Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

J.G.

A podcast where politics, history, and culture are examined from perspectives you may not have considered before. Call it a parallax view.

  1. قبل ٣ أيام

    The AI Hivemind Threat aka The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices w/ Jacob Ward

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this episode of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with acclaimed journalist and author Jacob Ward, former NBC News technology correspondent and author of The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back. Ward lays out his thesis that commercial AI is quietly reshaping human decision-making—much like GPS rewired our sense of direction—by exploiting the shortcuts and biases built into our brains. We explore Ward’s early research into algorithmic influence, how his work anticipated today’s conversations around “AI psychosis,” and why the public’s psychological relationship with these systems is becoming increasingly unstable. The conversation also dives into the emerging “AI hivemind” problem: the risk that large-scale, widely adopted AI systems may compress human culture and thought into homogenized patterns, narrowing the diversity of choices, perspectives, and creative possibilities. Ward offers concrete insights on what institutions can do to safeguard human autonomy, what individuals can do to resist passive decision-outsourcing, and what the next five years of AI development might bring—both the dangers and the opportunities. A deep, challenging look at the intersection of technology, psychology, and human agency—exactly the kind of perspective you expect from Parallax Views.

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  2. ٢٧ نوفمبر

    Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, & the Quest for Democracy w/ Charles Derber

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this episode of Parallax Views, J. G. Michael speaks with sociologist and public intellectual Charles Derber about his urgent new book BONFIRE, a sweeping analysis of whether the United States is now committing sociocide, which Derber defines as a self-inflicted destruction of the social bonds that make collective life and democracy possible. Derber argues that the U.S. has crossed a historic tipping point. According to him, America has shifted from a merely sociopathic society marked by hyper-individualism and neoliberal competition into a sociocidal society where the foundational social bones of community, solidarity, and shared democratic norms are being burned away. From the breakdown of workplace and family ties to the isolating architecture of Big Tech, climate crisis, political violence, and the rise of Trumpist authoritarianism, Derber contends that America is waging a kind of war on itself. This descent threatens to culminate in what he calls policide, or the death of democratic politics altogether. Is America burning down its own social foundations? And if sociocide is societal suicide, what would it mean for the United States to choose life? This conversation confronts both the peril and the possibilities at one of the most dangerous junctures in American history.

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  3. ٢٢ نوفمبر

    The History of Dick Cheney and the Neocons & How They Paved the Road for Trump w/ Jim Lobe

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with Jim Lobe, one of the foremost critical chroniclers of neoconservatism as an intellectual movement and a key analyst of the role neoconservatives played in shaping the post-9/11 era and the Iraq War. In light of the recent passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney, we explore Cheney’s legacy as a Machtpolitik figure who, while not himself a neocon, became the indispensable enabler and amplifier of neoconservative power inside the George W. Bush administration. Lobe walks us through the deeper history: the Cold War roots of the neoconservative worldview; the pivotal “Team B” exercise and its culture of threat inflation; and how those networks and habits of mind brought Cheney and the neocons into alignment. We trace neoconservatism’s evolution from its beginnings among largely Jewish intellectuals, including the early influence of Norman Podhoretz's Commentary magazine and Jewish liberal who became disullisioned with liberals and the Left, and key non-Jewish intellectuals like Jean Kilpatrick figures as well its eventual transformation into a major force inside the Republican foreign-policy establishment. The conversation examines how this ideological project culminated in the Iraq War and how the Cheney and neocon worldviews, from his embrace of the Unitary Executive theory to his anti-elite, anti-intellectual posture, helped pave the path toward today’s right-wing populism and, ultimately, Donald Trump. We discuss continuities and divergences between Trump and the neocons, including their shared skepticism of climate science, hostility to “political correctness” and "wokeness" and belief in a strong executive, as well as the question of whether Trump’s approach on Israel truly represents a break with neocon orthodoxy or if it is more posturing than anything concrete. Jim will also go into details on the key neocon figures in the Bush administration, the formation of the Project for a New American Century, the Paul Wolfowitz Doctrine, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and the politicization of intelligence leading up the Iraq invasion, the infamous "Securing the Realm"/"Clean Break" document and its significance to understanding neoconservatism, and much, much more. All that and much more in a wide-ranging conversation that places Cheney’s legacy, the neocons, and the currents shaping today’s right in a deeper historical and political context.

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  4. ٢٢ نوفمبر

    The Most American King: King Abdullah of Jordan w/ Aaron Magid

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with journalist and author Aaron Magid about his major new biography The Most American King, an in-depth exploration of King Abdullah II of Jordan and his quarter-century on the throne. Magid draws on more than a decade of reporting and over one hundred interviews with Jordanians, U.S. officials, and regional figures to unpack how Abdullah has maintained his rule through a combination of strategic alignment with Washington, careful political calibration at home, and the enduring stability of Hashemite monarchy amid Middle Eastern turmoil. In this conversation, Magid discusses Abdullah’s unique personal background—including his Americanized upbringing, fluency with U.S. politics and culture, and unusual pop-cultural references—and how these shaped his political style and foreign policy choices. We dive into Jordan’s pivotal role in U.S. Middle East strategy, the kingdom’s complicated position between Israel and the Palestinians, and the often-overlooked internal dynamics of Jordanian society: economic stagnation, youth frustration, corruption, tribal politics, recurring but stunted reform cycles, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s fraught relationship with the state. We also explore Magid’s comparison of Abdullah with his father, King Hussein; the political implications of the 2021 Prince Hamzah affair; the Pandora Papers leaks and corruption in Jordan; King Abdullah approach to Israel/Palestine and the Gaza War; and the carefully managed public rollout of Crown Prince Hussein as the next monarch. Ultimately, the discussion interrogates the core tension of Abdullah’s legacy: a king celebrated abroad for moderation and stability, yet presiding over persistent domestic challenges and an increasingly weary public.

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  5. ٢٠ نوفمبر

    The Case Against a U.S. Regime Change Operation in Venezuela w/ Justin Logan

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael is joined by Justin Logan, Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, for a deep-dive into the dangers of U.S.-led regime change in Venezuela. Logan discusses the new article he co-wrote with friend of the show Brandan Buck for The American Conservative, “Don’t Do It, Mr. President,” a forceful argument rooted in the foreign-policy tradition of realism and restraint. Logan unpacks why he and Buck see the Trump administration’s escalating military posture—from a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group—as a perilous slide toward yet another unnecessary intervention. We also examine the administration’s bogus claims about “drug boats” allegedly bound for the U.S., a flimsy public rationale that Logan and Buck argue doesn’t withstand even minimal scrutiny. From there, the conversation shifts to the long, troubled history of U.S. involvement in Latin America and the legacy of the Monroe Doctrine; why Venezuela, a country twice the size of Iraq with a loyal military, would be an extraordinarily difficult and dangerous target for regime change; and how the lessons of Iraq and Libya loom ominously in the background. Logan and Buck’s analysis stands as a welcome antidote to the neoconservative saber-rattling typified by Bret Stephens’s New York Times op-ed, “The Case for Overthrowing Maduro.” Throughout the discussion, Logan offers a grounded reminder of why military adventurism contradicts the very promises Trump made about ending wars; and why Venezuelan regime change would almost certainly worsen the very problems Washington claims it wants to solve.

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  6. Al-Sharaa in Washington, MBS's Saudi Arabia, Gaza Ceasefire, & MAGA Split on Israel w/ James Dorsey

    ١٢ نوفمبر

    Al-Sharaa in Washington, MBS's Saudi Arabia, Gaza Ceasefire, & MAGA Split on Israel w/ James Dorsey

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, independent journalist James Dorsey of The Turbulent World with James Dorsey returns for our regular Middle East update. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the historic visit of Al-Sharaa to Washington and what it signals for U.S.–Syria relations, the internal ethno-religious divides within Syria, and the concerns of Alawite minorities amid shifting regional dynamics. We then turn to Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia, where a push toward economic and cultural liberalization coexists uneasily with continued political repression. From there, we unpack the tenuous Gaza ceasefire, examining why some see it as farcical, how Israel’s long-term right-wing radicalization complicates peace efforts, and the internal divisions within the Palestinian world that further muddy the waters. Finally, we explore the emerging MAGA split on Israel—how evangelical Christians, particularly in the Global South, are no longer uniformly pro-Israel; and how segments of the MAGA movement are expressing a mix of Islamophobia and antisemitism, reframing their stance on Israel in troubling ways. As always, James Dorsey brings deep insight and context to a region where politics, religion, and power intersect in volatile and unexpected ways.

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  7. ٥ نوفمبر

    Terms of Servitude: Silicon Valley and Censorship of Pro-Palestinian Voices w/ Omar Zahzah

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, writer, scholar, and activist Omar Zahzah, author of Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. Zahzah discusses how he came to explore the intersection of Big Tech and Zionism, arguing that Silicon Valley’s digital infrastructure is censoring pro-Palestinian voices. The conversation delves into how tech giants collaborate with Israeli interests, the emergence Balaji Srinivasan's “Tech Zionism,” and how platforms like Meta and X weaponize algorithms and vague “community guidelines” to suppress Palestinian voices through censorship and shadow banning. Zahzah also examines AI-driven tools like Lavender, the broader implications of digital repression, and how recent reports of Hollywood blacklists echo the politics of silencing seen across digital platforms. It's a conversation dealing with Israel/Palestine, social media and digital platform, and free speech on this edition of Parallax Views.

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  8. ٢٨ أكتوبر

    Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust w/ Nathan Wardinski

    👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, film writer and critic Nathan Wardinski, author of Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust, joins me for a spooky season deep dive into one of the most infamous, controversial, and, perhaps, critically misunderstood films in horror history. We explore how Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust defies easy categorization within either progressive or conservative politics — a film that seeks to explode racist hierarchies even as it offers a bleak, reactionary view of human nature. For Deodato’s jungle nightmare, civilization itself is just a thin facade: whether “modern” or “primitive,” we are all savages beneath the surface. Wardinski and I also unpack the film’s unique structure, the enduring myth that Deodato and his crew were tried for murder due to the film’s realism, and the strange, lifelong relationship the director had with his most notorious work. In the final portion of the conversation, we tackle one of the film’s most controversial aspects — the onscreen animal slaughter — clarifying the difference between slaughter and cruelty, and placing Cannibal Holocaust within a larger cinematic and cultural context where animals have been killed on camera, from ethnographic films to even mainstream television. Some of the portion of the discussion is in the earlier part of the conversation, but most of it is back-ended to the final 10 or so minutes for the benefit of listeners who may not want to hear about that aspect of the film due to the subject matter. It’s a challenging conversation — one that asks uncomfortable questions about art, exploitation, and our own complicity as viewers. Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio - Track: "Exorcism"

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A podcast where politics, history, and culture are examined from perspectives you may not have considered before. Call it a parallax view.

المعلومات

  • صناع العمل
    J.G.
  • سنوات النشاط
    ٢٠١٨ - ٢٠٢٥
  • الحلقات
    ٩٧٩
  • التقييم
    فاضح
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  • موقع البرنامج على الويب
    Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

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