Invincible Ignorance is hosted by David Rieff and Lee Siegel In Catholic theology, "invincible ignorance" means that you cannot be thought to have sinned if you are unaware of the precepts you are sinning against. Ignorance in this case is considered innocence, if not bliss. In our secular appropriation of the concept--we call it "II"--we plead ignorance of the self-evident truth of the various orthodoxies that plague us. Thus we cannot be blamed for affronting them. We mean well. Instead of uniform, block thinking, we will try to follow the thread of truth through dissimilarity. We want, in other...
Latest episodes
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58 min
Hope, Attention and the Crisis of the Humanities
Amid the collapse of university humanities programs, the rise of identity politics, and the relentless commercialization of culture, conservatives have revived the claim that great…
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46 min
The Fragile Self in the Age of Trump
Lee Siegel and David Rieff take on Trump's cult of personality, using a surprising entry point: an American figure skater at the Olympics falling on the ice while skating to the so…
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55 min
Norm-Shattering and Spellbinding: A Conversation About Charisma, Trump, and What Comes Next
Lee Siegel and co-host David Rieff discuss charisma in American politics, using Trump's State of the Union and Max Weber's definition of charisma to explore how Trump's norm-shatte…
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51 min
Trump, Iran, and the Logic of Chaos
Lee Siegel and David Rieff take up the U.S. conflict with Iran, asking what kind of war this is and where it goes from here. They dig into Trump's motives (midterm politics, his ta…
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1 h 00
Antisemitism, MAGA, and Gaza: What's Changing in American Jewish Life?
David Rieff and Lee Siegel discuss antisemitism and how it is surging across American politics and culture. They begin with Tucker Carlson's remarks in Turkey claiming that Israeli…
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53 min
Normalizing the Unthinkable: Scandal, Authoritarianism & Cultural Collapse
In the debut episode of "Invincible Ignorance", hosts David Rieff and Lee Siegel introduce the podcast and explain they're recording without guests after travel plans fell through.…