

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

Jul 2, 2021 • 8min
Season 2 Episode 16 Preview - Roberto Aspholm on Racial Essentialism at the NFL (Full Episode is Patron-Exclusive)
It has somewhat recently come to light that the NFL created a different scoring scale for Black players versus players of other races when it came to deciding how affected a player was by traumatic brain injuries occurring during their time on in the NFL. If a player was Black, they needed to demonstrate a higher level of impaired cognitive function than players of other races. Strangely, this has made a lot of people angry, confused, and just totally baffled, not least because the NFL freely admitted it when confronted with this fact. They were, to paraphrase, “Yes, we are doing this.”Roberto Aspholm and Cedric Johnson wrote an excellent article about it, connecting the old-school biological racism of NFL to the liberal embrace of "disparity ideology." You should read it--and listen to the interview with Roberto!https://nonsite.org/betting-on-the-greek-how-the-nfl-is-banking-on-biological-racism/This is a preview from Patron-Only Season 2 Episode 15.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

Jun 29, 2021 • 1h 33min
Season 2 Episode 15: Ana Kasparian, Jason Myles, and the Socialist Victory in Buffalo
Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks and Jacobin's Weekends show, Jason Myles of the This Is Revolution podcast, and some members of Buffalo DSA join Ben to talk about everything that's going on this week--from India Walton's stunning victory in Buffalo to why police privatization is a uniquely horrifying idea. There's also a preview of the bonus episode with Roberto Aspholm (dropping for patrons on Thursday), a breakdown of Dennis Prager's thoughts about socialism, and a preview of Ben's discussion with Glenn Greenwald (re-airing on the GTAA YouTube channel on Thursday).Here's the Lucky Black Cat video that was mentioned in the Prager U debunk:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfrKOYKyXWwIndependent 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

Jun 27, 2021 • 8min
Season 2 Episode 14 - Rick Perlstein in Reaganland (Public Preview of Patron-Exclusive Episode)
Ben is joined by Rick Perlstein, author of “Reaganland,” and they discuss a group of weird right-wing economists that developed theories around supply-side economics in the mid-‘70s. The Laffer Curve, the two Santa Claus theory, and other supply-side theories unfortunately were stupid and did not work. That was the downside. Luckily, Jimmy Carter won the presidency, cancelled a bunch of Single Santa Claus projects, and also ruined that side of economics. Not a great period all around. Enter Ronald Reagan!This full episode is Patreon Exclusive this week!Find Rick Online:https://twitter.com/rickperlsteinIndependent 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

Jun 22, 2021 • 1h 30min
Season 2 Episode 13: Barbara Lee Was Right About Endless War (and Victor Bruzzone on Sortition vs. Electoral Democracy)
Marco Rubio once again reveals that "right-wing economic populism" is a sick joke. There's a preview of the interview with Rick Perlstein for GTAA patrons. Daniel Elder is canceled and moves to the right. Luke Savage comes on the show to chat about Barbara Lee's prescient anti-war stance after 9/11 and Victor Bruzzone tries to convince Ben that sortition is better than electoral democracy.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

Jun 17, 2021 • 10min
Episode 12 Preview - The Achievements of Social Democracy in Mexico
Kurt Hackbarth talks to Ben about the reforms that Mexico's governing left party MORENA has implemented in the last three years. (In the rest of the episode, they get into drawbacks, limitations, and looming problems.)To get the full episode and every other Thursday patron episode, as well as the Monday postgames, support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons also 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

Jun 15, 2021 • 1h 50min
Season 2 Episode 11: We Stand with Ilhan + Ryan Grim's GTAA Debut
Slavoj Žižek shouts out Ben's new book in his article "The Difference Between 'Woke' and a True Awakening" (https://www.rt.com/op-ed/526235-zizek-woke-cancel-culture-awakening/). Anti-Palestinian ghouls attack Ilhan Omar. Ben, Producer Forrest and GTAA YouTube Manager Kelly Carey discuss this and more and play a preview of the patron bonus episode with Kurt Hackbarth on AMLO and the last election in Mexico, and then Ryan Grim makes his GTAA debut.The episode is called we *still* stand with Ilhan Omar because of the title of Ben's first in-studio appearance on TMBS:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZKK4-gcAigIndependent 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

Jun 11, 2021 • 11min
Season 2 Episode 10 Preview - Heidegger vs. Marcuse
Ekin Erkan joins Ben to read through and talk about Herbert Marcuse's correspondence with Martin Heidegger about Heidegger's role in the Third Reich. Find Ekin Online:https://twitter.com/ekinerkan4Independent 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

Jun 9, 2021 • 1h 30min
Season 2 Episode 9 - Jamie Lombardi on the Philosophical Case for Abortion Rights
Philosophy professor Jamie Lombardi joins Ben to talk about "heartbeat bills" and other current threats to abortion rights, and to revisit the arguments in classic papers on the subject by Don Marquis ("Why Abortion is Immoral"), Judith Jarvis Thomson ("A Defense of Abortion"), and Margaret Olivia Little ("Abortion, Intimacy, and the Duty to Gestate"). Jamie is starting a chapter of Corrupt the Youth (https://corrupttheyouth.weebly.com/) at her college and raising money for Garden State Equality (https://gardenstateequality.rallybound.org/JamieLombardi).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

Jun 3, 2021 • 5min
Season 2 Episode 8 Preview - Alex Press on Chipotle
Jacobin staff writer Alex Press joins Ben to chat about Chipotle--a company where management "ignores the rats and punishes the workers."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

Jun 2, 2021 • 1h 39min
Season 2 Episode 7 - The Kids Guide to Fighting Socialism ft. Ben Udashen
Ben Udashen makes his first appearance on GTAA for a two-Ben debunk of (we swear this is a real, non-made up thing) Mike Huckabee's "The Kids Guide to Fighting Socialism."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 Thursday bonus episode every week, 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/BenBurgisGTAA...Visit benburgis.com