In this October 2019 lecture at the conference 'Speaking Truth to Social Justice' in London, James Lindsay presented a compelling critique of critical social justice and its ideological foundation in critical theory. He argued that this worldview fundamentally rejects objective truth, reason, and evidence-based methods, which are essential for genuine progress. According to Lindsay, critical theorists prioritize “strategic” theories over true or false ones, seeking to advance political agendas rather than to understand reality.

Drawing on examples from feminist and social justice literature, Lindsay illustrated how critical theory undermines fields like engineering, climate science, and education by prioritizing social power over truth. He contended that while these disciplines traditionally rely on rigorous methods to solve problems, critical theory disregards such rigor, treating knowledge as a mere tool for enforcing power dynamics. For Lindsay, this ideological shift threatens progress, as it ignores that “reality is the thing you run into when your beliefs are false.”

Ultimately, Lindsay called for a return to evidence-based inquiry and the liberal systems that have historically driven human advancement. By defending reason, scientific method, and open discourse, he argued, society can continue to make meaningful progress rather than regress into a cynicism that treats truth as a mere strategy for political ends.

Viewers will find this talk interesting not just for its contents but also for the glimpse back in time by five years, which allows them to see how the views expressed have matured and developed over the intervening time.

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The Thing You Run Into When Your Beliefs Are False | James Lindsay

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 152

On December 3, 2024, James Lindsay revealed to the world that he had perpetrated a hoax (https://newdiscourses.com/2024/12/a-communist-manifesto-for-christian-nationalists-testing-the-woke-right/) against the nominally "Christian Nationalist" magazine American Reformer in which he had rewritten a significant portion of the Communist Manifesto to flatter their "Woke Right" ideology. In the ensuing days, the hoax has caused quite a stir on the conservative side of the internet, generating a completely unexpected response in which, in addition to deflecting from the hoax and bashing James, many ostensible conservatives launched into robust defenses of Marxist analysis, critical theory, and postmodernism. How good was the hoax, though, and what did it actually say? In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay reads through a rough side-by-side comparison text (https://newdiscourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CM-for-CN-Appendix-Docs.pdf) he prepared showing how close the hoax actually was so you can hear and decide for yourself. Join him and see if you agree that the hoax was good.

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The Hoax that Broke the Conservative Internet

In her talk, Doing Social Justice Responsibly on October 13, 2019 at the 'Speaking Truth to Social Justice' conference in London, Helen Pluckrose tackled the ideological excesses within social justice activism, offering a way to address genuine social justice issues without abandoning reason or liberal principles. She argued that the dominant framework in social justice today—rooted in critical theory and postmodernism—has transformed genuine concerns about power and privilege into a rigid worldview. This ideology, she explained, rejects objective truth and promotes “strategic knowledge,” constructed to serve specific identity-based agendas rather than being tested against reality.

Pluckrose acknowledged that while social justice concepts like bias, cultural narratives, and the power of language have validity, the radicalized methods often used within social justice turn productive critiques into dogma. Instead of engaging in open dialogue, activists demand conformity, condemning dissenting views as tools of privilege. She urged liberals and conservatives alike to stand for a balanced approach to social justice—one that promotes fairness without sacrificing truth and the ideals of secular liberalism.

Viewers will find this talk interesting not just for its contents but also for the glimpse back in time by five years, which allows them to see how the views expressed have matured and developed over the intervening time.

New book! The Queering of the American Child: https://queeringbook.com/

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Doing Social Justice Responsibly | Helen Pluckrose

Has critical theory helped or hurt the future of the left in politics? Tune in for an inspiring discussion with Eric Heinze on his new book Coming Clean: The Rise of Critical Theory and the Future of the Left.

Moments with Marianne airs in the Southern California area on KMET1490AM & 98.1 FM, an ABC Talk News Radio affiliate! 

Eric Heinze, Professor of Law and Humanities at Queen Mary University of London, is a distinguished intellectual with a deep background in law, political theory, and human rights. He provides a nuanced and research-driven perspective, bridging the gap between extreme voices in contemporary political debates. Heinze's commitment to critical thinking and refusal to align with strict ideologies offer a pragmatic alternative to polarized narratives, promoting inclusive and constructive dialogue for the future of centrist left thought. His previous books include The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything (2022), Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship (2016), The Concept of Injustice (2013), and The Logic of Liberal Rights (2003). His work has been featured in the Guardian, Times Higher Ed, The Conversation, The Irish Times, Aeon, and many other publications. https://ericheinze.com

For more show information visit:
www.MariannePestana.com


Coming Clean with Eric Heinze

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 164

What is the Woke worldview? It's called "critical constructivism." How is it adopted? The formal name for picking up "Wokeness" is adopting "critical hermeneutics." What in the world does that mean? It means viewing the world through lenses of power as described by critical theory and social constructivism. That is, it means reading Marxian analysis into all perceptions of the world and believing this makes you more "enlightened." In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay takes you through another segment of what he calls "The Book of Woke," i.e., Critical Constructivism: A Primer (https://amzn.to/3EuM2mZ ), by Joe L. Kincheloe, a (late) critical education theorist. Join him to have all these questions answered and to clarify your thinking about what "Woke" means even more.

This episode is Part 2 in a developing series exploring "The Book of Woke." Find Part 1 here: https://newdiscourses.com/2025/04/the-book-of-woke-introducing-critical-constructivism/

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The Book of Woke: Critical Hermeneutics

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 165

The "New Atheism" movement, which lasted more or less from 2005 until 2015, was a cringey and curious thing, and it has become an object of much mythology, particularly on the highly online, largely Christian Right. Unfortunately, they don't know much about it, leading them to turn it into propaganda for a cause that mirrors it more than many might find comfortable. In this casual episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay goes through quite a lot of the history of the New Atheism movement as it really was and compares it against Critical Religion Theory, Marxism, and, ironically, the Woke Right. Join him for a surprising and refreshing discussion.

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Woke Right: MAGA's "New Atheists"?

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 170

It is long past time we take a look at the Communist Manifesto (instead of just sending it to dubious Woke Right outlets and getting them to publish it: https://newdiscourses.com/2024/12/a-communist-manifesto-for-christian-nationalists-testing-the-woke-right/). Obviously, this infamous document (pdf: https://www.marxists.org/admin/books/manifesto/Manifesto.pdf) is not the beginning point of Communism, but is the beginning point of organized Communism, particularly of the Marxist type, which we have recently (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/06/communism-is-not-atheist) and thoroughly discussed. In this long-overdue episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay takes you through the main body of the Manifesto of the Communist Party: preface, chapter one, and chapter two. In a subsequent episode (Volume Two in this mini-series) he will cover a later addition called "The Principles of Communism." There's a lot here, and you won't want to miss it.

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The Communist Manifesto, Volume One

Case File 4 (A Place You Can't Escape)

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 171

Welcome to the third volume in the crucially important New Discourses Podcast series on "the Nazi Experiment," which is largely but not entirely a direct exposé of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. In the previous episodes (Prequel (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/03/woke-nationalism-and-the-nazi-experiment/); Ep. 1 (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/06/the-nazi-experiment-vol-1-the-nazi-racial-worldview/); Ep. 2 (https://newdiscourses.com/2025/07/the-nazi-experiment-hitlers-nazi-race-ideology)), we revealed that Hitler very much intended National Socialism to be a grand experiment in a totalitarian state based on a new political ideology based in what he called a "racialist World-concept" (Ford translation). We explored how blatantly his project was based on racial occultism and eugenics and the racial hatred of Jews. In this episode of the series, host James Lindsay reads from the fourth chapter of Volume 2 of Mein Kampf to show how Hitler's worldview required the right elevation of the individual through his subordination to the worldview and service to his Nazi experiment. Join James to peel back another layer of this stinking onion and unmask much of the propaganda we're seeing from bad actors aligned with the Woke Right today.

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The Nazi Experiment, Vol. 3: The Individual Nazi in the Nazi State

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 172

The "Woke" worldview, however it manifests, has a proper name, and it is "critical constructivism." Helpfully, there's a book about critical constructivism (https://amzn.to/3EuM2mZ) specifically, written by the man who first outlined it by that name, Joe L. Kincheloe. James Lindsay, host of the New Discourses Podcast, calls this book "The Book of Woke" and has been reading from it as a loose podcast series to help people understand what "Woke" really means. It's not a slur, a smear, or even a slang term anymore. It means something quite specific. In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, James Lindsay takes you through a series of bullet points outlined by Kincheloe along with the twelve defining points of critical constructivism so you can better understand what "Woke" is. Join him to sharpen your understanding.

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The Book of Woke: The Basis of Critical Constructivism

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Pursuing the light of objective truth in subjective darkness.

New tracks tagged #critical theory