Civilization, Moral Masochism, and Wonders of the Visible World (w/ Brendan O'Neill)
History Impossible
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Cultural Critique and the Resurgence of Neo-Colonial Attitudes
This chapter explores the intricate dynamics of cultural criticism, focusing on the attire of women in London, particularly the niqab. It highlights the tensions between cultural engagement and the fear of being labeled Islamophobic, while tracing connections to historical colonial perspectives.
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Hello everybody. We have another amazing conversation for you fine people to enjoy, this time a little spicier as far as controversial subjects go. To further expand upon my thoughts on the imperialistic character of Islamism as well as discuss the development of the new (neo?) antisemitism we are currently seeing develop in the West, I realized there was likely no one better suited in my orbit than the great UK-based polemicist and writer Brendan O’Neill.
Brendan has been featured, well, all over—the British television, the Oxford debates, and many more, all while writing for multiple publications including spiked! (where he is chief political writer), The Spectator, and the Daily Mail, as well as hosting his excellent interview show, The Brendan O’Neill Show. I’ve followed his work for a very long time, and have always admired him for his sharp commentary that, while certainly very much his own, calls to mind the kind of sharp commentary we saw from the great Christopher Hitchens (and not just because of the accent). With Brendan’s work, as soon as you think you’re hearing a typical broadside against the Western left, you realize that there is a deeper, more socially liberal critique informing all of that, sharpened all the more when he turns his guns on the radical right. This came up a lot during our conversation.
However, his most recent accomplishment, his excellent 2024 polemic After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel, and the Crisis of Civilization, is what made this conversation more of an imperative. It was not just the power of this book—the rage behind it, which I often shared—that made me want to speak to Brendan about it, but also—selfishly, I admit—my own words were quoted within it, specifically from the piece I wrote jointly for Queer Majority and Quillette in late 2023 about the origins of Hamas’ homophobia. Brendan and I connected via social media and eventually were able to make this conversation happen, and it was a truly excellent one that covers a wide range of topics, most of which related to his book, but some of which went in directions neither of us anticipated—the conspiracy theorist mindset, the situation with Darryl Cooper, and even the role of wonder and meaning in everyday life, especially for atheists like Brendan and myself.
It was a great conversation and one we both hope to have again and/or expand upon in the future.
...
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today if you want to show some love for what I do and make and what to help keep the show and all my written content going:
David Adamcik
David Alsbach
Gregg Anderson
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Greg Bosai
Johannes Breitsameter
Carol ABC
Charles C
Curtis Christiansen
Jason Coleman
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
Paul DeCoster
Regina Dick-Endrizzi
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Martin E.
Eastone
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Josh Goedert
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Jack Henneman
Eric Hodges
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Shiran
Skip Pacheco
Mel Padden
David Page
Molly Pan
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
timetosuccedd1995
Thomas Squeo
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Pierre Vorupuni
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
F. You
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.
Brendan has been featured, well, all over—the British television, the Oxford debates, and many more, all while writing for multiple publications including spiked! (where he is chief political writer), The Spectator, and the Daily Mail, as well as hosting his excellent interview show, The Brendan O’Neill Show. I’ve followed his work for a very long time, and have always admired him for his sharp commentary that, while certainly very much his own, calls to mind the kind of sharp commentary we saw from the great Christopher Hitchens (and not just because of the accent). With Brendan’s work, as soon as you think you’re hearing a typical broadside against the Western left, you realize that there is a deeper, more socially liberal critique informing all of that, sharpened all the more when he turns his guns on the radical right. This came up a lot during our conversation.
However, his most recent accomplishment, his excellent 2024 polemic After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel, and the Crisis of Civilization, is what made this conversation more of an imperative. It was not just the power of this book—the rage behind it, which I often shared—that made me want to speak to Brendan about it, but also—selfishly, I admit—my own words were quoted within it, specifically from the piece I wrote jointly for Queer Majority and Quillette in late 2023 about the origins of Hamas’ homophobia. Brendan and I connected via social media and eventually were able to make this conversation happen, and it was a truly excellent one that covers a wide range of topics, most of which related to his book, but some of which went in directions neither of us anticipated—the conspiracy theorist mindset, the situation with Darryl Cooper, and even the role of wonder and meaning in everyday life, especially for atheists like Brendan and myself.
It was a great conversation and one we both hope to have again and/or expand upon in the future.
...
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today if you want to show some love for what I do and make and what to help keep the show and all my written content going:
David Adamcik
David Alsbach
Gregg Anderson
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Greg Bosai
Johannes Breitsameter
Carol ABC
Charles C
Curtis Christiansen
Jason Coleman
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
Paul DeCoster
Regina Dick-Endrizzi
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Martin E.
Eastone
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Josh Goedert
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Jack Henneman
Eric Hodges
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Shiran
Skip Pacheco
Mel Padden
David Page
Molly Pan
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
timetosuccedd1995
Thomas Squeo
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Pierre Vorupuni
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
F. You
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.
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