

Give Them An Argument
Ben Burgis
Give Them An Argument is a YouTube show and podcast dedicated to building a smarter, funnier and more strategic Left. New episodes are live on YouTube on Monday nights with an exclusive postgame for GTAA patrons after the main show. (To become a patron, go to patreon.com/benburgis and sign up for the monthly cost of a milkshake at a 50s nostalgia diner in 1994.) Past guests have included Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, David Pizarro, Gregory Sadler, Glenn Greenwald, Krystal Ball, Bhaskar Sunkara, Sam Seder, Ana Kasparian, Emma Vigeland, Matt Christman, and Amber Frost. The show has also featured debates between host Ben Burgis and opponents ranging from Walter Block to Charlie Kirk.Ben is a philosophy professor, Jacobin columnist, and frequent debater. He did a regular "Debunk" segment on the Michael Brooks Show until 2020. He's appeared on the Debate Night with Charlie Kirk, System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Rising, Krystal, Kyle & Friends, the Majority Report w/Sam Seder & the Joe Rogan Experience.benburgis.compatreon.com/benburgis
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 28, 2021 • 2h 2min
Season 3 Episode 4: Vivek Chibber vs. the Forces of Reaction
Ben and the crew watch Charlie Kirk and Jen Psaki say revolting things about Haitian migrants and talk about the Democrats rejecting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and claiming the Senate parliamentarian made them do it. Cataylst editor Vivek Chibber (honestly one of the best and most valuable Marxist thinkers alive today) makes his debut appearance on GTAA to talk about (a) why conservatives are morally bankrupt, (b) the philosophical basis of socialist politics, (d) what class-based left politics looks like, and (c) what parts of the Marxist theory of history still make sense. Professor Jennifer Burgis comes on for the second installment in the weekly philosophy segment at the end of the show.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Sep 20, 2021 • 15min
Season 3 Episode 2 Preview - Joshua Blanchard on Bad Epistemic Company
Ben Burgis has Joshua Blanchard (https://twitter.com/philoshua) on the show, who is currently a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Oakland University in Michigan. Ben and Josh discuss a paper that Josh recently wrote that addresses epistemic peer disagreement, and more specifically, being in bad company when it comes to those who agree with you about something.THIS IS A SEGMENT OF A PATREON ONLY EPISODE.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Sep 17, 2021 • 2h 58min
Thursday Night Debate Breakdown #1 ft. Jake Appet: Hasan Piker vs. Charlie Kirk
[Note: This is actually from last Thursday--just getting to sticking it up on the podcast feed now. The plan going forward is that (a) the new Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns will go up on the podcast feed for everyone the morning after they're on YouTube, and (b) over the course of the next several months, the 29 Sunday Night Debate Breakdowns we did over the course of Seasons 1 & 2 will go up in podcast form for GTAA patrons.]Remember the Sunday Night Debate Breakdowns? They're on Thursdays now, so after many many SNDBs this gets to be "#1." For anyone who's new: Ben and various guests watch and break down old debates on YouTube. Some of them are classy stuff like Chomsky vs. Vidal or James Baldwin vs. William F. Buckley, but some are, well, like this! Hasan Piker debated Charlie Kirk a few years ago at Politicon. Since Ben is getting his own crack at Charlie in Arizona at the beginning of October, everyone thought this would be a good one to do for a breakdown.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Sep 15, 2021 • 2h 1min
Season 3 Episode 1: The Gang Goes to Prager University (ft. David Griscom and Jennifer Burgis)
So much good stuff in this episode. One of our favorite people, David Griscom, returns as the main guest. The new weekly philosophy segment with Jennifer Burgis debuts at the end of the episode--she weighs in on Ayn Rand's angry rant about the influence of Immanuel Kant. But here's the bad news: We're spending almost the entire episode watching and discussing Prager University videos. Sorry--but this is happening.Follow David Griscom on Twitter: @DavidGriscomFollow Left Reckoning on Twitter: @leftreckoningLink to the SSCC class on Analytic Marxism and the Materialist Theory of History:https://sscc.teachable.com/p/analytic-marxism-and-the-materialist-theory-of-historyLink to the Gotham Atheists meetup event w/Ben this Friday night:https://www.meetup.com/GothamAtheists/events/xvrkfsyccmbwb/Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 26, 2021 • 1h 42min
Season 2 Finale - Nando Vila and Jason Myles Talk About Charlie Kirk (Plus Some Philosophy)
Charlie Kirk has said that democratic socialism is "the greatest scam in history." Ben Burgis has said that "Charlie Kirk is full of shit--like all Trumpists, he pretends to care about working-class people in the heartland but he doesn't want to raise their wages or give them healthcare." Ben thinks he and Charlie should have a discussion about this, and a lot of people seem to agree--enough money has been pledged in charitable donations by people who want to see this conversation happen to pay for more than 7200 meals for people in need. (See https://townsircle.com/events/89 ) The Town Sircle invite expires (along with the pledges) soon, so we thought we'd devote this episode to doing a deep dive on Mr. Kirk along with two of our all-time favorite guests--Nando Vila from Jacobin's Weekends show (and Woke Bros) and Jason Myles from This is Revolution. In a later part of the show, philosophy professors Mark Warren and Ryan Lake talk about how Charlie Kirk has stumbled into the Euthyphro Dilemma was his frequent insistence that "rights come from God, not human governments." Plus something about how atheists can't explain music?Pledge on the Town Sircle event page: https://townsircle.com/events/89Follow Nando on Twitter: @nandorvilaFollow Jason on Twitter: @TIRShowOaklandIndependent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/benburgisPatrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame every Monday nioght, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 17, 2021 • 1h 27min
Season 2 Episode 27: American Prestige w/Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison
"American Prestige" co-hosts Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison join Ben for a deep dive on foreign policy.Follow Danny on Twitter: @dbessnerFollow Derek on Twitter: @dwdavisonFollow their podcast: @AmPrestigePodDonate to help people in need and also pressure Charlie Kirk to debate Ben:https://townsircle.com/events/89Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis.Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame after the main episode every Monday night, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and monthly "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 10, 2021 • 1h 59min
Season 2 Episode 25: Philosophers Talk About Class Struggle ft. Lillian Cicerchia
Ben and the crew talk about Cori Bush's protest and what a socialist housing policy might look like, Ben and Cale discuss the new Contrapoints video and preview and discuss Ben's conversation with Matt McManus (dropping for patrons on Thursday), and Ben talks to Lillian Cicichera (prerecorded) about an interesting philosophy paper she wrote about class:https://www.academia.edu/49996564/Why_Does_Class_Matter_final_Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame after the regular episode on Monday night, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 5, 2021 • 10min
Episode 24 Preview - Matt Lech Takes Patron Questions (Full Episode is Patron-Exclusive)
Matt Lech (Left Reckoning, Majority Report) comes back on GTAA to take patron questions.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame every Monday night, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 5, 2021 • 1h 40min
GTAA/Know Your Enemy Crossover w/Daniel Bessner, Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler/Bell: 1/6 and the Left
About a week and a half after the Capitol riot, Ben co-wrote a Jacobin article with fellow TMBS alumnus Daniel Bessner in Jacobin:https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/trump-capitol-riot-fascist-coup-attemptBen and Danny think that the case they were making in the article has only gotten stronger in the last several months. Their friends (really, not just a courtesy, we like these guys) Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell disagree. Matt and Sam criticized the article on the last episode of their (otherwise excellent) podcast Know Your Enemy. Everyone graciously agreed to come on YouTube to sip a little bourbon and talk it out.Sam and Matt's podcast Know Your Enemy:https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy/Danny (and Derek Davison's) podcast American Prestige:https://www.patreon.com/americanprestigeFollow Sam on Twitter: @SamAdlerBellFollow Matt on Twitter: @MatthewSitmanFollow Danny on Twitter: @dbessner***************************************************************************Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame every Monday night, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com

Aug 3, 2021 • 1h 41min
Season 2 Episode 23: Libertarianism vs. Democratic Socialism Debate w/Larry Sharpe
Larry Sharpe was the Libertarian Party's candidate for Governor of New York in 2018. He joins GTAA this week to argue with Ben about libertarianism and democratic socialism. (Also, Ben, Cale and Andy talk about Critical Race Theory and banning private beaches.)Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: www.patreon.com/benburgis Patrons get a Thursday bonus episode every week, postgames after regular Monday night shows, access to the Discord server, a Sopranos Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosney Lambre, and regularly scheduled "Discord Office Hours" group voice chats.Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com