Category: Socialism | Page 14

432 – Red Alert! – Santa Claus is coming to town / Better to give than receive?

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Dec 242015

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Topics:
00:03 Red Alert! – Santa Claus is coming to town: Santa Claus on the political spectrum, is Santa a socialist or a capitalist?, socialism’s monopoly on the spirit of giving, source of wealth, Santa as a generous capitalist, elves economics, needs vs wants, commercialism of Christmas, gifts valued and de-valued
14:30 Better to give than receive? preference to give, selfless giving vs selfish giving, the morality of giving vs receiving, presents not wanted, expectations vs actuality, personal Christmas depression, a brief history of Santa Claus, popular ideology and Santa, duty gifts, caller John, consumerism – bad or good, materialism, consumer societies vs producer societies, happiness on subsistence, gift entitlement
33:30 Naughty or nice: caller Don, Canada a free country, Canada a productive country, caller John, mercenary-minded profit motive, foolish commercialism, exploration of space vs wealth redistribution, Christmas tenant evictions, the coal issue, naughty or nice, Black Peter and the lump of coal, Christmas stresses, religious significance, the secularization of Christmas, Christianity’s appropriation of pagan ceremonies, annual celebrations of harvest, festival of the nativity, creation of myths, evolution of the myth of Christmas, a multiculturalist Christmas
53:00 Be sure to check the Santa clause: Santa a contradictory figure, working conditions of Santa’s elves, union busting at the North Pole, Christmas wishes
58:57 END — Promo to 59:42

408 – All truisms – from friendship to fellowship / Democracy as fellowship

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Jul 092015

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Topics:
00:07 All truisms – from friendship to fellowship: Greek debt and referendum, organized thought and philosophy, ancient Greece’s religious secularism, personal philosophy, public philosophy, friendship, fellowship, altruism, European Union as Fellowship, lending and borrowing money, inalienable rights, love and lust
19:50 Compromise or con promise? from friendship to altruism, control and illusion, the compromise of compromise is the good, capitalism as the scapegoat, greed vs greed, predictability of consequences
39:40 Still Greek to Greeks – Democracy as Fellowship: ‘No’ vote in Greek referendum, Greece celebrates as Europe is outraged, Greeks buying euro currency as protection, organized thought in ancient Greece, religious secularism, state and religion
47:11 No-name religion? Angus Reid Internet-panel poll about religion in Canadian politics, Canadian court ban on prayer at public functions, religion vs tradition
58:21 END

407 – It’s all Greek to me

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Jul 022015

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Topics:
00:07 It’s all Greek to me – from philosophy to crisis: Greece’s debt default, Greek referendum, issues in bailout deal
14:10 Shared roots, different branches – Europeans and the Greeks: Ancient Greece, discovery of philosophy, slavery, history of Europe’s relationship with Greece, Greece’s options, symbolism of inclusion, psychological issues
27:00 Greece’s unhealthy health care philosophy: Greece as a bad example to the rest of the world, Greek health care crisis, Greek prescription drug crisis, Greek currency crisis, no European recovers, beware of Italy
45:40 The Greek gods – religiously secular: Greek mythology and legends, separation of the heavens and earth, not religion but a story, Jason and the Argonauts (2000), the Greek gods, reason as the weapon to resist the gods
59:51 END

406 – Capitalism or capitalisn’t / Papal perversity

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Jun 252015

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Topics:
00:07 Capitalism or capitalisn’t: Glen Pearson’s hatred of capitalism, rich vs poor, poverty, environmental destruction, social equilibrium, real causes of poverty, socialism as the cause of political dysfunction
17:55 Climate changes – politicians don’t: G7 Leaders Summit, battle against global warming, vague carbon targets, a history of the world’s five ice ages, carbon dioxide,
33:45 Papal perversity: Morality as a matter of degree – Celcius: Pope Francis’ hatred of capitalism, pope calls for international tyranny as moral imperative, inadequate conservative responses to pope’s irrationality, a moral case for fossil fuels
46:00 My Goodness! But is it natural? David Brooks on the Road to Character, a need to be good, humility, technology and competitive capitalism, selfishness vs self-centredness, need vs knowledge
57:24 END

404 – Guest: Dr. Andrew Bernstein – philosopher, novelist, radical for capitalism

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Jun 112015

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Topics:
00:07 Ego, ergo no go: resistance to Objectivism, progressive vs progress, making the case for capitalism, dominant moral code of altruism, abysmal record of socialism, confused views of altruism, values of pursuing self-interest
14:30 Philosophy’s course: course of philosophy, absorbing philosophy vs learning philosophy, being overwhelmingly positive through truth, open immigration, welfare state is the problem, moral case against welfare state
38:16 Objectivism’s class act: Atlas Shrugged, putting Ayn Rand’s books into schools, Obamacare, socialized health care, disappearance of independent thinking, legacies of Marxism, moral and economic ignorance, regulating the doctors – and profit, competition required, America is a mixed economy, stimulating demand restricting supply creates high prices
40:45 A war on drug prohibition: a case for ending drug prohibition, ethics of using recreational drugs, supporting a war on drugs without prohibition, transforming the political/legal battle into a moral/philosophical battle, virtues of clean living, lowering the homicide rates, juvenile reactions to legalizing drugs, paradoxical truths
55:25 END

395 – Right to refuse service / Top 10 “intellectuals” / Camille Paglia on education reform

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Apr 092015

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Topics:
00:07 No service please: right to refuse service, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, right to discriminate, public vs private realm, public notice of discrimination
09:05 Ending philosophy: intellectualism, reality is objective, Prospect’s vote for top ten world intellectuals, Thomas Piketty, Yanis Varoufakis, Naomi Klein, Russell Brand, Paul Krugman, Arundhati Roy, Jurgen Habermas, Daniel Kahneman, John Gray, Atul Gawande, Russell Brand’s ending philosophy
30:40 The fact of Camille Paglia: Harvey Mansfield, Camille Paglia, political correctness, academics challenging the status quo, they saw it coming, creating angst division and confusion, properly informed people are less vulnerable to manipulation, cult of personality vs ideas, Paglia’s calls for education reform, the certainty that some ideas are better than others
44:50 Just great: world religions as great symbol systems that sustain, Camille Paglia, state of education, youth as anti-establishment, abandonment of greatness, knowledge of history, there are facts, critique’s that lack solutions, focus on core curriculum, knowledge is hierarchical, postmodernism’s relative contradictions 58:41 END

387 – Bode’s flaw / Vacuous notions on vaccinations / Capitalism: the moral system

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Feb 122015

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Topics:
00:07 Astro-logic about life on other worlds: imagining a galaxy teeming with life, Bode’s law, exo-planet systems, habitable planets in the millions, not necessarily earth-like, Bode’s flaws, stable planetary systems, habitable zones around red and yellow dwarf stars, lack of metalicity, the Goldilock’s principle
12:50 Vacuous notions on vaccinations: the anti-vaccine controversy, role of the internet, fears of vaccines as a cause of autism are unfounded, finding conspiracies in the face of contrary evidence, fallibility of science, science is self-skeptical, Kant and Plato, government and medical business
29:15 Capital schisms on capitalism: science and capitalism, conference – Capitalism in today’s society, only one form of capitalism, socialism, the mixed-economy myth, why capitalism is losing the political war against it, Adam Smith and the invisible hand
44:40 Discovery, not invention: Conrad Black’s pragmatic defense of capitalism, concealing capitalism’s definition, socialists in capitalist clothing, discovering capitalism, capitalism is a moral system – not an economic system 56:52 END