June 28

Ep. 0163: Avoiding Intellectual Inbreeding

Here is the audio of CJ’s presentation delivered on Sunday, June 24th, 2018, at the 6th Midwest Peace & Liberty Fest in Michigan.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • A little bit about his own personality and educational background that have led him to be more resistant to intellectual inbreeding than most people (but still prone to it to some extent, because all people are)
  • One of the main problems with conventional academia, and how, if you insulate yourself too much from ideas that contradict your own, you are in danger of becoming like academia in terms of being insulated & isolated from diverse ideas
  • Some of the problems that come from becoming intellectually inbred, including excessive confirmation bias
  • Some of the benefits gained from being eclectic & omnivorous in the intellectual content that you consume
  • Suggestions for ways to try to minimize confirmation bias & avoid intellectual inbreeding
  • Some very interesting Q&A

CJ’s Dangerous Amazon Bibliography 

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December 22

Ep. 0154: Orwell Your Orwell with David Ramsay Steele

In this episode of the DHP, CJ talks to David Ramsay Steele, author of many books including his most recent, Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab, which is the subject of this DHP episode. Dr. Steele is a libertarian speaker and writer, and is Editorial Director of Open Court Publishing Company. (Big thanks to DHP listener Lee for putting me in touch with Dr. Steele!)

Join CJ & David as they discuss:

  • How David challenges the standard view of Orwell & his beliefs in this book
  • How Orwell’s beliefs fit into the intellectual milieu of the early- to mid-twentieth century British Left
  • Orwell’s frequently stated opposition to progress, innovation, and technology, and how this was actually the source of many of his misgivings about Socialism (even after he himself became a Socialist)
  • Orwell’s sudden changes of ideological positions on major issues at various points in his life
  • Orwell’s thoughts on a variety of topics, including anarchism, the British Empire, manliness & masculinity, homosexuality, birth control, and more

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Category: Concepts and Theories, Interviews, Modern World History, Podcasts | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 22

Ep. 0140: Thoughts on Cyclical History & Generations

If you read widely enough in history, sooner or later you start to think there are some clearly repeating themes and problems and trends, and that there are pendulums in society that swing back and forth every few generations. You might get the sense that history might be more about cycles than about continuous progression in a straight line. Is there anything to this impression? Today we explore the concept of cyclical history and what role different generations might play in such a cycle through the lens of Strauss-Howe generational theory.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Ancient conceptions of cyclical time
  • The concept of linear time
  • Some modern conceptions of cyclical time
  • The generational theory of William Strauss & Neil Howe, authors of (among other things) the famous book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy
  • What the Strauss-Howe theory says about recent American history as well as about its present & future
  • CJ’s thoughts on Strauss & Howe’s theory

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December 12

Ep. 0129: The Psychology of Power & Obedience with Jim Cunagin

On this episode of the Dangerous History Podcast, CJ talks with Dr. Jim Cunagin, a practicing psychiatrist, about the psychology of power and obedience and some of the experiments that can help us understand these phenomena.

Join CJ & Jim as they discuss:

  • Stanley Milgram’s experiments
  • Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment
  • The conformity experiments of Solomon Asch
  • The Bystander Effect (or ‘Kitty Genovese Effect’)
  • Jane Elliot’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes experiment
  • The lessons and meaning of these experiments when it comes to understanding power,

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(image ‘Stand Out From the Crowd’ courtesy Renjith Krishnan at freedigitalphotos.net)

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July 28

Ep. 0111: Introduction to Power Elite Analysis

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • What “power elite” and “power elite analysis” mean
  • Power elite analysis is not “conspiracy theorizing”
  • Some early practitioners of power elite analysis, such as C. Wright Mills, Carroll Quigley, and Murray Rothbard
  • Ways of identifying & understanding the power elite in practice
  • Things to keep in mind when studying the power elite

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Internal Links (lots of past DHP episodes have dealt with power elite analysis in various ways) – Here are a few:

Category: American History, Concepts and Theories, Introductory, Podcasts, Power Elite | LEAVE A COMMENT
July 9

Ep. 0110: Twenty-One Key Concepts & Theories, Part 2

In this second part of “Twenty-One Key Concepts & Theories,” we focus on seven concepts & theories related to economics.

Join CJ as he discusses:

8. Public Choice Theory

9. Regulatory Capture

10. Austrian Business Cycle Theory

11. The Broken Window Fallacy

12. Opportunity Costs

13. The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility

14. The Sunk Costs Fallacy

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(pic of Dollar Hook courtesy scottchan via freedigitalphotos.net)

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July 5

Ep. 0109: Twenty-One Key Concepts & Theories, Part 1

I’ve compiled a list of 21 concepts & theories that have helped me understand the world (both past & present) more clearly, and I’m going to do 3 episodes (two regular DHP episodes and one Patreon supporters-only Bonus DHP episode) covering 7 of these concepts & theories apiece.

In this first installment, I’ve grouped together 7 concepts having to do with understanding power, why it’s so dangerous, and why humans are so susceptible to being commanded, controlled, and exploited by the worst among us.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  1. Power Corrupts (and attracts those who are already corrupt)
  2. Psychopathy & Sociopathy
  3. Most humans are hardwired for tribalism, submission, & conformity
  4. Stockholm Syndrome
  5. Doctrine of Double Effect
  6. The Noble Lie
  7. Base/superstructure

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June 29

Ep. 0108: “Edge Men” of the Power Elite

On the last leg of his return journey from New Hampshire, CJ was spontaneously inspired to do an off-the-cuff Silver Bullet mobile podcasting episode.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • His amateur/layman’s understanding of the concept of ‘edges’ as used in permaculture
  • The way in which individuals who work the edges of various institutions that make up the power elite can often acquire some combination of power, prestige, and wealth
  • Examples of some such individuals, including Alexander Hamilton, George W. Perkins, Edward M. House, the Dulles Brothers, Barry Seal, and more

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Category: American History, Concepts and Theories, Podcasts, Power Elite | LEAVE A COMMENT
June 28

Ep. 0107: Applying Guerrilla Methods Beyond War (CJ’s talk at Porcfest XIII)

Join CJ as he discusses

  • An overview of Michael Collins’ campaign to end British rule in Ireland
  • 10 lessons one can learn from studying guerrilla warfare that apply to many other human endeavors:
  1. Don’t be afraid to start small & build up your resources from there
  2. Turn your weaknesses into strengths, and if you have an ‘opponent’ or ‘competitor,’ turn their strengths into weaknesses.
  3. Your resourcefulness is much more important than your resources.
  4. Always remember, the greatest resource you have are human ones: yourself and any partners you might be working with.
  5. When following the way of the guerrilla, conventional experience & formal qualifications in a field are rarely an asset, and may often be detrimental.
  6. Sometimes knowledge & experience in a seemingly unrelated field can help you.
  7. When seeking to accomplish something via the guerrilla way, DO NOT try to emulate your conventional competitors.
  8. Knowledge/intelligence/information/understanding are of vital importance.
  9. Carefully pick your battles: Engage only when you feel you have an advantage; and if things nonetheless turn against you, don’t hesitate to quickly disengage & disperse.
  10. If your project involves setting up some sort of organization, make it minimalist, decentralized, relatively egalitarian, and flexible, and only recruit people committed to the cause.
  • An overview of how George Romero used an approach very similar to guerrilla warfare to make Night of the Living Dead

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May 27

Ep. 0104: The Concept of Gross Human Product (GHP)

No, it’s not a euphemism for things that emit from your orifices when your gastrointestinal tract is unhappy.  It’s a concept proposed by James C. Scott in Two Cheers for Anarchism, in answer to the question, “What if we were to ask what kind of people a given activity or institution fostered?”

Join CJ from the cockpit of the Silver Bullet as he discusses:

  • The concept of Gross Human Product, or GHP, and how this concept should be at least considered in addition to purely financial factors in analyzing human endeavors
  • The importance of an independent livelihood as an ideal to be pursued in earlier eras of American history
  • Whether assembly line factory workers and white-collar cubicle workers can expect to have a positive GHP experience from their careers
  • Some thoughts about intrinsically motivating work

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