Listeners might remember Chris Williamson from our episode on Gad Saad. He was the former love island contestant who interviewed Gad and appeared to have taken an IDW turn. So while Matt & Chris focused their critical attention primarily on the master of irony, Gad Saad, they also raised a rather skeptical eye towards Chris Williamson as well.
And listeners, they were not kind. Not at all...
Nevertheless, Chris W. reached out and accepted our standing offer for any guru covered to come on to the show and respond to the criticisms we made. The result was an interesting and wide ranging exchange that covered issues such as what it's like for a non-specialist to interview famous academics, the incentives and pressures at play in the modern social media ecosystem, and how DTG commentary feels when you are on the receiving side!
For fans of cringe comedy this episode might be particularly enjoyable as off-hand comments and cutting remarks are discussed and dissected for their fairness. But (spoiler!) everyone survives to the end. Chris (Kavanagh) also took a degree of pleasure in watching the alleged 'nice guy' of the podcast squirm over his cheeky remarks. All in all there is some nice symmetry, in that everybody had something to cringe about.
But perhaps this dialogue will alchemically transform that cringe into spiritual gold, and we can all learn something and grow a little as people or podcasters? Or maybe not? Time will tell, ay?
Have a listen and see what you think!
P.S. Sincere apologies for the audio quality, especially on Matt's end. We recorded this at an ungodly hour of the morning and Matt was too zombified to select the good microphone. Or the DISC could have interfered with it... Something like that.
Links
Slavoj Žižek: When is a shark not a shark?
Supplementary Materials 7: Guru Oneupmanship, Hard Ad Pivots, MOOOINK, and Left Wing Populism
Destiny: Right to Reply
*Preview* Decoding Academia 27: Dark Triad Authenticity
Supplementary Materials 6: Christian Sensemaking, Hipster Race Realists, & Marijuana Pseudoscience
Interview with Flint Dibble on Pseudo Archaeology and Science Communication
Supplementary Material 5: Spiritual UFOs, Alternative Theories of Evolution, and Atlantean Grievances
Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?
Supplementary Material 4: Passive Aggressive Therapists, Shit-posting Monks, and Weaponised Naivety
Yuval Noah Harari: Eat Bugs and Live Forever
Supplementary Material 3: Sand-worms, Anti-Capitalist Merch, and High Level Idea-Jacking
Mini-Decoding: The Descent of Jordan B. Peterson
Supplementary Material 2: Dissident Dialogues, Bloodbaths, & Genocidal Debates
Gurometer: Hasan Piker *PREVIEW*
Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance
Supplementary Material 1: Cringe Immunity & Supplemental Ethics
Interview with Kevin Mitchell on Agency and Evolution
Sean Carroll: The Worst Guru Yet?!?
Mini-Decoding: Indulgent Monologuing
Sam Harris: Right to Reply
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