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Give Them An Argument
by Ben Burgis
We're building a smarter, funnier, and more appealing left one episode at a time!Every Saturday, Give Them An Argument is recorded with a Zoom "studio audience." The Zoom recordings are posted right away at patreon.com/benburgis and it goes out into the world as a YouTube video and a podcast on Monday.
Episodes
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This podcast doesn't live here anymore--subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Etc.
This is just a quick note to say that, since we're not sure how many people are listening here and we suspect it's not very many, it's really not worth posting everything on both this feed and the main Buzzsprout one that goes out to Apple Podcasts, Google Posts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and many…
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Season 3 Episode 9: How to Be An Anti-Capitalist in the 2020s (ft. Meagan Day)
Ben Burgis talks to Jacobin's Meagan Day about Erik Olin Wright's analysis in his book Class Counts of all the different (and sometimes contradictory) class positions different people can have under capitalism, and how that analysis helps us understand the current limits of oppositional groups…
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Season 3 Episode 7 - David Griscom and Matt Lech on Cryptocurrency
Ben Burgis talks to "Left Reckoning" hosts Matt Lech & David Griscom about cryptocurrency. Ben and his wife Professor Jennifer Burgis unpack Charlie Kirk's confusion about social contract theory and Rawls. Ben and Producer Jake talk about Charlie's "sexual anarchy" rant and Gene Epstein's…
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Season 3 Episode 6: Post-Kirk Debate Thoughts & Lillian Cicerchia on Marx's Theory of History
Ben Burgis is back from Arizona where he debated Charlie Kirk. Sadly the video won't be available for a few weeks but we'll be sharing some thoughts about it now. Ben and Producer Jake talk about that, as well as Sam Harris's conflict with Bret Weinstein. GTAA graphic designer J. Andrew World…
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Season 3 Episode 4: Vivek Chibber vs. the Forces of Reaction
Ben and the crew watch Charlie Kirk and Jen Psaki say revolting things about Haitian migrants and talk about the Democrats rejecting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and claiming the Senate parliamentarian made them do it. Cataylst editor Vivek Chibber (honestly one of the…
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Season 3 Episode 2 Preview - Joshua Blanchard on Bad Epistemic Company
Ben Burgis has Joshua Blanchard (https://twitter.com/philoshua) on the show, who is currently a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Oakland University in Michigan. Ben and Josh discuss a paper that Josh recently wrote that addresses epistemic peer disagreement, and more specifically,...
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Thursday Night Debate Breakdown #1 ft. Jake Appet: Hasan Piker vs. Charlie Kirk
[Note: This is actually from last Thursday--just getting to sticking it up on the podcast feed now. The plan going forward is that (a) the new Thursday Night Debate Breakdowns will go up on the podcast feed for everyone the morning after they're on YouTube, and (b) over the course of the next...
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Season 3 Episode 1: The Gang Goes to Prager University (ft. David Griscom and Jennifer Burgis)
So much good stuff in this episode. One of our favorite people, David Griscom, returns as the main guest. The new weekly philosophy segment with Jennifer Burgis debuts at the end of the episode--she weighs in on Ayn Rand's angry rant about the influence of Immanuel Kant. But here's the bad news:...
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Season 2 Finale - Nando Vila and Jason Myles Talk About Charlie Kirk (Plus Some Philosophy)
Charlie Kirk has said that democratic socialism is "the greatest scam in history." Ben Burgis has said that "Charlie Kirk is full of shit--like all Trumpists, he pretends to care about working-class people in the heartland but he doesn't want to raise their wages or give them healthcare." Ben...
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GTAA Season 2 Episode 27: American Prestige w/Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison
"American Prestige" co-hosts Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison join Ben for a deep dive on foreign policy.Follow Danny on Twitter: @dbessnerFollow Derek on Twitter: @dwdavisonFollow their podcast: @AmPrestigePodDonate to help people in need and also pressure Charlie Kirk to debate...
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Season 2 Episode 25: Philosophers Talk About Class Struggle ft. Lillian Cicerchia
Ben and the crew talk about Cori Bush's protest and what a socialist housing policy might look like, Ben and Cale discuss the new Contrapoints video and preview and discuss Ben's conversation with Matt McManus (dropping for patrons on Thursday), and Ben talks to Lillian Cicichera (prerecorded)...
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Season 2 Episode 24 Preview - Matt Lech Takes Patron Questions (Full Episode is Patron-Exclusive)
Matt Lech (Left Reckoning, Majority Report) comes back on GTAA to take patron questions.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame…
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GTAA/Know Your Enemy Crossover w/Daniel Bessner, Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler/Bell: 1/6 and the Left
About a week and a half after the Capitol riot, Ben co-wrote a Jacobin article with fellow TMBS alumnus Daniel Bessner in Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/trump-capitol-riot-fascist-coup-attempt Ben and Danny think that the case they were making in the article has only gotten stronger in…
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Season 2 Episode 23: Libertarianism vs. Democratic Socialism Debate w/Larry Sharpe
Larry Sharpe was the Libertarian Party's candidate for Governor of New York in 2018. He joins GTAA this week to argue with Ben about libertarianism and democratic socialism. (Also, Ben, Cale and Andy talk about Critical Race Theory and banning private beaches.)Independent creators rely on your...
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Season 2 Episode 22: Ben Shapiro is Wrong About Everything ft. Djene Bajalan and Nathan Robinson
Current Affairs founder Nathan J. Robinson and historian Djene Bajalan join Ben to take apart the many terrible arguments made by Ben Shapiro--an individual The New York Times once chose to call "the cool kid's philosopher." Nathan's recent article on Shapiro can be found here:...
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Season 2 Episode 21 Preview: Luke Savage on James Carville (Full Episode is Patron-Excusive)
Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage joins Ben to talk about the many inane things said in the most cursed possible context--an interview of James Carville by Chris Cuomo. Luke's original article: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/james-carville-centrist-politics-television To access the whole episode,...
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Q&A Livestream
Ben answers some Q&A questions and reads an unpublished fragment by Michael Brooks.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, a postgame every...
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Season 2 Episode 20: Richard Wolff Returns & A Tribute to Michael Brooks (Podcast Version)
Michael Brooks died a year ago on Tuesday. After an interview with Richard Wolff on his most recent book and how he thinks we can move beyond capitalism, the rest of the episode is devoted to a Michael tribute. Joshua Kahn Russell joined for the postgame for patrons Independent creators rely on...
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Season 2 Episode 19 Preview - Eric Levitz on Crime and the Left
NYMag's Eric Levitz makes an argument about how the left talks about crime. It's good stuff.To access the whole thing, become a GTAA patron by going to patreon.com/benburgis. As well as the weekly Thursday bonus episodes, patrons get access to the Discord server, patron-exclusive postgames on...
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Bastille Day Bonus Episode w/Bhaskar Sunkara and Age of Napeleon host E.M. Rummage
Jacobin Magazine founder Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunrayray) and Age of Napoleon host E.M. Rummage (@Trillburne) join Ben for a special Bastille Day bonus episode on the French Revolution and its enduring significance for emancipatory politics.Subscribe to Jacobin today for a special Bastille Day...
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Season 2 Episode 18: Hands Off Cuba (& Pascal Robert on Haiti)
Ben talks to the crew about Cuba. Pascal Robert talks about Haiti. Ben's Cuba article: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/us-emb... Pascal Robert is the co-host of the This is Revolution podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9W... Independent creators rely on your support to create the content...
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Season 2 Episode 17 Preview - Branko Marcetic on Mike Gravel (Full Episode is Patron-Exclusive)
Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic joins Ben to discuss the life of anti-war former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. To access the full episode become a GTAA patron at patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode...
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Don't Be A Stalinist (& While You're At It Don't Fetishize FDR) w/Dejene Bajalan and Kuba Wrzesniewski (Livestream)
Left-wing history and foreign policy gurus Djene Bajalan and Kuba Wriesniewski join Ben to weigh in on all the recent discourse about Stalin (and to talk about FDR a bit while they're at it). Ben explains why he's been gone. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you…
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Bonus Episode - Harvey J. Kaye & Cale Brooks History Q&A
Ben had to be gone tonight due to a family situation. Cale Brooks & Harvey J. Kaye kindly stepped in with a History Q&A.
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Season 2 Episode 16 Preview - Roberto Aspholm on Racial Essentialism at the NFL (Full Episode is Patron-Exclusive)
It has somewhat recently come to light that the NFL created a different scoring scale for Black players versus players of other races when it came to deciding how affected a player was by traumatic brain injuries occurring during their time on in the NFL. If a player was Black, they needed to...
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Season 2 Episode 15: Ana Kasparian, Jason Myles, and the Socialist Victory in Buffalo
Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks and Jacobin's Weekends show, Jason Myles of the This Is Revolution podcast, and some members of Buffalo DSA join Ben to talk about everything that's going on this week--from India Walton's stunning victory in Buffalo to why police privatization is a uniquely...
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Season 2 Episode 14 - Rick Perlstein in Reaganland (Public Preview of Patron-Exclusive Episode)
Ben is joined by Rick Perlstein, author of “Reaganland,” and they discuss a group of weird right-wing economists that developed theories around supply-side economics in the mid-‘70s. The Laffer Curve, the two Santa Claus theory, and other supply-side theories unfortunately were stupid and did not...
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Season 2 Episode 13: Barbara Lee Was Right About Endless War (and Victor Bruzzone on Sortition vs. Electoral Democracy)
Marco Rubio once again reveals that "right-wing economic populism" is a sick joke. There's a preview of the interview with Rick Perlstein for GTAA patrons. Daniel Elder is canceled and moves to the right. Luke Savage comes on the show to chat about Barbara Lee's prescient anti-war stance after…
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Episode 12 Preview - The Achievements of Social Democracy in Mexico
Kurt Hackbarth talks to Ben about the reforms that Mexico's governing left party MORENA has implemented in the last three years. (In the rest of the episode, they get into drawbacks, limitations, and looming problems.) To get the full episode and every other Thursday patron episode, as well as…
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Season 2 Episode 11: We Stand with Ilhan + Ryan Grim's GTAA Debut (YouTube Version)
Slavoj Žižek shouts out Ben's new book in his article "The Difference Between 'Woke' and a True Awakening" (https://www.rt.com/op-ed/526235-zizek-woke-cancel-culture-awakening/). Anti-Palestinian ghouls attack Ilhan Omar. Ben, Producer Forrest and GTAA YouTube Manager Kelly Carey discuss this and...
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Season 2 Episode 10 Preview: Heidegger vs. Marcuse
Erkan Ekin joins Ben to read through and talk about Herbert Marcuse's correspondence with Martin Heidegger about Heidegger's role in the Third Reich. Find Ekin Online: https://twitter.com/ekinerkan4 Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An...
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Season 2 Episode 9 - Jamie Lombardi on the Philosophical Case for Abortion Rights
Philosophy professor Jamie Lombardi joins Ben to talk about "heartbeat bills" and other current threats to abortion rights, and to revisit the arguments in classic papers on the subject by Don Marquis ("Why Abortion is Immoral"), Judith Jarvis Thomson ("A Defense of Abortion"), and Margaret…
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Season 2 Episode 8 Preview - Alex Press on Chipotle
Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando…
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Season 2 Episode 7 - The Kids Guide to Fighting Socialism ft. Ben Udashen
Ben Udashen makes his first appearance on GTAA for a two-Ben debunk of (we swear this is a real, non-made up thing) Mike Huckabee's "The Kids Guide to Fighting Socialism." Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon:...
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We Can't Cancel Our Way to a Better Future (Ben's Appearance on the Majority Report)
Ben and Forrest were both traveling this week, hence no new regular GTAA episode on Monday or patron ep on Thursday, but here's Ben's complete appearance on MR to talk about his new book and how the left should think about cancel culture.Independent creators rely on your support to create the...
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Season 2 Episode 6 Preview - Nick Manley on Soviet Chess
Chess teacher Nick Manley joins Ben to talk about the history of chess in the Soviet Union.Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to…
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Season 2 Episode 5 - Julianna Forlano and Nora Barrows-Friedman
After a Palestine update with the Electronic Intifada's Nora Barrows-Friedman, act.tv host, comedian, and philosophy professor Julianna Forlano joins Ben to talk about philosophy, comedy, and the state of the left. Ben also talks about a big personal decision. Independent creators rely on your...
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Season 2 Episode 4 Preview - The Return of Freddie de Boer
For this week's patron bonus episode: Ben talked to Fredrik deBoer, author of "The Cult of Smart," about a bunch of his Substack essays. Two of these essays are "a bad partner is worse than rain" about Israel and Palestine and "Perhaps We Cannot Do Both" which talks about the George Floyd and BLM...
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Book Launch: Canceling Comedians While the World Burns (Highlights)
"Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique of the Contemporary Left" is officially out now! In these clips from the online book launch, Ana Kasparian, Nando Vila, Ryan Lake, Daniel Bessner, and David Griscom stop by to chat--and to talk about the book. Ben reads a short extract from…
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GTAA Season Two Episode One: David Griscom on Jean-Paul Sartre (Also, Did I Mention I Wrote a Book?)
Left Reckoning's David Griscom talks about Jean-Paul Sartre. Ben and Producer Forrest debunk a video made by a YouTube tax-shelter guru who seems very upset about Ben's "Abolish Inherited Wealth" article. Joe Biden is up to various shenanigans (although we might not get to those until the...
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Bonus: Ben Debates Gene Epstein on Capitalism vs. Socialism (plus Post-Game Analysis w/Crew)
About a week ago, Ben debated Gene Epstein at the Soho Forum in Florida on capitalism vs. socialism.. Now that the video's out, Ben watched it with Producer Forrest and economics prof & Current Affairs House Economist Rob Larson and did a little postgame analysis at the end. Enjoy!
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Bonus - The Derek Chauvin Verdict and the Struggle Ahead w/Jason Myles and Pascal Robert
Season 2 doesn't officially start for another week and a half, but we thought this was a worth popping back on to cover. Jason Myles and Pascal Robert from the This is Revolution podcast join Ben to talk about the Chauvin verdict, prospects for the continuing struggle to demilitarize policing and...
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Bonus Glenn Greenwald Interview: The Fight to Defend Democracy in Brazil
Ben talked to Glenn Greenwald over the weekend about Glenn's new book, "Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro's Brazil." We were originally planning to play this as part of the first episode of Season 2, but it ended up going so long and being so interesting that...
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Episode 47 Preview - Vibe vs. Vibe
Ben interviews Aaron Rabinowitz, a philosophy professor and the host of the Embrace the Void podcast, about moral realism, free will, and several other subjects. This is a free public preview of a patron-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and every other Thursday patron episode…
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Episode 46 - Sam Harris is Wrong About Everything (Extra-Long Season Finale)
Sam Harris, it turns out, is wrong about just about everything. Kurdish Studies professor Djene Bajalan is here to talk about everything Harris gets wrong about Islam and the Middle East. Philosophy professors Mark Warren and Ryan Lake are here to talk about everything Harris gets wrong about...
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Episode 45 Preview - Jason Myles (Patron-Exclusive)
Musician and "This is Revolution" host Jason Myles joins Ben to talk about subjects ranging from Metallica and Black Sabbath to whether grunge is really a distinct genre to what police abolitionism really means in a society with massive economic inequality. To get the full episode and every other...
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Episode 44 - Nando Returns and Ben Talks G.A. Cohen with R.J. Eskow
Nando Vila comes on to talk about Brazil, Bolivia, and class politics here at home. But first, Zero Hour host R.J. Eskow chats with Ben about one of their favorite philosophers, G.A. Cohen, and Cohen's little book Why Not Socialism. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content...
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Episoder 43 Preview - Djene Bajalan and Pascal Robert vs. the British Monarchy (Patron-Exclusive)
Djene Bajalan and Pascal Robert join Ben to break down this atrocious National Review article: https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/an-american-defense-of-britains-constitutional-monarchy/ To get the full episode and every other Thursday patron-exclusive episode, become a GTAA patron at...
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Episode 42 - Abdul El-Sayed and Natalie Shure on Medicare for All
Physician, activist, and Michigan-based Berniecrat politician Abdul El-Sayed and his co-author Micah Johnson discuss their new book "Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide."Writer Natalie Shure talks about her recent piece in the Nation and the broader fight for Medicare for All. Support Give Them…
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Episode 41 Preview - A Beginners Guide to Kant Pt. 2
Russell Sbriglia, Matt McManus, and Ryan Lake join Ben to continue their deep dive into the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. To get the full episode and every other Thursday patron-exclusive episode, become a GTAA patron at patreon.com/benburgis. As well as extra episodes every week, patrons get…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
We're building a smarter, funnier, and more appealing left one episode at a time!Every Saturday, Give Them An Argument is recorded with a Zoom "studio audience." The Zoom recordings are posted right away at patreon.com/benburgis and it goes out into the world as a YouTube video and a podcast on Monday.
HOSTED BY
Ben Burgis
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Give Them An Argument have?
Give Them An Argument currently has 95 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Give Them An Argument about?
We're building a smarter, funnier, and more appealing left one episode at a time!Every Saturday, Give Them An Argument is recorded with a Zoom "studio audience." The Zoom recordings are posted right away at patreon.com/benburgis and it goes out into the world as a YouTube video and a podcast on...
How often does Give Them An Argument release new episodes?
Give Them An Argument has 95 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Give Them An Argument?
You can listen to Give Them An Argument on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Give Them An Argument?
Give Them An Argument is created and hosted by Ben Burgis.
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