Conversations with Peter Boghossian

This conversation can also be viewed on YouTube! Peter Boghossian had the good fortune to be in Australia in March, the same time Kellie-Jay Keen brought her Let Women Speak (LWS) tour to Australia and New Zealand. They were scheduled to meet, but Kellie-Jay’s tour was cut short when a violent mob of TRAs (trans rights activists) threatened her life. On March 25, Kellie-Jay was at Albert Park in Auckland for a planned LWS event. These gatherings have a very simple structure: women are invited to speak about women’s issues. Men are also allowed to speak, but they must wait until the end. Hundreds of TRAs came to Albert Park to protest Kellie-Jay, turning violent before the speakers even got started. The mob toppled metal barriers, dumped tomato sauce and water on Kellie-Jay, and one (a man) punched an elderly woman multiple times in the face, cracking her skull. The mob attacked Kellie-Jay, and according to police, she was lucky to have survived. (Andrew Doyle provides a solid assessment of the situation with clips from the event here.) Obviously, the event was canceled, as was the event planned in Wellington the following day. New Zealand police put Kellie-Jay under protection and advised her to leave the country immediately due to credible threats on her life. Peter didn’t meet with Kellie-Jay in Sydney as planned. But they did have an extended conversation following this authoritarian display of speech suppression and violence against women. In this conversation, we hear about what happened in Auckland, how she was defamed by Australian media before she arrived, why she’s not “anti-trans” (or a Nazi), why she rejects the idea of gender, what we should do about activist educators, why voting for truth takes precedence over other political issues, and how we can overcome this illogical, authoritarian, and increasingly violent ideology. 

Associate Professor of Psychology Charles Negy was canceled by an online mob for “offensive” speech on Twitter in June 2020. Within weeks, the University of Central Florida (UCF) launched an investigation, firing him six months later. In 2022, an arbitrator ruled that UCF did not have just cause for the termination and Negy was reinstated. In this interview with Peter Boghossian, Negy details his experience with university officials throughout the 2-year ordeal and considers how universities can be saved from illiberal ideology. Peter also introduces Negy to Hanna, a UCF student who was part of the mob that canceled him. Hanna explains her experience of indoctrination in the Social Justice movement and how she became a free speech advocate. Negy has filed a lawsuit against UCF’s board of trustees for violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments, negligence, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. You can watch this interview on YouTube. Follow Peter Boghossian Substack YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Donate to National Progress Alliance

In this episode, Peter Boghossian interviews Carl Benjamin. This is what Peter said about the discussion: Carl Benjamin, AKA "Sargon of Akkad," is best described as a free-speech activist, staunch critic of identity politics, and champion of English Liberalism.  When YouTube and Google shadowbanned his channel in 2019 for wrongthink, Carl continued creating content on Akkad Daily. In November 2020, he launched a new media venture: Lotuseaters.com. Carl and I have fundamental differences about our core principles, but we are able to explore these differences constructively. Carl challenged my views and I find his take on social and cultural issues to be insightful, refreshing, and unhindered by moral fashions. We discussed myriad topics over more than two hours; I’m sharing the most interesting segment, where the issue of national sovereignty sparks a deep inquiry into the value of rationality, the possibility of “moral facts,” the attainment of objective universal principles, and the possible pitfall of a doctrine of human rights. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For further reading on ideas discussed, check out Michael Oakeshott, John Rawls, Richard Rorty, J. L. Mackie, Jürgen Habermas, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Michael Shermer. You can watch this conversation on YouTube.

In "The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World," Andrew Doyle reveals the similarities between the destructive irrationality of 17th-century witch trials (and executions) in Salem and the illiberal collective mania afflicting modern society. Peter Boghossian interviews Doyle about themes explored, including the sly use of progressive language by Social Justice activists, the infection of major institutions, new segregation, “academic shibboleths,” gender stereotypes, trans medical scandals, whistleblowers, the meaning of “left” and “right” ideology, the instinct for authoritarianism and much more. Buy Andrew Doyle's book Andrew Doyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewdoyle_com  Titania McGrath: https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath 

Watch the video of this conversation here. Now that the first season of All Things Re-Considered has concluded, Peter Boghossian and Matt Thornton met to discuss viewer feedback. The vast majority of feedback has been positive, but a few criticisms are addressed: why Peter and Matt used Rachel Levine’s preferred pronouns, the “Kazoo Dilemma” (who is responsible for its inclusion and who performed the devil’s instrument), why we chose to examine NPR, if/how NPR could be fixed, the possibility that NPR “has always been this way,” what news we can trust, and the future of All Things Re-Considered.   We received several requests to release excerpts from the episodes that would be easier to share with friends than full videos. We think that’s a great idea, so individual show segments will be available over the next few weeks—just in time for lively discussions with friends and family throughout the holiday season. 

Fat identity/justice/liberation, intersectionality, saving public radio, interracial violence, George Floyd, Waukesha, Tony Timpa, Buffalo, data data data, qualified immunity and much more.    This is our final episode of All Things Re-Considered for the season. We will release a conversation about what we learned next week. This is a great time to leave feedback about the show and suggest other topics for re-consideration (besides NPR)! Watch the series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYNjnJFU-62s5cNuqeB-D-7QPymF6myk_

Gina, host of "Morning Sedition" on All Things Re-Considered, shares an update regarding the dinosaur emoji story from Episode 3 (https://youtu.be/Latb4tOUG-0) All Things Re-Considered received an interesting critique about the trans dinosaur emoji story we analyzed in Episode 3. We criticized the story for failing to include events explaining why feminists (so-called T*RFs) used the dinosaur emoji in September 2021. YouTube user “Fake Chuck” claimed NPR’s story DID​ provide the background information and he shared a link to prove it. Unfortunately for Fake Chuck, the link he provided was not to the story NPR ran, but to a former version of the story. While this former version does mention David Lammy’s dinosaur insult and feminists’ subsequent embrace of dinosaur emojis, NPR chose to redact this information when it released the story on its website and to public radio stations for broadcast. Knowing this is quite enlightening. You can view this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABiQYnlRpB4&t=27s

Topics include NPR vs. Public Radio, Trump trigger warning, cultivating fragility, holding powerful people accountable, not holding Rachel Levine accountable, ideology vs. science, divisive training, and much more.  View this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHnGHhWnTP0

Welcome to Episode 3 of All Things Re-Considered: Dinosaur Emojis & NPR's Compassionate Look at Antifa. We learn about T*RF demands, trans dinosaurs, bad journalism, objectivity, nonbinary alligators, the hyper-morality of Antifa, and much more. We also hear from three more former listeners (one masked) about their departure from NPR and public radio. Enjoy!

Episode 2 of All Things Re-Considered explores the dangers of free speech, James Damore, academic harassment, where NPR gets its "experts," how Ira Glass broke a woman's heart, how the ACLU is breaking Ira Glasser’s heart, similarities between NPR and Fox News, and much more. A former public media journalist explains how NPR’s fashionable ideology facilitates bad journalism and former listeners share the stories that pushed them over the edge.   This podcast is taken directly from the video released on YouTube.  To watch: https://youtu.be/U2RsN9g6huo.  Connect with Peter Boghossian and the team at https://boghossian.substack.com/