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Ben Burgis

@benburgis.bsky.social

3.1K followers 21 following 350 posts

GTAA host, Jacobin columnist, adjunct philosophy prof, TMBS crew for life

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · Aug 23

Starting in a week!

The reading for the first Zoom session of the Vol. 1 class will be the Preface to the First Edition + Section 1.1 and for the Vol. 2 class we'll ease in by reading Ernest Mandel's introduction to the Penguin edition of Vol. 2.

Really looking forward to both.

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 10h

Going live in about half an hour (at 11:30 AM East Coast/8:30 AM West Coast) to take a look at an interesting impromptu mini-debate on a recent episode of Breaking Points:

Krystal Ball vs. Saagar Enjeti: Is it “Neo-Confederate” to Refuse to Cooperate with ICE?

YouTube video by Give Them An Argument w/Ben Burgis

www.youtube.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 1d

In a little over half an hour (at 11:30 AM East Coast/8:30 AM West Coast), I'm going to go live for a little breakdown of Curtis Yarvin's very odd essay "You Can't Handle the Truth."

Curtis Yarvin Says We Can't Handle the Truth

YouTube video by Give Them An Argument w/Ben Burgis

www.youtube.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 2d

This week's Philosophy for the People essay:

If You Want to Critique Analytic Philosophy, It Helps to Know Something About It

A note on Neil Vallelly's essay "Analytic Philosophy Is a Dead End for the Left."

benburgis.substack.com

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 2d

Link:

Opinion | The 9/11-era roots of Trump’s war on ‘antifa’

The seeds of what Trump is doing were planted and nurtured by presidents of both parties during the “war on terror.”

www.msnbc.com

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 2d

I'm in @msnbc.com today, writing about the particular chickens currently coming home to roost:

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 5d

My latest for @jacobinmag.bsky.social:

Trump: The US Lost Vietnam and Afghanistan Due to Woke

Donald Trump thinks the US was constrained by “political correctness” in Vietnam and Afghanistan. But those wars were characterized by thorough dehumanization and staggering destruction. What type of ...

jacobin.com

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 5d

Going live in a little over 10 minutes (at 11:30 AM EST/8:30 PST):

Robert Nozick's Wilt Chamberlain Argument Against Redistribution

YouTube video by Give Them An Argument w/Ben Burgis

www.youtube.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 7d

Going live in a few minutes (at 11:30 AM East Coast/8:30 AM West Coast)!

Debunking Pro-Israel Talking Points on Gaza

YouTube video by Give Them An Argument w/Ben Burgis

www.youtube.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 8d

This week's Philosophy for the People essay:

My Preferred Solution to the Liar Paradox

I wrote my dissertation on the Liar Paradox and the philosophy of logic. In broad outlines, here's the approach I advocated there.

benburgis.substack.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 8d

Going live in about 10 minutes (11:30 AM East Coast/8:30 West Coast):

Democrats are Screwing Up the Shutdown

YouTube video by Give Them An Argument w/Ben Burgis

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Ben Burgis

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 17d

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come."

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 18d

A few more pictures from the Partido de Trabjo conference + the written version of my intro for @profwolff.bsky.social. The 2nd pic is the most meaningful to me--I got to meet one of my heroes (Ofer Cassif, who was almost expelled from the Knesset for speaking out against the genocide).

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 18d

A bit of the opening of the conference yesterday.

The beginnings of DSA meetings are never as good as this!

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 18d

So, this was pretty cool:

Yesterday I got to introduce @profwolff.bsky.social at a conference of socialist, communist and labor parties from all around Latin America (and several outside of it) hosted in Mexico City by the Partido del Trabajo:

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 19d

My latest for @jacobinmag.bsky.social covers Kamala Harris coming out of whatever hole she crawled into after catastrophically fumbling the 2024 election & babbling some gibberish about Donald Trump being a "communist" (+ how that gibberish manages to precisely reverse the message that could work).

Kamala Harris Thinks Trump Is a “Communist.” That’s Insane.

Centrist Democrats like Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom seem to think the best way to disparage Donald Trump is to highlight his departures from free-market orthodoxy. Good luck with that.

jacobin.com

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Reposted by Ben Burgis

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 20d

Excited to be attending Historical Materialism this fall in London. Will be discussing G.A Cohen and liberal socialism, while previewing our forthcoming collection on analytical Marxism with @benburgis.bsky.social

link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Analytical Marxism and Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century

This book offers generational perspectives on the work of G.A. Cohen and its contemporary implications, situating his work in contemporary debates.

link.springer.com

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 21d

Logging some Rosarito Beach time.

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 22d

My co-written article w/@drkuba.bsky.social on how bad a second Trump term might get came out exactly a year ago today. Sadly, I think we nailed it.

Trump Wants to Purge the Deep State So He Can Weaponize It

How bad could a second Donald Trump term get? That depends on how serious he is about replacing the career bureaucrats who staff the security state with MAGA loyalists ready to carry out his most deme...

jacobin.com

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 27d

Also, I'm about to go on KPFA (in line two minutes) to talk about both articles.

I think they're planning to open the phone lines if anyone reading this feels like calling in!

Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 27d

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 27d

Meagan Day and I are back in Jacobin magazine today with a followup, now that (as we predicted in the first article) the Right is using Kirk's murder as a pretext for crackdowns on free speech:

The Right Is Using Charlie Kirk’s Murder to Attack Free Speech

Over the past week since the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, we’ve watched conservatives unabashedly take ownership of “cancel culture” and crack down on free speech right before our eyes.

jacobin.com

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Reposted by Ben Burgis

J. Andrew World should be drawing @rightaboutnow2.bsky.social · 27d

I forgot to post this picture from the weekend.

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Reposted by Ben Burgis

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 28d

My piece on American democratic socialism for @unherd.com

unherd.com/2025/09/soci...

Socialism is as American as apple pie

unherd.com

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Ben Burgis @benburgis.bsky.social · 28d

Had a lot of fun chatting w/ @atldemsoc.bsky.social yesterday about Marxism, even if it did make me feel very old to hear a couple of these comrades in their 20s say they'd been watching me on TMBS "in high school."

They had a Zoom link, so we should have the recording soon for GTAA:

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 29d

@benburgis.bsky.social with @atldemsoc.bsky.social

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Reposted by Ben Burgis

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 29d

@benburgis.bsky.social with @atldemsoc.bsky.social

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