I think a big portion of teaching kids is making things interesting and engaging. Watching someone passionately and professionally recite Shakespeare is far more engaging than listening to some half literate classmate apathetically stumble through it.
You also have to inspire a love of literature and stories at a young age. You could give the greatest story ever written to someone but if they don't care it won't matter.
Gen Xer here, born in '68, graduated high school in '86, was 33 and a new father on 9/11. I was listening to your podcast as I was walking my dog when you talked about the X-Files. I'm not sure who it was, but one of the three participants mentioned that the X-Files wasn't tied into popular culture and that it seemed like the writers were proto Reddit or 4Chan users.
Before the rise of the Web, there was Usenet. I was a Usenet user in the mid 90s when the X-Files was at its peak, and what made the show feel so vital was that it abandoned decades old Hollywood tropes in favor of the sorts of urban mythology people where elaborating on Usenet. Where old Hollywood invoked little green men from Mars, the X-File talked about the Grays and the Zeta Reticulans.
And yes, the Jose Chung episode is not to be missed.
KMO - usenet and new forms of communication definitely added an odd mix to the era.
I'd add that I don't think we can talk about the X-Files without mentioning Art Bell's late night show "Coast to Coast AM" that ran from around '88 through '03 (and even later under a different name until his death in 2018). I myself wasn't even aware of the show until my wife told me about it and had me listen to some episodes.
Simply amazing radio programming. Bell was a classic radio host - he casts a mood of suspense and stillness that's kinda like listening to a really great raconteur of ghost stories. His callers and guests were often very odd characters.
He focused mainly on conspiracy theories, ufos and weird/fake scientific subjects. His show was the most popular in the US in 1997 and you can still find episodes broadcast online. Funny enough according to wikipedia Chris Carter was a guest.
All that said I think what was really wrong during the 90s was many people could feel the great sucking lie beneath all that was happening at the time. Like KMO I was a bit older than the three hosts of this episode in that era and my chief memory was of a society adrift. I was well aware that the US economy was living on borrowed time -- this was the era of exploding credit card debt and heloc loans just as our industry was being offshored; and at the same time we were being fed a deluge of nonstop liberal propaganda of the end of history and a golden rose future of plenty and joy. There was no alternative because there didn't need to be one.
Uneasy is the best way I could describe things. Like that still feeling before a great storm blows through or the animals all tense up when they first sense the oncoming forest fire. Mostly everyone I knew felt it in one way or another. I knew it was all a big scam and many others did too even if they couldn't put it into words.
It's so hard to live with such cognitive dissonance all the time without it wearing you down.
I was also a directionless twenty-something desperately avoiding making any choices about my future so I'm sure this contributed to my unease -- but then I wasn't wrong. If I'd found anything even remotely inspiring about the culture of the era that might've helped. I did try lots of things but it was like the air was poisoned and nothing really felt good. It was the era of mass-commodification of everything - even, especially, any concept of an alternative to the neoliberal order. The Committee to Save the World was actually destroying it and it was obvious because their mantra was greed, offshoring, short-term profiteering and outright fraud. How does that end well for a nation?
By the mid-90s mostly everyone knew the CIA had killed JFK and all the lost wars were ginned-up lies but it didn't matter since we had "defeated communism".
And it's just gotten worse since. I write articles about the USD reserve currency, conspiracies and what we can do to reverse course. But even with the temporary respite from the sick liberal mind virus Trump's election has provided I can't shake the feeling a deep reckoning is coming and I might just be too old to withstand it.
A nation can only survive such dishonesty and corruption for so long. And one thing I know is it can survive it far longer than it has any right to. And while it all began well before the 90s that was the decade the rot really began to set in.
The ‘unprecedented’collapse of 08 will pale in comparison to the next Ponzi scheme collapse. I’m no doom and gloom merchant, just a realist who has lived through a few recessions . Thanks for the link.
Oh, yeah! I remember listening to Art Bell late at night. Did you ever hear the episodes when Terence McKenna was his guest? Absolute 90s fringe madness/genius in amplitude modulation.
Great discussion. I declined to pursue a doctorate as many of my teachers said I should, because in 2000 I saw what a racket Higher Edu had become, and how insane progressism had become. I learned how to build a house instead. But I have otherwise kept up my education on my own, because as we say in the Octagon Society, we are all teachers whether we mean to be or not.
Great episode as always, love the reference to Shakespeare, I still love to read him just for the sake of reading him. Am reading Macbeth again, and have plans to read Hamlet afterwards, just for fun but will only do so after I've finished Redwall.
Though if I may Alexandru, I have to object to you hogging Celaeno to yourself as I've dibs on him and your next podcasts over on my stack!
Joking aside, can't wait to see you guys team up again, maybe you guys could dig in deeper into Shakespeare, and philosophy next time? This was one of the best podcasts to ever grace Substack!
Thank you! I am rather fond of ol Shakey myself, with Hamlet and MacBeth being my favorite of the tragedies, but I also really like Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Midsummers Nights Dream.
Those are good ones, I’m hoping to get around to the Tempest, read part of it once. Mids I like, but after Tempest I might re-read Richard II and then move to reading Lear.
That’s good to hear, man. A battle of the playlists! I’m catching up on previous episodes of yours in the meantime. I’m on the Pilius, if that’s how it’s spelt, episode at the moment. Listening while getting other stuff done, and it’s proving to be a very insightful conversation between you two.
Loc and Phisto nailed it when it comes to what has happened to our educational systems. As you did, before they picked up on the thread and ran with it.
You quitting college, and going to war, would make a great essay…
Fantastic episode from the word go. Well done, man. I need to upgrade my subscription. Tomorrow.
What fascinates me about Ramaswamy's rat-brained take is I read his wikipedia entry and he was apparently valedictorian of the St. Xavier Jesuit Academy in, I think, Cleveland. Either the Jesuits are doing something really wrong or Vivek's some kind of human-shaped object devoid of a soul. His shoes are always three sizes too big so perhaps he has reptile claws to hide in there.
What's even more ridiculous than Swammis claim is the notion our education system should teach critical thinking skills, I offer Exibit A; Mark Crispin Miller, under attack for doing just that
Solid episode as always.
I think a big portion of teaching kids is making things interesting and engaging. Watching someone passionately and professionally recite Shakespeare is far more engaging than listening to some half literate classmate apathetically stumble through it.
You also have to inspire a love of literature and stories at a young age. You could give the greatest story ever written to someone but if they don't care it won't matter.
I had a great teacher in high school who spent the entire term on Hamlet. He was incredible. Easily my favorite class in all four years.
Gen Xer here, born in '68, graduated high school in '86, was 33 and a new father on 9/11. I was listening to your podcast as I was walking my dog when you talked about the X-Files. I'm not sure who it was, but one of the three participants mentioned that the X-Files wasn't tied into popular culture and that it seemed like the writers were proto Reddit or 4Chan users.
Before the rise of the Web, there was Usenet. I was a Usenet user in the mid 90s when the X-Files was at its peak, and what made the show feel so vital was that it abandoned decades old Hollywood tropes in favor of the sorts of urban mythology people where elaborating on Usenet. Where old Hollywood invoked little green men from Mars, the X-File talked about the Grays and the Zeta Reticulans.
And yes, the Jose Chung episode is not to be missed.
Yeah, I think the Lone Gunmen were a nod to that early internet urban legend era.
KMO - usenet and new forms of communication definitely added an odd mix to the era.
I'd add that I don't think we can talk about the X-Files without mentioning Art Bell's late night show "Coast to Coast AM" that ran from around '88 through '03 (and even later under a different name until his death in 2018). I myself wasn't even aware of the show until my wife told me about it and had me listen to some episodes.
Simply amazing radio programming. Bell was a classic radio host - he casts a mood of suspense and stillness that's kinda like listening to a really great raconteur of ghost stories. His callers and guests were often very odd characters.
He focused mainly on conspiracy theories, ufos and weird/fake scientific subjects. His show was the most popular in the US in 1997 and you can still find episodes broadcast online. Funny enough according to wikipedia Chris Carter was a guest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Bell#Critical_reputation
All that said I think what was really wrong during the 90s was many people could feel the great sucking lie beneath all that was happening at the time. Like KMO I was a bit older than the three hosts of this episode in that era and my chief memory was of a society adrift. I was well aware that the US economy was living on borrowed time -- this was the era of exploding credit card debt and heloc loans just as our industry was being offshored; and at the same time we were being fed a deluge of nonstop liberal propaganda of the end of history and a golden rose future of plenty and joy. There was no alternative because there didn't need to be one.
Uneasy is the best way I could describe things. Like that still feeling before a great storm blows through or the animals all tense up when they first sense the oncoming forest fire. Mostly everyone I knew felt it in one way or another. I knew it was all a big scam and many others did too even if they couldn't put it into words.
It's so hard to live with such cognitive dissonance all the time without it wearing you down.
I was also a directionless twenty-something desperately avoiding making any choices about my future so I'm sure this contributed to my unease -- but then I wasn't wrong. If I'd found anything even remotely inspiring about the culture of the era that might've helped. I did try lots of things but it was like the air was poisoned and nothing really felt good. It was the era of mass-commodification of everything - even, especially, any concept of an alternative to the neoliberal order. The Committee to Save the World was actually destroying it and it was obvious because their mantra was greed, offshoring, short-term profiteering and outright fraud. How does that end well for a nation?
By the mid-90s mostly everyone knew the CIA had killed JFK and all the lost wars were ginned-up lies but it didn't matter since we had "defeated communism".
And it's just gotten worse since. I write articles about the USD reserve currency, conspiracies and what we can do to reverse course. But even with the temporary respite from the sick liberal mind virus Trump's election has provided I can't shake the feeling a deep reckoning is coming and I might just be too old to withstand it.
A nation can only survive such dishonesty and corruption for so long. And one thing I know is it can survive it far longer than it has any right to. And while it all began well before the 90s that was the decade the rot really began to set in.
I worked a lot of late-night jobs in the 90s and Art Bell was always a staple of my drives home.
The ‘unprecedented’collapse of 08 will pale in comparison to the next Ponzi scheme collapse. I’m no doom and gloom merchant, just a realist who has lived through a few recessions . Thanks for the link.
Oh, yeah! I remember listening to Art Bell late at night. Did you ever hear the episodes when Terence McKenna was his guest? Absolute 90s fringe madness/genius in amplitude modulation.
I'll have to check those out, cheers!
Great discussion. I declined to pursue a doctorate as many of my teachers said I should, because in 2000 I saw what a racket Higher Edu had become, and how insane progressism had become. I learned how to build a house instead. But I have otherwise kept up my education on my own, because as we say in the Octagon Society, we are all teachers whether we mean to be or not.
https://octagonsociety.org/octagon-society/octagon7/
‘.. they described the journey from being a boring cog in in the machine, to being a human agent of divine chaos..’
About 30 minutes in and I’m gonna have to start taking notes.. outstanding guys
Great episode as always, love the reference to Shakespeare, I still love to read him just for the sake of reading him. Am reading Macbeth again, and have plans to read Hamlet afterwards, just for fun but will only do so after I've finished Redwall.
Though if I may Alexandru, I have to object to you hogging Celaeno to yourself as I've dibs on him and your next podcasts over on my stack!
Joking aside, can't wait to see you guys team up again, maybe you guys could dig in deeper into Shakespeare, and philosophy next time? This was one of the best podcasts to ever grace Substack!
Thank you! I am rather fond of ol Shakey myself, with Hamlet and MacBeth being my favorite of the tragedies, but I also really like Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Midsummers Nights Dream.
Those are good ones, I’m hoping to get around to the Tempest, read part of it once. Mids I like, but after Tempest I might re-read Richard II and then move to reading Lear.
Loved the podcast gentlemen. To the educators - thanks for the work raising young adults into mature individuals, and not slaves. Hat off to everyone.
This guest must come back. Regularly. With Brad Kelly, Sudana, ..
I have to stop there.. the guests have been a delight to listen to from the beginning of this show.
The Librarian is one of my favourite people on Substack, and to hear him describing just why he got into writing on the platform is inspirational.
Many thanks to all three of you.
Thank you, I have a feeling LoC will come back many more times. Also have an episode idea with Sudana in the future.
Neil Durango. I couldn’t remember the guys name! Things are just getting juicy, with publishing turning itself inside out.
That’s good to hear, man. A battle of the playlists! I’m catching up on previous episodes of yours in the meantime. I’m on the Pilius, if that’s how it’s spelt, episode at the moment. Listening while getting other stuff done, and it’s proving to be a very insightful conversation between you two.
Loc and Phisto nailed it when it comes to what has happened to our educational systems. As you did, before they picked up on the thread and ran with it.
You quitting college, and going to war, would make a great essay…
Fantastic episode from the word go. Well done, man. I need to upgrade my subscription. Tomorrow.
What fascinates me about Ramaswamy's rat-brained take is I read his wikipedia entry and he was apparently valedictorian of the St. Xavier Jesuit Academy in, I think, Cleveland. Either the Jesuits are doing something really wrong or Vivek's some kind of human-shaped object devoid of a soul. His shoes are always three sizes too big so perhaps he has reptile claws to hide in there.
Vivek may have dodged a bullet. https://josephsciambra.com/the-jesuit-post-a-glimpse-inside-a-very-gay-future-for-the-society-of-jesus/
What's even more ridiculous than Swammis claim is the notion our education system should teach critical thinking skills, I offer Exibit A; Mark Crispin Miller, under attack for doing just that
Where are Bezos monuments? Well, there are the domes. What people in Seattle call Bezos Big Balls. Not particularly inspiring.