In this episode Barry and Mike discuss writer/music critic/cultural theorist Mark Fisher’s 2013 blog post, “Exiting the Vampire Castle”. They look at the essay, 13 years after its posting, and provide context as to what the Castle is, how it came to be, and how it functions. The next episode will focus on Fisher’s laws...

In this episode Barry and Mike conclude their discussion of Althusser’s seminal essay, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”. They focus on Althusser’s concept of interpellation and discuss whether he believes it’s possible to get outside of ideology. The conclusion of the discussion asks how Simone Weil, who served as the genesis of this series, conceives...

This is the first of a two part discussion. In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Louis Althusser’s Essay “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” in relation to Simone Weil. Here, they discuss the state apparatuses and place them in dialogue with Weil’s discussion of party politics and attention. They close this episode by investigating the...

In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion on Simone Weil’s essay, “On The Abolition of all Political Parties.” They discuss the opposition between the truth seeking individual and the party member, and then pivot to what this question looks like in the current day.

This is the first of two episodes on Simone Weil’s 1943 essay, “On the Abolition of all Political Parties. In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the distinction Weil draws between “truth” and “ideology”.