Unregistered With Thaddeus Russell

Curtis Yarvin, also known as “Mencius Moldbug,” became nationally infamous in 2017 when it was alleged in the media that he had a “direct line” to Steve Bannon in the White House, was a leading intellectual of the “deplorables” of the rising “alt-right,” favored monarchy over democracy, and might be a racist. In this interview … Continue reading Unregistered 116: Curtis Yarvin →

What are human rights, where do they come from and what are we willing to do to enforce them? Are we obligated to intervene in other countries when they are violated? I talked with Yale historian Samuel Moyn about the history of this curious and often lethal idea known as human rights. 25% of all … Continue reading Unregistered 115: Samuel Moyn →

Daniel McCarthy, the editor of Modern Age magazine, gave me a lesson on the history and meaning of the most misunderstood political ideology in America: conservatism. Modern Age magazine: https://isi.org/modern-age 25% of all CBD products at: https://palomaverdestore.com/ Use discount code: “RENEGADE” at checkout. Subscribe on iTunes: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/itunes Join the Underground: https://www.unregisteredunderground.com Episode Notes: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/114 Renegade … Continue reading Unregistered 114: Daniel McCarthy →

Bill Ottman, the founder of Minds.com, spoke with me about his company’s alternative to the dominant social media companies that censor lawful speech, sell our personal data to corporations and government agencies, refuse to disclose their algorithms, and enjoy massive tax breaks and government subsidies that grant them monopoly power. 25% of all CBD products … Continue reading Unregistered 113: Bill Ottman →

I spoke with Cody Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed, which provides open-source software and hardware that allows anyone to make their own guns, about his success in nothing less than subverting the state’s monopoly on violence. 25% of all CBD products at: https://palomaverdestore.com/ Use discount code: “RENEGADE” at checkout. Subscribe on iTunes: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/itunes Join … Continue reading Unregistered 112: Cody Wilson →

I had a friendly collision with Brendan O’Neill, the editor of Spiked, about whether democracy is the cure or the disease for our current political troubles. 25% of all CBD products at: https://palomaverdestore.com/ Use discount code: “RENEGADE” at checkout. Subscribe on iTunes: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/itunes Join the Underground: https://www.unregisteredunderground.com Episode Notes: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/111 Renegade U. courses: http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/courses Buy … Continue reading Unregistered 111: Brendan O’Neill →

Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay join me to discuss the claim, made by a number of prominent public intellectuals, that what is called “postmodernism” is responsible for the authoritarian and hysterical politics coming out of college campuses. Unlike nearly all those intellectuals, Pluckrose and Lindsay have actually studied not only “social justice” and identity politics … Continue reading Unregistered 110: Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay →

Daniel Coffeen is a fellow academic exile, a philosopher and word magician, a “Jew-clown know-it-all,” and the future star of Renegade University. He also holds a PhD in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley, where he was a lecturer for many years, and is the author of Reading the Way of Things: Towards a New Technology of … Continue reading Unregistered 109: Daniel Coffeen →

Linda Williams was the first American academic to make pornography a subject of serious scholarly work, so of course I had to interview her. In her house near the UC Berkeley football stadium, we talked about her courage to break through the conservatism of the academy, her motivations for doing so, and the history of … Continue reading Episode 108: Linda Williams →

On my recent appearance on the Free Man Beyond the Wall podcast, I was able to talk in depth about several topics I don’t usually get to discuss on Unregistered, from the government-created higher education monopoly that Renegade University is challenging to the surprising and little-known racial history of Jews in America, the central importance … Continue reading Episode 107: A Higher Education (the Free Man Beyond the Wall interview) →

Warren Farrell was a national celebrity for being the leading male advocate for women’s liberation. Now he’s considered a pariah by many feminists for promoting the liberation of men. We sat down in his house among the redwoods in Mill Valley, California to discuss the importance of his career for me, for men, for women, … Continue reading Episode 106: Dr. Warren Farrell →

The cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and I question the concept of reality, the meaning of space and time, the ability of scientists to show us the truth, and the lies our fathers told us. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/105/

The journalist Abby Martin and I sat down to discuss our mutual hatred of U.S. foreign policy, our disagreements about capitalism, her work as an artist, and why I think she’s a hero of American journalism. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/104/

In a grand tour of the renegade history of the 20th-century U.S., the great social historian Elliott Gorn and I talk about street fighting vs. state violence, examine the significance of John Dillinger’s penis, question the legacy of Muhammad Ali, and argue about whether racism is eternal. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/103/

In the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles, famous as the shooting location for science fiction films set in the future, I talked with the author and public intellectual Venkatesh Rao about his mind-bending and time-bending project on the history and possible future of temporality. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/102/

In the heart of America’s historical capital of sex rebels, I spoke with sex educator and performance artist Midori about the very different sexual norms of the United States and Japan, San Francisco’s queer and kinky history, and what it’s like to be a social outsider who possesses the most intimate knowledge of a society. … Continue reading Episode 101: Midori →

For the 100th episode of the Unregistered podcast we decided to let listeners be the guests. I talk about the news of an Iranian attack against US military bases before I answer questions about my favorite guests and episodes and what the podcast means to me. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/100/

Half the country believes him and the other half never will. I talked with Joel Gilbert, the author and producer of The Trayvon Hoax. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/99/

In his Chicago apartment that also serves as a gallery of contemporary African-American art, I spoke with Kamasi Hill about his childhood in a family of black nationalist radicals in Detroit, the history of black radical movements in the United States, and his career as a renegade high-school history teacher. For full show notes, go … Continue reading Episode 98: Kamasi Hill →

I spoke with Deirdre McCloskey, the leading historian of “bourgeois virtues” and the author of a memoir about transitioning from a man to a woman, about the relationship between virtue and personal freedom and about whether my thesis that capitalism produces contradictory cultural impulses is nonsense. For full show notes, go to: http://thaddeusrussell.com/podcast/97/