Essay Questions

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/ [https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/] Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com [essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com]

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

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 [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/ [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/ [https://www.viewpointmag.com/2017/01/04/the-safety-pin-and-the-swastika/] Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com [essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com]

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

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 [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 [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/ [https://www.amren.com/news/2015/06/the-war-on-white-heritage/] Let us know what you think: essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com [essayquestionspodcast@gmail.com]