly infatuated with a certain mythologized version of American history, which is what Joe & Josh spend most of this episode talking about. They also ask if the word "terrorism" has any value, discuss American gun culture, and return to the Confederate monuments debate. “A Most American Terrorist” by Rachel Khaadzi Ghansah, GQ, 2017 https://www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist “Racism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville” by Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 2017 https://newrepublic.com/article/144320/racism-medievalism-white-supremacists-charlottesville “The War on White Heritage,” by Samuel Francis, American Renaissance, 2000 https://www.amren.com/news/2015/06/the-war-on-white-heritage/ Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    2h 13m
  4. Wild Broodmares Can’t Be Broken

    04/09/2018

    Wild Broodmares Can’t Be Broken

    As this season's readings have already made clear, male grievance and organized misogyny are a crucial feeder into the fevered swamps of the Alt-Right. So why would an otherwise sane, smart, independent woman want to make common cause with the Nazi contingent of the #gamergate and MGTOW crowd? In this episode, Joe & Josh discuss what motivates right-wing women, starting with the portrait of Lana Lokteff and her fascist sorority sisters in "Rise of the Valkyries" by Seyward Darby, from the September 2017 issue of Harper's. They also examine conservative sexism, the link between biology and gender roles, mis-pronounce "Hindutva," and ask once again how much attention to the Alt-Right is too much. “Rise of the Valkyries” by Seyward Darby, Harper’s, 2017 https://harpers.org/archive/2017/09/the-rise-of-the-valkyries/ Optional: “The Alt-Right Doesn’t Know What to Do With White Women” by Hannah Gais, The New Republic, 2017 https://newrepublic.com/article/145325/alt-right-doesnt-know-white-women “This book in the marriage bible for alt-right women” by Laura Smith, Timeline, 2017 https://timeline.com/fascinating-womanhood-andelin-feminism-509dfe538de7 Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 35m
  5. Gaslighting Chambers

    04/02/2018

    Gaslighting Chambers

    The road from paranoid conspiracy theorist to out-and-out Nazi is a well-trod one, but no one has followed that road further than Andrew Anglin, the 5'4" American Goebbels of internet fascism. Founder of The Daily Stormer, perpetuator of long-discredited anti-Semitic canards, Filipino child bride-seeker, and man who is maybe 5'7" in his skinhead boots, Anglin is the big (but not tall) fish of the Alt-Right. In this episode, Joe & Josh break down why anti-Semitism has such staying power, whether or not no-platforming works, and how media outlets can best report on the likes of well-under-average-height hatemonger Anglin. Our discussion ranges from Luke O'Brien's December 2017 cover story in The Atlantic to Anglin's own short (get it?) Alt-Right explainer for normies. “The Making of an American Nazi” by Luke O’Brien, The Atlantic, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/the-making-of-an-american-nazi/544119/ Optional: “My Journey to the Center of the Alt-Right” by Luke O’Brien, Highline, 2016 http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/alt-right/ “A Normie’s Guide to the Alt-Right” by Andrew Anglin, The Daily Stormer, 2016 Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 32m
  6. Dearth of a Nation

    03/26/2018

    Dearth of a Nation

    It seems like "traditionalist" neo-Nazi organizer Matt Heimbach has reached the end of his ignoble career, facing accusations of vicious assault in the wake of a sordid affair with the wife of his top deputy, who is also Heimbach's wife's stepfather. (Good work on keeping the family sacred, Heimbach clan.) That story is bonkers, but in this episode, Joe & Josh catch Matt at the inauspicious start of his white nationalist campaign, as the founder of a "White Student Union" on his college campus in 2013. Wes Enzinna's profile captures a group of dough-faced youths more silly than sinister, though the days of streetfighting with AntiFa were just around the corner. Also discussed: Is the free speech crisis on college campuses real? How should journalists write about Nazis? Are there any Jews in Ohio? Read all about it - (and look, the essays are short this time! You damn slackers...): “Here Comes the White Power Safety Patrol” by Wes Enzinna, Vice, 2013 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5gw75k/here-comes-the-white-power-safety-patrol-000985-v20n5 Optional: “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Atlantic, 2015 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/ “A Voice for Hate in America’s Heartland” by Richard Fausset, The New York Times, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/us/ohio-hovater-white-nationalist.html Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 53m
  7. (((Mrs. Enoch)))

    03/19/2018

    (((Mrs. Enoch)))

    Did you hear the one about the Jewish gal who was married to a Nazi? How about the sorrowful dad who disowned his Nazi son after Charlottesville? Or the one about "edgy" podcasters who went from making dark Holocaust jokes to humorlessly advocating for a second Holocaust? Pure comedy. In this episode, (((Joe))) & Josh examine Andrew Marantz's oddly moving New Yorker profile of white nationalist podcaster Mike Enoch - and of his grieving father - and talk social media cocoons, anti-semitic parentheses, and the limits of sympathy. They also begin a conversation, to be continued through the next few episodes, about the origins and persistence of anti-Semitism. “Birth of a White Supremacist” by Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 2017 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/16/birth-of-a-white-supremacist Optional: “Threatening Jewish Prosperity” by Steve Sailer, Taki’s, 2017 http://takimag.com/article/threatening_jewish_prosperity_steve_sailer/print#axzz50zOK3Qyj “Enemies of My Enemy” by Kevin Macdonald, The Occidental Quarterly, 2004 http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/benderskyrev.htm Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 31m
  8. Ethno-Statesman

    03/12/2018

    Ethno-Statesman

    Once a prominent figure only in the wilderness of right-wing internet culture, Richard Spencer has become the smug public face of the so-called Alt-Right. He can lay at least a partial claim to originating the phrase "alternative right" itself, and he has been the subject of numerous profiles since Trump's election, some of which have been criticized for glamorizing him as "dapper," even dashing. How did this seemingly generic frat-kid type from the Texas suburbs become the public face of American fascism? Graeme Wood's de-mystifying account is especially helpful in providing some answers, given Wood's minor but nonetheless significant personal history with Spencer. In this episode, Joe & Josh delve into that backstory, along with the inevitable question of whether or not we should punch Nazis.  “His Kampf” by Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/his-kampf/524505/ Optional: “The Alt-Right’s Jewish Godfather” by Jacob Siegel, Tablet, 2016 http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/218712/spencer-gottfried-alt-right “The Flight 93 Election” by Michael Anton, The Claremont Review, 2016 http://www.claremont.org/crb/basicpage/the-flight-93-election/ Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com

    1h 39m
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Ratings & Reviews

4.3
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Essay Questions is the podcast in which your hosts, Joe & Josh, read an essay that's interesting to them and/or of historical importance, and then talk about it. Pretty simple, right? Well, we like to think we're using these essays as a starting point for conversations that end up going in strange and surprising directions. Nothing makes us happier than dragging luminaries like Mencken, Orwell, Adorno, and Didion into our own long-standing obsessions with conspiracy theories, the National Security State, media consolidation, high and low culture, and the meaning and purpose of religion. But this isn't a seminar, and we're not scholars or experts. Joe is a comic, Josh is a writer, and for them, this is just fun. So if you love to read but feel like you don't do enough of it, and you think you might enjoy hearing two ordinary guys shoot the s*** about things other than sports, politics, or pop culture, this is the podcast for you. Each episode, we choose a reading that's publicly available and encourage all our listeners to read it beforehand so you can follow along with our conversation. And of course, you can also always contact us with your thoughts, too!

Information

  • Creator
    Jester Radio Network
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2018
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Jester Radio Network
  • Show Website
    Essay Questions