Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

  IT'S A PARALLAX VIEWS DOUBLE FEATURE! First up, a roundtable discussion on masculinity and gender relations with previous guest and visual artist Brian Shaughnessy and Daniele Bolelli, writer, martial artist, university professor, and host of the History on Fire and The Drunken Taoist podcasts. We discuss the masculinity identity in an age of changing gender roles, integrating masculine and feminine traits, self-improvement, Daniele Bolelli's critique of Jordan B. Peterson, and much more in this fascinating and relevant dialogue. Daniele Bolelli Brian Shaughnessy After that Prof. David Detmer of Purdue University Northwest joins the show to discuss his book Zinnophobia: The Battle Over History in Education, Politics, and Scholarship (Zero Books, 2018) about the rabble-rousing American historian Howard Zinn and his critics. Perhaps most known for his book A People's History of the United States, which has been referenced in pop culture from The Simpsons to Goodwill Hunting, Zinn taught history from a bottom-up, as opposed to a top-down, perspective that emphasized the role of marginalized peoples in shaping America's past. Loved by many and reviled by others, Zinn was a lighting rod for controversy even after his passing when, as Prof. Detmer details in Zinnophobia, the President of Purdue University Mitch Daniels was accused of attempting to censor and prevent Zinn's work from being taught in the university curriculum. We discuss the Daniels controversy as well as the popular criticism leveled at Zinn, Prof. Detmer's personal experiences with him, and much more. Howard Zinn Prof. David Detmer

On this edition of Parallax Views psychotherapist Eliot Rosenstock returns to the show to discuss his upcoming book Zizek in the Clinic: A Revolutionary Proposal for a New Endgame in Psychotherapy (Zero Books, 2019). Among the topics we discuss are CBT therapy, capitalism and the perfect neoliberal subject, mental health services and economic status, the medical-judicial apparatus, the pathologization of the poor, psychoanalysis and it's importance, Guattari as the hysteric, technocapital and its relation to our psychic state, the failure of language, the Lacanian point of Westworld Season 1, and more.

On this edition of Parallax Views Theory Talk's Taylor Adkins joins me to discuss the life, times, and works of activist and "schizoanalyst" Felix Guattari. Guattari is perhaps most known for his collaborations with the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, most notably the two volume Capitalism and Schizophrenia, which cleverly subverted Freudian psychoanalysis in the age of Jacques Lacan. As such we begin the conversation by discussing Sigmund Freud and the foundation of psychoanalysis before taking a deep dive into Guattari, his radicalism and time at the experimental clinic Le Borde, the failed uprising of May '68 that influenced Deleuze and Guattari, The Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia Vol. 1, rhizomes and nomadic war machines, Guattari's The Three Ecologies, "lines of flight", the concept of schizoanalysis, and much more in this over 2 hour episode! Felix Guattari (left) and Gilles Deleuze (right)

On this edition of Parallax Views, from the unreleased back-catalogue and just in time for the midterm elections, author and occultist Michael M. Hughes joins me to discuss his book Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change and the history of anarchic and egalitarian tendencies in the occult.

On this extra-spooky edition of Parallax Views, just in time for Halloween, "Historian of the Strange" Robert Damon Schneck joins me to share strange-but-true tales from America's past from a folklorist's perspective that attempts to discover their sociological significance. Robert specializes in researching and writing about odd and unusual stories from America's past and is the author of The President's Vampire: Strange-but-True Tales of the United States (now reprinted as The Bye Bye Man: And Other Strange But True Tales) and Mrs. Wakeman Vs. The Antichrist: And Other Strange-but-True Tales from American History. The chapter "The Bridge to Body Island" from The President's Vampire was adapted into the major motion picture The Bye Bye Man starring Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Jenna Kannell, The Matrix's Carrie-Ann Moss, Bonnie and Clyde's Faye Dunaway, and Hellboy's Doug Jones as the title villain. Robert is also a freelance writer and contributor to Fortean Times. The conversation begins with a discussion of the strange-but-true paperbacks that influenced Robert in his youth. This leads into a discussion the connection between paranormal publishers and early 20th century pulp fiction, the eccentric ideas of anomalies researcher Charles Fort, FATE magazine and the Shaver Mystery, and work of Long John Nebel, the granddaddy of paranormal talk radio who predated Coast to Coast AM's Art Bell by decades. From there we discuss paranormal "boom" cycles, Ouija boards and the panics that have arisen around Ouija seances, Robert's thoughts on the Slenderman stabbings and similar cases from prior years, a deep dive into Robert's essay "The Ku Klux Klowns" about the possible sociological underpinnings of creepy clown sightings, stories of phantom attackers and mad gassers terrorizing small town America, the possible connection between werewolf lore and serial killers, the true story behind a murder case that turned into a sensational legend Robert dubs "The President's Vampire", the proto-Manson Family homicidal cult of Mrs. Wakeman, and, of course, the real story of The Bye Bye Man along with much more.

  On this edition of Parallax Views, just in time for Halloween, film critic, filmmaker, and musical composer Chris Alexander of Delirium Magazine joins the show to discuss the joys of horror cinema. We begin by discussing how Chris became interested in horror before delving into other areas, particularly the socially subversive potentials of horror. In this regard we discuss Chris's article on the blaxploitation cult classic Blacula as well as his friendship with George A. Romero and how Romero's "Living Dead" trilogy (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead) contain scathing social commentary and satire.   In addition we discuss the wild films of Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, the Euro-Horror of Jess Franco and Jean Rollins, the cinematic universe of David Cronenberg and the horrific themes that tie his early film in with his later work, Chris's take on the slasher genre and excitement over the newest entry in the Halloween franchise, the way film critics often unfairly overlook the horror genre, and finding horror in unlikely places like the films of Orson Welles and Werner Herzog. Jess Franco's The Awful Dr. Orloff Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, a major influence on Chris's own films And, of course, we discuss Chris's own filmmaking efforts starting with Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, and, most recently, Space Vampire. Chris explains the influence of directors like Werner Herzog and Curtis Harrington on these films , their themes, and the highly experimental approach, which included an early use of filming on an iPhone, he took in making them. It's a perfect episode for the Halloween season that'll be followed by a few other Parallax Views Halloween specials in the coming days! Check Out The Latest Edition of Delirium Magazine Featuring an Interview With David Cronenberg

On this edition of Parallax Views cultural critic John David Ebert (Youtube, Patreon) joins me to discuss myth, modernity, postmodernity, and John's concept of hypermodernity. Among the topics we delve into our Joseph Campbell and comparitive mythology, Nazism as a degeneration of myth, Carl Jung, Oswald Spengler and his two-volume series The Decline of the West, religion and the metaphysical tradition, William S. Burroughs, chaos and chance vs order and structure, modernity's relation to the Holocaust, postmodern thinkers like Deleuze & Guattari as well as their critics like Jordan Peterson, sociologist Zygmunt Bauman's idea of liquid modernity, and the digital age of what John calls hypermodernity and much more. Support John David Ebert's Work at Patreon

Patrick Farnsworth of the Last Born in the Wilderness podcast joins Parallax Views for a nearly two-hour, wide-ranging, sobering conversation on man's future in light of the possibility of catastrophic climate change. Despite the grim subject matter Patrick tries to offer a glimmer of hope in what many are dubbing the "Anthropocene", arguing that if we are past overshoot in climate change there nonetheless remains a redemptive potential in how we, as species, deal with it. Among the topics we cover are Patrick's TedX talk "Forging Connection in Perilous Times", "doomerism", grief in relation to the possibility of eco-catastrophe, how lifestylist environmentalism is not enough, alienation and technology, Dr. Christopher Ryan's writings on human sexuality and anthropology, ideology and the narratives we tell ourselves, psychedelics, critiquing Steven Pinker's defense of neoliberalism and the culture of logic-bros, the importance of love and human relationships, the idea of "Exit" and Patrick's discussion with Douglas Rushkoff about Rushkoff's article "Survival of the Richest", consciousness and panpsychism, religion and dogma, the little talked about problem of global dimming, and much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views returning guest Doug Lain, author of the sci-fi novel Bash Bash Revolution and publisher at Zero Books, discusses Zero Books severed ties with author Nicolas Hausdorf after finding out that he had began writing for the "post-political" (reactionary) magazine Jacobite. You can hear Doug discuss this issues with the author in question on Zero Squared #171: Pssst... Socialist Oppose Reaction. During the course of the conversation we discuss a number of topics ranging from how leftists activists end up going down the reactionary rabbit hole, free speech, the anti-SJW industry, Neoreaction (NRx) and its idea of The Cathedral, Doug's memories of the occult-flavored synchromystic subsculture of the 00's and how it may tie into these matters, whether "politics is downstream from culture", Moishe Postone's essay "History and Hopelessness: Mass Mobilization and Contemporary Forms of Anticapitalism" and unrefined manifestations of anti-imperialism on the Left, Adorno and the Frankfurt School's views on culture, alienation in political activists and the youth, Angela Nagle's critique of transgressive or "edgelord" culture, psychedelic and New Age reactionarism, socialism as "The Loyal Opposition", Jordan Peterson and the IDW vs. the reactionaries of the alt right and NRx, and more. And yes, Doug does speak about the recent kerfuffle around the recent Angela Nagle vs. Sargon of Akkad debate in this conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views returning guest, my partner-in-crime at Zero Books' Alternatives podcast, and personal friend C. Derick Varn returns to discuss the life and punditry of Britain's arch-conservative pessimist Peter Hitchens. Although his renown, at least in the U.S., has often been eclipsed by that of his brother, the late New Atheist crusader Christopher Hitchens, Peter is a fascinating figure in his own right who has become the UK's resident doom-and-gloom reactionary that liberals and leftists alike love to loathe. And yet Hitchens rejection of Reagan-Thatcherite individualism, coupled with his scathing critiques of elites on both sides of the political spectrum, have made him a commentator of interest to left-leaning individuals like myself, C. Derick Varn, and Kill All Normies author Angela Nagle among others. He may not be someone we agree with, but he is a refreshing and worth adversary, especially in the sea of grifting hacks that make up much of the right-wing media ecosystem today.