This episode, previously hidden behind the What’s Left? paywall, is among the best episodes I ever recorded for that podcast. Oliver Traldi is an interesting guy, and the “Oliver to Oliver” conversation proved to be a fruitful one — especially our extended discussion about the intersection of “doing the work” and the work of philosophy.
Oliver Traldi joined me to discuss the "smell test" (what I call the "work sense1"), arguments based on reasons, good and bad books, the marketplace of ideas, and much more. This one's a banger!
Suggested reading
Traldi, review of Kill All Normies2, https://quillette.com/2017/07/19/kill-normies-online-culture-wars-rise-alt-right-review/
"Clean Rooms and Dirtbags," https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/10/clean-rooms-and-dirtbags/
"The Ambivalent Place: Anita Srinivasan's The Right to Sex," https://areomagazine.com/2021/09/29/the-right-to-intellectual-anxiety-amia-srinivasans-the-right-to-sex/
"With All Due Respect to the Experts," https://americancompass.org/essays/with-all-due-respect-to-the-experts/
"Not So Fascist," https://www.commentary.org/articles/oliver-traldi/not-so-fascist/
Some might use “juice” here, which functions in a similar way and is perhaps less confusing (I happen to like the myriad meanings of “work” because I revel in ambiguity and inexactitude).
This is a must-read but — at least at first glance — appears to be hidden behind a paywall. It isn’t. Just “subscribe for free” and you’ll receive access. Lots of publications, including mine, rely on lists of email addresses for marketing and outreach, and sign-up forms like that are one way they can obtain that data. As Jesse Ventura often says, “Follow the money.”
The Work of Oliver to Oliver