Blame Theory

Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley discuss Andrew Doyle’s new book The End of Woke, which Ashley reviewed in Compact. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Ashley Frawley joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss her Compact column, "How Society Got a Sex Change," and its relevance to the evolution of liberalism. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley continue to explore the crisis of liberalism. They begin by discussing recent reversals around free-speech debates in the United States and the odd fact that ostensible post- and anti-liberals have often positioned themselves as defenders of a central liberal value: free speech. They then begin to explore the postliberal critique and other blame narratives that have arisen around liberalism in recent years and ask whether the problem with liberalism is that it grants too much freedom, or too little. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Liberalism is facing a multifaceted crisis, with historical contradictions between its political and economic ideals coming to light. The conversation delves into the complex relationship between Malthusian thought and both conservative and liberal ideologies, revealing surprising connections. It contrasts liberal optimism with romantic pessimism and critiques the societal impacts of capitalism. The potential and perils of AI are examined, raising questions about technology's role in human progress. The discussion wraps up with an optimistic outlook on exploring liberalism's future.

Geoff and Ashley discuss the online war of the sexes prompted by a recent mass shooting, which Ashley wrote about last month. They then explore the deeper roots of the gendered blame game that often defines our online culture wars. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Ashley Frawley, Compact’s new senior editor as well as a new co-host of Blame Theory, joins Geoff Shullenberger to explore how collective social and political problems have been blamed on individual psychic and emotional defects. We discuss her two books on this subject, examine the history of therapeutic culture, and explore to what extent particular thinkers—Pareto? Freud?—bear some of the blame for this set of developments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Musa al-Gharbi, a sociologist from Stony Brook University and author of 'We Have Never Been Woke', dives deep into the roots of wokeness and how it has been shaped by social dynamics. He argues that the narrative surrounding wokeness often ignores the role of 'symbolic capitalists' who wield ideas as a form of social currency. The conversation critiques the manipulation of ideologies by elites and challenges listeners to rethink blame in societal issues while exploring the complexities of media influence and professional standards in modern society.

Compact's Sohrab Ahmari joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss one of the most widely blamed thinkers of all time: Karl Marx. We consider why Republicans, all the way up to Donald Trump, are reviving anti-communist rhetoric during the 2024 presidential campaign, to what extent Marx can be blamed for the crimes of regimes inspired by his theories, why Marxism is so appealing to intellectuals, what we can still learn from Capital today, and more.  Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Writer David Shields joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new book and documentary How We Got Here. We ask whether postmodernists are to blame for our post-truth predicament and explore Trump's instinctive postmodernism, the propaganda techniques of Putin adviser Vladislav Surkov, and David's own theories on reality and (non-)fiction.Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

David Dudrick, professor of philosophy at Colgate University, joins Geoff to discuss his recent Compact essay "Why Foucault Couldn't Kill Sexuality." They discuss the misunderstandings around Foucault's History of Sexuality and the persistence of what he called the "repressive hypothesis," even among those who might claim to be his followers. Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe