REDACTED Culture Cast

Talk Back to Me The idea of war isn't as simple as the Patriot or Braveheart like it to be. How do we consider the weight of conflict in an regularly more complicating game? The problem with that easy category of criminals on one side opposed to clean honorable warfighters on the others paints a nice picture that doesn't hold as fast as Tolkien would have like it.  But that doesn't...

Talk Back to Me The opposite of elitism should be something like equality. But the inverse of gatekeeping in Gun Culture has manifested in resentment. This isn't a new subject in human history, but instead of merely document it, as agents acting in Gun Culture, it is our responsibility to oppose both gatekeeping citizens from upholding their responsibilities and those who have gained a seat a...

Talk Back to Me The graveyard of Empires and male suicide both point to the same thing: without a solid moral foundation you open yourself up to not only to the temptations which draw us away from living rightly, but can even undermine our will to live entirely. Tyler comes over from the Longhouse Podcast to talk about moral foundations, philosophy, theology, and what we believe to be right and tr...

Talk Back to Me On Thursday, the 22nd of September 2023, the Biden Administration announced that a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention would come into being under the guidance of then Vice President Kamala Harris. This arrives soon after the Governor of New Mexico decreed that the citizens in and around Albuquerque were subject to a suspension of their right to bear arms, open or concealed.  Wha...

Talk Back to Me Politics aside, we're intuitively aware that there's a difference between killing and shooting. When Gun Culture gets dramatic with itself, it pits the two against themselves. The ability to hit a target isn't the same as the mental and moral aspects of a gunfight or a night raid. But we know that.  When we consider the moral environments where the use of force can b...

Talk Back to Me While the utopia of Multiculturalism tempts with ideas as thorough as us "all getting along," it quickly breaks down in the real world when faced with conflicting worldviews and their consequences. While the subject has been addressed in the past, it is worth revisiting, as we once again witness the consequences of abandoning the very foundation necessary to produce that...

Talk Back to Me You have heard it said, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." You have also heard it said that those who pursue Vengeance will need to dig two graves. The romanticization of Vengeance has long included the warnings of the Cost, but it most often presents itself as a warning that in the end, everyone loses. But those who succumb to the temptations of Vengeance are often weak...

Talk Back to Me The Overton Window gets referenced most in political and social conversation, and it refers to the spectrum of socially acceptable norms in a given society. This places it squarely in the realm of political philosophy.  And the recent event of the New Mexico Governor's executive order suspending citizen's right to carry a firearm lands as the perfect example to discuss th...

Talk Back to Me One of the three fundamental laws that dictate formal logic is the law of excluded middle. In propositional logic it looks like this: A v ~A A or not A In life, this looks like choice. When we are faced with a decision, we have the option to make a choice, or abdicate that choice. But what we don't have before us is the option to opt out.  -- Up your helmet camo game: pickup t...

Talk Back to Me With great passion, people across the internet and the world will try to convince us not to trust the government. To some, this is a novel concept, but not to many. The assumption that we can trust something as vast and complicated as the government as a whole is itself a head-scratcher.  At the same time, from time to time, and for some, with increasing rapidity, we are seeing a b...

Talk Back to Me When I joined the Army, I distinctly remember one man in basic training say that he had enlisted so that he could be a part of the biggest gang in America. "Why wear red or blue," he said, "when you could wear green." Admittedly the scene felt a little stereotypical, and it didn't help that each of us was undergoing the culture shift from our hometowns to t...

Talk Back to Me Have you ever heard someone go about explaining the two sides to an argument, only to later discover they're involved in one side of the controversy? While a situation like that isn't exactly the view-from-above fallacy, it closely resembles the rhetorical strategy of one. Not directly a logical fallacy, the speaker presents themselves as an objective observer looking dow...

Talk Back to Me Those of us millennials who grew up in the American church will likely find this sentiment familiar: we read of the faithlessness of the Israelites, shuddering at their unbelief in the presence of God, and then turn the page to apologetics which argues for the rationality of creationism over a naturalist origin story for the cosmos. It is not all too unfamiliar to confuse belief wi...

Talk Back to Me Telos, Teleology, and the question of what is the end goal? In addition to the existential crisis, which turns out to be the contemporary edition of such, we engage with the long lasting effects of what we believe to be right and true and good. The mid life crisis perfectly encapsulates the identity of the 80's husband. Only, we live decades later and have our own problems to...

Talk Back to Me Both Politics and Theology place a heavy weight on the concept of sovereignty. Just like the idea of Human Rights, there's a difference between when these ideas began to see common use in history, and what we ground them in. It's one thing to claim that God is Sovereign, but it is another, entirely, to act accordingly.  The same goes with politics. In philosophy, we must...

Talk Back to Me "How Can you Be a Christian in the Military?" What kind of answer are you looking for? Are you looking for a worldview or a set of moral imperatives. Are you asking if it is possible for a man to be a Christian while they are in the Military, as if there were some inherent contradiction, or are you asking the question of "How then shall we live?" Because they ar...

Talk Back to Me So as not to be mistaken for a trap, Betteridge's Law applies here.  There's a difference between materialism and accusing someone or some culture of being too materialistic. What we understand as Materialism is more akin to Naturalism, where as being Materialistic, is the placing of too much emphasis of objects as one's identity. A serious look at what it is typical...

Talk Back to Me We stand on the shoulders of Giants, who have gone before us, as men, just like us, to try to understand what it true and what it means for a thing to be true. For Descartes, his Meditations on First Philosophy includes the line that divides the mind from the body. Since it is possible that our senses to be tricked, it is possible that all of our senses can be tricked at the same t...

Talk Back to Me The question asked by Socrates gets to the heart of how we think about who or what God is. Many of the arguments regarding God falter over childish descriptions, evoking imaginary characters, judgemental shirtless men, and an abundance of the word "empathy." So when Socrates asks about the relationship between the gods and goodness or holiness or piety, he forces the read...

Talk Back to Me The singularity will change, the world will remain the same.  REDACTED is a strange conglomeration of those who know, and those who suspect.  As a result, the REDACTED Culture Cast is going to change.  The long form conversations will remain. In addition, there will be something of value for you to consider in your day-to-day. Philosophy exists in tension between the halls of acade...

Talk Back to Me The events that took place in our recent history draw attention once again that there's a difference between the ideal when it comes to law enforcement, and our current reality. And although the political battle is still making hay for this side or that, we as a community have some things to discuss when it comes to the recent shooting of a Utah citizen. Even if it's not...

Talk Back to Me The meme-ability of Blade Runner 2049 serves as a testament to the its grasp on the human condition at this time. The parallels between the film and the experiences of men concludes in a tragedy, and not one without consequences. If the Literally Me meme continues to live on, as men depart from the emptiness of the prior cultural movement. As the New Atheist ideology steadily colla...

Talk Back to Me The pursuit of Knowledge is its own reward, or so the saying goes. And although this saying might have some immediate motivating value for those engaging in academics, it rarely receives the treatment it deserves.  Clairvoyance is one of those words that, like enlightenment, receives more abuse than proper use. Particularly from hippies, fools, and pseudo-intellectuals. Alone, it c...

Talk Back to Me The funny thing about Gossip, is that, like murder or stealing, it's nearly a universally opposed activity, at least when others are doing it. While it may appear like one sharing confidence with another, it reveals that the intentions of the speaker are not all that moral, and takes wisdom to dismantle. So, when we talk about news, or industry drama, we should ask ourselves i...

Talk Back to Me The Fool Says in his heart "There is No God." With the slow collapse of the New Atheist movement in the background, we are made aware that the denial of God isn't as simple as some denial of a supernatural being. When one denies God, they defy the existence of anything that has power or authority over the consequences of one's actions.  Denial of God is the deni...