Decoding the Gurus3 Sep 2022

Interview with Helen Lewis on culture wars and religion, that Jordan Peterson interview, and gurus generally

Today Chris and Matt are visited by Helen Lewis, a journalist, editor, and writer with what could very fairly be described as a rather distinguished career in those fields.

Helen has previously worked at the New Statesman and is currently with The Atlantic. She has also served as a Women in the Humanities Honorary Writing Fellow at Oxford University and also on the steering committee for the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford University. Her books include Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. Helen's work covers a broad array of topics including politics, feminist issues, and contemporary/online culture. She is also known for a particular long-form interview which became a 'viral moment' when she sat down for a challenging discussion with one, Jordan B. Peterson.

Most recently Helen has produced "The Church of Social Justice" for BBC4, which asks whether political movements might be taking the place of traditional religions in Britain. A question which never generates any controversy whatsoever. She is also working on an upcoming project that looks at internet gurus and the ecosystems they spawn. So, we were glad to take the opportunity to catch up and talk about the intersections with our rather idiosyncratic collection of interests.

Join us as we try to decipher whether everything is a religion, if social justice requires a pope, and how exactly can we resolve ALL of those thorny culture war debates. We might not ultimately reach any satisfying answers but Helen does offer her one rule for life at the end of the interview!

Also featured on this episode: our most defensive response to a review to date, and a segment on the dangers of JAQing off!

Links

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(247)

The Replication Crisis Christmas Quiz w/ Mickey Inzlicht & Dave Pizarro

In this festive descent into methodological despair, Chris and Matt convene a secret cabal of elite psychology podcasters within the Decoding Cloister, operating under the distant yet reassuring gaze ...

25 Des 20251h 29min

DTG Christmas Quiz 2025 with Helen Lewis

In this special Christmas episode, Helen’s annual Guru Quiz returns, lightly dusted with Trump, podcast tours, and the unsettling realisation that the Guru-sphere and the MAGA-sphere have quietly fuse...

22 Des 20251h 26min

Supplementary Material 41: Ironic Nazis, Blustering Tories, and Ol' Squeaky's Lament

In this tragic episode, we pay tribute to a fallen comrade and honour his memory with a discussion of a melange of truly terrible people, some of whom are much worse than others.The full episode is av...

18 Des 202543min

Gurometer: Stefan Molyneux Patreon Preview

In this unlocked bonus episode, Chris and Matt complete their forensic/esoteric/scientific assessment of the charming Stefan Molyneux, consigning him (sadly) to the eternal archives of the Gurometer.

13 Des 202532min

Stefan Molyneux, Part 2: Back in the Moly Hole

Cult Season continues, and much like Stefan himself, you may have hoped this would go away after Part 1. Unfortunately, like all persistent internet hauntings, Molyneux has returned. And this time, Ch...

4 Des 20251h 31min

Supplementary Material 40: YouTube Builders, the Discourse Grind, and Sam Harris' Dinner Parties

We set down the Chardonnay at the latest heterodox dinner party and lean in for some hearty ‘civil discourse’ to once again defend the trembling pillars of Western civilization.The full episode is ava...

29 Nov 202542min

Stefan Molyneux, Part 1: A fun guy, who is here to help...

Welcome back to Cult Season, where we continue our sincere attempt to make you feel a little bit worse about the world and everything in it.This week, we turn to Stefan Molyneux, online pioneer, proli...

21 Nov 20253h 3min

Autism, Microbiomes, & Mice Burying Marbles with Kevin Mitchell

This week, we are joined by Kevin Mitchell, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, who has committed the unforgivable sin of pointing out that an entire academic a...

18 Nov 20251h 26min