High Tension

Jonah plunges into the danger zone on today’s Ruminant, covering topics ranging from the somber ...

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Jonah plunges into the danger zone on today’s Ruminant, covering topics ranging from the somber to the downright bizarre. After offering a few thoughts on Wednesday’s indulgent “news”letter and the nature of writer’s block, he turns to television, republicanism, and superstition, providing exceptionally nerdy disquisitions on each. Does the djinn genie live on his back? How does Jonah really feel about the Second Amendment? And after the success of the 500th Remnant-palooza, could further live events be coming soon?

Show Notes:

– The Wednesday G-File

– Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special

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  1. Mark Hatlie

    Looking for things to change, like the "No you won't, this is a podcast" now that 500 episodes are done? My suggestion: Get rid of the annoying, obnoxious drum noise jingle. Whenever I hit play, I immediately hit "skip 30 seconds". I gladly miss the first few seconds of intro if it means I miss the drum noise. At the end I am often too late pressing "skip" or "erase" or "stop" or ripping my headphones off and feel annoyed. (The drum noise intro to the Quillette podcast is also annoying, but it is a bit less annoying because it has no cymbal-crashing and leaves off the wookie/donkey noises. )

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    Peter Markevich

    A resounding “Yes” to a Dispatch version of NR’s corner! I appreciate Steve’s weariness, but with proper editorial oversight it would be a great addition.

    I want to push back on something Jonah said toward the end of this episode, which is that ads aren’t as intrusive in a podcast. As an avid listener to most of the Dispatch podcasts I have to disagree. Granted, the ads used to be less jarring in the earlier days. However, with their increased frequency, constant repetition, and the lack of organic segues, I find myself more annoyed than ever. I would truly love it if our membership came with access to ad-free podcast feeds. I’d even consider paying extra for the privilege if it came to that.

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  3. Rick Needham

    I am a longtime Jonah Goldberg fan. Your sometimes quirky takes are always well thought out and usually entertaining. Listening to your solo podcast today, however, I became distracted by all of the extraneous “ums” and “you know”s throughout the recording. Public speaking is nerve wracking for most people, and silence can be frightening. However, silence gives your listening audience a chance to think about what you just said. Old habits are hard to break, but I hope you will considering trying to reduce the number of non-verbal utterances in your podcasts and TV appearances.

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    KP

    1)re naming the column: Why not “The Goldberg Machine”? It would encompass the sometimes complicated ramblings that happen on the page (Wednesday)?

    2) Is summoning the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man an example of immanentizing the eschaton?

    3) “elan”- energy, style, and enthusiasm
    “Journo”- journalist

    Your first instinct (pseudonym) sounds correct.

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  5. Pohl

    Even though Jonah seemed to talk quite a bit about body armor, he’s squeamish about making a more public case for it because of bad timing? I get that, but an appropriate time to discuss this is when laws are on the cusp of being enacted on these matters. It’s not ideal because of the usual rush to just do something. No time to go wobbly, though. Not specifically on body armor, just in general.

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  6. Laurence Karper

    Long time (pre-dispatch) fan of Jonah and we share several intellectual obsessions (which I don’t have time to get into here) and I’d like to comment on the relationship of liberalism and republicanism (rightly understood). The relationship may be “orthogonal” meaning they both are on a continuum and are related but totally (almost) independent. That would mean you can have an illiberal republic and a non-republican liberal society. Eric Voegelin had a concept of metaxy that is similar and Isaiah Berlin wrote about competing goods (order and freedom) in similar ways.

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    Dusty

    Good bit, Jonah, as usual.

    A little off-topic, but as the self-appointed leader of the David Bahnsen fan club, may I recommend a return of him to the podcast soon?

    David was gracious enough to answer me when I questioned his deflation thesis on here, and I subsequently bought the book he just released with Douglas Wilson. In short, this is exactly the book I’ve been looking for and, from the questions you ask him, that you’ve been looking for too.

    Wilson is an economic layman like myself and does an excellent job of asking David the questions required to really simplify and illustrate his point. It’s allowed me to finally and fully grasp his debt/deflation point and I would love to hear David talk about it and his potential upcoming book on the dignity of work.

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    Ben Connelly

    No! Jonah’s on the side of the 80+year curse! Figures… it’s that New York streak coming out again… true colors.

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    Paul B

    1) As much as I love the Drive-Time Ruminants, they are but a tidier version of the now-*monthly* GLoPs. More GLoPs!
    2) Ignore the Randians, Jonah. They exist only on the internet and in a few cobwebbed DC thinktank cubicle corners. I would normally worry also about their Bizarro-World-twins in the Democratic Socialists of America. But ignoring Twitter, independent book stores, and hookah bars helps with that too! Pick your spots.

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    pdxdude

    I think Irving Kristol’s 1974 essay “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions,” frames the republicanism debate better, where republic virtues and democratic virtues both in exists with in liberalism to protect liberty, but that we have neglected the Republican virtues in favor of the pluralism of the democratic virtues.

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