The General Eclectic: Recent Episodes
The American Conservative
A new podcast from The American Conservative, presented by Kale Zelden and bestselling author Rod Dreher, exploring faith, culture, and public affairs.
Rod and Kale discuss the seemingly chronic breakdown of infrastructure in a variety of fronts, from churches and schools, to literal infrastructure, namely, the derailment in Palestine, Ohio. Our leadership class is more concerned about addressing historical injustices than dealing with chemical spills and competency breakdowns. The house is on fire, and our leaders are fixated on window-dressings. Are these the new luxury beliefs? They then move on to talk about Peter Zeihan's The End of the World Is Just the Beginning. What happens economically and politically when a populace has lost faith in the future? If people in the culture no longer have the faith and commitment to sacrifice and even die for it, what happens to the future? discussed: -Synod in for the Church of England -train derailment in Palestine Ohio -Peter Zeihan -Genesis and "be fruitful and multiply" -McIntyre and Christian Smith -kids as a luxury good
Rod and Kale discuss the retreat of Christianity and its replacement with Neo-paganism, which is really just old Paganism in a slightly different register. Too often people dabble in alternate spiritualisms, yet fail to account for the non-benign. Christianity's ascent was based on the power of miracles, more powerful than existing pagan magic. Modern Christianity has fallen in love with the idea. Ideas do not convert, but experiences do. The allure of psychedelics opens people up to a reality, but a reality that is unearned and thus dangerous. Topics and Links: Rod's post on Dark Enchantment: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/psychonauts-plinths-re-paganizing-pop-culture/ Robert Knapp's Dawn of Christianity: https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Christianity-People-Magic-Miracles/dp/0674976460 Edward Watt's Final Pagan Generation: https://www.amazon.com/Final-Pagan-Generation-Christianity-Transformation/dp/0520379225/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Rod and Kale meet up to talk about two topics: Cardinal McIlroy's call for changes in the sexual teachings of the Catholic Church, and the horrific tragedy of a young woman killed after a night of drinking and debauchery. This is a two part show, but connected with our culture's continuing difficulty of making sense out of the sexual revolution. Topics and Links: -Cardinal McIlory's piece in America Magazine: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/01/24/mcelroy-synodality-inclusion-244587 -Rod's post on McIlroy: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/cardinal-screwtape/ -What does "communion" mean? -Rod on Andrew Sullivan's Dishcast: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/lesprit-descalier-dishcast-edition/ -"In This House We Believe" at walmart: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-elite-class-who-hates-life/ -Young Woman in Baton Rouge killed: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11675153/TikTok-bar-Madi-Brooks-seen-shows-students-swigging-straight-bottles.html -Louise Perry's Case Against the Sexual Revolution: https://amzn.to/4066Ln7 -What we do with our bodies matters -Sex and the City is 25 years old! -Binge drinking is connected to the meaning crisis -Freedom in Chastity
Rod and Kale record a conversation about the prophetic vision of Lewis' That Hideous Strength as a way into the notion of the Experience Machine, and the allure of the blue-pill versus the red-pill. See the links below for all the titles they discuss. Connecting Lewis with Iain McGhilchrist, they jump off into a discussion about Left Hemispheric bias and the turn towards madness in modernity. The stakes are high; no higher than humanity and the forces that would blithely take us into the post-human. Topics (in order) with links (affiliated): - That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis: https://amzn.to/3kjKKRk - The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist: https://amzn.to/3XG0yMB - The Matter With Things by Iain McGilchrist: https://amzn.to/3kv0LEf - Hartmut Rosa on Resonance: https://amzn.to/3J1pBpE - Rod on the Experience Machine: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/robert-nozicks-experience-machine/ - Rod on Young Christian and Eager to Escape: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/young-christian-and-eager-to-escape/ - Churchill: "we build our buildings, and they in turn build us" - Homo Deus and the prophets of post-humanity - the idea of embodied reality in Crawford's Soulcraft book: https://amzn.to/3ZQupUw - The World Beyond Your Head: https://amzn.to/3XpImHm - The Disintegration Machine vs. the Experience Machine - Hierophany at Chartres - Paul Connerton's How Societies Remember: https://amzn.to/3ku3o9m - Is our "holy story" really profane?
Kale and Rod kick off season 3 to discuss liminal thinkers and the breaking up of old frames to see through, and the emergence of new ones. Standing inside and outside affords new perspectives.They go on to discuss Rod's attendance at the funeral for Pope Benedict XVI, what he saw, and how to make sense out of this giant of the 20th century. Are we in the time of Antichrist? Jumping off from Seewald's magisterial biography of Ratzinger/Benedict, we talk about what he meant and what he means.topics and links (some of these are affiliate links, fyi): -Mary Harrington (@moveincircles) and Louise Perry (@louise_m_perry) as rethinkers from alternate priors: Mary's Feminism Against Progress and Louise's The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. -Joseph Ratzinger's New Paganism address -Rod's 2002 NR Cover story on Catholicism and The Netherlands -the myth of the "Panzer Pope" and the gentle, monk-scholar -Rod's Benedict "Lessons from the funeral" and here -Robert Knapp's The Dawn of Christianity -Ratzinger and the rise of the time of AntiChrist -Sochi The Secret of Benedict -NT Wright's Revelations for Everyone -Benedict as katechon -Peter Seewald's Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Biography of Benedict
Rod and Kale sit down for a discussion looking forward to the coming year. The first half revolves around the war in Ukraine, the circus of Trumpland and his wobbling strength, the ongoing masque of the groomer clown shows and the "friend-enemy distinction" enchanting the Right.In part two, Rod and Kale tack to a discussion about the weak Christian response to the rising tide of neo-paganism. Is this the "final Christian generation?"They look to patterns, rather than outward signs, and see a hope in the coldest darkest days of the year.Links: -Freddie Sayers and John Mearshiemer: "we're screwed!" -NYT on Charlene Richard -Kingsnorth's Basilisk -Rod on St. Cecilia and Paganism
Rod and Kale pick up their discussion from last week about the ancient substructure of Christendom, and how an understanding of the transformation from pagan to christion sexual morality altered the very concept of free will and the imago dei. Figuring out "what time it is" has become paramount. Topics: - Rod on "Sex and the Final Christian Generation" - Last week's episode on the ancient churches of Revelation - Kyle Harper's From Shame to Sin, a book about the transformation of sexual morality - a discussion on "how we got here" and then "from where did here originate" - Freud and Rieff - Something is wrong with the cultural scripts - Yoel Roth as a condensed symbol of our cultural decadence
Rod is fresh off a trip to Turkey, visiting the Seven Churches of the Book of Revelation. Walking the places of the early church helps bring home the "realness" of these ancient lands. Topics: -Turkey and the Seven Churches -the early church as the challenge to the established order -touching real things in real places -Book of Revelations is written for us -Tish Harris Warren NYT piece on "getting along" -Edward Watts' Final Pagan Generation -there is no such thing as "post-religious"; myth is not optional -Idol worship and worshipping in the metaverse -technologies blind us -NT Wright's Revelation for Everyone -burden of being an image-bearer -Twitter is happening (minute 48), and Team Nothingburger is all over it -dark spirits of race resentment
Rod and Kale engage in a conversation about the manifestations of the dark hearts of our culture. They discuss the repugnant ideas that result from a curated discussion about real things. The demons of white supremacy reemerge in the wake of the race essentialism ideology these past few years, along with other hauntings. What happens when you are not free to talk out loud? Can we step back from the darkness? Topics: -Thomas Achord affair and so-called confession -Broken cultures and a broken political discourse -Rocket Man bad -Ketman and Robin Keller and another zoom call from hell -Douglas Wilson and bold conversation vs the soft, fuzzy, bougie chatter -Malcolm X and the move to moderation and maturity -Balenciaga ad campaign to sexualize children -Radical evil is real and all around us -Santa Muerte and the pattern of breakdown -Louise Perry's masterpiece
Rod and Kale meet up for their weekly check in to discuss the aftermath of the red-wave-that-wasn't. They focus their discussion on the sex and age delta and the strange case of abortion politics, post Roe. The truly post-Christian landscape emerges more clearly as the under 30 cohort show deep left preferences. Obama's "Life of Julia" campaign was a winning pitch. They tack from election talk to a discussion about cultural transmission, and the cut-off for the rising generations. People are more malleable the less they feel attached to an inheritance. Ultimately, stories and narrative are vital to any hope for a renaissance of enchantment. We must reconnect. Links: Most Dangerous Post Election Lie from Rod Life of Julia from Obama's re-election campaign Louise Perry's book on the Sexual Revolution Zimmerman's Family and Civilization
Rod and Kale talk about the shifting conversations about culture, authority, costs, and ruin. Rod learns how to read through an enchanted lens, and also gives up caring about being called a fascist. Topics covered: Live Not By Lies on Paperback; Communism's invisible crimes; uncounted costs; Hollywood goes broke on woke; woke preaching comes for David; the loss of credible authority in public health; the Bulwark goes full affirm and unveils the truth; Chris Rufo and the Origins of Drag Queen Story Hour; Heather Heying's piece trying to wake up Mama Bears; what is real in the wake of Dylan Mulvaney; Matthieu Pageau's Cosmos; the sexual revolution and the abuse of the real; Rod's Sex after Christianity; meaning is intrinsic to matter, contra to modernity; aborting Jesus is a-okay; Macintryre' crucial turning point; "Rod Dreher, American Fascist"?
Rod and Kale kick off their weekly show with a discussion about the darkness hovering just below the surface. FBI chaplains, covering abuse, the compelling nature of the trans narrative and cultural boredom. We move on to discuss Hanby's Metaphysical Catastrophe and the need for real authority. -conversations with an FBI Chaplain and the darkness under the surface -the evil you fight works on you; you are changed by what you fight -the compelling nature of the trans narrative -power of sexuality outside of norms -affluence and boredom, and the preconditions for cultural collapse -The Beautiful Ones -Hartmut Rosa's Resonance, and the limitations of the material -need to Struggle and the First Man and the Underground man -Need for norms and the creation of idiots -the limits of conservative legalism -Hanby's Metaphysical Catastrophe and the lack of Authority -McGilchrist's Left Hemisphere temptation -Shigilov's plan -Matthieu Pageau and the Language of Creation -Hopkin's Grandeur of God and Hiedegger's Standing Reserve -Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: the balance of power and meaning -We must contend with the fact that our world is not Christian -the law absent spirit is tyranny; the Grand Inquisitor -are we all just LARPing? -Avatar Politics and senate races -Megyn Kelly and Trump's position of primacy -Statesmanship -Synod on Synodality extension and a defacto Vatican III -"good guys" and "bad guys" -Peter and Paul's listening tours
Rod and Kale return to discuss the latest in the ongoing ferment of cultural churn. Rod is settling into his new digs in Budapest and they discuss notions of exile and disrupted homecomings. Taking Dante as a jumping off point, they go on to discuss Rod's departure from Louisiana and the tragic dimensions of life. Topics covered: -Dante -Exile, -Dante, and another man's stairs -Learning how to suffer -Learning how to love correctly -Erik Kaufman's latest on Political Demography -Kids and Culture: necessary transmissions -Philip Reiff -Need for "Friction" -Looming energy crisis -Ian McGhilchrist -Louise Perry -Crimes of Noticing Rod's GOODBYE, LOUISIANA. I TRIED Rod's FORGETTING HOW TO BE A CIVILIZATION Kale on "NORMS" Kale's Substack THE UNDERNEATH
Rod and Kale return to discuss the latest in the ongoing ferment of cultural churn. Rod is settling into his new digs in Budapest and they discuss notions of exile and disrupted homecomings. Taking Dante as a jumping off point, they go on to discuss Rod's departure from Louisiana and the tragic dimensions of life. Topics covered: -Dante -Exile, -Dante, and another man's stairs -Learning how to suffer -Learning how to love correctly -Erik Kaufman's latest on Political Demography -Kids and Culture: necessary transmissions -Philip Reiff -Need for "Friction" -Looming energy crisis -Ian McGhilchrist -Louise Perry -Crimes of Noticing Rod's GOODBYE, LOUISIANA. I TRIED Rod's FORGETTING HOW TO BE A CIVILIZATION Kale on "NORMS" Kale's Substack THE UNDERNEATH
Rod and Kale return after a hiatus to discuss: * war continues in Ukraine, and a dark and cold winter awaits * potential breakup of the European Union? * do the elites truly believe that they "create their own reality"? * institutions continue to lie and burn through cultural capital; what is left to trust? * can the organs of cultural transmission be salvaged? * English departments as one-time de facto theology departments * Kale's trip to Oxford and the statements of faith * St. Michel, or "The Wonder" * learning to inhabit a space, and the appreciation of old things
Rod and Kale return after a hiatus to discuss: * war continues in Ukraine, and a dark and cold winter awaits * potential breakup of the European Union? * do the elites truly believe that they "create their own reality"? * institutions continue to lie and burn through cultural capital; what is left to trust? * can the organs of cultural transmission be salvaged? * English departments as one-time de facto theology departments * Kale's trip to Oxford and the statements of faith * St. Michel, or "The Wonder" * learning to inhabit a space, and the appreciation of old things
Rod and Kale meetup to discuss all things TGE after Rod's travel sagas land him back in England and then Budapest. Topics covered, in order: - Oxford and Cambridge adventures; no more atheists - WEIRD folks are the outliers who must contend with the robustness of belief - insufficiency of pure materialism - snuff with Cardinal Muller - English Christianity, Malcolm Guite and Martin Shaw's conversion to the "true myth" - liturgies and Christian dreaming - Thin Spaces and Thin Experiences - "re-wilding" of Christianity - necessity for metaphysics and the insufficiency of mere politics - policy disputes as a substitute for real talk about what we are for - importance of attention - lost America and the return of the 80's - dignity done: Tiara Mack and performative senatorial twerking - Rod on the Jordan Peterson podcast - divorce and the Dark Wood LINKS: Read and subscribe to Kale's new substack Read and subscribe to Rod's substack Mary Harrington on Satanism
Kale sits down with Tara Ann Thieke to discuss The Machine, Spirits, Technology and the struggle to be human. In the first half of the show they talk about what it could mean to be in a "post-Christian" world and the limits of the liberal order, and in particular what the implications are for people raised in this order and the reality of the meaning crisis. In the second half they talk about spirits. Topics covered: * Ellul and Illich * Edith Stein * paying attention to the face as an antidote to memes * human person as Icon rather than thing or instrument * curating your own social media game * Spirits and compulsion * Millennials have been lied to * Benedict Option for those who have "timed out" * the spirit of Ahriman * Buffered and Porous models * no neutrality in the spirit world
The guys discuss the aftermath of yet another mass shooting, the rush to assign blame and score it, and the need to create a sense of control in the face of American nihilism. They move on to talk about the world given to us by our elites, and the loss of the wisdom of "how to live." In the second part they get into things more personal, in the context of the breakdown of authority, and Rod's own "domicide." Links: * Jonathan Pageau on Sacrifice * Joshua Mitchell's America's Awakening * Auron MacIntyre TWEET * Alison in New Orleans
Rod and Kale are joined by filmmaker, podcaster, and best-selling children’s author Matt Walsh of DailyWire.com to discuss his new hit movie “What is a Woman?” The interview is the first half, followed by a debrief between Rod and Kale in the second.
Rod and Kale have Yoram Hazony on to talk about his just released book "Conservatism: A Rediscovery." They discuss: - Can Conservatives learn to Conserve? - Post-fusionism and Cultural Transmission - Public and Personal realms - No real "Neutrality" - Honor creates a world - Freedom above all and the dissolution of Family - Woke as a placeholder for the loss of tradition - Post WW2 cultural trauma - The Bible's centrality - The successes of Enlightenment Rationalism - Institutional capture - False nazi smears and "postures versus arguments" - Fight for restoration not revolution - Yoram's personal turn to Conservatism through lived tradition Read Rod at his blog at The American Conservative More from Rod at roddreher.substack.com More from Kale at kalezelden.substack.com
Rod and Kale return after a 6 week sabbatical to cover what has been going on politically, culturally, and personally in the past six weeks. The talk: -Jerusulem -Russia and Ukraine -Orban -Media Class Blindness -Enemies as Parasites -our New Media Disinformation Tsar -Roe v. Wade -Spanish Civil War -Statecraft -Purity Politics -Pilgrimage and physical reality Kale has started "The Underneath," a new Substack at: kalezelden.substack.com Links: Prelude to a Tragedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu5f9hp0IP4 The Subversive Podcast: https://alexkaschuta.com/subversive-podcast
In their warm up, Kale and Rod talk about the Slap Heard 'Round the World at this year's Oscars and the snoozefest it has become. They move into a discussion of the deeper implications of the question: "what is a woman?" Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson professed her inability to answer the question at the confirmation hearings, and they talk about the deeper implications of why this matters, especially in our current moment. They then talk about the NatCon Conference in Brussels, and especially the bold speech of Eva Vlaardingerbroek as well as Alex Kaschuta, host of The Subversive Podcast and their critiques of Western Liberalism. The question is serious: will it hold? Have we lost Western Civilization's "default settings"? Or are we doomed to continue to toil in the world of Crowley? They move on to discuss Iain McGilchrist and his vision of purpose encoded in the natural world. Can we rediscover our purpose, or are we simply waiting for the barbarians to take us? Are we stuck in Necropolis? They finish up on a conversation about the prophetic role of the church, and the need for moral leadership. What do we do when these, too, are captured? Links: * KJB and What is a Woman?: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/woman-man-ketanji-brown-jackson-woman-gender-ideology-fight-against-evil/ * The Vicar's Wife's Lament: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/frustrated-laywoman-to-anglican-leaders-find-your-spines/ * Subversive Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AORn2H3hCSs * TGE Show with Helena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52WFFekjcSc&t=4s * The City in History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_in_History
In this episode of The General Eclectic, Rod and Kale talk about the spreading and manufacture of cultural confusion on several fronts: gender ideology and the culture war, surrogacy and the gaming of procreation, the corruption of institutional churches, and the confusion over the war in Ukraine. Rod attended a seminar with Eric Kaufman who argues that all conservative energy must be directed towards the culture war, as the demographic reality is staggeringly grim. The capture of "the kids" proceeds apace and there is no time for version of that old lie: "the kids will grow up when they enter the real world." Complacency is abnegation. Links: * Swim Not By Lies: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/swim-not-by-lies-lia-thomas/ * Woke at Disney: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/walt-disney-conservative-employees-closet-dont-say-gay/ * Eric Kaufmann speech: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/eric-kaufmann-peril-of-culture-war-complacency/ * Judith Rich Harris: https://www.amazon.com/Nurture-Assumption-Children-Revised-Updated/dp/1439101655 * Mary Harrington: https://unherd.com/thepost/where-are-dave-rubins-babies-coming-from/
Kale and Rod are joined by Helena, a young woman who has gone through a harrowing personal journey. Her testimony takes us into the world of Tumblr and the alternate reality of fandom, social justice ideology, and transgenderism. At 15 she begins the process of becoming a trans person online and decides to become trans in "meat space," fighting with her parents and making the decision through "informed consent" to begin a regimen of testosterone. After a drawn out spiral she acknowledges that she's made a terrible mistake and begins the process of making sense out of what happened. She's a witness and a prophet. Links: * Helena's By Any Other Name: https://lacroicsz.substack.com/p/by-any-other-name?s=r * Our Episode on "Liturgies": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PpKbx5k3es
Rod and Kale talk about the war in the context of the Anglo and Chinese polarity and the West's demand to be moral versus the Chinese demand to be obeyed. Why does the West have Billionaires, but Russia has Oligarchs? They go on to discuss the fragility of civilizational networks and the fragility of global economics. Will Twitter spark World War III? Lindsey Graham's takes to twitter and calls on a would-be Brutus. They go on to discuss technology and a post-human future, the logic of transhumanism, and John the Savage. They close on a discussion of Russian art and moral panic, and the simplified scripts we use to make sense of the complex world. Links: * Orban Interview: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/viktor-orban-interview-mandiner/ * Fifth Column Taibbi episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/348-w-matt-taibbi-richard-perle-in-new-jersey-putin/id1097696129?i=1000552854933 * Aaron Renn on Gen Xers: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/p/generation-x-finally-steps-into-the?r=57as1&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email * Matthew Crawford: http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/new-page-1-1 * Helena's Substack: https://lacroicsz.substack.com/p/by-any-other-name?s=r * Paul Kingsnorth: https://emergencemagazine.org/fiction/the-basilisk/ * Kale's article "Things Are Broken": https://onepeterfive.com/things-are-broken-we-need-to-upgrade-our-sense-making-apparatus/ * Scruton's Video Essay: https://vimeo.com/549715999
Rod and Kale are joined by Paul Vanderklay, pastor and YouTuber, to discuss Rod's latest project on Enchantment. Rod starts off with his story of Saint Galgano and the sword in the stone as a way of laying out his new project. These fantastic stories are the living testimony of the very strange God and the stories of those men and women called to bear witness. In Modernity, we have lost our ability to see fully and as a result we live in the disenchanted world that delimits and occludes the spirit. Any move towards re-enchantment must somehow include the enlightenment, and thinkers like Iain McGilchrist provide us a path back. In part, the recognition that "the whole story" or the "subtraction story" of Charles Taylor is, too, a myth. They talk about Jordan Peterson as "the unauthorized exorcist of the Gospel of Mark", Charles Taylor, Tonya Luhrman, Blaise Pascal, Sam Harris, Dallas Willard, Michel Houellebecq, BJ Campbell, Steve Skojec, and others. Links: Paul's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulVanderKlay
Kale is joined by Paul Rossi, independent school teacher turned activist. They discuss what is going on in our nation's most elite schools, and their radical transformation through critical race theory praxis. What is "religious" about the DEI training? Paul offers an insight from the inside out. As he says toward the end, "I want to start a revolution" in order to save the schools from capture. In between this conversation about schools and DEI, Kale and Paul talk about liberal learning and what schools are for, and how a solid education in the wisdom traditions can be a kind of inoculation. As Paul admits, "there are no secular solutions" to what we are going through. We hope you enjoy. * Paul's piece on Bari Weiss' Substack: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/i-refuse-to-stand-by-while-my-students?utm_source=url * Paul's exposure of the People of Color Conference through NAIS: https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/02/project-launch-unmasking-national-association-of-independent-schools/ * https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/02/project-launch-unmasking-national-association-of-independent-schools/ * Communism Doesn't Know How: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5HZvOSvLzM * students learn to lie * Polyanna curriculum: https://pollyannainc.org/ * from the Golden Rule to the Platinum Rule * private schools are not immune * will the bill come due? * meaning trumps non-meaning
In this episode, Rod and Kale discuss the underlying issue of "telos"—the end or purpose of a thing—as a necessary guide for action, whether in the context of the military or schools or any institution. What can you ground a culture or civilization upon? Is self-definition enough? Is desire sufficient? They move into a discussion of curated narratives and then into Sam Brinton, the BDSM enthusiast and new Biden appointee. What are the grounds for us to object? They end with a discussion of liturgies. We all have liturgies—modes of scripted and often unconscious behaviors that "create" us or form us. What do our own personal and public liturgies create in and through us? Topics: * War and Perspective * "Critical Military Theory" * Fog of War, and the myth of administrative control * "We create our own reality" * When ideals clash with the telos * What is a School for? * Sam Brinton * Narrative Suppression * Pageau and the Liturgies of Sin * Liturgies form and imply telos * Normalizing Kink * Auden watches a movie with Germans * Liturgies of the death works and classical liberalism * the long spirits that form us
Links: * https://taskandpurpose.com/opinion/critical-military-theory/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War
In this episode of the podcast, Kale and Rod have a conversation in three parts: Russia and Ukraine, the use and abuse of Dialogue in Church and culture matters, and Rod's work on Enchantment. The first section is a discussion of the escalation of war rhetoric surrounding Russia and Ukraine, and the chorus of foreign policy voices seeming to cheerlead another conflict. It always seems to be Munich for a certain type of D.C. pundit. Kale presses Rod to discuss his loss of faith in foreign wars twenty years ago with the Iraq debacle. What are we left with when narratives collapse? Can we see outside of our own bubbles? The second section focuses on dialogue done in good faith versus dialogue with bad faith actors. Why does dialogue mask actual and important differences of not just policy, but arguments over the very basis of reality? In the third section, Rod discusses his work in enchantment, his reading of Hartmut Rosa and the idea of "resonance", and a podcast between Jordan Peterson and Chloé Valdary.
Rod and Kale sit down to discuss the conspicuous displays of the anniversary of January 6th, and the power of political liturgies to manufacture consensus. Should January 6th be mentioned in the same breath as Pearl Harbor and 9/11? What motivates the public displays of our media class? What really happened, and who controls what we ultimately think about it? They go on to discuss: * the rhyming of January 6 with the Gunpowder Plot * how do you know if you've been captured by your own script? * what do our "priors" reveal and obscure to us? * are these public scripts controllable, and how will the CCP fare? * the "incentives code" and the Soviet Union and contemporary China * scapegoating of the "unvaxxed" and the precursors to soft totalitarianism * why isn't the gospel compelling to young ears?
If you have questions or suggestions, you can contact the show at thegeneraleclectic@gmail.com
Rod and Kale are joined by Sean Clifford, proud husband, father of four, and an anti-pornography advocate. He is CEO of Canopy, a company dedicated to the safety of families and children amidst the scourge of online pornography.
We discuss why many parents and leaders are not equipped to deal with the hyper-novelty of what Sean calls "new porn." In other words, this is not your fathers stash of girlie magazines. High def, ubiquitous, and easy access video porn is everywhere, and it has its design on our attention and ultimately our souls.
Sean talks about the ratchet effect, and the way in which new porn shapes your desires and dominates your attention. The science on online porn use is clear, and many are suffering.
They go on to talk about the "failure to launch" many young men are facing, and what possible role porn plays.
Are we equipped to deal with hyper-novelty in the virtual/sexual realm?
Sean has launched a company called Canopy.us, and the impressive AI they deploy to work with families struggling to utilize the good of technology, without the filth. Check it out.
Rod and Kale bring on writer and social critic Tim Stanley to discuss his book on Tradition. Tim argues for the dynamism of Tradition versus the bone-sifting endemic to various forms of "Traditionalism". They go on to discuss the notion that conservatism is more an instinct rather than a series of policy prescriptions. Tim's book: Whatever Happened to Tradition?: History, Belonging and the Future of the West: Stanley, Tim: 9781472974129: Amazon.com: Books
We open with this podcast with a discussion about good books, and why we read what we read, and in particular, how fiction can draw you in, grab you, and give experience. Reading fiction is no mere escapist cope, but rather an invitation into other worlds and broadened horizons, a kind of pilgrimage of the imagination. In the second half, Rod pivots to talk about the rise of DMT and other hallucinogens, and the coming mainstreaming of these kinds of "religious hacks." Are they "real," or are they mere phantoms of the mind. These questions move us into a discussion about spiritual realities, and the relative cultural naivete of the modernist delusions. We are participants in the meaning-deserts of modernity, and old books might provide a way to re-enter into the mysteries of creation. Links: Carl Trueman podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OulW5T-9pgY&t=11s Mary Harrington podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-PANVg0QR0&t=4s How God Becomes Real by T. M. Luhrman: https://www.amazon.com/How-God-Becomes-Real-Invisible/dp/0691164460/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1639595917&sr=8-2 That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis: https://www.amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-Fairy-Tale-Grown-Ups/dp/B00HTK8EQQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=ZOSQNBP0TBVM&keywords=that+hideous+strength+by+c.s.+lewis&qid=1639596153&sprefix=that+hide%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-4 R. L. Wilkins' "Church As Culture": https://www.firstthings.com/article/2004/04/the-church-as-culture Leon Kass' The Hungry Soul: https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Soul-Eating-Perfecting-Nature/dp/0226425681 Charles Taylor's The Secular Age: https://www.amazon.com/Secular-Age-Charles-Taylor/dp/0674986911/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=charles+taylor&qid=1639596347&s=books&sr=1-1
Mary Harrington, contributing editor at Unherd, writer and self-professed "Reactionary Feminist", joins Rod and Kale today to discuss both her speech at NatCon 2 as well as her "conservatives in the mist" reportage of the scene in Orlando. Mary has coined several terms that are useful in the discussion of what is going on and where are we going: meat-lego memeplex, bio-libertarianism, and reactionary-feminism. She describes three basic approaches to the death of modernism: Trads, Cads, & RadFems. The wide-ranging conversation covers plenty of ground. In the second half, they discuss the return of the grooming gangs nightmare in the U.K., and the unwillingness of so many to look at the actual costs of our system built upon consent and sexual liberalism. They end up with an exchange on the purpose and direction of conservatism: is it enough to be "anti-woke", or is there something else necessary. Topics discussed: NatCon 2; Atheism of Progress; economic transitions and the ongoing sex wars; the limits of neoliberal transactionalism; satanism as self help; satanism and the puritans, bio-libertarianism; sex differences; sexual liberalism; consent; grooming gangs, bio-surveillance and meat avatars. Links: * The American Right's civil war - UnHerd * The sexual revolution killed feminism - UnHerd * How Satanism conquered America - UnHerd * Reactionary Feminist: Reactionary Feminist
You can find her at Unherd.com and on twitter.com @moveincircles
Rod and Kale are joined by Carl Trueman, professor and author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. Carl gives a big picture overview of the book, particularly as regards the loss of the sense of a Sacred Order. Carl makes the claim that the battle for our time is one over the imagination, and the fallout over the disconnect with the real. They discuss the implications for our culture, the raising of children, and the future of our children. Topics and books discussed: Philip Rieff; Triumph of the Therapeutic; Hamlet; Dante; Reformations; Percy Bysshe Shelley; Paradise Lost; technology and the divorce from real relationships; Christianity and Pride Activism; Abigail Shrier; Schleiermacher; Integralism; Theonomism; Tom Holland's Dominion; mass psychosis; Michael Hanby; technology; the sexual revolution
In this episode Rod and Kale discuss Liquid Modernity as the acidic solvent upon the foundations of civilization. We are witnessing the pulling apart of the patterns of life, the ties that bind, the warp and woof of communities, all in the name of liberation. The implicit nihilism at the core of these modern ideologies must be challenged by a re-assertion of our divine callings. We must create life where we are. Jordan Peterson's unique ability to speak to those caught in the clutches of nihilistic despair should be built out and amplified. Topics discussed:
- The Rittenhouse narrative
- Liquid modernity
- Queer theory and the transvaluation of value
- Church of England's contempt for a call for more babies
- The rise of NB's and the reprogramming of our social algorithms
- Jordan Peterson and the neutering of the male.
In this episode Rod and Kale discuss the surprising Republican victory in Virginia and his recent trip to the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando. In the aftermath, the questions arise as to what will a conservative coalition look like in the future. What kind of tent can be built to include the integralists on the one hand, and the "classical liberal" non-religious? What would a viable coalition look like? In the next section, they discuss the doubling down of progressive media in the wake of the pushback in Virginia. Is this the "Chris Rufo" citizen-activist election? Why can't the media admit that CRT is a real thing? They finish up talking about Ibram X. Kendi's tweet that gave away the game, and the new University of Austin.
Rod and Kale are joined by New York Times columnist (and friend) Ross Douthat to discuss his new book The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness & Recovery. His harrowing account opens up spaces for rethinking what we think we know, the limitations of official accounts, and the deep mysteries of the buffered and porous self. Links: * Charles Taylor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Secular_Age * Michael Specter's The Lyme Wars: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/01/the-lyme-wars * Ross's Substack preview: https://douthat.substack.com/p/the-deep-places-a-preview * Rod's Blog Post: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/ross-douthat-the-deep-places-tick-bite-prophet-lyme/
Rod and Kale talk about Elizabeth Zerofsky's piece in the New York Times about the postliberal American Right. In the conversation, they wonder out loud if the "normie" reaction from center-right and center-left stems from a disgust-reaction to the Heretic. Rod and other writers like TAC's Sohrab Ahmari dare to critique the capital "L" Liberalism of American Conservatism, and look to someone like Viktor Orban who is not squeamish about the business of Statecraft. Despite Rod being called "An Aging Hipster," the piece is quite fair.And though Rod considers himself largely "un-cancelable" due to The American Conservative, he was initially nervous. Fortunately, she accurately portrayed what these figures on the postliberal Right think. Wokeness has become the default operating system of the Cathedral, and having a fair hearing in the most significant platform is a big deal. What leaves classical liberalism so vulnerable to the illiberal left? State power is a fact and conservatives need to take it seriously as Statecraft. The left has moved into "Error Has No Rights" territory, so that anyone in opposition to their desires is a Heretic, a kind of left-wing Integralism. Rod will be speaking about these topics at the upcoming National Conservatism Conference. Links: * Zarofsky piece:The Viktor Orban Effect: Why U.S. Conservatives Love Hungary - The New York Times (nytimes.com) * Christoper Caldwell: https://www.amazon.com/Age-Entitlement-America-Since-Sixties/dp/1501106899 * George Nash: https://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Intellectual-Movement-America-Since/dp/1933859121 * JD Vance piece: Stop Treating Left-Wing Advocacy Groups Like Charities | Opinion (newsweek.com) Shrier: When the State Comes for Your Kids | City Journal (city-journal.org) * National Conservatism Conference: National Conservatism Conference * Bari Weiss: Opinion | Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Rod joins Kale to discuss several new eruptions of the ongoing culture wars: the latest kerfuffle at Yale and another sign that a Civil War (of sorts) is closer than we may want to believe. Our fragile infrastructure as a potential flash point, showing our vulnerabilities are all too available, notes Malcolm Kyeyune. The Biden administration seems to be playing a game of chicken with their mandates and the airlines. The whole vaccine narrative appears to be much more unstable than either Rod or Kale initially thought. Our Medical and Scientific establishment is not doing themselves any favors in their hard move towards ideology. Rod has been predicting the slide into Soft Totalitarianism, and we seem to be racking up evidence on a daily basis. We are being lied to continuously. * Civil War? What Would US Civil War Look Like? - The American Conservative * Hormone Skepticism:Ideological Medicine Undermines Trust - The American Conservative * Yale Trap House of Horrors: Soft Totalitarianism's Legal Brigade - The American Conservative * Prof. Kingsfield: After Obergefell, Revisiting Prof. Kingsfield - The American Conservative * Jon Gruden is a Sinner: NFLPA to petition NFL to release all emails from Washington Football Team investigation after Jon Gruden's resignation (espn.com)
Rod and Kale talk about Robert Nozick's Experience Machine thought experiment. A longtime teacher tweeted out her shock that after years of teaching this to the class, a majority of her students decided that they would prefer the simulacrum to the real thing—they would prefer the pleasant lie to the painful truth. They hash out what this could mean from a cultural standpoint and the long-term effects of the lost Wisdom culture.
What happens when you put an Anglican, an Eastern Orthodox, and a Catholic in a zoom room? Kale and Rod are joined by Fr. Daniel French, Anglican priest and podcaster at Irreverend. They discuss the possible Green Passports, church shutdowns, and the specter of having to take the church underground. Do we know our faith? Are confessional divisions suddenly much less important. is the need to band together and have a Christianity of the Gulag. With state encroachment in the offing, what is the limiting principle? Are our co-religionists ready for what’s coming?
Kale hosts a conversation with Rod and Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior writer at National Review. They discuss: * Orban, Fidesz, and the "conservative fascination with Hungary." * Is corruption a form of statecraft? * The Fog Machine of the Culture War * What will be left for posterity? * Progressives aren't happy
Rod and Kale catch up after Rod's return from Italy and his meeting with Pope Francis. They talk about: * The aftermath of Hurricane Ida's destruction of Louisiana * Meeting Pope Francis during his trip to Rome * The Ruling class's conflation of Nazi liberation with LGBTQ+ initiatives * Do members of Conservative Inc. understand how far the Overton Window has shifted? * Academic disruptions at Princeton, and Catholic schools Bostock violation * Noone really wants to be weird, especially the W.I.E.R.D. * Lewis' Inner Ring * Rod's pilgrimage to Galgano
Kale is joined today by his brother Mark Zelden, a long-time Capitol Hill guy, to discuss the Trump administration from the inside. Mark talks about the differences between Trump and the so-called Republican Establishment, and his own journey from skeptic to supporter. They discuss the unintended consequences of free trade, the unexpected Trump win, the move to the transition team, and the shocking experiences of the first crazy days especially after the Russia storm hits hard two weeks into the transition. Mark and Kale move on to talk about polarization, and Trump as a symptom and not a cause. This polarization has been manufactured, and it's roots reach back over 30 years oftentimes inadvertently caused by otherwise understandable reforms. The surrounding culture of members of congress altered the politics. Seeing Trump in the context of Obama illuminates and exposes these already grooved trends. The character that haunts all of these long trends is of course President Biden, nearing the half-century mark of time in Washington. Mark closes on why he thinks the President will not be removed, and why Trump will be elected in 2024. Buckle up.
Rod and Kale discuss Rod's upcoming trip to Italy to promote Live Not By Lies as well as a trip to San Galgano and the strange story that has been part of Rod's life for the last few years. They move on to discuss an impending hostage crisis in Afghanistan, and the deep resonances with the Iran situation when Rod was a kid. He wonders if we are moving into our own version of the "Chernenko Years." Chernenko is the image Rod uses of the teetering Gerontocratic mess of late Soviet decline. We too are run by a gerontocracy, and they discuss why have we been unable to cycle this generation through. They move on to discuss Kyeyune's essay "Farewell to Bourgeois Kings and the sad truth that our elites are no longer effective. What they are doing simply no longer works. They move on to discuss the long-term effects of people being mediated through social media, and the growing rift between the real and the virtual. We are overwhelmed by complexity. What role do the pattern-watchers have in making sense of the madness? How does the truth get translated? Mentioned in this episode: Keyune's essay: https://tinkzorg.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/farewell-to-bourgeois-kings/ Carl Trueman: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Triumph-Modern-Self-Individualism/dp/1433556332 The Big Short: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0393338827/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+big+short&qid=1629980900&s=books&sr=1-2 The Benedict Option: https://www.amazon.com/Benedict-Option-Strategy-Christians-Post-Christian/dp/0735213305/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+benedict+option&qid=1629980940&s=books&sr=1-1 Live Not By Lies: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Not-Lies-Christian-Dissidents/dp/0593087399/ref=pd_bxgy_1/139-4770705-8318864?pd_rd_w=8rsGn&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=JFA4X70W1MZANGGKQH72&pd_rd_r=a7db35fc-082c-42bc-96e7-880a2ef75684&pd_rd_wg=ext9X&pd_rd_i=0593087399&psc=1
Rod and Kale discuss the immediate aftermath of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 20 years in the making debacle. How did this happen, and who is to be held accountable? They discuss the resonances between this disgraceful exit and the exit from Vietnam. Will there be a hostage crisis in the aftermath? Does this catastrophe reveal a breakdown in our intelligence capabilities, our diplomacy, our political will and overall sense-making? They they transition to a discussion of social media's role not only in public virtue signaling amongst the elites, but the increasing role the virtual spaces play in our ongoing cultural crisis. What have all these things done to the collective trust? Mentioned in this episode: Tuchman's March of Folly: https://www.amazon.com/March-Folly-Troy-Vietnam/dp/0345308239 Kipling's The Gods of the Copybook Headings http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm Andy Bacevich: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/books/review/after-the-apocalypse-andrew-bacevich.html Laura Jadeed: https://laurajedeed.medium.com/afghanistan-meant-nothing-9e3f099b00e5
Rod and Kale discuss: 1. The sad phenomenon of a culture that has lost hope--why don't we want kids? 2. Mid-century Madness and the failures of the post-Christian cultural elites 3. The Pillar story fall-out and the need for full disclosure Links: Rod on Helmut Kentler: The Second Coming Of Helmut Kentler | The American Conservative Benjamin Boyce de-trans stories: (1) DeTrans Stories - YouTube Pillar Fallout: From Pillar To Post | The American Conservative
Rod is back and joins Kale to discuss two main topics: the revelation of government surveillance using the Pegasus software and Pope Francis' latest Motu Proprio undermining the Traditional Latin Mass. Institutional rot continues to make itself visible, both with governments and with churches. Rod's story on Pegasus: Pegasus And 'The End Of Privacy' | The American Conservative Rod's story on Pope Francis: 'Et Tu, Francisce?' | The American Conservative
Kale is joined today by Dr. Larry Chapp, blogger and retired professor, in discussing Ross Douthat's latest piece at First Things. The mid-century inspired accommodation between Catholicism and American liberal democracy is fraying, so that the existing "liberal" and "conservative" camps no longer appear operative. Emergent are four basic subgroups: populists, integralists, benedictines, and tradinistas. Larry and Kale go to discuss why the old friction-less detente is in need of an upgrade, and why the message of faith must recapture the goodness, the essential attractiveness, of the Good News. Enjoy. Links: Douthat First Things piece: Catholic Ideas and Catholic Realities by Ross Douthat | Articles | First Things We Hold These Truths: We Hold These Truths by John Courtney Murray (goodreads.com) Larry's Blog: Gaudium et Spes 22 – Dr. Larry Chapp Links to our former discussions: (1) Kale Zelden - YouTube
Rod and Kale reconnect this week to discuss decline and fall scenarios, particularly in the context of a Tanner Greer piece called "Culture Wars are Long Wars (Culture Wars are Long Wars – The Scholar's Stage (scholars-stage.org)) and how so much Conservative Inc energy and resources has been deeply misunderstood. Conservatives have waged a political war while missing the deeper and more deeply consequential culture war. The "Blue Church" cathedral freak out over Orban illustrates this two-tier battle. Nostalgic Conservatism dominates the second half of the show, and both Rod and Kale point to the power of enchanted story as a powerful antidote and inoculation against the deep culture war being waged for our children and our children's children.
Kale is joined by Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson to discuss the literary tradition and why we must read. He starts by asking Jessica why teaching literature is difficult and fraught. Instead of reading for identity affirmation, Jessica points to the inherent ability to challenge us that makes the tradition so dynamic and ultimately anti-fragile. The tradition--that which is received and that which is passed on--gives us a way of being in the world, without which we hazard our shared humanity. Contrary to current notions of progressive education theories that foreground technologies instead of content, Jessica posits a vision of education in which we come to understand the broad inheritance and not the narrowed focus literature as a selfish mirror.
Rod returns to talk about the disconnect between official narratives and on-the-ground reception of Live Not By Lies by refugees from Venezuela and former communist countries. They move on to discuss the "logic of civilization," and whether or not we have lost the wisdom needed to live together. Do proponents of the emergent woke ideology really understand what demons they are summoning vis a vis white identity politics. Kale and Rod end on a passionate plea for a renewal in the hope of civilization.
Kale is joined in this episode by Emile Doak, Executive Director of the American Conservative to discuss the big rethink on the Right. What will the Right be in the post Trump era? Will it double-down on globalism, or tack to a more localist or nationalist position? Will there be a fruitful discussion about distinctions between policy and principle? What role will technology play in this moment for reflection and revision? What will survive in the wake of Conservative Inc's exposure? Mentioned in this episode: Abigail Shrier: When the State Comes for Your Kids | City Journal (city-journal.org) The Rest is History Podcast: The Rest Is History on Apple Podcasts Subscribe to TAC: Subscribe | The American Conservative
Rod, fresh back from his amazing trip to Bucharest promoting Live Not By Lies, returns with Kale to talk about his deepening appreciation for the cultural and political scene. The West has lost its Authority in many ways, becoming in some sense a Zombie-culture. In the charge to "read the signs of the times," they discuss the neo-racist talks at Yale, Pope Francis' snub of Orban, and James Lindsey's ongoing discussion of Hegel as the "operating system" of the left.
Rod and Kale reconnect after his return from Poland, Rod reports on his ongoing conversations with Western academics and intellectuals about what is going on with the state of discourse, and the control of The Narrative. It strikes them both as incredible to think that the former communist countries have become a beacon of intellectual freedom in this time of self censorship. Speaking of censorship, the lab leak hypothesis is now "New York Times official" with the latest Bret Stephens piece. Kale and Rod discuss the implications of the capture of the scientific establishment, the odd protection of a narrative and a comparison to it and NFL Commissioner's campaign a decade ago to "protect the shield," along with the protection of the church during the abuse crisis. Viewpoint diversity, though messy and a bit chaotic, seems to be the only recourse to finding truth. Rod ends with a comparison with the underappreciated comparison between our moment and the lead up to the Spanish Civil War.
Fresh off an oyster-laden trip to Paris, replete with great conversations about Live Not By Lies and a couple of compelling "green shoots" of hope about Benedict Option-style lay communities, Rod is on the road again to Warsaw. He joins Kale to discuss his trip and his newfound renewal in his vocation. He and Kale talk about discernment between carrying your cross or laying it down, and the crucial element of credibility in living out your vocation. Sacrifice and gift seem to be fellow travellers. St. Galgano's story figures prominently in Rod's renewed vision. Kale invokes Babette's Feast. They go on to chew on the latest woke eruptions, and then move on to discuss the profoundness of institutional rot and capture, especially as regards the church. Rod invokes a piece by JD Flynn from The Pillar about Bishop Rick Stika, and then they go on to discuss a searing and painful essay from Steve Skojec called "Against Crippled Religion." In short, hurt people hurt people. Where are our fathers? Mentioned in the podcast: * JD Flynn's piece: Bishop Stika wants 'the whole story' ahead of Vatican investigation - The Pillar (pillarcatholic.com) * Steve Skojec's essay: Against Crippled Religion - The Skojec File (steveskojec.com) * Rod's trip to France: The Oyster King Lives | The American Conservative
Rod and Kale ruminate on what our moment heralds for us in the West. Rod's offers further thoughts on his experience of watching his home from afar, and how perspectives can be shaped by being a "stranger in a strange land." Why is the future, which has been located optimistically in the West and in the concept of Freedom, suddenly up for grabs. In his conversations with ordinary Hungarians, many voice a skepticism of their own government, but also a genuine distaste for the external threats of immigration and the internal threats of gender ideology. Is our faith in the future at stake? Can the West muster the energy and focus to play the role of future shaper? Or will China's brand of capital diplomacy be our future? Both think we are at the end of something big...and perhaps as a culture, we really are in fact crazy. Mentioned in the podcast: Baylor Flipped: Every Knee Shall Bow | The American Conservative Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self - Faith & Law (faithandlaw.org) Al Mohler podcast on Baylor: Monday, May 17, 2021 - AlbertMohler.com Walker Percy's letter to the NYT: Walker Percy's 1981 Letter to the New York Times on the Con and Doublespeak of the Abortion Discussion (thegospelcoalition.org) Richard Henania: Why is Everything Liberal? - Richard Hanania's Newsletter (substack.com)
Rod and Kale react to the news that John Lennon's Boomer Anthem "Imagine" plays across Germany in their "synodal" moment. As they rush to bless same-sex unions in defiance of the CDF, when will a break become a break? After a brief mention of the new woke college president at LSU, Kale asks Rod to talk about the vocation of writing, how he found it, the proliferation of platforms amdidst the collapse of legacy journalism, and the future of writing. Kale presses Rod on his own process, his life at home versus his life in Budapest.
Kale and Rod catch up on Rod's stay in Budapest. In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss social media and the default socialization of the young, the new perspective on things from the outside, the Chinese move to fill the void of Western meltdown and the latest chapter in the long march through the institutions. Has any culture had to deal with the twin-headed monster of social media and porn ubiquity? What effect are these having on the plastic minds of the young? Is the body politic in more danger from the genetic disease or the various memetic ones? What is our responsibility and method to fight back? Be sure to check out Rod's latest at his blog: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/
Rod and Kale discuss his arrival in Budapest, and the alternate worlds of Covid lockdowns. Being away from America, and reading about America, has Rod in a reflective mood about how crazy we seem from afar. What is the end game of The Narrative? Where is the sense of adult-level responsibility for our media elites. Is there a way to call us off the ledge? The aftermath of the George Floyd verdict has us wondering if we are headed for another "forever war" but this time on the domestic front. We continue our conversation focusing on the Body Politic, it's flabbiness and the vulnerability to pathogens, both real and of the mind. We close on a conversation about church rot, Bishop Barron, and the idea that to know is to be responsible in light of Steve Skojec's piece on One Peter Five.
The Most Honest Politician of the Week Award was given to Nancy Pelosi for her religious fervorino in the aftermath of the verdict.
Let us know what you think.
Links:
Evergreen Documentary: (5) PART ONE: Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying & the Evergreen Equity Council - YouTube
Pelosi Transcript: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/nancy-pelosi-speech-after-derek-chauvin-verdict-transcript-april-20
The Forever Race War: The Forever Race-Narrative War | The American Conservative
Macron Warns about Critical Race Theory: 'Woke' American Ideas Are a Threat, French Leaders Say - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Amidst Conflicting Fatima "Secrets," a Clear Message Shines - OnePeterFive
Rod and Kale discuss the shift in corporate virtue signaling and the move to make the states pay for their crimes. Are corporations more powerful than the government? They move on to talk about institutional capture and the challenges of raising not only religious kids but also basically conservative kids. They then tack to a conversation about the impending doom of the Derek Chuavin trial. Is it a disaster in the making? What is the responsibility for those with large megaphones and platforms?
Kale discusses a recent Substack in which Ross articulates the dilemmas facing Christian's in light of our current cultural exhaustions, what Ross works out in more detail with his latest book The Decadent Society. Rod joins Kale to continue the conversation and they talk about post-Obergfell, the Integralist response, and pessimism regarding where we stand. Ross's The Decadent Society: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success: Douthat, Ross: 9781476785240: Amazon.com: Books Charles Taylor The Secular Age: A Secular Age: Taylor, Charles: 9780674986916: Amazon.com: Books Ross's Substack on Christian Cul-de-sacs: Reactions (substack.com) Rod's post on Discord Discord Servers: Woke Friends Consider Her A Leper | The American Conservative Rod's response to Ross's Substack: Cosmos & Chickadee | The American Conservative Rod's Sex After Christianity (a MUST read): Sex After Christianity | The American Conservative
In The General Eclectic #13, Rod and Kale discuss woke parents and school committees, social credit and social media, Lil Nas X and anti-Christian culture, and more. Links: Woke Parents Enemies list: In Aftermath Of Enemies List, School Committee Pledges To ‘Silence The Opposition’ | The Daily Wire and Teachers Compile List Of Parents Who Question Racial Curriculum, Plot War On Them | The Daily Wire Rod's post on Two College Guys visit: 'Lovely People' & The Social Credit System | The American Conservative Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism: The Origins of Totalitarianism: Arendt, Hannah: 9780156701532: Amazon.com: Books Lil Nas's Satan Sneakers: Lil Nas X's Satan Shoes | The American Conservative Lil Nas's NPR interview: Lil Nas X On His Children's Book, 'C Is For Country,' And Playing To Kids : NPR Plenty Coups: Who Is The Plenty Coups Of The Christians? | The American Conservative The Church as Culture: The Church as Culture by Robert Louis Wilken | Articles | First Things Final Pagan Generation: The Final Pagan Generation by Edward J. Watts - Paperback - University of California Press (ucpress.edu)
In The General Eclectic #11 Rod and Kale recap more of the Woke March, but pivot to a larger discussion about more field notes from the emergent Soft Totalitiarianism. Rod's book Live Not By Lies continues to sell well, though with a virtual legacy media blackout. They move on to discuss the necessity to be unafraid of being a Weird Christian and the siren call for Bougie Conformity. Towards the end, these two Gen X'ers break form and offer an earnest thanks and plea to the audience for prayers. Links: A military lawyer loses his job for an emoji tagged post about January 6: Is The US Military Being Purged Of Rightists? | The American Conservative Dr. Ibram X. Kendi tells us what real Christians are: Antiracist, Anti-Christian | The American Conservative A Live Not By Lies reading group in Massachusetts: MFI | Massachusetts Family Institute – Massachusetts Family Institute | Faith. Family. Freedom. (mafamily.org) Pastor Paul Vanderklay's podcast with Kale: (48) Christian Education: Between the Table and the T-shirt with Brett Salkeld and Kale Zelden - YouTube Live Not By Lies: Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents (eighthdaybooks.com)
In episode #11, we discuss the return of Jordan Peterson, both in the form of his new book Beyond Order (Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life: Peterson, Jordan B.: 9780593084649: Amazon.com: Books) but to the world of Podcasting. In particular, his episode with Jonathan Pageau: (43) The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast - Season 4 Episode 8: Jonathan Pageau - YouTube It is a must watch video, and we see Peterson coming to that frightening point where the narrative and objective world meet. We go on to discuss Rod's trip to Birmingham, and then Tucker Carlson's row with the woke military. Other links: "Gotcha Video": (43) Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests and postmodernism - YouTube Biblical Lectures: (43) Biblical Series I: Introduction to the Idea of God - YouTube Tactical Faith: Celebrating 10 Years! - Tactical Faith Rod's Substack: Daily Dreher (substack.com)
In #10 Rod and Kale discuss the normalization of cultural nihilism and the capture of the modes of production. We discuss: -The California Enshrinement of Throuples: The Whale And The Net | The American Conservative -The capture of the Civil Rights movement and Justice Kennedy's infamous establishment on personal definition of destiny -Christopher Caldwell's The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties: Caldwell, Christopher: 9781501106897: Amazon.com: Books -E.J. Dionne's claim that Biden has rolled back the culture war: Opinion | Biden is rolling back the culture war. The country should thank him. - The Washington Post -Pillar discussion about +Wuerl, +Gregory, and +Tobin and the ongoing rot of church corruption: The Pillar (pillarcatholic.com) (a no-brainer sub) -Bari Weiss's Woke Cult comes to your favorite Prep Schools: The Miseducation of America’s Elites | City Journal (city-journal.org)
In this episode we talk about the continued "long march through the institutions" of all things woke and the looming specter of Gramsci. They discuss Wokeness as a neo-religion, and the frustrations of its relentless advance. They go on to discuss the regular and consistent mis-reading of Rod's The Benedict Option, and the announcement of a new "intentional community," and Kale's misgivings.
Welcome to The General Eclectic, a new podcast from The American Conservative featuring Rod Dreher, hosted by Kale Zelden