Zero Squared

In this episode of Symptomatic Redness Derick Varn and Lexi Kay of Swampside chats. Chris Cutrone took on a variety of relatively hostile questions for a few hours. This is part one and is available for everyone. Derick Varn is a former member of the Platypus Affiliated Society. Can Cutrone hold his ground when facing hostile questions? Find out.

Knowledge Fight podcast host Dan Friesen rejoins Derick Varn to discuss the political and cultural significance of Alex Jones. Dan's podcast, "The Knowledge Fight" explores how Alex Jones "intentionally misleads his listeners for fun and profit." The podcast explores "the art of the con" and "breaks down scam artists from the worlds of politics, religion, and of course, outer space. " Part Two of this podcast is available for patreon supporters only.

The Serfs are internet comedians who turn their biting wit against the true enemies of the working class: i.e. Joe Rogan, Pewdiepie, and Liam Neeson. Their names are Lance and Dave and they put out a podcast and youtube videos every week. This week’s podcast is available in full for everyone. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 594 patrons, but we did reach 600 patrons last month. Therefore, we’ll introduce the new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101 by the end of May and I expect that we’ll be able to get over 600 again and continue on with the series in the months to come.

Knowledge Fight podcast host Dan Friesen joins Derick Varn to discuss the political and cultural significance of Alex Jones. The Knowledge Fight explores how Alex Jones "intentionally misleads his listeners for fun and profit." The podcast explores "the art of the con" and "breaks down scam artists from the worlds of politics, religion, and of course, outer space. " This podcast is available for everyone.

Derick Varn continues his conversation with Zero Books author and media star Ben Burgis. They pivot to more arcane topics, beginning with Trotsky and Trot organizations. What are the ideological differences between the ISO and the Spartacus League? They start by recollecting how small the Marxist tendency was in the 90s as opposed to its relative popularity today, but quickly move on to the difference between dialectical logic and Aristotelian logic. This week’s podcast is available in full for our patreon supporters. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 594 patrons but we reached 600 patrons last month and we’ll introduce a new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101 this month.

Terry Tapp is the artist and author behind the Lungfish project. "The Lungfish Project" is a three-part graphic novel series and Kickstarter project bringing picto-philosophy to the masses. He is the Zero Books author of “A Serf’s Journal,” and a returning guest to this podcast. Check out his project on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1132611188/the-lungfish-project This week’s podcast is available in full for everyone. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 594 patrons, but we did reach 600 patrons last month. Therefore, we’ll introduce the new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101 by the end of May and I expect that we’ll be able to get over 600 again and continue on with the series in the months to come.

Amogh Sahu returns for a conversation about escaping from identity politics, Marxism's "liberal" roots, and whether pessimism is justified? Is Marxism an optimistic approach to politics. Is Douglas Lain too focussed on Marx's theory of value. Is Marx's theory of credit money to be taken as separate from his idea of money as a commodity? What is political determinism and what is economism? And so on and so on...

Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ashley Frawley join Doug in this special, mostly unedited, episode of the Zero Squared podcast. This was recorded on the fly as a way to have a quick conversation about the Zizek vs. Peterson debate and, as a way to continue the debate. Nikos is a committed Randian while Ashley Frawley and Doug are both Marxists. Hope you enjoy this conversation/debate. It is being released for everyone.

C Derick Varn and JG Michaels discuss the vanguard of horror in this new episode of Alternatives. Alternatives examines the countercultural, or searches for a counterculture in a era when culture is so fragmented that there may no longer be a singular culture to resist. This episode features a conversation with the hosts of the Horror Vanguard about the politics of horror movies, the academic acceptance of the horror genre, and the role of fear in the current era. This episode is available for everyone on both our Patreon and free feeds.

Professor Heidi Matthews researches and teaches in the areas of international criminal law, the law of war, international legal history and political theory. She is also the host of the HMOD (or Heidi Matthews on Demand) podcast. This week we discuss the HMOD podcast, the Elevatorgate scandal, the class politics embedded in the #metoo movement, and Joe Biden hugs. This week’s podcast is available in full for everyone. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 597 patrons. When we reach 600 patrons we’ll introduce a new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101.

Derick Varn discusses formal and dialectical logic with Ben Burgis. How successful can logic be against right-wing logic bros? How successful can a left that's abandoned logic be? Is logic rhetorically effective? Derick Varn recalls the 90s left's argument that "logic is a product of Western Imperlalism" and he conversation goes on from there. Give them an Argument is now available for pre-order on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Give-Them-Argument-Logic-Left/dp/1789042100 Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 592 patrons. When we reach 600 patrons we’ll introduce a new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101.

Benjamin Lain is a math and computer science student at the University of Oregon, a member of the YDS, and my son. In this episode of the Zero Books podcast we continue our conversation about Karl Marx, Capital, and an essay by professor Mark Worrell entitled “A Faint Rattling: A Research Note on Marx’s Theory of Value.” In this episode you’ll hear clips from an old Zero Books discussion of Capital from 2015, as well as multiple clips of a librivox audiobook of Capital, Volume One. This week’s podcast is available in full for our patrons. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 589 patrons. When we reach 600 patrons we’ll introduce a new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101.

Derick Varn continues his interview with the hosts of the Left Anchor podcast. Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek discuss teacher strikes, the popularity of unions, political action, and the tendency to push the economic history of America to the side. This week's Symptomatic Redness is available in full for our Patrons. If you enjoy it consider supporting us on Patreon.

Michael Tracey is a freelance journalist who has written for publications including VICE, The Daily Beast, The American Conservative, and The Guardian and he was formerly a reporter for TYT. Tracey is also a member of a small set of leftish Russia collusion skeptics. He’s on the list that includes Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, and Aaron Mate along with a few others. In this podcast we discuss the Mueller Report, the Barr letter, the Russia collusion investigation, and the failure of most journalists to be skeptical and consistent enough since 2016. I want to say that I’m aware that many people feel as though we won’t know the truth about Trump’s involvement with Russia until after the Mueller report is released to the public. My feeling is that whatever is in that report, it’s clear that the idea that Trump conspired with Russia to fix the election is no longer viable. It’s a dead end politically, and maybe even a counterproductive if we want to protect democratic institutions and civil liberties. This week’s podcast is available in full for our patrons. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. At the moment we have 587 patrons. When we reach 600 patrons we’ll introduce a new series of patron only videos tentatively entitled Communism 101.

Derick Varn interviews the hosts (Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek) of the Left Anchor podcast about the state of the Left and left media, social democracy, and ideology. What is the difference between democrat socialism and social democracy? How significant is democracy for the left? This week's Symptomatic Redness is available in full for all of our listeners. If you enjoy it consider supporting us on Patreon.