Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, last month I spoke to journalist Jeffrey Sharlet, known for his books on the Christian Nationalist movement (The Family and C Street; the former has been made into hit Netflix documentary miniseries), to discuss his latest work The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. The book is a series of essays exploring the chaotic moment that Sharlet calls the "Trumpocene" and delves into everything from the January 6th insurrection and death of Ashli Babbitt to the Men's Rights Movement. Given he New Hampshire primary on January 23rd, I felt that now was the perfect time to release this prescient conversation.
In this conversation we cover a number of topics including:
- The "F Word"; or fascism
- The rise of the far-right in the U.S. and its global ascendancy
- Trump and Gnosticism; Jeff's citing of the Gnostic poem "Thunder Perfect Mind" in relation to the Trump/MAGA movement phenomena
- Jan 6th and the death of Ashli Babbit; what drove Ashli Babbit into Trumpism and the MAGA movement?
- QAnon and the power of narratives in mobilizing the American right-wing
- Revisiting Jeff's groundbreaking journalism on The Family, C Street, the Council for National Policy (CNP), and Christian Nationalism
- Christian Nationalism and Trumpism as radical reinterpretations of Christianity; the Church itself as not being the be-all-end-all of Christian Nationalism (it's much bigger than that)
- Jeff's experiences reporting on the MRA movement and the ways in which they start with some true observations (men have high suicide rates, custody issues, etc.) that are chucked away in favor of misogny and all-out attacks on feminism (even though some of their initial observations can also be found amongst feminist works such as Susan Faludi's Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man)
- And more!
Achieving a Sane U.S.-China Policy and Avoiding a New Cold War w/ Michael Klare
Is America an Empire in Decline? w/ Alfred W. McCoy
Analyzing the Dual Financialization & Fascistization of American Culture w/ Paul Jay
The Dixie Mafia, the Real Buford Pusser, and an Unsolved Murder w/ Synova Cantrell
Biden, The War on Drugs, and Plan Colombia w/ Jeremy Kuzmarov
Weaponizing Anthropology + the CIA & Publishing w/ David H. Price
The Failings of the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout & How to Correct It w/ Elisabeth Rosenthal
The Politicization of Intelligence Work, Biden, Trump's Carnage, and More w/ Former CIA Analyst Melvin Goodman
BONUS: Gamestopocalypse w/ Mike Swanson
U.S. Foreign Policy, Joe Biden, the Crisis in Yemen, and More w/ Dave DeCamp
GOP Operatives and the "Stop the Steal" Capitol Riots w/ Zach D. Roberts
The Late Neil Sheehan, The New York Times, Vietnam, and Daniel Ellsberg Pt. 2 w/ Jim Naureckas
The Late Neil Sheehan, The New York Times, Vietnam, and Daniel Ellsberg Pt. 1 w/ Jim DiEugenio
Reflecting on The Rural-Urban Divide w/ Ross Benes
The Acuity of the American Crisis w/ Conrad Hamilton
QAnon Has Woke Up the Real Deep State w/ Nicholas Grossman, National Security Scholar
BONUS: Chip Berlet, Expert on the U.S. Far Right
Victims and Perpetrators in America: A Post-Capitol Chaos Conversation w/ J.P. Sottile
Cultural Revolutions and Farcical Insurrections w/ C. Derick Varn
Gary Webb Revisited, the Importance of Journalism, & Reporting on the National Security State w/ Jefferson Morley
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