[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.53,0:00:18.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two of my favorite people from history.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.46,0:00:23.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My dad gets upset because they don't really\Nteach science anymore in the public schools,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.39,0:00:26.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this is mostly because the Right Wing\Ncan't bear the thought of evolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.33,0:00:29.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mom gets sad 'cause they don't\Nreally teach history anymore
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.38,0:00:33.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my sister fairly weeps because you don't\Nget art anymore in the school system.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.20,0:00:37.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But me, I'm like, “they just don't teach\Nrevolution anymore in those public schools.”
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.88,0:00:40.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[audience laughs] Am I right?\NRight?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.04,0:00:47.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this is like the basic political education that really,\Nwe all should have gotten, and really most of us didn't.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.51,0:00:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I start here with liberals and radicals\Nbecause I think this is the main division.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.89,0:00:57.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think this is important because a lot of times in our\Nfriendships and our activist networks and even in our groups,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.85,0:01:02.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and across broader movements, there are these\Ntensions that can be really painful and profound
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.70,0:01:05.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a lot of it really comes down to the\Ndifference between liberals and radicals.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.90,0:01:09.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I, in the end, don't care which\Nside of this you decide to land on
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.04,0:01:14.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you got to figure out which, you know, which world\Nview actually describes the world as you know it
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.31,0:01:16.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(and that's up to you really).
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.53,0:01:22.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it can really help to understand where these different perspectives are\Ncoming from because then when you have these conflicts suddenly you go,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.87,0:01:28.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“right, that's liberal and I'm radical, and that's why we're never going to\Nmeet in the middle” because these are profound differences, politically.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.56,0:01:31.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doesn't mean we can't work together;\Nlots of coalitions need to happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.27,0:01:36.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I am not trying to demonize anybody here but these ARE\Ndifferent positions that people can take across the spectrum.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.56,0:01:41.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would say the main division between\Nliberals and radicals is individualism.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.80,0:01:46.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Liberals believe that society is made up of individuals.\NThat's the basic social unit.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.39,0:01:56.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact individualism is so sacrosanct that in this view, to be identified\Nas a member of a group is seen as an affront; that's the insult.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.74,0:02:00.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Totally different for radicals over\Non the other side of the chart.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.43,0:02:05.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Society is not made up of individual\Npeople, it's made up of groups of people.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.07,0:02:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Marx's original version this was class, it was economic class. This is the debt\Nthat all radicals owe Karl Marx. It doesn't matter if you are a Marxist or not,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.92,0:02:19.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,HE figured this out. It's groups of people and some groups\Nhave power over other groups. That's what society is made of.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.16,0:02:28.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the radicals' understanding being a member of a group is not an insult.\NIn fact it's the first primary step you have to take
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.09,0:02:34.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,coming to a radical consciousness and then ultimately having effective\Npolitical action, you have to identify as a member of that group.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.71,0:02:39.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've got to make common cause with the people who share\Nyour condition. That's how political change happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.74,0:02:44.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is both an active and a critical\Nembrace of that group identity
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.54,0:02:50.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We radicals get accused all the time of creating this kind\Nof “victim identity”, but that's not what's going on.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.80,0:02:54.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are more than what they've done\Nto us, and we do have agency.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.41,0:02:58.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we do have to recognize that there is power\Nin the world and we're on the receiving end.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.80,0:03:05.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The other big division is between the nature of social reality.\NLiberalism is what's called “idealist”.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.92,0:03:11.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Social reality, for them, is made up of\Nattitudes, of ideas; it's a mental event.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.55,0:03:16.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And therefore social change happens through education.\NThrough changing people's minds.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.51,0:03:26.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Materialism, in contrast, over on the radical side: society is organized by\Nconcrete systems of power, not by thoughts and ideas. By material institutions.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.93,0:03:31.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the solution to oppression is to\Ntake those systems apart brick by brick.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.02,0:03:38.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The liberals will say, “we have to educate, educate, educate”,\Nand the radicals will say, “actually we have to stop them”.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.16,0:03:42.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Political movements need education, this\Nis an educational event, here we are.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.44,0:03:49.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you need active proselytizing, the oppressed need mechanisms\Nto understand political oppression, consciousness raising.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.11,0:03:51.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is all really profoundly important.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.41,0:03:58.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But for radicals alone that does not change social reality. Because\Nthe world is not an internal state. It's not a mental state.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.30,0:04:05.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The point of education is to build the movement that can take down\Nthose oppressive structures and bring about some kind of justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.15,0:04:10.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you remove power from the equation\Noppression looks either natural or voluntary.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.35,0:04:15.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you're not going to see that people are formed by these social\Nconditions how else are you going to explain subordination?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.91,0:04:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well either those people aren't quite human, so they're\Nnaturally different than us -- that's why they're subordinate,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.00,0:04:25.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or they're somehow volunteering to be subordinate.\NThose are the options that you're left with.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.65,0:04:33.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For instance race and gender are seen as biological. These are supposed\Nto be physically real. Well they're not, they're politically real.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.09,0:04:40.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's brutal, vicious subordination that creates those things. But it's\Nideology, and it is the ideology of the powerful that says this is biological.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.44,0:04:48.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They make that claim that this is biological because how are you going\Nto fight God or Nature or 4 million years of evolution? Well you're not.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.44,0:04:56.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are physical differences between people who are from northern Europe and people\Nwho live at the equator, just like there are differences between males and females
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.44,0:05:04.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but those differences only matter because power needs them to. It is power\Nthat creates the ideology and it's a corrupt and brutal arrangement of power.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.44,0:05:10.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are unjust systems that we are going to have to dismantle,\Nand these are social categories we are going to have to destroy.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.32,0:05:14.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just like naturalism operates in the\Nservice of power, so does volunteerism.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.63,0:05:19.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you are not going to go the biological route,\Nall you are left with is volunteerism as a concept.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.59,0:05:27.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the thing that liberals do not understand. With power removed from the equation,\Nif it looks voluntary you are going to erase the fact that it's social subordination.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.96,0:05:31.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So here is Florynce Kennedy, “without\Nthe consent of the oppressed.”
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.18,0:05:38.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,90% of any oppression is consensual. That's what it does. It does\Nnot mean it's our fault, it does not mean we are responsible,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.57,0:05:41.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it doesn't mean it will somehow\Ncrumble if we withdraw our consent.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.84,0:05:50.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All it means is that the powerful—the capitalists, the white supremacists, the\Nmasculinists, whoever—they can't stand over vast numbers of people 24/7 with guns.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.44,0:05:55.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Luckily, for them, depressingly for\Nthe rest of us, they don't have to.