1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Cool Zon Media. Hello, and welcome to Cool People who 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: did cool stuff. You're a weekly reminder that when bad 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 1: things are happening, there are people trying to do good things. 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: And some of the people trying to do good things 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: are the historians actually trying to show that the world 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: can be different because the past is different than we 7 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: think it is because we've been told one way it 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: was and it's not always true. And one person who 9 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: is doing that work is my guest today, Christopher Zeichmann. Hi, 10 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: how are you? 11 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: I'd great, Margaret. How are you doing today? 12 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: I'm really good. I'm like maybe every time I read 13 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,959 Speaker 1: an amazing history book, I'll just reach out and be like, hey, 14 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: come on the show. This is wonderful because it's very 15 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: nice to actually get to engage with these ideas. And okay, 16 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: this brings me my first point. You were talking last 17 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: episode about how the academy's in trouble, right, and the 18 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: social sciences are in trouble. And if you had told 19 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: me this when I was a twenty year old squatter 20 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: dropped out of art school, I would have been like, yeah, whatever, 21 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: I don't care to hell with them all anyway, you know, 22 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: And if you tell me now. Unfortunately, my sister actually 23 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: was like, that's anti intellectualism, and I was like, who cares. 24 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: And then I started reading about what that meant, and 25 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, bad stuff happens when you do that. 26 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: It's interesting because I'm kind of exaggerating twenty year old me. 27 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: I don't think I was that naive about how the 28 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: world works, but I have more and more respect for 29 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: exactly what you're doing and what other people are doing. 30 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: Like when you describe social sciences. I kind of grew 31 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: up with the essentially right wing idea that that's sort 32 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: of fuzzy and not real science and whatever. And then 33 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: you're like, oh, you're literally explaining where we come from 34 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: or helping understand where we come from to break free 35 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: of actual shackles that have been put upon us by 36 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: a dominant paradigm. I don't know how to turn this 37 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: into a question. I'm just really more appreciative of people 38 00:01:59,160 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: doing that kind of work. 39 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of build pole we were talking about 40 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 2: the last episod. I think that's kind of why this 41 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 2: is perceived as a threat under a lot of political circumstances. 42 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 2: Right so directly in some case where you find like 43 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 2: defunding of the academy by you know, the different Department 44 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 2: of Education or whatever is going on in the States 45 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 2: right now. But beyond that too, I think it's also 46 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 2: like a move that a lot of universities are acquiring 47 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 2: your classes where, for instance, you might have to read 48 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 2: literature or anything like that. Right that, I find that 49 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:30,679 Speaker 2: increasingly a lot of students are like, oh, I'm a 50 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 2: business students, I'm only gonna take business management classes. Which 51 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 2: I've got my own opinions about that stuff. But yeah, 52 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 2: but I think a lot has to do with kind 53 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,399 Speaker 2: of if you socialize people, you get people to read, 54 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 2: get people to think that, people to see that there 55 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 2: are other ways of doing things. I think it does 56 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 2: present at least a certain base level threat to the 57 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 2: social order, right Like, I think that there's often a reason, 58 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 2: not exclusively, but like you know, you look back at 59 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 2: Paris nineteen sixty eight, it's a lot of university students 60 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 2: are involved in kind of uprisings that are right, and 61 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 2: it's you know, not only them, not just them. Obviously 62 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,079 Speaker 2: kind of complex reasons behind that, But I think being 63 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 2: exposed to kind of these range of different ways of 64 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 2: thinking and practicing can often present a legitimate threat political 65 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 2: or especially when it's young people who you know, may 66 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 2: have the time, may have the energy in a way 67 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 2: that they haven't been engulfed in the system quite yet, 68 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 2: the way that you know, once you've hit forty fifty sixty, 69 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 2: that you're a little bit more inextricable from you know, 70 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 2: the way you get your paycheck or whatever. I suppose. 71 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, and like you kind of don't understand death as 72 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: well yet, sure, Like, just to be real blunt about it, 73 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: You're like, I'm a live forever. I don't care if 74 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: I die young, you know, And then enough of your 75 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: friends die young, and you're like, oh, yeah, I don't 76 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: want to do that. 77 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 2: No, not so much. 78 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm probably way older than Spartacus was. Fuck, 79 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: I don't remember how old Spartacus was. Maybe we just 80 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: straight up don't now, I don't remember. 81 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 2: I don't think we know exactly how old he was, 82 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 2: but yeah, I don't know. I would assume twenties thirty 83 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 2: something like that anyway. 84 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he was. He clearly lived a pretty 85 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: wild life even before that point. Yeah, And this idea 86 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: of like the necessity or the usefulness of reading literature, 87 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: it's funny because I don't want to hand much to 88 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: the Victorians, right, like the people who get called the Victorians. Obviously, 89 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: there's a lot of people alive during the Victorian era 90 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: of all kinds of ideas, but the Renaissance man archetype 91 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: and the like. That's better than someone who just takes 92 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: business classes, Like someone who desires to be well read, 93 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: someone who desires to seem at worldly and understand a 94 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: lot of viewpoints, even if they're a conservative, that is 95 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: still a better idea. And I liked reading books and 96 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: literature and stuff, but I didn't quite get the like 97 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: point and they don't really need to have a point. 98 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: But the thing that I more and more understand, Okay, 99 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: this just describes my undiagnosed neurotype. Wow, I'm going to 100 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: say this on air. I didn't read fiction until like 101 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: third or fourth grade because I was like, why would 102 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,119 Speaker 1: I read fake stuff? That's incredible, Like what's the point 103 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: of fake stuff? And so I read like non books 104 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: about castles, you know, I still had all the same interests. 105 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 2: That's amazing. 106 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, and then slowly I read some novels and I 107 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: was like, these are amazing, And the answer is that 108 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: they allow me to escape my life and the way 109 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: that you know, a kid will read nonfiction books about 110 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: castles gets treated. And so I would struggle to understand 111 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: the point of like literature as a you know, why 112 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: does a business person need to understand it? And then 113 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: the answer is, like, it's real because what you learn 114 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: by reading a literature book from one hundred years ago 115 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: is you learn what an author felt like their society 116 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: had to say absolutely, and that helps you understand everything, 117 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: like understanding people. This is one way to understand people, 118 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: and it's a probably more useful way than just reading 119 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: a book about people. I mean, you could do that too, 120 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: write like a nonfiction book about people. But this is 121 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: a complete tangent. I just like the idea of the 122 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: only reading like all that matters is STEM and I 123 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: like stem. That was what I did with my time 124 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: when I was a kid. It wouldn't show now. 125 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 2: But you know, this is a good point, right, because 126 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 2: like I think this is one of those differences between 127 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 2: like sort of the fiction nonfiction. Right can you describe 128 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 2: something in all of its like nuances, right, like what 129 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 2: it would mean to live in ancient Greece and Roman 130 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 2: rite kind of all that, or to actually like narrate 131 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 2: it in a way that gives kind of attention to 132 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 2: all those details are not necessarily worth naming all the 133 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 2: time in like a kind of scholar work or nonfiction work, right, 134 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 2: But through fiction that often, like you can kind of 135 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 2: allow that texture to come out a lot easier in 136 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: a way that can kind of let those things that's 137 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,799 Speaker 2: hard to articulate, right, those feelings, those intuitions, those things 138 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 2: like that, the complexities aside how we feel ambivalent about things. Well, 139 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 2: you know, scholarly work is often not always good at 140 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 2: that in a way that I think, yeah, literature is, 141 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 2: I don't know. I certainly sign fiction in several of 142 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 2: my classes anyway, because I think, like you're saying, it's 143 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 2: one way to kind of at least get a perspective 144 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 2: on how different people are thinking about things, right from 145 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 2: a different context. 146 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, this is a pivot. But it's the other 147 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: thing that I left last Well, I was several things 148 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: I still wanted to talk to you about from last time. 149 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: Last time, as if we didn't take a five minute break, 150 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: but we were talking about how the Third Servile War 151 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: and the community they it's possible that they would have 152 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: presented themselves as having an anarchia, right, and if so, 153 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: that's a little bit drawing on almost an Athenian idea 154 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: or at least a Greek language idea. But this is 155 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: my attempt to kind of read between the lines and 156 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: run something past you. One of the things you talked 157 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: about the introduction in your book at a decent length, 158 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: you describe if Anian democracy was much more directly democratic 159 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: than I would have expected. I'm weirdly into the idea 160 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: of ostracizing people or whatever if they present a threat 161 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: to democracy. That actually seems all right. There's a complications there, 162 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: but we won't get into it. But how much was 163 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: this a like we came up with a thing versus 164 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: like at to use the word thing. All over the world, 165 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: they're directly democratic structures, and it seems like and I 166 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: hate when people are like, naturally humans do this, because 167 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: the answer is naturally humans do a lot of things 168 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: good and bad. But one of the things that humans 169 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: naturally do is spokes councils, direct democracy, collective decision making, 170 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: defederating between equals because if everyone's an equal, then you 171 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: can't go over that other group and be like, hey, 172 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: you have to do what we say. Kind of have 173 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: to convince them right. And you can see this in 174 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: societies that Rome is interacting with that they call barbarians, 175 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: which were not necessarily anarchistic societies but might have had 176 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: a galitarian practices and things like that. And you see 177 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: this even more when you talk about indigenous cultures more 178 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: broadly across the world that the western world than when 179 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: fucked up right, where you see all of these practices 180 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: that are very galitaring and interesting to me. So, how 181 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: much was a Thinnian direct democracy like we invented a 182 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: new thing versus how much was like, oh, what if 183 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: we still kind of act almost uncivilized? What if we 184 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: still kind of act in this way that like a 185 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: lot of the cultures around us are acting, but bring 186 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: it into a city. I don't know the answer to this. 187 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 2: I think you've hit the nail on the head with 188 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 2: a lot of this. So one of the things that 189 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 2: I arguing kind of final main chapter, it focuses on pirates, 190 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 2: and the first example I used that the so called 191 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 2: farming pirates in the subtitle of the book. There basically 192 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 2: it's these bunch of pirates who are from kind of 193 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 2: Greece and they kind of land on this island, and 194 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 2: they create this sort of democratic society there, right, that 195 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 2: seems to be anarchistic, right, They kind of share goods together, 196 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 2: they kind of rotate who's doing what property. No one 197 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 2: seems to really own a whole lot there. They clearly 198 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 2: engage in a lot of like collective decision making and 199 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 2: so on. And of course your first inclinations like oh, 200 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 2: like they're clearly influenced by like Athens Roads and these 201 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,840 Speaker 2: other Greek democracies that are around there. Well, this was 202 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 2: happening centuries before democracy was in any of the cities 203 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 2: these people came from. And so I think that in 204 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,079 Speaker 2: antiquity you can look a pretty distinct examples that before 205 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 2: the polists the city state comes to be a thing, 206 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 2: and that kind of democracy that we associate with, you know, 207 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 2: figures like soul In and kind of those constitutions of 208 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 2: Athens and so on, we still find these kind of 209 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 2: radically democratic practices of you know, direct democracy, you know, 210 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:21,559 Speaker 2: decision making, consensus oriented decision making, ostrosism. All these sort 211 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 2: of different things are kind of being practiced in different ways. 212 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 2: It just seems to be Athens is codifying it, like 213 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 2: you said, bringing it to the city, right, that you know, 214 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 2: certainly other cultures not as well documented. Right, we don't 215 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 2: know quite as much about say, like the Germans before 216 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 2: they have extensive contact with Rome from archaeologia, but like that, 217 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 2: that's going to limit what we know there. But what 218 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 2: we do know about other kind of Greek cultures that 219 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 2: before the formation of the Polists and the city state, 220 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 2: they seem to be engaging in a lot of similar direct, 221 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 2: democratic ways of doing things in a way that's yeah, 222 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 2: I think you're right, just kind of bringing it to 223 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 2: the cities a lot of what it was, civilizing it, 224 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 2: so to speak. I'm doing scare quotes in my hands 225 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:56,079 Speaker 2: the cases. 226 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this is like I read everything that 227 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: there is to know about the Germans. That's not true. 228 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: There is one entire book about the Germans from an 229 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: ancient historian called Germania or whatever, and I haven't read 230 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: that whole thing. But I read an awful lot about 231 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: the Germans and it didn't take me very long. Right, 232 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: And it's interesting because like the Germans, as the example, 233 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: are being presented well, they're being presented in contrast to 234 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: a lot of the other barbarians, specifically the Celts, the Gauls, 235 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: the Scandinavians. I can't remember then what yeah, yeah, the 236 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: Fenni and then also the Thulians. Yeah, because I remember 237 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 1: at one point I think it's Tacitus. Everything kind of 238 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: annoying is from Tacitus. That's not true. A lot of 239 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,559 Speaker 1: it is. He's like, and then there's a culture even 240 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,959 Speaker 1: north of the Swedes that are like the Swedes, but 241 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: they're run by a woman, you know, and like he's 242 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: like all upset by it. But then instead he's like, 243 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: but the Germans, they're monogamous, they're great, they're noble savages, 244 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: you know. And this is like kind of being contrasted 245 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: actually to the the Britons, who I didn't realize. There's 246 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: like almost nothing written about the Britons, and then like 247 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: one of the only sentences is like, oh and all 248 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: the brothers like share a wife. I think in your 249 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: book you talk about a different culture that does that 250 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: the yeah, yeah, you know, and you're like, well, wait, 251 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: that's a big thing to just lost past, right, that's 252 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: a totally different society, you know, and that is like 253 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 1: not the way that people when people are like, ah, 254 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: yes the noble Britons. Beforehand, you're like, yeah, no, they 255 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: were like they were pretty wild, you know, and I 256 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: say that positively, and yeah, the Germans were, like maybe 257 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: they were monogamous, but I don't know, because the person 258 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: who's writing about them is trying to present them as 259 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: a positive contrast to the evil, evil Celts, right, and 260 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: like it's so frustrating. That's the downside of having to 261 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: connect all the dots yourself, is that you're like, but 262 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: I want to know the truth. I've never before wanted 263 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: a time machine in my life, but now I'm like, 264 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: but I want to do anthropology. 265 00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 2: Absolutely go back in time and see how acrid tastes 266 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,719 Speaker 2: is viewing it all these things, right, Yeah, I think 267 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 2: that you're pointing definitely to like this issue where like 268 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 2: the bias of these sources. So, like, one thing that 269 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 2: we find, especially in this case of the Germans, is 270 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 2: that like a lot of these ancient authors have their 271 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 2: own kind of like theories of civilization, right, and so 272 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,839 Speaker 2: a lot of this tends to be like, you know, 273 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 2: if you're geographically closer to Rome, then this you're inherently 274 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,200 Speaker 2: more civilized than someone who's further away from Rome. And 275 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:24,599 Speaker 2: the further you get away from that, the less and 276 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 2: less civilized you are. And a lot of this has 277 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 2: to do with like weird theories about like climate and 278 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 2: kind of like very little environmental determinism, right, like right 279 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 2: that Rome has the perfect climate, so it's the most 280 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 2: reasonable people, you know, the best culture, the best political system, 281 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 2: and that the further you go away from you know, 282 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 2: this kind of perfect navel of the world is what 283 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 2: they would have called it, the more screwy it all gets, right, 284 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 2: and we find different versions of this. Even Herodotus, the 285 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 2: first historian, has similar ideas. He's if you want to 286 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 2: read some wild made up shit, this is what I 287 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,080 Speaker 2: always designed my students is just reads ethnographic descriptions of 288 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 2: like the Ethiopians or like Persians, and it's just stuff 289 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,559 Speaker 2: where it's like they were a turban on their head 290 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 2: because their school is weak. It's like I don't believe 291 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 2: that for a moment, right, Like there were people just 292 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 2: like Gola pullet It take it that when they read 293 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 2: this or like, well it really has to this own 294 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 2: kind of theory about culture and like, oh, like the 295 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 2: environment and climate kind of affects these things, and you 296 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 2: have to do a lot of like parsing of these 297 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 2: weird biases that they have in these ancient authors, these 298 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 2: ancient texts to at least start to get a sense of, all, right, 299 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 2: what can we actually say with any confidence about the Germans? Right? 300 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 2: What can we say with any confidence about the Celtiberians 301 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 2: or whatever? Right? And it's a frustrating process where again 302 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 2: I think you're right. The only solution this is just 303 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 2: like getting in that Dolore and going eighty eight miles 304 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 2: an hour and heading back, you know, the first century 305 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 2: of the Common era there. 306 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, I want it desperately, Okay, but environmental determinism. I 307 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: did a couple episodes last year about Peter Krepawkin's mutual 308 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: aid theories for listeners who haven't listened to those episodes. 309 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: Peter Krepawkin was a prince of Russia who became one 310 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: of the more important an as Communist theorists, and he 311 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: also was a evolutionary biologist who kind of presented a 312 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: third way that modern evolutionary biologists tend to lean towards 313 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: to avoid some of the conflicts with an evolutionary biology 314 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: at the time, and he basically present a mutual aid. 315 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: As a boy, he wrote a book called Mutual Aida 316 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: Factor in Evolution and he was an environmental determinist. Now 317 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: he was wrong about some of it, right, Like some 318 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: of his theories around the depopulation of cities and China 319 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: and stuff were proven wrong. And he had like whole 320 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: theories about like I think he's the one who had 321 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: discovered how glaciers move, like the fact that the like 322 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: super solid. 323 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 2: I didn't realize that's what. 324 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, Like he went to Sweden after continuing to study glaciers. Anyway, 325 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: his whole thing is he's like he went to go 326 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: find all this competition that Darwin, Charles Darwin came up with. 327 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: Charles Darwin was like competition everywhere in nature, and he 328 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: was like, I'm going to go find it and prove 329 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: it because I love science. And he goes to Siberia 330 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm going to find all the competition 331 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: and he's like, why are these animals hanging out with 332 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: each other helping each other? And he like he didn't 333 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: go into it being like I'm going to prove Darwin wrong. 334 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: You went into prove it Darwin right. And he was 335 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: like oh, and he wasn't like Darwin's a fool or whatever. 336 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: But what he came up with for a while is 337 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: he was like, well, I guess when life is harder, 338 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: you're more cooperative, and so the further you get away 339 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: from Rome, he didn't phrase it that way, but I'm 340 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: going to the more cooperative people get. And this ties 341 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: into one of the things I want to ask you, 342 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: which is that, like, is the Mediterranean just like the 343 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: most uniquely evil center of evil human ideas? Because like, absolutely, 344 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: I think the Goals were probably sacrificing people, but so 345 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: were the Romans, even though they had just outlawed it. 346 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: They were like, instead we throw them to the literal 347 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: lions in the fucking colisseum, Like what are you saying that? 348 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: Is that not human sacrifice? But like patriarchy, we tend 349 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: to assume the natural condition of the human society is patriarchy, 350 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: because all of the society is not all of probably, 351 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: but I think all of them from like the Mediterranean 352 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: area that we're like culturally evolved from, are all really patriarchal. 353 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,880 Speaker 1: Like is this a was this just like the worst 354 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: time and place or was like everyone just real crappy? 355 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: And this is one of my main questions. 356 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 2: Well this is a huge question, then, yeah, because it's 357 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 2: sort of like what those kind of questions of like 358 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 2: hierarchy and domination, Like how inextricable is that from sort 359 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,959 Speaker 2: of the Mediterranean antiquity that we're talking about here, And 360 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 2: you're right, like it's stuff that seems pretty inescapable, right Like. 361 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: We find people articulating almost every wild idea you can 362 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 2: imagine in the ancient world, But we don't really find 363 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 2: people articulating ideas like the end of patriarchy in an 364 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 2: absolute sense, right like, or the end of slavery in 365 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 2: an absolute sense, right like, even you know, certainly slaves 366 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 2: want freedom, right Certainly they might want for their friends 367 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 2: as well. They may not like it as an institution, 368 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 2: But we don't find these kind of like ideas that, hey, 369 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 2: we could have the entire world where this isn't the case, 370 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 2: or like, you know, maybe we should end it everywhere, right, 371 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 2: It seems to be often these kind of personal quests 372 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 2: are kind of smaller scale collective quests to imagine the 373 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 2: world differently. You the flip size is possible that this 374 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 2: is only the part that's documented, right, because those people 375 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:18,479 Speaker 2: who would be not engaging these sorts of things. Right. So, 376 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,719 Speaker 2: one one kind of interlude I do in the book 377 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 2: is looking at the region of Phrygia, which is kind 378 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 2: of in a certain part of what we did they 379 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 2: called Turkey, right, yes, and this is a society where 380 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 2: you know you're talking about anti intellectualism earlier. Well they 381 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 2: kind of identify, like, hey, how do people exploit us? Well, 382 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 2: it's through these bureaucrats who basically make us do our taxes, 383 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 2: give us these laws, and do all these sorts of things. 384 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 2: And what if we just like forget how to read, 385 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 2: forget how to write, and what are they going to 386 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 2: do then? Right, if no one here knows how to 387 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 2: read or write, there's going to be known to create 388 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 2: these laws, to enforce these laws, create tax and you know, 389 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 2: collect those taxes. We refuse to use any money. And 390 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 2: for the course of like several hundred years, people in 391 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 2: this region seem to not really use the written word 392 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 2: at all, right, And this means like we don't know 393 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 2: much about them. 394 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: And they had it before and then they had it again, 395 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: but then they missed several hundred years. 396 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 2: Right exactly, so they deliberately gave it up, like they 397 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 2: had the written word. They deliberately gave up the written word. 398 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 2: And like the Greek empires, the Roman Empires are really 399 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 2: trying to be like, hey, we're going to create these 400 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 2: really cool cities. All you people in Fridgia should come 401 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 2: and move this great city, and like like, yeah, no thing, 402 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 2: We're going to live in our little houses. We're going 403 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 2: to keep where they are. We're not gonna have commerce 404 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 2: with you, we're not gonna come to learn there, we're 405 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,399 Speaker 2: not going to really participate in our society much. And 406 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 2: so like these kind of larder scale collective forms of resistance, 407 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 2: which again it's not really well documented. We know about 408 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 2: this from occasional references and kind of archaeological evidence. We're 409 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 2: just noticing like the complete disappearance of kind of certain 410 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 2: social structures, certain types of inscriptions and monuments. But I 411 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 2: think that to the extent that people were resisting this, 412 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 2: I think the book picks up, you know, kind of 413 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 2: six main examples and a few kind of smaller examples, 414 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 2: but no doubt there is thousands of different societies, whether 415 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 2: it's lower scale, small scale in the ancient world who 416 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 2: weren't doing this, and just evidence has been lost, right 417 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 2: like in the same way today, right a lot of 418 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 2: those kind of radical communities that I guess today in 419 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 2: the world of technology and the Internet is kind of 420 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:23,879 Speaker 2: harder to not be known. But you know, imagining just 421 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 2: even one hundred to hundred years ago, certainly there would 422 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 2: have been in North America, in Europe people living in 423 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 2: these kind of radical lives that just aren't documented. 424 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: Well, okay to push back on things not being documented now. 425 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: Last night, like a normal person, I was researching interior 426 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: design on YouTube, which is a totally everyone does that, 427 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: and I was thinking about some of the interior design 428 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: trends amongst my friends from like fifteen years ago that 429 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: I was really impressed by, and so I was like 430 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: magical decadence. It was a specific named esthetic idea in 431 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: the Pacific Northwest like fifteen years ago, where it was 432 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: like you paint your wall's deep dark color and everything 433 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: is covered in furs and skulls and like it's like dark, decadent, 434 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: punk hippie stuff and I really like it. So it's 435 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: like I want to find some examples, you know, And 436 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,239 Speaker 1: then I'm like, oh man, the Internet haven't got that 437 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: no more, like if it ever did, like that's a 438 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: whole culture and name, you know, or like try looking 439 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,400 Speaker 1: up for Googles, which is the word that I use 440 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: the most on a regular basis that no one I 441 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: talk to on outside of the subculture I'm in understand 442 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about about, like street kids, you know. 443 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: But no, I really like this idea you're presenting, and 444 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: it kind of helps click things for me, where it's 445 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:37,440 Speaker 1: like the people who have written all of this stuff 446 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,240 Speaker 1: are going to be the more patriarchal folks are going 447 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: to be the more whatever, like you know, state building 448 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: and empire building folks, and so in the same way 449 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 1: that the gulls. That's a big term with a lot 450 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: of different cultures within it over the course of thousands 451 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: of years. But we're going to pretend like there's some 452 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: radical interesting stuff happening there, and they weren't really writing 453 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: stuf down, and neither were these Phrygians, and neither were 454 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: all of these people who were in this. So that's 455 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 1: a good argument against environmental determinism. I appreciate it, Thank you, 456 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: Okay pointing out that like no one was saying like, hey, 457 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: maybe we should just get rid of slavery entirely for 458 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: everyone forever, right, and very very few people were saying 459 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: anything like that. And it is interesting because I think 460 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: about how we have a hard time especially as Americans 461 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,879 Speaker 1: understanding ancient slavery. It's one of the things that I 462 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: feel like I have to explain a lot on this 463 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: show because the context that I come from and the 464 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: context that most of my listeners come from, has the 465 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: Transatlantic slave. 466 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 2: Trade in it. Yeah. 467 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,880 Speaker 1: Absolutely, North America is this like post apocalyptic wasteland of 468 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: one of the most evil empires in the world showed 469 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: up and enslaved and genocided and then created a society 470 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: and declared it the most free society in the world. 471 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: And it's the level of nonsense of that is like 472 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: so deep that it's hard to extricate from. And we 473 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: have a hard time picturing slavery elsewhere in the world partly, 474 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: and it's from both the right and the left, right 475 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: because on some level the left doesn't want to detract 476 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: from how uniquely evil the Transatlantic slave trade was, and 477 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: so therefore I run across stuff that, like paints, Greek 478 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: and Roman slavery is like a little bit idyllic, and 479 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: like Diogenes is the perfect example of this. You know, 480 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: he's a cynic philosopher. What you wrote about him in 481 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: this book, I'm explained to the audience, not you. You know 482 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:36,640 Speaker 1: he was the Cynic Philosopher to a couple episodes about 483 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,239 Speaker 1: him where he as a kid owned slaves and then 484 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: as an adult became a slave, but he was also 485 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: like a mentor, He was like a tutor as a slave, 486 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: and then eventually they freed him and it was his 487 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: own the people who had enslaved him. That family paid 488 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: for his funeral, and it was all very happy slavery, 489 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: right yeah, And so people will present like, ah, that's 490 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: Greek slavery or like Ottoman slavery where you have like 491 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: publicly owned slaves. I think Greece did this too, but 492 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: not sure. But then when people don't recognize is that 493 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: you still just had like horrible everything, bad people dying 494 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: in the fields and the mind stuff too, and it 495 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: was this horrible society. I find it so frustrating that 496 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: it's so hard to talk about because it is so 497 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 1: important to understand that, like all over the world, every 498 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: society owns people, and so it never occurred to people 499 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: that that wouldn't be a thing that can happen, right, 500 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,159 Speaker 1: And I think that's the same thing we run across 501 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: in like the prison abolition movement right now for sure, 502 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: where people are like Yeah, but that doesn't make any sense. Like, 503 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: obviously prison is kind of bad, but like, of course 504 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: there's prisons. There's always been prisons, which is completely untrue. 505 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a perfect kind of analogy there, right, 506 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 2: that kind of how we've come to think of this 507 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,159 Speaker 2: very recent institution of like the prison as like this 508 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 2: sort of historical inevitability, right, that this is a particular 509 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,479 Speaker 2: form that the prison takes today is very recent. And 510 00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 2: even you look at the ancre world, they just weren't 511 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 2: really pre right. There was stuff where it's like you know, 512 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 2: convict labor, you know, you know, you might be sentenced 513 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:06,919 Speaker 2: the minds and stuff like that to work and you know, 514 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 2: a gold mind and you know, just work your days 515 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 2: to death there. And I think Mark Fisher had that 516 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 2: kind of great saying about how it's easier to imagine 517 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 2: at the end of the world than is to imagine 518 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 2: the end of capitalism, right yeah. And I think like 519 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 2: there's a lot of things in our society that are similar, right, 520 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 2: whether it's I mentioned the end of the prison, the 521 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 2: end of the state, the end of you know, take 522 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 2: your pick there, right, And I think in the ancient 523 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 2: world there's a lot that was similar to that it 524 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 2: was just you make it hard for people to imagine 525 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 2: the world being differently by threatening them for imagining differently, 526 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 2: by taking away any resources that would be capable of 527 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,199 Speaker 2: presenting those alternatives. You know, with slavery too in the 528 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 2: ancient world, right, like I think of how you know 529 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 2: it's Sparta, Right, they called their slaves helots, right, And 530 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 2: one of the kind of the rituals that the Spartans 531 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 2: had was, you know, young men, a certain class young 532 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 2: man every year on the way to becoming Spartan citisence. 533 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 2: Part of this path of citizenship was they went basically 534 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 2: go out and go slave hunting, go out and hunt 535 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 2: the helots in a way of kind of like saying, okay, 536 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 2: like become a Spartan, you must be prepared to enact 537 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 2: violence upon these bodies, you know, these helos, these slaves, 538 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 2: that this is your right and even your duty. This 539 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 2: is probably becoming you know, identifying with spart as a 540 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 2: city state, but also reminding helots like we can inflict 541 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 2: whatever fucked up violence we want on you with impunity, 542 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,199 Speaker 2: whenever we want, and there's nothing you can do about it. Right, 543 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 2: So limiting their imagination, so the he loss themselves. Haven't 544 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 2: imagine a world with freedom without slavery and things like that, right, yeah, 545 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,359 Speaker 2: and so I think there's kind of today this happens 546 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 2: in some ways with certain kind of social institutions, right, 547 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 2: and in the h War with slavery too, right, think 548 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 2: your pick, patriarchy, all these sorts of things. 549 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: Just to kind of sit on that for a second, 550 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: it's a sorry, yeah, And so like what it didn't 551 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: occur to me is that ideas need to be invented 552 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,439 Speaker 1: to that, like social technologies are technologies, like to go 553 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: back to social science as a science, Like someone kind 554 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: of needed to say, what if we all vote? Right? 555 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 2: Right? 556 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: And now that might be like older than the wheel, 557 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 1: you know, but like somewhere along the line, people have 558 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,159 Speaker 1: to kind of invent what if we like don't own people. 559 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,920 Speaker 1: You know, it's very easy in the modern world to 560 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: kind of look back on some of these people who 561 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: like the First Servile War. Everything you just said is 562 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: a beautiful example of why the First Servile War was necessary. 563 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: And even if I want to be like, eh, just 564 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: kind of reinvented the state again, but like, you know what, 565 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: he's still the I don't remember that Seer's name, but 566 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: he was like, hello, I talked to a god who 567 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: tells me that I am going to become king over you. 568 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,479 Speaker 1: And they were all like ha ha ha ha, you silly, 569 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: you know, entertaining house slave. And he was like, yeah, totally, 570 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 1: and then he did. So I can't say he was 571 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: wrong or that his god was wrong, because he sure 572 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: like took over, you know, and someone needed to. And 573 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: so the third servile war is you alluded to, probably 574 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,360 Speaker 1: doesn't happen without the first two. That's interesting. 575 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think like a lot of this has to do. 576 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 2: I guess part of the goal of writing this book 577 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 2: too is sort of like to just say that there 578 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 2: are these precedents for ways of doing things right kind 579 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 2: of One thing that I talked about in the conclusion, 580 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 2: for instance, is that how we imagine America and its 581 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 2: democracy right, that when we tend to think of democracy, 582 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 2: whether here in Canada or the United States, right, we 583 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 2: tend to think of you know, at most, you go 584 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,200 Speaker 2: and vote for politicians and then you're just annoy the 585 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 2: next four years, whether because you're unhappy with the result 586 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 2: or because you have to call your politicians, et cetera, 587 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 2: et cetera, and nothing happens what you want it to. 588 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 2: And when we look at kind of a lot of 589 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 2: early American democracy, right, it's a lot more radical and 590 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 2: kind of anarchistic in this Greek sense the word, right, 591 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,360 Speaker 2: that we find kind of accounts of people having these 592 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 2: kind of town hall meetings where they would just like 593 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 2: go out and like find the local tax collector who's 594 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 2: like try and take money from these broke people and 595 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 2: say like no, we're just going to burn your ledgers, right, 596 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 2: or we're going to prohib you from entering this to 597 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 2: that area. And I think that even what we think 598 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 2: of it as democracy United States, it wasn't always this way. 599 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be this way, right. I think 600 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 2: we tend to think of these things what our society is, 601 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 2: even at large scales, kind of like ossified, like it 602 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 2: can't change, it's written in stone. Now, it is often 603 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 2: hard for us to imagine the US Empire becoming something 604 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 2: different except by way of like nuclear apocalypse, right, right, 605 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 2: and whatever that might look like, it's going to take 606 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 2: a crashity to get there. 607 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: My money is on NATO invading us, but I don't know, 608 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: cray it'll happen. 609 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:37,959 Speaker 2: Who knows, right? 610 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: Unfortunately, badly everyone hears a lot of guns. 611 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, and so like, one are those possibilities for 612 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 2: like how a different version of American here? I don't 613 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 2: necessarily mean the United States of America as a country, 614 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 2: but like, how can those ways that we organize our 615 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 2: politics be different? And just remember like it wasn't always 616 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 2: as wayted on definitely this way. There are mechanisms, whether 617 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 2: it's official legal mechanism or kind of more revolutionary mechanisms too, 618 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 2: to create a different society within the United States too, 619 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 2: write large scale, small skill whatever that might be. No, 620 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 2: that makes a lot of sense to me. 621 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: One of the things that doing this show has really 622 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: changed some of my perspective on modern politics is around 623 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: like you know, a lot of my earlier episodes because 624 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: of my own interests and whatever around like Irish history, right, 625 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: and you know Irish rebellions, and my great uncle fought 626 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: on the Easter Rising, and I shook his hand on 627 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: his hundredth birthday, and like, you know, I'm like pretty 628 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: excited about that. That's like I'm taking that with me 629 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 1: till I die, you know, And that was eight hundred 630 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: years into colonization, was the Easter Rising, right, And like 631 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: I am certain that a large chunk of Irish society 632 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: saw it as a done deal. They're like, I guess 633 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: we're just kind of British now, you know, and like 634 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: you have a lot of obviously there's like cultural divisions 635 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: and religious divisions, but there was still kind of those 636 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,239 Speaker 1: ethnic divisions are a lot blurry. You're there, right, So 637 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: it felt like probably done until in the nineteenth century 638 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: people are like, what if we like really set out 639 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: to figure out how Ireland could not be in the 640 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: empire anymore? And that was like a technological idea, like 641 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: that was a social technology. I'm probably using the word 642 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: technology wrong here, but like you know, someone had to 643 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 1: kind of invent the idea of like, well, what if 644 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: we're not like this anymore? Right? 645 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 2: Yeah? 646 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: And also North America has been colonized for five hundred years, right, 647 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: it's not too late. You know, it's never too late 648 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: to actually see decolonization. It just there's no easy blueprint. 649 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: This is where social sciences are, like you know, revolutionary sciences, 650 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: like some versions of Marxism or whatever that fall flat 651 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: is that they're like, ah, we figured out the AB 652 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: and C method of doing this, and you're like a 653 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,560 Speaker 1: that's that's there's a lot more of an art to it, 654 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, it's not too late, and 655 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: I like the idea that that's part of the point 656 00:31:58,160 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: of looking at the past. 657 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 2: So I appreciate that absolutely. Yeah, I think a lot 658 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 2: of these groups again, you know, you point to some here, right, 659 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 2: I don't know. I think of with David Graeb and 660 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 2: David Wendrow and their book The Dawn of Everything, Right, 661 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 2: they have some great examples of, you know, throughout the world. 662 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:13,719 Speaker 2: But I think some of that's striking me is they 663 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 2: think about here, even within kind of a North America, 664 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 2: right when there was like an indigenous empire along the 665 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 2: Ohio Valley and stuff like that, and that was not 666 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,600 Speaker 2: a nevill right that basically their argument is sort of 667 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 2: that empire had collapsed at a point and then shortly 668 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 2: afterwards Christopher Clumps arrives and screws things up for the 669 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 2: people who managed to get out of one empire, and there, 670 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 2: I guess, out of the frying pan into the boiler 671 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,200 Speaker 2: in that case. But again that these things may last 672 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 2: long time, they may look like there isn't any other 673 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 2: option there. But I think identifying those weak points as 674 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 2: a big parts, right, and even a lot of what 675 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 2: these these holidies, the states, these empires is they often 676 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 2: project power that they don't have, right. A lot of 677 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 2: this is convincing people that it's a Neville right. So 678 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 2: again with an antiquity, we really see that it's very 679 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:01,520 Speaker 2: easy to escape the state, you know. Kind of one 680 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 2: example would be sort of in the Black Desert, so 681 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 2: kind of pars of what today be called like Jordan 682 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 2: and kind of like Lebanon area, we found all these 683 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 2: really interesting inscriptions in the language that hadn't previously known. 684 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 2: It seems to be kind of proto Arabic in some ways. 685 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 2: We call it Stephietic. And what's clear is like this 686 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 2: is the Black Desert. This is like not part of 687 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 2: the Roman Empire's definitely like the periphery of that. But 688 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 2: people are living like really complex, sophisticated lives there. They 689 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 2: don't have cities. They kind of like just cultivate. They 690 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 2: you know, travel wild and they come back at the 691 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 2: end of the season to get their plants. And we 692 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 2: find that like there's a striking number of like Greek 693 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 2: and Roman names among these people. Oh shit, which suggests 694 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 2: like people are leaving the Roman, the Greek Empire, saying 695 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 2: this looks way more appealing than what we're doing in 696 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 2: Athens in you know, yeah, Constantinople, I guess coconstant Hop 697 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 2: a bit later. But things like that, right, that that 698 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 2: people can find these alternatives and recognize, like you can't 699 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 2: get these points where these things you don't like about society, 700 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 2: whether it's the state or patriarch, and finding those weak 701 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 2: points and be able to operate within those spaces and 702 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 2: find what you can get away with their you know, 703 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,359 Speaker 2: kind of like you're talking about, was the magical decadence, right, 704 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 2: the escape the grasp of YouTube, and yet was still 705 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,800 Speaker 2: a thing, right, you know, aesthetic that had a profound 706 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 2: impact on you. There. Yeah, we can do this in 707 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 2: other ways too, right, that elude the grasp of the 708 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:25,959 Speaker 2: state of powerful people. Things like that. 709 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 1: I really like that, I really and that ties. Okay, 710 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,240 Speaker 1: So this idea that you know, Greeks and Romans were 711 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 1: just going to this area and black desert and they 712 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: were like, yeah, no, I'm good. I don't remember my 713 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 1: source on this, but like when white people would leave 714 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,320 Speaker 1: American culture to go join indigenous culture in North America, 715 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: they never came back versus like when Indigenous people would 716 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: end up in American culture, they'd often be trying very 717 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:53,399 Speaker 1: hard to get back, you know, and like, yeah, there's 718 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: just like some life in its nice. 719 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 2: So well documented too, right, Yeah, you read these texts 720 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 2: from like you know, the sixteenth seventeen to eighteenth centuries, 721 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 2: like oh, it's just like they were, you know, maybe 722 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,399 Speaker 2: a white person's capitial of war. And then there's like, oh, 723 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,839 Speaker 2: like actually I really like living with the huron when 724 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 2: dat like this is dope, I know, like yeah, sure 725 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 2: I missed my family a bit, but like this is 726 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,919 Speaker 2: a happier way of living, right, And yeah, you find 727 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,239 Speaker 2: this pretty consistently too, when you know, like you said 728 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,240 Speaker 2: that the flip side, right, And I think in Canada 729 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 2: there's been a lot of reflection on this too, where 730 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,880 Speaker 2: it's like when you find the reverse and Native people 731 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 2: have been kidnapped by you know, the settlers, right, they 732 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 2: don't really want to go back. Right, Certain ways are 733 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 2: kind of almost inherently more appealing than other ways of living. 734 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 2: And like you said, I think in kind of the 735 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 2: comments off screen at one point, but like we've convinced 736 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 2: ourselves that like we were in the freest society that's 737 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 2: ever lived, and yet like any look at other ways 738 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,600 Speaker 2: of living will like say, this is the monsterbly not true? Right, 739 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 2: Like I'd rather live in the US or Canada than 740 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 2: North Korea, right yeah, But like there's also so many 741 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,399 Speaker 2: better ways of doing things than the way we're doing 742 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 2: things right now. And you know, we've just often you 743 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,759 Speaker 2: hear people say things like, oh, it's just like that's 744 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,680 Speaker 2: how things get done in America. It's like, well, it 745 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 2: doesn't have to be that way, right, Like we can 746 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 2: do things different. 747 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: Right to just continue to reference the ghost of poor 748 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 1: David Graeber. One of his most famous quotes is, you 749 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:18,520 Speaker 1: know something like we all wake up and make this 750 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 1: world every single day, and the great truth is that 751 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:26,720 Speaker 1: we could wake up and make it differently. I teas 752 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:28,800 Speaker 1: at the end of episode while we're talking about Diogenes, 753 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: so speaking of someone who wanted to see the world 754 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,240 Speaker 1: be in a different way. I did a couple episodes 755 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: about diogenies and the Cynics, but largely about Diogenies, and 756 00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: my kind of takeaway was I probably will like the 757 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 1: rest of the cinics more than I like this one 758 00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:48,600 Speaker 1: crotchety old man, and I see that you have a 759 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: chapter about this in the book Look Behind the Curtains 760 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: for the audience. I have only read some of the 761 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: chapters of your book yet, I've already told you this, 762 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: but I'm telling the audience this because of the way 763 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: my brain works, I kind of have to engage with them, 764 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,399 Speaker 1: like I've skimmed all of it, and I have read 765 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,319 Speaker 1: several pieces of it, but I kind of need to 766 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: engage with it, like piece by piece as I deep 767 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:07,959 Speaker 1: dive things. Otherwise my brain will spiral into a million 768 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,839 Speaker 1: different things and never accomplish my job. But I saw 769 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,640 Speaker 1: that you had a piece about Diogenes and the Cynics. 770 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: I was really afraid with that episode because Diogenes is 771 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:20,120 Speaker 1: a lot of people's favorite, right, and he's he's got 772 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,879 Speaker 1: some fucking bangers, like in a rich man's house, there's 773 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 1: nowhere to spit but his face. Yeah, and he's not 774 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,280 Speaker 1: quite a throw. He doesn't have his mom bringing him lunch, 775 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: you know, but he like he feels more in that 776 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: tradition than I expected. And I don't know, I'm curious. Well, 777 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,440 Speaker 1: I could go on my rant about why he's complicated, 778 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,720 Speaker 1: but I'm curious your take on Diogenes in the Sinics 779 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:42,320 Speaker 1: before I'll get into the more specifics. 780 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:44,840 Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, so I think I would agree to your sessment. 781 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 2: They're definitely a mixed bag, right, Like I think that 782 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 2: this is I think what I would characterize them are 783 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 2: sort of like disaffected intellectuals, right, like people who come 784 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 2: from a certain amount of privilege. There's usually people who 785 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 2: are like not always, but often, I think the better 786 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 2: known ones anyway, pnnicover a certain mind of privileg and 787 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:02,439 Speaker 2: then they go to like Athens were like, oh, hey, 788 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,880 Speaker 2: like I can't vote here because I'm from a different 789 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 2: city and I don't have Athenian citizenship or whatever. Right, 790 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,000 Speaker 2: this isn't always the case. I think a lot of 791 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 2: cynics are kind of like, you know, foreign slaves and 792 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,920 Speaker 2: then end up you know, becoming philosophers along the way there. 793 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 2: But I think that there is like a pretty profound 794 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,279 Speaker 2: critique of power and what they do. And I also 795 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 2: really like how they're very like practice oriented personally, so 796 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 2: whereas like a lot of I guess one of the 797 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 2: difference between ancient and modern philosophy is like that some practice, right, 798 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:32,799 Speaker 2: so like be a stoic, to be a cynic, to 799 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 2: be an Epicurean was focused on like this particular understanding 800 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,480 Speaker 2: of what the good life looks like and how to 801 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 2: go about doing that. Of course, now we think about philosophy, 802 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:43,799 Speaker 2: what we think about like these really abstract debates that 803 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:48,279 Speaker 2: verge on meaningless, like a theory of justice that you know, okay, great, right, 804 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,440 Speaker 2: this near law journal review, so no one can read 805 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 2: it type thing, right, right, These kind of ancient philosophers 806 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 2: where it was like very practice oriented, and I think 807 00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 2: like this sort of ideas of like boldness, this ideas 808 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:01,960 Speaker 2: of like speaking truth to power. I think those are 809 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,719 Speaker 2: things that I find appeeling about cynics, even if like 810 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:07,319 Speaker 2: there's still difficult to separate from a lot of what's 811 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,879 Speaker 2: messed up in antiquity. I'm curious to hear what your 812 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 2: problem with them is. I don't know if you want 813 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 2: to give that now or later. 814 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 1: Now, No, I'm into it. Let's talk about it. I 815 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:17,920 Speaker 1: think what it is, it's my own. You hate the 816 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,680 Speaker 1: things that are closest to you when they're like slightly wrong, right, 817 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:23,359 Speaker 1: Like my audience knows this. I don't know if I've 818 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: told you this. My background is I was a traveling 819 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:28,359 Speaker 1: street kid activist, right. I lived out of a backpack, I, 820 00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: you know, hitchhiked and I was voluntarily homeless. I come 821 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:33,399 Speaker 1: from a middle class background, and I was just like, 822 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: I want to change the world, and the way to 823 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,800 Speaker 1: do it is to not work a job so I 824 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: could do activism full time. And the culture that I 825 00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:43,160 Speaker 1: fell in with that is like punks who travel and 826 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: squat and dumpster dive and like do a lot of 827 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,440 Speaker 1: very cynic things. And for anyone who's listening to these episodes, 828 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:53,880 Speaker 1: a cynic in this case is not the modern definition. 829 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,919 Speaker 1: It's about as useless as like what anarchists are versus 830 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: what people think anarchists are. You know, but all of 831 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 1: the critiques that were accurate at the street kid culture 832 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:08,320 Speaker 1: of anarchists in the early aughts are accurate as critiques 833 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,399 Speaker 1: of the cynics. So I have a bitterness. And it's 834 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:19,520 Speaker 1: specifically that lifestyle changes. It's individual solutions to systemic problems. Right, 835 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,759 Speaker 1: It's the equivalent of change your light bulbs to led 836 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 1: to stop global warming. 837 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:23,359 Speaker 2: Sure. 838 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 1: Sure, Now it's a little bit more complete than that, right, 839 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: It's more like the equivalent of sell your car, ride 840 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,239 Speaker 1: a bike, grow all your food organic, you know, like 841 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: kind of like drop out culture right where you stop 842 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,400 Speaker 1: adding to the problem. There's a value to that, but 843 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,280 Speaker 1: it doesn't fix things. But I actually need to forgive 844 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,280 Speaker 1: Diogenes and the cynics more because as I've been talking 845 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:47,880 Speaker 1: through these episodes, I'm like, oh, yeah, someone had to 846 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: invent these things, right, and like we should have known better. 847 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:55,200 Speaker 1: But Diogenies doesn't necessarily need to know better because he's 848 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,120 Speaker 1: like he's anti slavery, but he's not anti like the 849 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:00,839 Speaker 1: institution of slavery. He's anti slavery because he's anti like 850 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:04,080 Speaker 1: decadence and owning stuff. Yeah, he's anti slavery the same 851 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 1: way he's anti like having nice clothes. 852 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 2: I think it's an aura characterization. 853 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's interesting because I'm like he probably on 854 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:14,680 Speaker 1: some gut level was like also just actually anti slavery, 855 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:19,080 Speaker 1: you know, but maybe not. I can't tell. So there's 856 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 1: a lot of like not questioning the larger structure and 857 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 1: only questioning like the individual. And yeah, this idea of 858 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,360 Speaker 1: like how do you live the good life? We now 859 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:33,320 Speaker 1: associate that with decadence, right, like if you care about 860 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:35,640 Speaker 1: self care, and I mean I do care about these 861 00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 1: I literally wrote an essay that went up on my 862 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,200 Speaker 1: substack like two weeks ago called the punk rock good Life. 863 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,279 Speaker 1: So this is some pot talking about the color of 864 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:45,320 Speaker 1: the kettle thing going on, right, But like it doesn't 865 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 1: solve these things, and so that's okay, right, he doesn't 866 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 1: need to. He's still a more interesting character. I'm mostly mad. 867 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: And the thing I kind of want to talk to 868 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:58,359 Speaker 1: you about if you know much about gender in like 869 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: Roman and Greek society, because there's a couple points. Okay, 870 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:04,520 Speaker 1: one my big conjecture I made about him, the big 871 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,360 Speaker 1: red Strings theory. I Drew did an episode about the 872 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:10,640 Speaker 1: I'm going to not remember how to pronounce this, the galley, 873 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: the trans priestesses of Rome who were oh yeah, yeah, 874 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: and of Greece before that, and then I think from 875 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,960 Speaker 1: Phrygia originally that particular goddess, although there's less evidence one 876 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,759 Speaker 1: way than other about whether or not her priestesses were 877 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: trans in Anatolia versus when they came over to Greece, 878 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,000 Speaker 1: by that point they were trans women, right, and very 879 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:36,479 Speaker 1: actively trans women. Historians historically were like, we don't quite 880 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:38,839 Speaker 1: know what to make of these guys who dressed as 881 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: women and cut their dicks off, and you know, lived 882 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: as women and had a sisterhood and you're like, ah, 883 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,600 Speaker 1: it's because they're women, and modern historians have solved this 884 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: because modern historians include trans women who are like, this 885 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 1: is actually a very easily recognizable thing. Sure, Like this 886 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: is not complicated to us, you know. Yeah, But Diogen's 887 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:01,800 Speaker 1: famous earned that he lived in was outside the temple 888 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,320 Speaker 1: of Sibylly. Siby is the name of the goddess that 889 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,920 Speaker 1: they were the priestesses of, and was given to him 890 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,160 Speaker 1: to live in by the priestesses. So Diogenes was housed 891 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:16,760 Speaker 1: by trans women, I think, because I haven't found evidence 892 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:21,040 Speaker 1: of the cult around Sibylly not including a lot of 893 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:23,879 Speaker 1: people who weren't trans women. Sure, So I've never seen 894 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:27,280 Speaker 1: anyone make the point that Diogenes was housed by trans women. 895 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:30,600 Speaker 1: But he has a lot of really specific anti trans statements, 896 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:33,919 Speaker 1: and they're complicated, Like he complains he sees a young 897 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:37,239 Speaker 1: man like shaving his beard, and he's like, oh, you're 898 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:39,680 Speaker 1: too good for what God gave. You're right on, VI 899 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,600 Speaker 1: said God, But like what nature gave you, you're better 900 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,920 Speaker 1: than the animals. You're going to change your face to 901 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,799 Speaker 1: be more effeminate instead of being a real man like me. Like, 902 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: it's also telling that he loved Sparta, he never went there, 903 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:52,640 Speaker 1: which I also think is telling. I mean, I think 904 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:54,319 Speaker 1: he probably went there, but like he mostly lived in 905 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:59,200 Speaker 1: Athens and another city immediately western. Yeah, you like walk 906 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: back and forth between. But he was like, ah, Sparta, 907 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: where the men are men, you know. But he would 908 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:08,040 Speaker 1: complain about men effeminatizing themselves, right, even though he had 909 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: been housed by these women, and that annoys me. But 910 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:16,600 Speaker 1: then the more complicated part is that his homophobia is 911 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:20,200 Speaker 1: tied into anti pederasty and so this is like the 912 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,800 Speaker 1: like I'm just literally looking at this in a modern 913 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,000 Speaker 1: lens instead of you know, but like I'm very anti pederasty, 914 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 1: but I'm like very pro gay, And that was a 915 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,040 Speaker 1: dichotomy because like homosexuality didn't exist in the same way 916 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: that we think of it today. Then I don't know, 917 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:36,719 Speaker 1: I don't know where I'm going with this. I just 918 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:38,239 Speaker 1: I find it fascinating. 919 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I think you're right. And like a lot 920 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 2: of work that's been done in kind of like fear 921 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:46,320 Speaker 2: antiquity is like super complicated because like it's not exactly 922 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,440 Speaker 2: like nothing corresponds perfectly what we're talking about today, Right, 923 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 2: we can find resonances of certain source. Right, I think, 924 00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,560 Speaker 2: like the trans women connection that I think you're drawing 925 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 2: is like a great except like a pretty strong kind 926 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:56,719 Speaker 2: of like you know, there's resonances there, right, But like 927 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,359 Speaker 2: what we talk about, like what do we think about 928 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,920 Speaker 2: like a gay relationship, right, like two people peers right 929 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 2: like roughly the same age anyway, consensual relationship, et cetera, 930 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,440 Speaker 2: et cetera. Like that just wasn't a thing for Greeks 931 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,880 Speaker 2: or Romans, right, right, it was precisely that power imbalance 932 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 2: is what made those things function in antiquity, right, Like, 933 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,440 Speaker 2: it was not really what we talk about it today 934 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:21,560 Speaker 2: for them, right, Like it was really that what made 935 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,040 Speaker 2: a relationship proper is that like, Okay, I'm a Roman man, 936 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,960 Speaker 2: so I can be in a relationship with a younger 937 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:30,680 Speaker 2: person of a foreign person, a man who's less masculine 938 00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:32,880 Speaker 2: me or a woman. It's like that's kind of what 939 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:36,760 Speaker 2: made sexual relationships acceptable for them, right, which doesn't correspond 940 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,839 Speaker 2: all of what we think about an acceptable relationship today. Yeah, 941 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:41,880 Speaker 2: And this is, as you know, also tied up with 942 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,560 Speaker 2: like these kind of preoccupations are like proper gender too, right, 943 00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,520 Speaker 2: Like to be a good man against scare quotes around 944 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:53,680 Speaker 2: all of that is to like express your domination properly, right, 945 00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:55,799 Speaker 2: And so this means like people are respecting right when 946 00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:58,280 Speaker 2: you tell someone to do something and they're your slave, 947 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:01,920 Speaker 2: your wife, your child, your employee, that they're obeying, right. 948 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:03,760 Speaker 2: There's things like that that make you a proper man, 949 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:05,920 Speaker 2: along with like how you comport your boy or are 950 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 2: you dressing properly your body here? All that sort of stuff, right, 951 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:14,279 Speaker 2: And this of course changes over time, and Diogenes is 952 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,320 Speaker 2: certainly not separate from any of this, where I would 953 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 2: maybe hint at possibly he wasn't as bad as you're 954 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:26,399 Speaker 2: hinting at, is I think that Romans were much more 955 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:30,160 Speaker 2: preoccupied with these questions around proper gender than Greeks were. 956 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,600 Speaker 2: And most of the sources we have about Diogenes are 957 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:37,719 Speaker 2: written during the Roman period, such that I can imagine 958 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,239 Speaker 2: again this is not certain. Well, actually I'll say this 959 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:41,799 Speaker 2: for sure. What we do know for sure is like 960 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,480 Speaker 2: it was a regular part of Roman education that you 961 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:47,840 Speaker 2: would like invent stories about Diogenes and other kind of 962 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:49,759 Speaker 2: Greek philosophers Like this is just like you go to 963 00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 2: school and just like write a story about Diogenes doing 964 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:53,360 Speaker 2: this or doing. 965 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:55,400 Speaker 1: That to express them as a character. 966 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,520 Speaker 2: Exactly right, what's the type of thing he would do? Right, 967 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,400 Speaker 2: So it's kind of liked libs in its own way, right, 968 00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 2: where like, okay, we need to tell a story where 969 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,560 Speaker 2: like this is happening. And so I think a lot 970 00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,080 Speaker 2: of these kind of stories about Dioshnes are written in 971 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,520 Speaker 2: a context where Romans had disliked, you know, with certain 972 00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,919 Speaker 2: parts of like Greek conceptions of gender and stuff like that, 973 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:18,400 Speaker 2: and would kind of put those into the mouth of Diogenes. 974 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,000 Speaker 2: So it's that I think certainly some of it's made 975 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 2: up later somebody. He may well have said, you know, 976 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:25,320 Speaker 2: so kind of like the example you talked about, like 977 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:27,719 Speaker 2: the shaving and kind of like oh, you're not a 978 00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:29,759 Speaker 2: real man because you you know, don't have your full 979 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 2: beard or whatever. Right. I think that one is like 980 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:33,879 Speaker 2: kind of a pretty well Roman I can't remember who 981 00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:36,600 Speaker 2: exactly said that. I can't remember which author wrote that anyway, 982 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,080 Speaker 2: but I have a recollection of that I've had that 983 00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:40,160 Speaker 2: I remember thinking that might have been one that was 984 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:42,719 Speaker 2: made up later. And we certainly find other accounts of Diogenes. 985 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:45,520 Speaker 2: We're just just like straight up racist stuff, right, Like 986 00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:49,040 Speaker 2: they're written in the school exercises, like we only find 987 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:50,879 Speaker 2: them in the school exercises, where it's something where it's 988 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,400 Speaker 2: like super sex is super you know what we say 989 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 2: call racist, where it's like, you know, Diogenes saw a 990 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,000 Speaker 2: woman giving advice to another woman about a relationship. He says, oh, 991 00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:02,640 Speaker 2: look at viper giving poison to an asp or. 992 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:03,160 Speaker 1: Something like that. 993 00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:05,560 Speaker 2: Right, Like, this fits well with kind of like later 994 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 2: Roman values, and at least there's a number of these 995 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,759 Speaker 2: stories we can say pretty confidently we're invented later. It 996 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:15,239 Speaker 2: may not be authentic to Diogenes. This create kind of 997 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,040 Speaker 2: further questions though about like what can we know about 998 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,840 Speaker 2: this historical Diogenes? Right, Like it's right because he's a 999 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,279 Speaker 2: Marvel character at this point. Yeah, it's like you know 1000 00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,360 Speaker 2: that Spider Man movie. There's like the three different Spider 1001 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:27,600 Speaker 2: Man and like which Dioghne is already talking about. 1002 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:29,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, oh interesting. 1003 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:32,879 Speaker 2: So again, this is not to defend any of those 1004 00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,560 Speaker 2: things that are attributed to him, but like, I think 1005 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:38,319 Speaker 2: it's likely he did not say all of them. The 1006 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,560 Speaker 2: part of me that likes Diogenes wants to imagine that 1007 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:42,719 Speaker 2: a lot of that's just stuff that you know, is 1008 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:47,680 Speaker 2: like homophobic transphobic, you know, followers invented those and put 1009 00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,880 Speaker 2: it in his mouth. But like I undermine my own 1010 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 2: argument here, but like in same way, like a lot 1011 00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:55,480 Speaker 2: of Christians say, oh, Jesus didn't say this messed up 1012 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:58,360 Speaker 2: thing about this or that or whatever, So it's it's possible. 1013 00:48:58,360 --> 00:48:59,919 Speaker 2: But like, we don't know a lot of this for certain. 1014 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:02,200 Speaker 2: I think in some cases we can say these are 1015 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:05,000 Speaker 2: invented later. I think some of them it's possible. You know, 1016 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,239 Speaker 2: those sorts of mess up things about gender and so on, 1017 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:10,440 Speaker 2: I think possible that was made up later anyway, But 1018 00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:13,120 Speaker 2: this is my effort to rehabilitate Diogenes here. 1019 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,319 Speaker 1: No, no, this is really interesting to me because he 1020 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,880 Speaker 1: already was a challenge to me about recognizing that like 1021 00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:20,759 Speaker 1: like all this show cool people did cool stuff, and 1022 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:23,759 Speaker 1: then like by like episode like three, I'm like, it 1023 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:25,960 Speaker 1: really should be called complicated people who did things that 1024 00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:30,239 Speaker 1: overall I think were positive. You know, like because when 1025 00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:32,440 Speaker 1: we try and expect everyone to be perfect, we're you know, 1026 00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:34,200 Speaker 1: we're not going to create a better world if we 1027 00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:36,400 Speaker 1: say everyone who's done anything wrong can't be part of 1028 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,439 Speaker 1: the better world, right, That's not a way to make 1029 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,719 Speaker 1: anything interesting and I think part of it was that 1030 00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:45,960 Speaker 1: Diogenies felt so real to me because I was like, 1031 00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:50,360 Speaker 1: I've like met this guy, like I've met a thousand dirogenesies, 1032 00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,200 Speaker 1: and like so I read some modern folks talking about 1033 00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:55,600 Speaker 1: being like he was such a wild character. We have 1034 00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:57,560 Speaker 1: nothing like that today, And I'm like, have you been 1035 00:49:57,600 --> 00:49:58,800 Speaker 1: to a food not bombs feeding? 1036 00:49:59,200 --> 00:49:59,359 Speaker 2: Oh? 1037 00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:03,680 Speaker 1: Well, like kind of slightly neurodivergent homeless person who like 1038 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,520 Speaker 1: is really fucking smart and has really good politics about 1039 00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:10,439 Speaker 1: eighty percent of stuff and then really incorrect politics about 1040 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:11,320 Speaker 1: twenty percent of stuff. 1041 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:14,400 Speaker 2: I'm like, it's just like super snappy answers to like 1042 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,239 Speaker 2: you say something like they got a quick comeback or 1043 00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:18,239 Speaker 2: everything absolutely right, if you ever hung up by the 1044 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,760 Speaker 2: railroad tracks, yeah, and stuff like that. You've met people 1045 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:24,360 Speaker 2: in many ways like this, right absolutely, and they they. 1046 00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:27,360 Speaker 1: Are kind of awesome. Like to use the trans priestess 1047 00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 1: as an example, to use my own oppression category as 1048 00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:32,600 Speaker 1: the example. You know, people are like, oh, trans women 1049 00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:34,600 Speaker 1: are sort of magical, and there's some people are like, no, 1050 00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:36,960 Speaker 1: we're like everyone else. And I'm like, I don't know, man, 1051 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:39,759 Speaker 1: maybe we're a little magical. Fuck it, like a little 1052 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:42,520 Speaker 1: bit crazy a little bit dangerous fuck it, you know. 1053 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,040 Speaker 1: And I think that like the Diogenes character, like yeah, 1054 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:48,520 Speaker 1: there's like there's something about that guy who like you're 1055 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,479 Speaker 1: walking down the street and some guy tells you something 1056 00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:54,600 Speaker 1: startlingly useful about your life and then says something really 1057 00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,319 Speaker 1: annoying and offensive or like keeps talking to you well after, 1058 00:50:57,560 --> 00:50:59,120 Speaker 1: you know, and he's like he really just actually needs 1059 00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:01,440 Speaker 1: a warm place to sleep or whatever. You know. But like, 1060 00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,240 Speaker 1: I don't know, do you have any like final thoughts 1061 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:11,360 Speaker 1: about antiquity, about your book about people imagining better worlds 1062 00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:13,760 Speaker 1: in the past, or like any final thoughts. 1063 00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:15,600 Speaker 2: I was glad to hear early on you said this 1064 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,080 Speaker 2: kind of fit well with the goals of the podcast. 1065 00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,680 Speaker 2: And I think for me, a lot of it is 1066 00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:23,520 Speaker 2: like when we think about kind of recovering those interesting 1067 00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:26,640 Speaker 2: parts of history, right, it's not just for the victors, 1068 00:51:26,640 --> 00:51:28,600 Speaker 2: it's not just for the white men and so on. 1069 00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,200 Speaker 2: I think this book for me came from a place 1070 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:33,840 Speaker 2: of one, say, you know, what, the left is screwed 1071 00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:37,400 Speaker 2: up in some ways on antiquity, and that we're happy 1072 00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,600 Speaker 2: to say like oh, like slave owners, it's rich white dudes, 1073 00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:43,719 Speaker 2: it's all that stuff. I think that there's something worth 1074 00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,520 Speaker 2: recovering there in its own right, beyond sort of this 1075 00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:48,640 Speaker 2: question about like you know, Elon Muskin, the so called 1076 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:52,040 Speaker 2: Roman salute that he did that was you know, yeah, 1077 00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:55,239 Speaker 2: exactly right, so or kind of this broader appropriation of 1078 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,080 Speaker 2: like antimitious part of like you know, against Karek was here, 1079 00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:00,120 Speaker 2: the Golden Age, the white Man that we all from 1080 00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 2: finding racist groups kind of appropriating the past. I think 1081 00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:06,600 Speaker 2: that there's genuinely stuff, even on taking it away from 1082 00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:10,880 Speaker 2: those kind of nefarious elements of our society, that like, 1083 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:13,840 Speaker 2: there's stuff that's genuinely interesting there. It can provide food 1084 00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:16,560 Speaker 2: for thought. And this is what I would hope people 1085 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:18,560 Speaker 2: would come away from these sort of you know, your 1086 00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:22,120 Speaker 2: previous episodes about Diosnes and thury I and Spartakiss and 1087 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:25,000 Speaker 2: hopefully this set of interviews to there. So those be 1088 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:27,000 Speaker 2: kind of my final thoughts on this right, that there's 1089 00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:29,840 Speaker 2: something there, and I think it's important to not to 1090 00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:32,840 Speaker 2: sort of let you know, these racist elements of society 1091 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:34,080 Speaker 2: claim it is their own anyway. 1092 00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:36,920 Speaker 1: I love that one of my favorite things in the 1093 00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:42,440 Speaker 1: world is taking cultural ground away from fascists. Yeah, absolutely, 1094 00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:44,799 Speaker 1: or at the very least not seeding it like I'm 1095 00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,200 Speaker 1: in a black metal band, Like I can't just let 1096 00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:52,480 Speaker 1: Nazis have that fuck them, or like the romantic ideas 1097 00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,680 Speaker 1: of the rural past is complicated and you should always 1098 00:52:55,719 --> 00:52:58,240 Speaker 1: side eye someone who talks about how all of these things. 1099 00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:03,640 Speaker 1: But also there's into Euphrygia or the black desert and like, 1100 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:07,000 Speaker 1: you know these things, and so yeah, I really appreciate 1101 00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:10,560 Speaker 1: you doing the work of not letting them own the 1102 00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:13,360 Speaker 1: past because they try to colonize it. 1103 00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:16,440 Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much, Margaret. I've really enjoyed the conversation. 1104 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:18,600 Speaker 2: Really appreciate Yeah, the work. 1105 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:20,960 Speaker 1: Well, what's the name of your book and where can 1106 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:21,600 Speaker 1: people get it? 1107 00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:26,320 Speaker 2: Sure? So the name of the book is Red gal Antiquity, Freelove, Zoroastrians, Farming, 1108 00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:29,279 Speaker 2: Pirates and Ancient Uprisings. It's out from Pluto Press. Came 1109 00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:32,560 Speaker 2: out twenty twenty five, wherever you can order. Books should 1110 00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:35,960 Speaker 2: available through independent bookstores ordinate their audiobooks should be available 1111 00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:38,799 Speaker 2: pretty soon two if it's not already. And yeah, thank 1112 00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:39,960 Speaker 2: you once again for having me on here. 1113 00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:51,960 Speaker 1: Yep, thank you cool people who did cool stuff as 1114 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:55,400 Speaker 1: a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts and cool. 1115 00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:58,360 Speaker 2: Zone Media, visit our website at goal zonemedia dot com, 1116 00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:01,600 Speaker 2: or check us out on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 1117 00:54:01,719 --> 00:54:02,200 Speaker 2: or wherever 1118 00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:03,600 Speaker 1: You get your podcasts.