Articles
Book Banning: the Secrets of Dissident Soviet Writers
In this episode, Sasha is joined by Hunter College Professor Yasha Klots for a discussion on Soviet contraband literature, censorship, and what we can learn about our current climate from the history of book banning in the USSR.
Lessons from the 2nd Wave with Women’s Liberation Leader Harriet Fraad
In this episode, Sasha is joined by Harriet Fraad, feminist activist, psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, for a discussion on feminism and class. They talk about how class needs to be at the basis for all social justice activism, her thoughts on the failures and successes of the 2nd wave, debates within feminism like trans activism, Gloria Steinem and the corporate and government sabotage of feminism and the racial equality movement, and the destructive mindset feminists should avoid if they want to be successful in the movement.
Surveillance has been Normalized but so has Self-Censorship
Revelations like those from Snowden and the Pegasus Project have this same unexpected and counterintuitive effect. Instead of rejecting the control, we increasingly learn to adapt and self censor. The panopticon effect lies exactly in this acceptance of the new normal. Afraid to say the wrong thing, we self censure our discourse and the allowable range of ideas becomes more and more narrow. Those who fail to ‘check their words’ are cancelled and provide an example for the rest.
Pegasus, Pandemics, and the Normalization of Surveillance
All around the world, digital tools are being used in various ways to monitor data and control access. Privacy experts have long warned that these digital tools are not easily reversible; they are often repackaged, and repurposed for other means. As always, their calls have been ignored.
Breaking up the Tech Giants is not Enough
Monopoly used to be understood in a kind of one dimensional space, how a company may have gained dominance in its industry. However, today’s tech monopolies exist in multidimensions; they monopolize and control our data, they decide when and if to censor our speech, and they purchase government officials, the same ones charged with reigning them in. But our old conception of monopolies is totally inadequate to describe or understand the significance of today’s big tech companies.
Lisa Marchiano: A Return to Embodied Wisdom
In this episode, Lisa Marchiano joins me to talk about her new book Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself. Lisa Marchiano is a Jungian analyst, author, and podcaster. She is the cohost and creator of the podcast This Jungian Life. We discuss how motherhood has been devalued in our society, how Lisa addresses the fear many women have of being "chained down" by motherhood, and how she uses fairy tales in her book to illustrate lessons that women can learn about themselves through motherhood.
Sean McCarthy on How the Left Can Find its Relevance Again
In this clip from Sasha and Nesim's interview with Sean McCarthy, Sean explains what he thinks the left needs to focus on in order to regain its relevance and make real change.
The Wi Spa Incident
In this clip, Nesim and Sasha speak to their guests Charles Love and Wilfred Reilly about the recent Wi Spa incident, where antifa protestors violently harassed several individuals who oppose policies that allow transwomen to enter women's spaces (changing rooms and other areas where women are vulnerable or undressed).
Stella O’Malley: the Plight of Parents with Gender Dysphoric Children
Sasha is joined by psychotherapist and writer Stella O'Malley to discuss her new organization for parents of gender-questioning kids, Genspect. They talk about the gender medicine industry, the nightmare situation many parents find themselves in when they bring their child to a gender therapist for help, the motives of the doctors and other professionals who push this experimental craze, and much more.
McCarthyism, Political Courage and High Noon
Witch hunts in various forms are one of those recurring themes of human history. One variation, known as McCarthyism, has returned recently, at least in the lexicon. The word McCarthyism has been thrown around a lot lately. Like ‘fascist’ or ‘marxist,’ it is a part of the word arsenal deployed in our current culture wars.
Nadine Strossen on the Importance of Consistent Principled Support of Free Speech
Nadine Strossen, former president of the ACLU, joins Sasha to discuss a range of issues that revolve around freedom of expression including cancel culture, at-will employment laws, pornography, and the importance of speaking out to defend those who are under attack for exercising their freedom of expression.
Anti-Oppression Politics is a Red Herring to Divert Our Attention from Empire, Inequality, and Class Solidarity
Why are the rich so much better at uniting around class issues than the plebes? Outrage is a sentiment that feels so pure and so right. When it is pointed at injustice and burns bright inside of us we are reaffirmed as the moral beings that we believe ourselves to be. That our strongly held sense of righteousness could be a useful tool for others and even redirected to serve their purposes may seem impossible and even unbearable.