Serious Inquiries Only

June 10, 2020June 11, 2020

SIO244: On Publishing Fascist Op-Eds, with Bryan W. Van Norden

The New York Times recently published an Op-Ed by Tom Cotton advocating a severe crackdown on the protests. The piece sparked a giant backlash and even a bit of a civil war within the Times. The Opinion editor officially stepped down. Joining us today is Professor Bryan Van Norden, who has written about why not all opinions deserve to be heard. Much of the justification people use tends to derive from Mill’s On Liberty, but does that essay really justify platforming fascism?

Links: Bryan’s Op-Ed, Bryan’s lecture on political discourse, Mill’s essay, Marcuse’s essay, exposure to false claims increases likelihood to believe them.

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June 3, 2020June 4, 2020

SIO243: Alix Jules

It has been far, far too long since we’ve heard from Alix Jules on this show. I can’t think of a more perfect guest to help us better understand the mayhem happening around the country right now.

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May 27, 2020May 28, 2020

SIO242: Jane Roe’s Deathbed Confession

Jamie and I are on to discuss the pandemic, the attacks on abortion rights coming from the right, and Jane Roe’s deathbed conversion.

Jamie’s links: http://yellowhammerfund.org, http://bwhi.org, http://prochoice.org, http://lilithfund.org, http://prochoicetexas.org, http://teafund.org, http://westfund.org

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May 20, 2020May 21, 2020

SIO241: A Parasitic Review

I recently watched Parasite and was so blown away by it that I wanted to do a review/discussion of the film, and fortunately, Jamie was game! I loved it and there is so much to analyze and enjoy, so we hope you enjoy it along with us. We recommend you watch it first!

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May 14, 2020May 14, 2020

SIO240: Listener Questions, Continued!

We’ve got questions on politics, philosophy, and more! As always, they lead to a spirited debate.

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May 6, 2020May 6, 2020

SIO239: Listener Questions!

We’ve got questions on politics, philosophy, and more! As always, they lead to a spirited debate.

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April 22, 2020April 24, 2020

SIO238: Skye Cleary on Existentialism and Love

Today we bring you something not at all COVID (or politics) related. We recorded a wonderful interview with Skye Cleary back over a month ago, just before the pandemic changed all our lives. We thought it would be a much needed change of pace. Skye is a philosopher who teaches at Columbia University, and is the author of Existentialism and Romantic Love (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and co-editor of How to Live a Good Life (Vintage 2020).

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April 13, 2020April 13, 2020

SIO237: Dissecting the Primary, with Jamie

Jamie is back! We set out to discuss what happened in the primary and have a spirited debate as well. Some things I mentioned: 538, Vox, Weeds episode.

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April 11, 2020April 11, 2020

SIO236: Honestly Evaluating the Biden Accusation

Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, with the alleged incident taking place in 1993 when she worked for him. In my opinion, there has been a tremendous amount of bad faith in how this has been talked about my many outlets. This story has consumed my brain and I haven’t been able to think of anything else for a few days, so I have just felt I had to do my best to lend an objective voice to a very charged topic. I know I’m just another privileged dude opining, but I believe I’ve shown that I take accusations very seriously and am willing to kill my heroes. With all that in mind, what follows is likely convoluted and circuitous, but that’s because my feelings on this have been all over the place. I hope you find it useful.

Here are the links I reference: Jezebel; Salon, Current Affairs Robinson Piece; Tara Reade Transcript on Current Affairs; Krassensteins Medium; Reade’s Medium post; Lucy Flores’s Accusation

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April 9, 2020April 9, 2020

SIO235: Cardinal Pell Wins on Appeal

It has been about a year since we talked about the charges against Cardinal Pell for sex crimes against minors, and now he has won on appeal to the highest court in Australia. This sounds like terrible news, but Andrew Torrez and Australian lawyer James Rogers are here to break it down for us! It’s an Opening Arguments crossover spectacular!

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