School Sucks Project self-knowledge, self-education, self-mastery

June, 2020

• 12 June

  [preview] January 2017: The Wars To Come

  

  Free Bonus Friday Enjoy (and you will enjoy) a snip of one of our bonus productions for supporting listeners, including The Discomfort Zone, In Pursuit of Utopia, Picture of the Month Club, and other older selections. Three men stare into a crystal ball (and into the abyss). [BONUS] Podcastmasters’ Liberty Masterclass – Privilege Check, Listener Q&A (Part 3 of 3) On January 20th, the Podcastmasters reconvened for a four-hour free-flowing inauguration-inspired discussion dubbed "Ow, My Inaugural Balls." What does the future hold? What concerns to people have about their future in Trump's America? Released January 27, 2017 on Patreon + A/V Club. Full Show: Support Us On Patreon

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• 8 June

  Rules For Radicals (Part 2 of 2) [PODCAST #659]

  

  Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from Online Great Books join me to discuss Saul Alinsky's frightening, frustrating, and formidable 1971 book, Rules For Radicals. Alinsky was a "small c" communist who was also such an apparent individualist that he never publicly aligned himself with with any group, but he wrote a book accessible to any ideology. Even if you're unwilling to embrace the tactics, you'd be unwise to ignore them. An optimistic take: real-world tactics for changing the status quo And a more cynical one: a non-ideologically driven, slogan-rich quest for power relying on ridicule and polarization, happening in an environment where widespread rationality is not a factor The downloadable version of The Ideas Into Action Summit is now available. ...

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• 1 June

  Rules For Radicals (1 of 2) – With Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt [PODCAST #658]

  

  Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from Online Great Books join me to discuss Saul Alinsky's frightening, frustrating, and formidable 1971 book, Rules For Radicals. The discussion is split into 2 parts, the second coming later this week. Alinsky was a "small c" communist who was also such an apparent individualist that he never publicly aligned himself with with any group, but he wrote a book accessible to any ideology. Even if you're unwilling to embrace the tactics, you'd be unwise to ignore them. An optimistic take: real-world tactics for changing the status quo And a more cynical one: a non-ideologically driven, slogan-rich quest for power relying on ridicule and polarization, happening in an environment where widespread rationality is not a ...

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May, 2020

• 29 May

  [preview] What Is No Country For Old Men?

  

  Free Bonus Friday Enjoy (and you will enjoy) a snip of one of our bonus productions for supporting listeners, including The Discomfort Zone, In Pursuit of Utopia, Picture of the Month Club, and other older selections. Picture of the Month Club - May 2020 - No Country For Old Men Installment #7 (AUDIO, 116 MINUTES) "The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willin' to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet somethin' I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to ...

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April, 2020

• 22 April

  [BONUS] Protest and Programming – AUTONOMY Mastermind 4-21-20

  

  The 1997 film Wag the Dog forever ruined photos like this for me. But if you've never seen Wag the Dog, enjoy this powerful piece of honest photojournalism. It allegedly shows nurses blocking protesters in Colorado, and more importantly, it clearly illustrates the ONLY two positions you can have on the COVID issue. So who's side are you on? The responsible science-and-medicine (dude has scrubs on!) heroes? Or the fat freedom-lovin' Trump-worshipers who are so angry and stupid that they're practically falling out of their gas-guzzling pickup trucks? What other choice could there be? A discussion about the current (largely misguided) lock-down protests, insulting media counter-narratives, use of celebrities in public perception management, competing groups of useful idiots, ideology, and ...

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• 18 April

  [BONUS] Picture of the Month Club – April 2020 – Boogie Nights

  

  Installment #6 (AUDIO, 114 MINUTES) We felt that a Paul Thomas Anderson film was long overdue, and we both agreed that Boogie Nights had served as a very important stop on our personal film enthusiast journeys. Boogie Nights is an epic story of downfall (and possible redemption, but also possible continued downfall), set against the decadent and volatile adult film industry of the late 70s and early 80s. The film is both inspired and relentless, and it was a very impressive second feature for 27-year-old P.T.A. Important themes and elements we'll discuss: - Family: escaping dysfunction and building a new one; the unstable nature of synthetic families - Ego: how it interferes with human connection - Foreshadowing: how Anderson builds ...

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• 3 April

  In Pursuit of Utopia (Episode 8) New Harmony, Part 2

  

  What was the ideal for New Harmony, as well as what life was actually like there. What was the theory? How was it practiced? Education at New Harmony: Last time we discussed his philosophy of "love" super-ceding classical instruction, concluding that Pestalozzi (while he might have meant well) developed a "soft-power" approach to education, which then came to New Harmony via F.J.N. Neef. We discuss how exactly that system of instruction manifested at New Harmony; what do we know about the actual techniques as they were applied? In this episode and the next, we discuss how New Harmony ties into this series as a whole. It is a quintessential utopia, reminiscent of those that came before (More, Bacon, the Puritans), ...

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• 3 April

  The New Progressive Era? (Autonomy Mastermind 3-31-20)

  

  This is more speculative and conspiratorial than I'm willing to get in the regular podcast. Danny McCarthy and I discuss the current crisis on scales ranging from the personal to the international. Rich and others join in as we move on to tips about caution and preparation. Related PostsShit Has Gone Too Far (Bonus Content Preview)Tags: a/vPre-Show 5-24-12Tags: a/vPre-Show 5-31-12Tags: a/vPre-Show 12-13-12Tags: discuss, a/vHacky Sack 8-24-13Tags: a/v

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