1,503 words

For years now, readers have been urging me to review Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), which adapts Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel of the same name. I have resisted, because although A Clockwork Orange is often hailed as a classic, I thought it was dumb, distasteful, and highly overrated, so I didn’t want to watch it again. But I had first watched it decades ago. (more…)

Gustav Klimt, Death and Life, 1915

1,769 words

Twenty years ago I remember being absolutely outraged by an acquaintance, an M.D. by trade, who told me he was a strict biological determinist. Everything about us, he related to me over coffee, was attributable to heredity. I was flabbergasted – and indignant. Especially because he insisted that his position left no room at all for freedom of will, which he regarded as a myth. (more…)

Hendrick ter Brugghen, Heraclitus, 1628

2,226 slov

English original here

Poznámka autora: Následuje text části přednášky z 15. srpna 1996 z kurzu pro dospělé v Atlantě, který jsem vedl během svého doktorského studia. Celá přednáška byla podstatně delší a mluvil jsem při ní mj. o Rousseauovi, Kantovi, Schillerovi nebo Hegelovi.

Proč jsme se tu dnes večer sešli? (more…)

2,657 words

Patrick J. Deneen
Why Liberalism Failed
New Haven, Ct./New York: Yale University Press, 2018

Patrick Deneen, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, wrote the present study in 2016, completing it shortly before Donald Trump’s election. In February 2019, a paperbound edition with a few revisions and a new Preface was published.

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4,996 words / 32:13

To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”

Charles Robin
La gauche du capital: libéralisme culturel et idéologie du Marché
Paris: Krisis, 2014

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Carl Benjamin, aka Sargon of Akkad

7,582 words

The following is a transcript of a conversation that took place between Greg Johnson and Millennial Woes in January 2018. The original audio is here. We would like to thank S. C. for the transcript.

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Solzhenitsyn at Harvard, 1978

2,508 words

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s address at Harvard in June 1978 (video here), which was initially entitled “The Exhausted West” before being renamed “A World Split Apart” when it was published in book form, caused quite a stir among the Americans. (more…)

40 words / 44:38

To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”

Greg Johnson is joined by Rob Freeman (Kievsky) to discuss a number of topics including:

• Munchausen by Proxy and cat lady politics
• Pathological altruism, pet hoarding, co-dependent enabling as clues to the liberal mind
• Freedom, paternalism, and self-actualization
• Parenting, homeschooling, and self-improvement

(more…)

1,723 words

David Lynch’s Dune (1984) is a flawed masterpiece. When I first saw it, I was deeply disappointed. Frank Herbert’s original novel made a powerful impression on me. I could see Herbert’s world, and Lynch’s vision was not my vision. But when my initial impression faded and I returned to Lynch’s film with an open mind, I found it immensely imaginative and compelling. Even the score by Toto managed to grow on me.  (more…)

1,551 words

“On the surface, Bram Stoker was a pillar of late Victorian respectability. . . . But just below the surface, he had something on his mind.”

The preceding sentences are from Christopher Frayling’s BBC documentary on Stoker’s Dracula, which was broadcast on A&E in 1996.

In a more recent television documentary on M. R. James, (more…)

Arno Breker – Fackelträger (1940)

1,059 slov

English translation here

Druhý díl ze třídílné minisérie, první část naleznete zde, závěrečnou třetí tady.

Fašismus v protikladu k tomu demokratickému předkládá svůj vlastní alternativní obraz člověka i pojetí svobody, od onoho velebeného demokratického velice odlišné.

Demokracie svobodu nijak neomezuje, snad kromě zákazu škodit ostatním. (more…)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

626 words

Spanish translation here

Paternalism means treating people like children. Children lack the maturity and wisdom to make their own decisions. Thus they need parents — or people playing the paternal role — to tell them what to do and, on occasion, to force them to do it.

Most people have no problem with paternalism when dealing with actual children, as well as the retarded, the senile, and the insane. (more…)

92 words / 57:46

Responds to YouTube Skeptic Sargon of Akkad’s eight questions for White Nationalists. (more…)

136 words / 57:46

Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one above or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.” To subscribe to the CC podcast RSS feed, click here.

Millennial Woes leads Greg Johnson through YouTube Skeptic Sargon of Akkad’s eight questions for White Nationalists. (more…)

Reyer van Blommendael, Xantippe Dousing Socrates, c. 1665

6,643 words

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

Author’s Note:

On August 24th, 1999 I began a lecture course called “What Socrates Knew” with a lecture called “Thirty Socratic Theses.” What follows is a transcription of the second half of the lecture by V.S. The thirty theses are listed below, as are links to the audio of the lecture. 

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2,898 words

Part 2 of 2. Part 1 here

Transhumanism — The Final Showdown

The West, in its essence, is neither a human nor a natural society. The current debate – is gender real? – is not directed at finding truth but is instead a program of action – “we will make it so that there is no such thing as gender.” Masculinity and femininity, their polarity, will be abolished. (more…)

3,060 words

Part 1 of 2

Martin Heidegger, Oswald Spengler – “Martin Spengler” – these two 20th-century thinkers provide the main source of inspiration behind this project. Both sought to understand the times we live in, and to bring into view the deeper historical and philosophical significance underlying many of the political, economic, social, and cultural issues before us today. (more…)

Chinese ice cream.

1,412 words

In case you missed it, I recently I got into a little tiff with one of my blogging idols, Kim du Toit. On April 28, Counter-Currents published an article of mine, “Kim du Toit and the Freedom Paradox,” in which I more or less introduced Kim to the Alt Right and took him to task in a nice and respectful way over our political differences. Kim was one of my favorite bloggers of the previous decade and was just coming off an eight-year hiatus, so I figured the time was right. (more…)

1,775 words

It is a very simple idea.

Remember that in the film Moneyball, the new Assistant General Manager, Peter Brand, said that “it’s all about getting things down to one number.” Like Spearman’s g, but for baseball. A single number which could establish a player’s objective worth. (more…)

Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, champion of segregation.

1,934 words

I’m always thinking about how to express my reasons for supporting White Nationalism. Of course, there are many. But when you think about it, there really aren’t any reasons at all.

Does a human being really need to express reasons to have a home? A bed? Shoes and clothing? Food and drink? Personal effects and belongings? Basic freedoms and rights? I guess if you’re studying social studies for the first time in middle school, it might be useful to categorize the basic human needs and enumerate the objective grounds for meeting them. (more…)

48 words

I joined Alex Fontana’s Fascist Pigs Podcast to talk about Pizzagate, sexual liberation, social decadence, Nietzsche’s conservatism, Hegel on will and freedom, liberalism, Rogue One, film as an art form, and Leonard Cohen. Click here to listen. (more…)

4,276 words

Socrates

Part 1 of 2

The concept of philosophical dialectic is quite mysterious and intimidating. Even among professional philosophers, dialectic often has connotations of mysticism, obscurantism, and slight of hand. I wish to dispel this aura. I will lay out the elements of philosophical dialectic by looking at specific arguments in Plato’s Republic[1] and Hegel’s Philosophy of Right[2] and then employ Heidegger’s account of the hermeneutic circle Being and Time and Husserl’s account of the logic of parts and wholes in his Logical Investigations to clarify the dialectical process.  (more…)

Petre Țuțea

151 words

Translator’s Note:

Petre Țuțea was a Romanian anti-communist dissident. The following is one of the entries from his popular dictionary of aphorisms 322 de vorbe memorabile ale lui Petre Țuțea (“322 Memorable Words from Petre Țuțea,” Bucharest: Humanitas, 2009 [1993]), 45. 

* * * 

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2,924 words

Translated by G. A. Malvicini

We have already had the occasion to point to the illusoriness of the claim that modern man, in general, has achieved an autonomy and self-consciousness he previously lacked. This illusion can in part be explained by the fact that attention today is primarily directed towards external conditions, to the disappearance of certain material limits to the freedom of the individual — (more…)

2,024 words

Part 3 of 3

Trans. G. A. Malvicini from L’Arco e la Clava [The Bow and the Club] (Milan: Scheiwiller, 1968)

We will end these observations by examining the original content of three ancient Roman notions, those of fatum, felicitas, and fortuna.

15. Fatum. According to the most common modern usage, “fate” is a blind power that hangs over men, (more…)

1,124 words

The growth of what is termed the alt-right in recent months has lead to a growth of criticism and some debate over its meaning and scope. (We’re also on Wikipedia now). The “Alternative Right” is a 2010s political label with history I am sure most people reading this are familiar with, and if not it is beside the point. What I aim to discuss here is not so much alt-right history (more…)

1,352 words

English original here

Μετάφραση/απόδοση, για το Ιδεάπολις, του Νίκου Καρατουλιώτη

Ελεύθερη βούληση σημαίνει ότι έχεις να διαλέξεις μεταξύ πραγματικών επιλογών. Δεν έχει σημασία τι επιλογή θα κάνει κάποιος, ο καθένας μπορεί να επιλέξει διαφορετικά. Αιτιοκρατία (ντετερμινισμός) σημαίνει ότι δεν έχουμε πραγματικές επιλογές. Όταν κάποιος επιλέξει, δεν θα μπορούσε να έχει επιλέξει αλλιώς.  (more…)

Isis como Agathe Tyche y Osiris como Agathos Daimon en forma de serpiente

1,382 words

English original here

Tener libre albedrio significa tener verdaderas opciones de las cuales elegir. No importa que opción uno pueda elegir, uno pudo haber elegido de forma diferente. El determino significa que no tenemos dos opciones reales. Cuando uno elegí, uno no podría haber elegido de forma diferente.

Incluso si uno tiene libre albedrio, no todas las decisiones son libres. (more…)

Isis as Agathe Tyche and Osiris as Agathos Daimon in serpent form

1,319 words

Translations: Greek, Spanish

Having free will means having real options to choose from. No matter what option one may choose, one could have chosen otherwise. Determinism means that we do not have real options. When one chooses, one could not have chosen otherwise.

Even if one has free will, not every choice is free. (more…)

649 words

English original here

Paternalismo significa tratar a la gente como niños. Los niños carecen de madurez y sabiduría para tomar sus propias decisiones. Por lo tanto necesitan padres – o gente que ejerza el rol paternal – que les diga que hacer y, en ocasiones, forzarlos a hacerlo.

La mayoría de la gente no tiene problema con el paternalismo cuando trata con niños, tanto como con retardados, seniles o insanos. (more…)