WHAT IS POLITICS?
45 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 102 ratingsPolitics is one of the only practical disciplines where none of the main concepts have clear, coherent definitions.
We define ourselves with terms like "left” and "right" and we believe in things like "democracy," “markets,” "capitalism" and "socialism" even though we don’t really know what any of these words actually mean.
This series aims to make sense out of the political muddle that we've inherited from media, academia, and from decades of cold war propaganda, so that we can figure what it is that we want when it comes to politics, and how we can achieve it.
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Episodes
12: From “Never Again” to “There are No Uninvolved Civilians”: The ABC’s of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
March 05, 2024 11:33 - 157 MBElites use identity, particularly national identity, as a way of advancing their own interests, often against the interests of the populations that they pretend to represent. But before we can understand this, we need an ABC of the conflict, to... Continue Reading →
9.2 – Equity, Equality and Lizard People: when right wing politics masquerade as left wing politics
August 10, 2023 10:45 - 104 MBWhen ideas and movements that threaten to overturn established hierarchies of power are absorbed into elite institutions like Ivy League universities and for-profit corporations, they get transformed into ideas that support the status quo, while remaining cloaked in the language... Continue Reading →
9.2 – Equity, Equality and Lizard People (TRANSCRIPT)
August 10, 2023 10:44BIBLIOGRAPHY Hello fellow kids, and welcome back to What is Politics! Today I want to do a little old school OG what is politics and talk about how political worbs – words with no proper consensus definitions, make us all... Continue Reading →
11.1 Why the Russian Revolution Failed: When Rich Kids do all the Socialism
March 21, 2023 10:31 - 104 MBThe leaders of the Russian Revolutions of February and October 1917 sought to establish socialism: a deeply democratic economic and political system where the employee/employer relationship is abolished, and where workers control their workplaces, the means of production and the... Continue Reading →
11.1 Why The Russian Revolution Failed (TRANSCRIPT)
March 20, 2023 19:03BIBLIOGRAPHY Hello fellow kids! And welcome back to What is Politics! RECAP Last time we took a look at a frequently asked question – “why are communist countries always dictatorships”? Is it because communism is inherently flawed? Is communism just... Continue Reading →
11. Why are Communist countries all one-party dictatorships?
November 04, 2022 11:48 - 64.6 MBWhy has every communist country so far been a one party dictatorship? Is it something inherent to Socialism or Marxism? Is human nature incompatible with political equality? Has “true” communism never been tried yet? If so, then... Continue Reading →
11. Why are Communist countries all one party dictatorships?
November 03, 2022 10:55 - 64.6 MBWhy has every communist country so far been a one party dictatorship? Is it something inherent to Socialism or Marxism? Is human nature incompatible with political equality? Has “true” communism never been tried yet? If so, then... Continue Reading →
10.4 What Causes Seasonal Social and Political Structures? The Dawn of Everything Chapter 3:
April 26, 2022 10:33 - 111 MBIn this episode we cover the rest of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything. In this chapter, the authors claim that the seasonal social structures of the traditional Nambikwara, Lakota and Kwakiutl were... Continue Reading →
10.3 The Ingredients of Hierarchy: Graeber & Wengrow’s Dawn of Everything Chapter 3, ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”
February 22, 2022 11:36 - 82.9 MBWe cover the first part of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything: ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”, and we investigate the authors’ claims that human inequality has no origins based on archeology from upper... Continue Reading →
10.2 The Dawn of Everything: How Graeber & Wengrow’s book sets us up to fail like Occupy Wall Street
December 19, 2021 12:06 - 81.5 MBIn this episode we cover chapter 1 of David Graeber & David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything, entitled Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood; or Why This isn’t a Book About the Origins of Inequality. In doing so, we look at... Continue Reading →
10.1 Graeber & Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything”: What is an “Egalitarian” Society?
October 27, 2021 09:02 - 69.7 MBIn this episode we read and critique the conclusion of Chapter 2 of Dawn of Everything, “Wicked Liberty: The Indigenous Critique and the Myth of the Noble Savage”, which was previously released in French in 2019 as La Sagesse de... Continue Reading →
10. David Graeber & David Wengrow’s The “Dawn of Everything”: The Wisdom of Kandiaronk
October 04, 2021 11:01 - 41.3 MBA critical reading of “The Wisdom of Kandiaronk, The Indigenous Critique, the Myth of Progress and the Birth of the Left” from David Graeber & David Wengrow’s upcoming book The Dawn of Everything. In this chapter Graeber & Wengrow argue... Continue Reading →
7.1. Pink Pilled: Why You Can’t Eliminate Sexism Just by Changing Culture
August 09, 2021 10:06 - 37.3 MBWhat would happen if you could end sexism overnight by giving everyone a magic pink pill? Why we need to target material and practical conditions if we want to eliminate cultural hierarchies. A thought experiment about political strategy which lays... Continue Reading →
Interview: Fight Like an Animal / Arnold Schroeder
July 20, 2021 10:12 - 124 MBInterview with Arnold Schroeder of Fight Like an Animal, a wonderful and endessly fascinating show that looks through 20 years of experience of hardcore climate activism, at why left political movements are so weak and ineffective and how to change... Continue Reading →
Spitball Session 2: Cancel Culture is Corporate Management Culture
July 15, 2021 11:31 - 23 MBThe terms “cancel culture” and “political correctness” are used to delegitimize ideas like gender equality and racial equality by conflating them with toxic dominance behaviour practiced by up-and-coming elites who disguise their power plays in egalitarian social justice language. In... Continue Reading →
9.1. Cancel Culture is Corporate Management Culture
July 15, 2021 11:31 - 23 MBThe terms “cancel culture” and “political correctness” are used to delegitimize ideas like gender equality and racial equality by conflating them with toxic dominance behaviour practiced by up-and-coming elites who disguise their power plays in egalitarian social justice language. In... Continue Reading →
9. The Real Cancel Culture is At-Will Employment
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 18.3 MBThe foundation of “cancel culture” and “political correctness” is the wage labour employment contract. ARTICLES QUOTED: Corey Robin, Chris Bertram and Alex Gourevitch 2012 – Life at Work, Crooked Timber Amanda Hess 2013 – How Sexy Should A Worker Be?... Continue Reading →
Spitball session: Cancel Culture is Your Boss
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 18.3 MBThe foundation of “cancel culture” and “political correctness” is the wage labour employment contract. ARTICLES QUOTED: Corey Robin, Chris Bertram and Alex Gourevitch 2012 – Life at Work, Crooked Timber Amanda Hess 2013 – How Sexy Should A Worker Be?... Continue Reading →
Spitball Session 1: The Real Cancel Culture is At-Will Employment
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 18.3 MBThe foundation of “cancel culture” and “political correctness” is the wage labour employment contract. ARTICLES QUOTED: Corey Robin, Chris Bertram and Alex Gourevitch 2012 – Life at Work, Crooked Timber Amanda Hess 2013 – How Sexy Should A Worker Be?... Continue Reading →
8. Idealism vs. Materlialism – How History is Made: Haudenosaunee Women / the Suffragettes / the Double V Campaign / The English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 / The Anarchist Revolution in Spain 1936-39
March 19, 2021 10:15 - 49.1 MBHuman beings have free will, but our actions are constrained by material realities. Understanding how material and practical conditions shape human behaviour can make all the difference between success and catastrophic failure when it comes to the whole spectrum of... Continue Reading →
8. How History is Made: Haudenosaunee Women / the Suffragettes / the Double V Campaign / The English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 / The Anarchist Revolution in Spain 1936-39
March 19, 2021 10:15 - 49.1 MBHuman beings have free will, but our actions are constrained by material realities. Understanding how material and practical conditions shape human behaviour can make all the difference between success and catastrophic failure when it comes to the whole spectrum of... Continue Reading →
8. Social Change, Consciousness and Material Conditions: Haudenosaunee Women / the Suffragettes / the Double V Campaign / The English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 / The Anarchist Revolution in Spain 1936-39
March 19, 2021 10:15 - 49.1 MBHuman beings have free will, but our actions are constrained by material realities. Understanding how material and practical conditions shape human behaviour can make all the difference between success and catastrophic failure when it comes to the whole spectrum of... Continue Reading →
7.1. Material Conditions: Why You Can’t Eliminate Sexism Just by Eliminating Sexism
November 27, 2020 11:06 - 37.3 MBWhat would happen if you could end sexism overnight by giving everyone a magic pink pill? Why we need to target material and practical conditions if we want to eliminate cultural hierarchies. A thought experiment about political strategy which lays... Continue Reading →
7.1. Pink Pilled: Why You Can’t Eliminate Sexism Just by Eliminating Sexism
November 27, 2020 11:06 - 37.3 MBWhat would happen if you could end sexism overnight by giving everyone a magic pink pill? Why we need to target material and practical conditions if we want to eliminate cultural hierarchies. A thought experiment about political strategy which lays... Continue Reading →
7. The Origin of Hierarchy and Male Dominance: why David Graeber and Jordan Peterson are wrong
November 26, 2020 10:30 - 49.8 MBWhy are hierarchy and male dominance so prevalent in human societies? According to anthropologists David Graeber & David Wengrow, it’s because people were “self-consciously experimenting with different social possibilities,” and then we somehow got stuck this way. Meanwhile according to... Continue Reading →
7. The Origin of Social Hierarchy and Male Dominance: why David Graeber and Jordan Peterson are Wrong
November 26, 2020 10:30 - 49.8 MBWhy are hierarchy and male dominance so prevalent in human societies? According to anthropologists David Graeber & David Wengrow, it’s because people were “self-consciously experimenting with different social possibilities,” and then we somehow got stuck this way. Meanwhile according to... Continue Reading →
6. Political Anthropology: Why Communism Worked
September 10, 2020 09:30 - 35.8 MBEverywhere we look, past and present we see hierarchical societies where some people have more wealth, more power, and more rights than others. Was this always the state of the human world? Is hierarchy in our nature? Are egalitarian societies... Continue Reading →
6. Political Anthropology: When Communism Works
September 10, 2020 09:30 - 35.8 MBEverywhere we look, past and present we see hierarchical societies where some people have more wealth, more power, and more rights than others. Was this always the state of the human world? Is hierarchy in our nature? Are egalitarian societies... Continue Reading →
6. Political Anthropology: Hierarchy, Equality and Human Nature
September 10, 2020 09:30 - 35.8 MBEverywhere we look, past and present we see hierarchical societies where some people have more wealth, more power, and more rights than others. Was this always the state of the human world? Is hierarchy in our nature? Are egalitarian societies... Continue Reading →
5. How Do We Know What Left and Right Mean? Who’s who on the left and right: 1789-1917
September 10, 2020 00:00 - 34.8 MBThis episode is for everyone who keeps writing to me to insist that one or the other wrong, incoherent, popular definitions of Left and Right is actually the correct one. How do we know the left and right refer... Continue Reading →
5. Who’s Who on the Left and Right: 1789-1917
September 10, 2020 00:00 - 34.8 MBThis episode is for everyone who keeps writing to me to insist that one or the other wrong, incoherent, popular definitions of Left and Right is actually the correct one. How do we know the left and right refer... Continue Reading →
Understanding the News: How Tax Cuts Fuel Police Brutality
June 09, 2020 10:55 - 23.1 MBPoliticians’ dependence on police as a revenue stream, prosecutors’ dependence on police for convictions, and falling tax cuts on the wealthy combine to give police incredible power. This is a key reason why they’re rarely punished, even for the most... Continue Reading →
Bleep Bloop: police, protestors and power
June 09, 2020 10:55 - 23.1 MBWhy police get away with murder, why their budgets keep inflating while other services keep getting cut, why we suddenly have the power to do something about it, and how we can use that power. tweeter: @worbsintowords YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WHATISPOLITICS69 Patreon:... Continue Reading →
4. How Political Definitions Shape Reality
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. Definitions and Perception: right-wing vs. left-wing definitions of political terms
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. Definition and Perception: how bad definitions make us blind and stupid
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. Defining Political Terms: Consensus, Clarity, and Consequences
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. Consensus, Clarity, and Consequences: Criteria for Defining Political Terms
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. The Market is the State: how political definitions limit political reality
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
4. Private Government: how bad definitions of political terms make us blind and stupid
May 31, 2020 22:48 - 35.6 MBDefinitions of political terms affect what we see and don’t see in the world around us, and turn us into effective or ineffective communicators and political actors. The definition of government that journalists and academics use makes us blind to... Continue Reading →
3. The Left-Right Political Spectrum is About Class Conflict
March 28, 2020 18:01 - 49.9 MBMost journalists and Doctor-Professor academics don’t really know what the left-right political spectrum is about, but you will after listening to this episode! FULL TRANSCRIPT tweeter: @WorbsIntoWords help! http://www.patreon.com/whatispolitics video version: https://youtu.be/P3cmjNrXWms https://archive.org/download/03leftrightandyou/03%20-%20LEFT-RIGHT%20AND%20YOU.mp3
3. The Left-Right Political Spectrum: what it actually means
March 28, 2020 18:01Most journalists and Doctor-Professor academics don’t really know what the left-right political spectrum is about, but you will after listening to this episode. help! http://www.patreon.com/whatispolitics https://archive.org/download/03leftrightandyou/03%20-%20LEFT-RIGHT%20AND%20YOU.mp3
2. What is Politics and Why Should I Care? (video)
January 15, 2020 15:17 - 33.4 MBHow can people who don’t have official decision-making power exert their influence over those who do? A quick overview of some basic political concepts: POLITICS PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE POLITICS POLITIES GOVERNMENT DEMOCRACY AUTOCRACY CONSENSUS POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS ECONOMICS CAPITALISM IDEOLOGY CLASS THE... Continue Reading →
1. Worbs: when political terms have no meaning
December 06, 2019 19:40 - 38.7 MBPolitics is unique among practical fields in that almost all of the main political terms are worbs: words that everyone (including academics and journalists) uses without really knowing what they mean. This rots our brains. It makes us easy to... Continue Reading →
1. What is Politics and Why Should I Care?
July 12, 2019 15:17How can people who don’t have official decision-making power exert their influence over those who do? Concepts introduced and defined in this episode: POLITICS PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE POLITICS POLITIES GOVERNMENT DEMOCRACY AUTOCRACY CONSENSUS POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS ECONOMICS CAPITALISM IDEOLOGY CLASS THE MARKET BARGAINING... Continue Reading →