Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

When today's fake feminists have to choose between feminism and multiculturalism, they choose multiculturalism every time. They are so afraid of being labelled culturally insensitive or racist they will not defend other women. In some cases they would rather be raped than identify with the anti-immigrant right and be called intolerant or Islamophobic.

How did a reality TV star convince so many people that he was the best choice for president? Because the left was continually insulting the values of normal Americans. They can’t face up to that, so they keep inventing fairy stories about the election. The American left seemed to think that they could run fast and hard to the crazy end of the spectrum, lecture the rest of the country about how backwards and misguided they were, and people would just bend over and take it.

If automation takes over more and more jobs, how will society cope with increasing unemployment? Is universal basic income the answer? Is it the next step in the social safety net, or a socialist disaster that will ruin the economy?

Peterson and Harris have a lot in common. They're both well-educated scientists who know a lot about the brain and social science research on behavior. But Harris is an aggressive atheist who seems to hate all religions, while Peterson has a warmer feeling towards religion. (Despite the fact people have a hard time understanding exactly what he believes about God.) The boys dig into the dispute between the atheist Harris and the Jungian Peterson.

Facebook shows a distorted view of life, since people generally only post the good things. When people compare their own, real life — which is full of trouble and suffering — to the sanitized, happy-faced life of all their friends on Facebook, they get depressed! Facebook is also a kind of drug. They’ve studied ways to get people to spend more and more of their time on the site. It’s intentionally addictive.

When it comes to global warming, Pigweed and Crowhill are lukewarmers. Yes, the globe is getting warmer, and yes, some of that is due to human activity. But let's not lose our heads, or throw away western industrial society in a misguided effort to solve something we really aren't going to solve. There are middle of the road positions that make a lot more sense.

There's something wrong with men. More men commit violent crime, including homicide, and more men are victims of violent crime. More men commit suicide. Men have a lower life expectancy and are more likely to go to jail, but less likely to go to college. Not only that, boorish male behavior has been mainstreamed in popular culture, and all the rules that used to govern the way men behave have been mocked and cast aside. But is the problem "toxic masculinity"? And what's the right path forward?

1. To Kill a Mockingbird. Isn't the message of the book that you shouldn't "believe all women"? 2. What's with the hysteria about building the wall? 3. Perverts in the priesthood. 4. Sound fasting. 5. Ozark / Breaking Bad.

“We value diversity” is an empty non-statement to signal virtue, and the truth is that the people who say it only want a very narrow type of diversity. It’s almost always race and sex. But there are so many other ways people are diverse. How about viewpoint diversity? Or diversity by class? Or education? Or politics? Or religion? Or height? And what about competence? Does that matter?

Christianity isn’t just for the Christians. It has a positive impact for everyone, even non-believers. Christ’s teachings brought a lot of important ideas to the fore. Such as the idea that the individual has value, apart from race, sex, nationality, or even past sins. Maybe a rebirth of Christianity would be a good thing for the western world. Whether it's true or not. 

Pigweed surprises Crowhill with a special announcement: the formation of a new trans community. Trans Genius. It's for people who aren't that smart, but who feel like they are. Why should Pigweed be definied by a number, like IQ? There needs to be a safe space for people who feel smart. Because feelings are more important than facts.

Arranged marriage seems to go against everything we in the modern West think about love and marriage. But maybe there’s some wisdom in that approach. If both parties agree to some basic ideas, and a sensible match maker brings them together, that marriage might have a better chance than what we’re doing today. Pigweed and Crowhill are not endorsing arranged marriages. Just thinking about what we can learn from them.

Impenetrable nonsense, written to sound like erudite social science, has been accepted and published in peer reviewed journals, giving science a big black eye. Pigweed and Crowhill review some of the funnier studies that made it through the process.

The boys are amused by the contradictions and silliness from the "woke" crowd. They discuss what being "woke" means, and how the left seems to be eating its own trying to out-woke one another. They also review Bell's Christmas Ale, a Scotch Ale with strong caramel notes.

The boys discuss five topics in five minutes each. The left, our middle east policy, new experiences that seem to come in 3s, "I was born this way," and the regulation of hate speech.