Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina University) chats with Wendy Syfret (VICE Asia) about her new book The Sunny Nihilist: How a Meaningless Life Can Make You Truly Happy. They talk about such things as why the modern world relentlessly seeks meaning in everything, whether nihilism is a viable or liberating response, and whether/how nihilism is reconcilable with strong belief and activism.
3:00 - What is nihilism?
10:35 - When did Wendy come to nihilsm and find it liberating?
16:48 - Why do we in the modern world "find" meaning in everything?
25:41 - Why does "finding" objective meaning satisfy more than creating subjective meaning?
30:38 - Are the young generally more nihilistic than their elders? Where is nihilism in pop culture?
38:59 - How to reconcile nihilism with activism (another thing that Wendy cares about)?
Robert's essay examining whether pansexuality is obligatory ... Orientation vs. desire ... Is the push for trans rights undermining gay and lesbian rights? ......
E. John Winner and Dan Kaufman (Electric Agora) talk about the Marx Brothers and their relationship to American Comedy. 1:30 Vaudeville, Burlesque, and Musical...
In this episode, Amy Bentley (food historian, NYU) talks about the cultural and historical reasons we eat as we do. Amy and Kevin talk...