Last weekend, James O'Keefe did an ambush interview of Ben Burgis where he tried to claim that the segment Ben, Matt Lech & Producer Jake did last week ("James O'Keefe Hates Free Speech": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKX6tcOZxuQ) was somehow inaccurate. (It wasn't.) He then tried to twist Ben saying that workers who do bad or racist things shouldn't be punished without due process & shouldn't be doxxed to make some stupid anti-union point years later into Ben saying that racism is goo...
Jul 03, 2022•2 hr 28 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Tonight in NYC, Ben Burgis is going to be debating Tim Pool, Tulsi Gabbard & James O'Keefe at the Minds Festival of Ideas at the Beacon Theater. (See festival.minds.com.) This week's GTAA main guest Matt Lech (co-host @ Left Reckoning, producer @ The Majority Report) joins Ben for a hard look at all three of those people. Before that, Ben & the crew go through some of Krystal Ball's appearance on Real Time w/Bill Maher and discuss some extremely odd claims made this last week by Dennis P...
Jun 25, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Tim Pool has some thoughts about the Trolley Problem, so obviously we had to cover that. The main event, though, is a debate on free will between frequent GTAA guest Ryan Lake (who wrote an award-winning doctoral dissertation on the subject) and philosopher Gregg Caruso (who recently co-authored a collection of battling free will essays with Daniel Dennett). Dr. Jennifer Burgis joins Ben for a segment on Plato's Euthyphro at the end of the episode and then Jason Myles and Dr. Kuba from This is R...
Jun 17, 2022•2 hr 10 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Majority Report host Sam Seder returns to the show as the main guest for the GTAA season finale. Ben Burgis and his wife Professor Jennifer Burgis talk about Plato's "Crito" for the philosophy segment. Ben, Jenn & the GTAA crew raise a glass to toast all the high points of this season (Rogan! Charlie Kirk! Zizek!) and then good friend of the show Jason Myles (of This is Revolution) hangs out in the postgame for GTAA patrons. We'll be back in a few weeks for Season 4! Watch the Majority Repor...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 59 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Economics professor, socialist writer, and Current Affairs magazine "House Economist" Rob Larson joins Ben Burgis for a deep dive on "the Tuttle Twins"--a series of libertarian children's books. Before that, Ben and the GTAA crew review some of the best moments from his recent debate in Texas and talk about the value of the debate. In the philosophy segment at the end of the main show Ben and his wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis continue their discussion of Plato's apology by chatting a bit about his (f...
May 07, 2022•2 hr•Season 3Ep. 43
In the opening segment, Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about a Tennessee lawmaker's strange use of Hitler in an argument about the homeless, watch a video about Tucker Carlson's demagoguery and get into Christian Smalls's masterful appearance on Tucker's show. The main event is an interview with Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage about his article "The Republican Party Is Waging a War Against Personal Freedom and Free Expression." Continuing with the free speech theme, Ben and his wife Dr. Jenn...
Apr 23, 2022•1 hr 55 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Two of our favorite guests (Prof. Richard Wolff and Jacobin Staff Writer Branko Marcetic) return to hash out a disagreement on vaccine mandates. Prof. Wolff is critical of such mandates on workers' rights grounds while Branko has strongly endorsed them in Jacobin. Ben Burgis is, just this once a moderator instead of a participant in a debate. Before the debate, Ben chats with the GTAA crew about his article in The Nation on Daniel Muessig, who's about to head to federal prison for 5 years for no...
Apr 15, 2022•2 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 41
THE AMAZON LABOR UNION WON! That's huge. Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew celebrate. Then there's a little discussion of Ben's upcoming trip to Toronto (see here for details on be book event at Duke of York and the lecture at Ryerson: https://twitter.com/BenBurgis/status/1509997688162594820) and as the main event we unlock Ben's conversation with academic Jesse Spafford on G.A. Cohen's argument for socialism. In the philosophy segment w/Ben's wife Dr. Jennifer Burgis at the end of show, we talk abou...
Apr 08, 2022•1 hr 59 min•Season 3Ep. 40
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about The Oscar Slap and the way it perfectly encapsulates the way our weird late capitalist hellscape manages to turn every stupid little thing that happens into a political issue at the sake time as the most important issues are barely mentioned. Ben talks up a class he's teaching at the School for Social and Cultural Change about the arguments in Marx's "Capital" and promotes a couple of upcoming events in Toronto. (For details on those see: https://twitter.c...
Apr 04, 2022•2 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 39
[Before you read the episode description: Listeners in Toronto should check out these upcoming events! https://twitter.com/BenBurgis/status/1509997688162594820 ] Ben Burgis and the GTAA Crew (this week featuring the Prodigal Producer Cale returning to sub for Current Producer Jake) are talk about the latest free speech controversy and Ben's article in Current Affairs about "whataboutism" and the anti-war Left being accused of being Putin apologists. Then Ben's interview with philosophy professor...
Apr 01, 2022•2 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew look at some insane responses to Joe Biden's declaration that he won't start World War III and review a mini-debate that Ben and Ryan Lake had with a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist during Ben's Callin show. Benjamin Teitelbaum, author of "War for Eternity," is the main guest. Ben Burgis tends to think Steven Bannon is just a regular Reaganite Republican (which is bad and dangerous enough!) withe edgy prince-of-darkness branding, while Teitelbaum thinks Bannon is...
Mar 22, 2022•1 hr 52 min•Season 3Ep. 37
[Many apologies for the earlier release with the wrong file!] Two years ago, Ben Burgis, Matt McManus, Marion Trejo-McManus and Conrad Hamilton co-wrote a book called "Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson." Last year there was a GTAA episode about it. Now that our boy's active again, getting back out into the world and dropping bombs like "climate is just everything so how can we have a scientific model to predict climate change," seems like a good time to check back in on him....
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 59 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Ben Burgis was on the Joe Rogan Experience last week so a good chunk of this is devoted to going over some clips from that but the main event tonight is a crossover w/the Valley Labor Report podcast to debunk the terrible arguments in employer-sponsored anti-union propaganda. This was a fun one. Watch the full appearance: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0UmjhCbyz0oG6bWUKlnNeF Order the book Ben was talking about on JRE from worker-owned Red Emmas bookstore: https://redemmas.org/titles/34877-can...
Mar 05, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 35
Fan-favorite returning guest Lillian Cicerchia (co-host of "What's Left of Philosophy?") comes back to talk to Ben Burgis about Marxist accounts of exploitation--how the concept relates to a useful description of capitalist economies and why it's important to the case for socialism. Producer Jake, whose day job is "union organizer," talks abut the gathering wave of Starbucks unionizations around the country. Professor Jennifer Burgis joins Ben for a philosophy segment on Robert Nozick's theory o...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 54 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about all the big dumb controversies of the week (Rogan, Whoopi) and try to extract from them at least a couple of things that actually matter. Noami Karavani, a comedian and correspondent for "Redacted Tonight," joins Ben to debunk some Prager U videos. Dr. Jenn comes on for a philosophy segment and the one and only Conan Neutron is on deck t hang out in the postgame for patrons. Good stuff all around. Follow Naomi on Twitter: @naomikaravani Follow Redacted ton...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 47 min
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about Hitchens and lesser figures who "left the left." Slovenian anti-capitalist philosopher Slavoj Zizek returns to the show to talk about subjects ranging from communism to AOC's boyfriend's feet. There's a preview of the last patron episode w/Conrad Hamilton, Professor Jennifer Burgis comes on for a philosophy segment, and Ethan Hershenfeld comes on to hangout and watch clips of William Lane Craig and Ben Shapiro in the postgame for patrons. This is a very go...
Jan 30, 2022•1 hr 45 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew talk about the Democrats rapturous embrace of Dick Cheney. The main guest is Scott Horton, talks about the hlighlights of his recent debate with neocon all-star Bill Kristol. After a quick preview of the patron-exclusive episode from the weekend w/Matt McManus ("Season 3 Episode 26: To Beat the Right We Have to Understand Their Arguments"), Professor Jennifer Burgis returns for another attempt to sort of Sam Harris's deep confusion about meta-ethics. Order Ben's book...
Jan 16, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Ben Burgis wrote a book about Christopher Hitchens--it came out on Saturday! You can snag a copy from worker-owned Red Emmas at this link: https://redemmas.org/titles/36536-christopher-hitchens--what-he-got-right--how-he-went-wrong--and-why-he-still-matters Ben and Djene Bajalan watch and discuss some clips of Christopher, and we unlock Ben's previously patron-exclusive interview with Christopher's thoughtful and entertaining but also terrifyingly ultra-conservative brother Peter Hitchens--who t...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew watch Tucker Carlson and a guest talk about how the military should be full of people who want to sit on a "throne of Chinese skulls." Repeat GTAA guest Paul Prescod talks about his campaign for PA State Senate. Emma Vigeland joins Ben Burgis to break down the antics of Jordan Peterson, Josh Hawley, and Ben Shapiro. Professor Jennifer Burgis comes on for a philosophy segment at the end of the main show and we learn that in addition to having terrible political views ...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 50 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew watch Christopher Hitchens vs. Sean Hannity on the legacy of Jerry Falwell and then transition to a quick debunk of Prager U's "Healthcare is Not a Right" video. For the main event, Very Bad Wizards co-host David Pizarro and philosophy professor Ryan Lake join Ben to talk about some intersections between socialist political philosophy and the issue of free will and determinism, jumping off from G.A. Cohen's book "Why Not Socialism?" Finally, Professor Jennifer Burgis...
Dec 07, 2021•2 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 20
James Lindsay is very very worried about communists. He sees "communists," "wokeists," "woke Marxists" and "CRT neo-Marxists" under every bed and stashed in every cupboard and he wants the government to pass laws to stamp out the threat although he also sort of thinks they control the government. (Confusing!) So Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew brought on an actual communist (Sean KB of Antifada) to tell us what's wrong with the dude. We're also joined by (ahem) "world-level James Lindsay expert" (w...
Nov 30, 2021•2 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Slavoj Zizek comes back on the show to explain what he means by "communism" and how it relates to other ideas about socialism and capitalism. Later, in the philosophy segment, Ben and (since Professor Jennifer Burgis is still sick) Matt McManus discuss the question apparently being asked in the Washington Post about whether Immanuel Kant was a Critical Race Theorist. Also, Ben and the crew talk Christopher Hitchens, Henry Kissinger and Theranos, and there's preview for the patron Saturday bonus ...
Nov 16, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew watch a U.S. Senator say (really) that people who believe that man-made global warming is a serious problem are "Trotsky-like wokesters" and Ben Shapiro says climate change isn't a big deal since only a few thousand people will die. Havey J. Kaye discusses his recent Twitter run-in w/Shapiro. (Actual) friend of the show Ana Kasparian comes on for a deep dive on her Shapiro debate last month at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Jenn is out sick this week but Georgi...
Nov 09, 2021•2 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Marxist analytic philosopher G.A. Cohen wrote a book called, "Why Not Socialism?" Libertarian philosopher Jason Brennan wrote a response called, "Why Not Capitalism?" Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew debunk some claims that Brennan makes in a lecture on all of this. Also: Ben's going to be teaching a three-week class on both books (and his larger critique of Brennan and defense of Cohen) in December. Later in the show, returning GTAA champ Thaddeus Russell comes on the show to talk a little Karl Mar...
Nov 07, 2021•2 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Ben Burgis debates Charlie Kirk on "democratic socialism vs. Trumpian populism." Yes, that's right, we can finally air this. Ben and the crew do about half an hour of introductory material, discussing Kirk's role on the contemporary Right and the "platforming debate" as well as showing a classic TMBS clip with Michael Brooks, Matt Lech, and David Griscom weighing in on Charlie's odd way of referencing philosophers. The full first hour of the debate (the part that was filmed as an episode of "Deb...
Oct 27, 2021•3 hr 41 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Ben Burgis talks to Jacobin's Meagan Day about Erik Olin Wright's analysis in his book Class Counts of all the different (and sometimes contradictory) class positions different people can have under capitalism, and how that analysis helps us understand the current limits of oppositional groups like DSA, the class coalitions defining the PMC-dominated Democratic Party and the Trumpified Republican Party, and how all of this can help us to understand (to tweak the title of another of Wright's book...
Oct 19, 2021•2 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Ben Burgis talks to "Left Reckoning" hosts Matt Lech & David Griscom about cryptocurrency. Ben and his wife Professor Jennifer Burgis unpack Charlie Kirk's confusion about social contract theory and Rawls. Ben and Producer Jake talk about Charlie's "sexual anarchy" rant and Gene Epstein's argument against minimum wage increases. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis . Patrons get a...
Oct 14, 2021•2 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Ben Burgis is back from Arizona where he debated Charlie Kirk. Sadly the video won't be available for a few weeks but we'll be sharing some thoughts about it now. Ben and Producer Jake talk about that, as well as Sam Harris's conflict with Bret Weinstein. GTAA graphic designer J. Andrew World joins to talk about IATSE's strike vote. (Sign the petition! https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-amptp-to-make-a-deal-with-behind-the-scenes-workers) Also, Lillian Cicerchia from the Free University of...
Oct 06, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Ben and the crew watch Charlie Kirk and Jen Psaki say revolting things about Haitian migrants and talk about the Democrats rejecting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and claiming the Senate parliamentarian made them do it. Cataylst editor Vivek Chibber (honestly one of the best and most valuable Marxist thinkers alive today) makes his debut appearance on GTAA to talk about (a) why conservatives are morally bankrupt, (b) the philosophical basis of socialist politics, (d) what ...
Sep 28, 2021•2 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Ben Burgis has Joshua Blanchard ( https://twitter.com/philoshua ) on the show, who is currently a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Oakland University in Michigan. Ben and Josh discuss a paper that Josh recently wrote that addresses epistemic peer disagreement, and more specifically, being in bad company when it comes to those who agree with you about something. THIS IS A SEGMENT OF A PATREON ONLY EPISODE. Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Supp...
Sep 20, 2021•15 min•Season 3Ep. 2
