Ayn Rand Centre UK Podcast

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Learn more about Don Watkins’s work: https://www.donswriting.comConsider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/During Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China, ‘struggle sessions’ were public spectacle events that included the shaming and humiliation of dissenters or people who deviated from the Party line, in front of enraged mobs. In the past two weeks, the term has been used for the phenomenon of white people publicly taking the knee and attempting to denounce their ‘white privilege’, the denouncing of celebrities who failed to support BLM loudly enough, and the hounding of people from their jobs for criticising the riots or for questioning white privilege.How did the protests escalate to a 21st century form of a cultural revolution? Is there a chance that the totalitarian spirit now expanding in the public sphere will spillover in politics? And how can one fight the battle of ideas in such a toxic public sphere?Don Watkins is the co-author of Equal Is Unfair, Free Market Revolution, and in Pursuit of Wealth. He is the Director of Education at the Center for Industrial Progress.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Many commentators over the past few years have described the presence of a ‘victim culture’ in Western societies. Vulnerability has been expanding as a category, encompassing more and more groups of people who are considered disadvantaged and therefore are subject to special treatment or privileges by the state and various institutions.Critics have described such a process as taking away agency from individuals and, thus, as detrimental to the prospects of social change and progress. What will be the effect of the pandemic to the culture of victimhood? Are we all now vulnerable subjects in need of intervention and protection by the state? Will individual agency come out stronger or further weakened after the lockdown?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The pandemic and the lockdowns have been the biggest state intervention in the economy and on people’s lives in living memory. In the case of the UK and other countries, the strict measures have been imposed by conservative politicians, and by governments that are considered centre-right and pro-market. At the same time, among people one can notice different attitudes towards the lockdown based on one’s ideology: people who associate more with the Left are generally pro-lockdown, whereas the popular base of the Right in many countries calls for an easing of the measures.What is the present and the the future of conservatism in a world where the state has unprecedented powers, and where the government is effectively running the economy? Is there a gap between the popular basis of conservatism and its political representatives? Does the world even need conservatism?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Just a few short months ago, no cause was more prominent than the battle against the supposed catastrophic implications of manmade global warming. With an actual crisis causing actual harm to humans, the cause of climate alarmism is at a crossroads.How will hardline environmentalists, who advocate significant changes to our way of life, reinvent themselves to keep their place as the most popular cause in a post-Covid world? Will their message be harmed by their target audience experiencing genuine, unprecedented hardship, or can they use this crisis to encourage us all to keep our carbon footprint as low as it has been during the lockdown?Join Brendan O’Neill, Editor of Spiked, and Razi Ginzberg, Director of the Ayn Rand Centre UK, for a discussion on the future of the climate catastrophe movement.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The pandemic and the lockdowns have been the biggest state intervention in the economy and on people’s lives in living memory. In the case of the UK and other countries, the strict measures have been imposed by conservative politicians, and by governments that are considered centre-right and pro-market. At the same time, among people one can notice different attitudes towards the lockdown based on one’s ideology: people who associate more with the Left are generally pro-lockdown, whereas the popular base of the Right in many countries calls for an easing of the measures.What is the present and the the future of conservatism in a world where the state has unprecedented powers, and where the government is effectively running the economy? Is there a gap between the popular basis of conservatism and its political representatives? Does the world even need conservatism?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/In this week’s psychology talk, ARCUK Psychology Fellow Josh Dickson will discuss how to use positive emotion to develop and expand your emotional repertoire.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The feminist movement has been one of the most vocal and popular milieus in the past few years. It has been present from large protests on the streets to campaigns in Hollywood, and has had an influence in society’s norms when it comes to inter-gender dynamics. At the same time, it has been criticised for anti-male bias and for shifting the identity of the Western world towards more risk aversion, and towards more emphasis on emotions and subjectivism.In the midst of a health and social crisis, and with huge events ahead, such as the US elections and the upcoming economic challenges, what will be the role of feminism in the new era? Are the characteristics of the movement well-suited for the ‘new normal’, or will identity politics take the back-seat in the struggle of society to stand again on its feet?Join Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and ARCUK Academic Advisor Nikos Sotirakopoulos for a discussion on what the feminist agenda might look like moving forward.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/’Optimism is the opium of the people!’, declared Milan Kundera’s fictional hero Ludvik in the novel ‘The Joke’. But in times of crisis, many people are craving some good news that will give them hope for a better future.What is the role of optimism in one’s psychology and sense of life? Is it an evasion to focus on good news, and prioritise them over gloomy and worrying prospects? How can one be an optimist in the current philosophical and cultural atmosphere, when the signs are that things are probably not going to be fine?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Two months after the world went into lockdown in an attempt to fight the outbreak of COVID-19, there still seem to be more questions available than answers.In this Meetup, world-renowned infectious disease expert Dr Amesh Adalja will answer questions regarding the initial handling of the outbreak, the current status, and what we can expect in the coming weeks, months, and beyond.Dr Adalja is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/And support Andrew Bernstein on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26987211According to author and philosopher Andrew Bernstein, overcoming adversity is a central element of what makes someone a hero. Beyond the real life examples we discussed some weeks ago, fictional heroes can also offer inspiration on how to go through difficult times, like the ones we are currently experiencing. Standing up to difficult occasions was also a characteristic of Ayn Rand’s heroes. In one of her novels, she wrote the following about one of the protagonists: ‘dangers, to Fransisco, were merely opportunities for another brilliant performance’. Rand’s heroes sometimes win, and other times get defeated; they always though face adversity bravely.In today’s web-meetup with Andrew Bernstein, we will discuss examples from literature, trying to draw parallels with the current times, and seeing how we can get inspiration and courage in the context of our lives.