Diet Soap - a podcast
411 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 122 ratingsThe Diet Soap podcast began in 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008. Since then it has gone through many transformations, including becoming the podcast for a critical theory imprint out of the UK.
Today the Diet Soap podcast is running under its original name for Sublation Media.
Sublation Media includes a book publishing effort for critical theory and left politics, a magazine that covers current events and theoretical issues, youtube videos on theory and politics, and finally the Diet Soap podcast. The podcast is where we continue to interrogate the left and each other while having a good time.
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Episodes
Episode 465: The Neoliberal Subject
March 23, 2023 00:00 - 56 minutes - 41.3 MBIn this week's Diet Soap, Ashley Frawley talks to David Chandler, Professor of International Relations at the Univerity of Westminster. They talk about one of Ashley's favourite books of his, The Neoliberal Subject: Resilience, Adaptation and Vulnerability, co-authored with Julian Reid. Is it really progressive when international organisations talk about building resilience and emphasise, small-scale and bottom-up interventions? Or is this just a cover for keeping things as they are...
Episode 464: Smash the State or Seize the State?
March 15, 2023 00:00 - 19 minutes - 39.8 MBSpencer Leonard of the Platypus Affiliated Societ joins Doug to discuss Lenin's "State and Revolution." What would Lenin do about today's technocratic capitalism? Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 463: Our Identity Crisis and Woke Politics
March 01, 2023 00:00 - 59 minutes - 39.1 MBIn this episode of Diet Soap Ashley Frawley drops in to discuss Sublation's research projects. We are tackling the question of modern subjectivity and reason this month (March, 2023) and will be continuing to investigate political, philosophical and cultural questions around humanism and human power in the months to come. Our Patreon discussion features a conversation about Zizek's recent essay for Compact Magazine entitled "Wokeness is Here to Stay." Wokeness is Here to Stay by Sl...
Episode 462: Adorno and Freud in the Parrot Room
February 16, 2023 00:00 - 42 minutes - 30.6 MBChris Cutrone and Douglas Lain start to discuss Cutrone's essay "Adorno and Freud" but, before they can really begin, they have to clear up a few issues about Lacan, Structuralism, and Heidegger. Adorno and Freud by Chris Cutrone https://platypus1917.org/2010/06/10/adorno-and-freud/ Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 461: What's More Important, the Economy or Political Struggle?
February 10, 2023 00:00 - 16 minutes - 46.7 MBC Derick Varn of Varnblog returns to restart the Pop the Left series. For this episode we discuss the history and ideas behind DP Costello's 1961 essay, "Voluntarism and Determinism in Bolshevist Doctrine." Were the Mensheviks right? Was the revolution in Russia doomed from the start? Varnvlog https://www.youtube.com/c/cderickvarnvlog Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoapss the contemporary left in the parrot room.
Episode 460: Norman Finkelstein Debates the Need for Freedom of Expression
February 08, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 46 MBRobert Wright of the NonZero podcast helps us to announce the release of Norman Finkelstein's new book, "I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!" by appearing on the Diet Soap podcast with Norman to debate the limits of free speech and to discuss identity politics. Norman's Book https://www.sublationmedia.com/books/i'll-burn-that-bridge-when-i-get-to-it Robert Wright's Podcast https://www.youtube.com/c/Nonzero Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 459: Why is the Left Alienating Workers?
January 25, 2023 00:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MBDavid Swift, author of "A Left For Itself" and "The Identity Myth" joins Douglas Lain to discuss the ways the contemporary left alienates "ordinary" working class people. They discuss cultural differences including the left's fashion sense and how it clashes with the sensibilities of especially younger workers. Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 458: The Left, the Sexual Revolution, and the Family
January 19, 2023 00:00 - 46 minutes - 34.6 MBCyberdandy, Ashley Frawley and Douglas Lain discuss the history of the sexual revolution, differences between 18th and 21st century sexual politics, and how the bureaucratic state is intervening in civil society.
Episode 457: Understanding Contemporary Fascism
January 12, 2023 00:00 - 42 minutes - 32.3 MBConrad Hamilton responds to Chris Cutrone on this week's Diet Soap podcast. Just how should we understand fascism today? Is China fascist? Is the United States fascist? Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 456: Zizek's Symptom and Working Class Politics
January 06, 2023 00:00 - 54 minutes - 42.3 MBDr. Thomas Jones joins Douglas Lain for a conversation about his essay for Sublation Magazine entitled "On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat." Jones has worked as a software engineer in both industry and academia. He has been a socialist activist for the better part of a decade, starting his journey towards socialism at occupy wall street. He is a previous member of Socialist Alternative, and current member of Seattle DSA. In this interview he discusses his own Zizekian materialis...
Episode 455: Overcoming Nihilism and Finding Meaning
December 28, 2022 00:00 - 53 minutes - 39.6 MBStefan Bertram-Lee discusses his life story, nihilism, and his upcoming book "How to Stop Being a Teenage Nihilist." In the parrot room he talks about his illegal activism, Jesus Christ, and how the left should find a meaningful project beyond reaction.
Episode 454: Birthday Special: Critical Cuts on David Letterman
December 23, 2022 00:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBThis episode of Critical Cuts was my birthday present to myself. You can have fun counting the number of times I try for the proper German pronunciation of "Walter Benjamin" and fail. The variety of mispronunciations is astounding. Also, stupid pet tricks, Andy Kaufman, and the world's most dangerous band.
Episode 453: Derick Varn on Teaching the Left to Think
December 21, 2022 00:00 - 59 minutes - 42.7 MBDerick Varn (formerly of Pop the Left) returns to the Diet Soap podcast in order to discuss what the left needs to remember and relearn. He is now the host of Varn Vlog and has his own YouTube channel.
Episode 452: Humans Are Not Free (ft. John Bunch)
December 17, 2022 00:00 - 46 minutes - 33.3 MBJohn Bunch joins Douglas Lain in order to debate the limits the left doesn't want to face. While leftist believe in human subjectivity and freedom, he does not. Instead Bunch believes we are mostly fixed in our proclivities and irrational in our thinking. Along the way they debate whether the philosophy of science has any bearing on science itself, whether the fact that we have no good answer for what constitutes scientific truth is consequential.
Episode 451: Understanding Anarchy with Cyber Dandy
December 07, 2022 00:00 - 33 minutes - 26.3 MBDouglas Lain and Cyber Dandy discuss the differences between Marxism and Anarchism starting with Bakunin and Marx and moving forward. The second half of this conversation is available for patreon supporters in what's called "the Parrot Room." Cyber Dandy on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@UCO-wcSkNuzJcW_riqERizqQ Support Us on Patreon https://dietsoap.com/patreon
Episode 450: Who's Afraid of Elon Musk?
November 30, 2022 00:00 - 49 minutes - 36.2 MBFreddie deBoer and Douglas Lain discuss Freddie's recent essay "The Left's Vapid Anti-Musk Discourse" in this week's Diet Soap podcast. In his essay deBoer writes, "The amount of attention Musk has attracted can be chalked up to culture war: Exxon’s CEO, whatever his business practices, isn’t shitposting in a way that annoys progressives. Musk, by contrast, regularly tweets things that provoke liberals."
Episode 449: Paul Cockshott on the Cultural Revolution
November 23, 2022 00:00 - 37 minutes - 22 MBPaul Cockshott is a Scottish computer scientist, Marxian economist, and a reader at the University of Glasgow. Since 1993 he has authored multiple works in the tradition of scientific socialism, most notably Towards a New Socialism and How the World Works. In this interview Cockshott discusses how he came to be a socialist and his understanding of the Cultural Revolution.
Episode 448: War with Poland? Ukraine Update with Kuba and Stefan
November 19, 2022 00:00 - 59 minutes - 48.6 MBAs Ukraine pushes the Russians back and is bombarded by missiles, the situation is seeming murkier and murkier. What are we to make of the war in Ukraine? Our foreign policy analysts attempt to provide an answer. Support Us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 447: Debating Capitalism with a Trump Supporter
November 09, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBStephen Janicki returns to the podcast to debate socialism. How should we conceive of socialism? What do MAGA republicans really want? Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 446: A Struggle for Socialism or a Proxy War?
November 02, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 48.8 MBUrszula and Ron from the Marxist Humanist organization News and Letters discuss dialectical thinking, freedom, and the war in Ukraine. Is there an opportunity for working-class solidarity in Ukraine and Russia? Doug's CGAS Seminar on Radical Podcasting https://gcascollege.ie/radical-content-producer Support Us On Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 445: Hyperreality and Fatal Dates (ft. Susanna Kleeman)
October 26, 2022 00:00 - 59 minutes - 43.5 MBSusanna Kleeman, the author of the novel Twice, announces her upcoming podcast/video series Fatal Dates. Fatal Dates is a show about real connections in unreal times, it's about men and women, it's about love and lovelessness. Picking up on Baudrillard's book Fatal Strategies, Kleeman will attempt to move beyond reason and modernity into the abyss and mystery of the symbolic, and she'll do it one virtual date at a time. Doug's CGAS Seminar on Radical Podcasting https://gcascollege...
Episode 444: Defending Traditional Marxism (ft. Chris Cutrone)
October 19, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBChris Cutrone of the Platypus Affiliated Society returns in order to both defend and transcend what Moishe Postone called "Traditional Marxism." The conversation is, as always, freewheeling and covers a variety of topics. Watch Doug try to keep up as Cutrone gallops ahead.
Episode 443: Marx's Critique of the Gotha Program (ft Conrad Hamilton)
October 12, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBConrad Hamilton's recent essay for Sublation Magazine "On Marx's Labor Certificates" is the topic of this week's Diet Soap podcast, although the conversation begins with a discussion of culture...specifically Conrad discusses Doug's discovery of My Chemical Romance's 2006 hit "Teenagers" and his inexplicable obsession with the song. On Marx's Labor Certificates by Conrad Hamilton https://www.sublationmag.com/post/on-marx-and-labor-certificates Support Us on Patreon https://patre...
Episode 442: Understanding the History of Socialism
October 05, 2022 00:00 - 50 minutes - 36.1 MBMike Taber has edited and prepared a number of books related to the history of revolutionary and working-class movements—from collections of documents of the Communist International under Lenin to works by James P. Cannon, Leon Trotsky, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Maurice Bishop, and Nelson Mandela. His book Under the Socialist Banner is a collection of the resolutions of the Second International from 1889 to 1912.
Episode 441: Everything, Everywhere, is Coming Up Zizek
September 29, 2022 00:00 - 15 minutes - 16.8 MBThis video compares the Hegel of Zizek to the Hegel of Adorno, by considering Adorno’s theory of nonidentity to Zizek’s theory of the gap or parallax. And in an effort to make these abstractions from critical theory concrete and fun, in order to make these theories simple enough for idiots like myself to understand, I turn to the absurdist science fiction film “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” to provide some illustrations. Support Us On Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap ...
Episode 440: Emotional Fads vs. Freedom (ft. Ashley Frawley)
September 29, 2022 00:00 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBAshley Frawley is hard at work revising her upcoming book "Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age," and therefore this week, rather than interview an author from Sublation Magazine, Doug and Ashley will discuss the death of the subject, mindfulness, and emotions. Significant Emotions by Ashley Frawley https://www.amazon.co.uk/Significant-Emotions-Rhetoric-Problems-Vulnerable/dp/1350026794
Episode 439: How Russia Lost the "Special Military Operation"/What Will Come of the "War"?
September 21, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 49.7 MBDeep State Kuba and Stefan Bertram Lee discuss the state of the war in Ukraine and speculate that the Ukrainian counter-offensive may have changed the outcome of the war. Certainly Russia has lost the special military action. What will come next given that Putin has upgraded the conflict to a war officially and is mobilizing more Russian forces?
Episode 438: Sublating Contemporary Stalinism? (ft Conrad Hamilton and Eliot Rosenstock)
September 14, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 54.1 MBConrad Hamilton and Eliot Rosenstock discuss the history and rebirth of the Sublation Socialists Facebook Group. This is an episode where some dirty laundry is aired in public. Check out Sublation Socialists https://www.facebook.com/groups/61364... Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 437: Ozark and the Avant Garde (ft. Chris Cutrone)
September 07, 2022 00:00 - 57 minutes - 41.1 MBChris Cutrone stops by to discuss his essay for Compact magazine entitled "Bourgeois Heroes." Cutrone approaches the Netflix original series Ozark from the perspective of a paranoid critic, or a critic who, in Adorno's words: "overestimates its object and exaggerates its meaning, using the microcosm of the cultural phenomenon to illuminate the surrounding social world." Bourgeois Heroes by Chris Cutrone https://compactmag.com/article/bourgeois-heroes Support Us on Patreon https://...
Episode 436: Repeating the Situationists? (ft. Cyber Dandy)
September 07, 2022 00:00 - 54 minutes - 41.1 MBAnarchist podcaster Cyber Dandy joins Douglas Lain for a special edition of the Diet Soap podcast. They discuss the British Wing of the Situationist International, why it was that situationists were beloved by anarchists in the UK, and how the relationship between Debord's small Marxist sect and the long struggle for socialism.
Episode 435: The Left at an Impasse? (ft. Ben Burgis)
August 31, 2022 00:00 - 55 minutes - 38 MBIn this episode of Diet Soap, the author and youtube star Ben Burgis joins Douglas Lain to discuss the impasse that the left faces today. Has the left been absorbed by the democratic party for good? Can the left figure out how to intervene and stop an existential catastrophe in Ukraine? Is there any prospect for an independent and radical socialist movement after COVID?
Episode 434: Are Today's Hegelians Pumping Sunshine? (ft. Jensen Suther)
August 24, 2022 00:00 - 48 minutes - 31.8 MBJensen Suther is the author of "Spirit Disfigured," and in this episode of Diet Soap Suther explains why Adorno developed "negative dialectics" after the German revolution failed in 1918. Suther also discusses Adorno's understanding of Schoenberg and of Samuel Beckett.
Episode 433: Is there a Leftist Lasch? (ft. Elijah Emery)
August 17, 2022 00:00 - 59 minutes - 47 MBSince 2016 Christopher Lasch's books and reputation have both reemerged as relevant in an era when the left has been subsumed under the banner of the democratic party. Specifically, Lasch has been taken up as a figure who can refute the PMC approach to overcoming racism and woke politics, but he has mostly been taken up by the right or by the "post-left." In this interview, Elijah Emery and Douglas Lain discuss what Lasch has to offer socialists and the struggle for socialism. ...
Episode 432: Understanding Hegel Again (ft. Todd McGowan)
August 10, 2022 00:00 - 46 minutes - 33 MBTodd McGowan, author of Enjoyment Right & Left and Emancipation After Hegel discusses the difference between Pinkard and Zizek and the question of Hegel's ontological claims in this week's Diet Soap podcast. McGowan also discusses the question of universality and the State in this week's patron's only podcast.
Episode 431: The Internet vs. The People? (ft. Ben Tarnoff)
August 04, 2022 00:00 - 56 minutes - 41 MBBen Tarnoff, a tech writer and co-founder of Logic Magazine joins Douglas Lain to discuss Tarnoff's book "Internet for the People." From the back of the book: "In Internet for the People, leading tech writer Ben Tarnoff offers an answer. The internet is broken, he argues, because it is owned by private firms and run for profit. Google annihilates your privacy and Facebook amplifies right-wing propaganda because it is profitable to do so. But the internet wasn't always like ...
Episode 430: Debord Rejected Marxism? (ft. Tom Bunyard)
July 29, 2022 00:00 - 50 minutes - 33.4 MBTom Bunyard is a university lecturer at Brighton in the UK. He is the author of the book "Debord, Time and Spectacle," a book from Brill, and he nicely agreed to talk to me about Debord, Time, and chapter four of Society of the Spectacle last week. This conversation came before I finished the script for the Critical Cuts video "Did Marx Ruin Marxism?" It helped to inform the creation of that script. Debord Time and Spectacle by Tom Bunyard https://brill.com/view/title/21353 Did Ma...
Episode 429: Slavoj Zizek vs. Terry Pinkard (How to Read Hegel)
July 20, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.1 MBSlavoj Zizek and Terry Pinkard join Douglas Lain to discuss Hegel's Spirit or Geist. Is Hegel a philosopher that returns us to metaphysics or did Hegel continue Kant's Copernican turn? Further, must we overcome all metaphysical claims, even negative claims?
Episode 428: Social Workers Are Magic? (Understanding a Compassionate Response)
July 17, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.9 MBRyan and Lavit discuss San Francisco's new Compassionate Alternative Response Team program and ask whether it's possible that the "unhoused population" in San Francisco will truly benefit from a program that does not spend more to address the material needs of the homeless but instead attempts to change the attitude and social framing around the care that is currently on offer. Can treating homeless people as if they are "worthy of life and dignity" and relying on "trauma-informed, ...
Episode 427: Thought Taboos and the End of Millennial Marxism
July 13, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 53.5 MBFormer president of the Platypus Affiliated Society discusses his recent publications in Compact and Sublation Magazine. On July 1st Compact published "The End of Millennial Marxism" and we at Sublation published "Dogmatization and Thought Taboos on the “Left.” Cutrone attempts to discuss both of these essays while Doug persists in demanding Cutrone explain Marxism in terms of commodity production, exploitation, and value. The End of Millennial Marxism by Chris Cutrone https://comp...
Episode 426: Should We Have the Right to Sedition? (ft. Spencer Leonard)
July 06, 2022 00:00 - 59 minutes - 43.8 MBSpencer Leonard and Douglas Lain discuss the history of sedition laws and the way the January 6th insurrection may represent a regression away from democracy. Do the people or masses have a right to change their form of government? Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 425: Is the Social Justice Bureaucracy a Vampire Castle?
July 02, 2022 00:00 - 41 minutes - 37.5 MBRyan and Lavit discuss Mark Fisher's 2013 essay "Exiting the Vampire Castle" and Ryan Grimm's Intercept essay "The Elephant in the Zoom." How has it happened that the Vampire Castle Fisher described as a trap for the radical left has come to define the progressive bureaucracy? Why are the institutions ranging from the ACLU to the Audubon Society so woke as to be crippled by internal strife and crisis? Mark Fisher's Exiting the Vampire Castle Essay https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/...
Episode 424: Blaxploitation and the Spectacle (ft Jason Myles)
June 29, 2022 00:00 - 52 minutes - 38.4 MBDoug and Jason discuss the early 70's Blaxploitation era, the conditions that led to its rise and demise, and its mid 80's return. Back on June 8th Jason released his video essay, "Same As it Ever Was: Black Power to Blaxploitation." Despite his jealousy and competitiveness Doug asked him on to discuss the found footage film he created.
Episode 423: Is Capitalism Cracking Up? (ft. Ted Reese and the Swoletariat)
June 23, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.9 MBAshley Frawley takes over this week's Diet Soap podcast to discuss Henryk Grossman, crisis theory, and the book "The End of Capitalism" with Ted Reese and the Swoletariat.
Episode 422: Mental Illness is Not a Lifestyle (ft. Freddie deBoer)
June 18, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 60.8 MBFor this first episode of Social Justice Incorporated Ryan and Lavit talk to Freddie deBoer about his response to Daniel Bergner's New York Times Magazine article "Doctors Gave Her Antipsychotics. She Decided to Live With Her Voices." Freddie describes his own experiences with mental illness as he rejects Bergner's notion that psychosis is something that can be normalized and accepted rather than treated.
Episode 421: Can We Stop the War in Ukraine? (ft Margaret Kimberley)
June 17, 2022 00:00 - 51 minutes - 40.9 MBMargaret Kimberley is the author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents," she is a regular contributor to the Black Agenda Report, and a returning guest. In this episode of Diet Soap she discusses the situation in the Ukraine in the context of US Imperialism. GCAS is our sponsor https://gcas.ie/ Support Us on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 420: James P Cannon, Trotsky, and American Socialism (ft. Bryan D. Palmer)
June 08, 2022 00:00 - 58 minutes - 43.6 MBBryan D. Palmer teaches in the Department of History at Queen's University, edits the journal Labour/Le Travail, and is the author of "James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-38." In this interview, he traces the history of American and international socialism by telling the story of James P. Cannon.
Episode 419: Understanding Hegel and Revolution (ft. Terry Pinkard)
June 03, 2022 00:00 - 56 minutes - 40.7 MBTerry Pinkard is a professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of Hegel: A Biography, Hegel's Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason, and Hegel's Dialectic: The Explanation of Possibility. In this episode of Diet Soap Pinkard explains the significance of Hegel and addresses whether Hegel should be conceived of as a "worldly philosopher." Patrons will get access to Pinkard's explanation of where he disagrees with Zizek and why.
Episode 418: Debating Marxism starting with Lacan? Lacan?!
May 26, 2022 00:00 - 50 minutes - 38.1 MBThis week's Pop the Left was to be a conversation about Andrew Collier's 1980 essay, "Lacan, psychoanalysis and the left," but quickly devolved into a debate about what counts as the "means of production," the centrality of labor time under capitalism, and the meaning of Hegelianism for the left.
Episode 417: Taking Sides in Ukraine? (ft. Ron Kelch and Urszula Wislanka)
May 19, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 51.6 MBIn his essay for News and Letters entitled "Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine puts the future of humanity in doubt" Ron Kelch wrote, "On Feb. 24, in the dark of night, Russian president Vladimir Putin started a totally unprovoked invasion of Ukraine from three sides after a months-long buildup of 190,000 troops." This interview starts by questioning Kelch's assertion that Putin was unprovoked, and continues from there.
Episode 416: Russia's Forever War (ft. Stefan Bertram Lee and Deep State Kuba)
May 17, 2022 00:00 - 58 minutes - 41.5 MBDeep State Kuba from This is Revolution and Stefan Bertram-Lee give us an update on the war in Ukraine. What is happening tactically? What explains the conflict and level of Ukrainian resistance? What has NATO's role been and what will it continue to be? Will there be a negotiated resolution in the immediate future? Support GCAS (the Global Center for Advanced Studies) https://gcas.ie/