In the interest of getting these answers out to you some time this year, I won’t fuss over the prose too much. So please forgive any perceived downgrade in that respect. I will answer some now, and more later. OK, here goes: CeciEstErmat asked why I felt this topic was important enough to spend so much time on. He guessed part of the answer himself when he said, “maybe you just started thinking it would be quick but you fell into the need to be fully comprehensive.” Ha. Welcome to MartyrMade. I thought I was going to be doing one, maybe two episodes on the Israel-Palestine story when I started Fear & Loathing, and the same goes for Jonestown and God’s Socialist. It’s my blessing and my curse. When I started this series, I only intended to provide some background for people who saw the stories about Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and others recently, and didn’t know the question of black antisemitism, and black-Jewish conflict has a long and well-documented history. I started the first essay, got 10 pages in, and realized I had barely scratched the surface. And so it goes. Welcome to MartyrMade.
To the reader who wanted to know more about the public housing failure, I recommend “High Risers - Cabrini Green and the Fate of Public Housing,” by Ben Austen.
Very interesting answer to my first question. I appreciate you taking the time. You still left me hanging concerning when we get to hear about the Mexica and their wacky exploits again (my question about immigration was really just a cover for my Aztec question).
Looking forward to the book list. I'm new here and haven't listened to many of your podcasts yet. This series was the first one I checked out in detail. Well done.
Never knew about the long history of blacks and Jews. Same thing with the history of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Took notes on both listened to fear and loathing twice.
I think it would be difficult for most to take offense with your "everyone is blameworthy but no one is to blame" attitude towards these large social movements and events. Especially because you are unflinching honest in your characterization and retelling of the history.
Also, 4-8 hour podcasts are one hell of a gatekeep.
"Constant mass immigration tends to fix a society in an eternal present, because the past is not shared and the future will be so unpredictably different that neither are worth thinking about." Is a really concise way of putting it. I'll be stealing it for future discussions. Past and future also becomes not worth FIGHTING for in that eternal present, at least for a lot of people involved.
Thank you Darryl for putting this together, and thank you for enlightening. There are no longer the dinner conversations or bar talks about these subjects with any of my peers before we hit an immovable object and have to change topic. Your research is refreshing. Appreciated.
“I trust my readers/listeners, and they’ve shown trust in me, and so whenever I write or record, I do it as if I’m having a conversation with you guys alone. I know that most of you would be far more disappointed by me being dishonest or closed-minded than if I simply took a stance you didn’t like, and so I appreciate that and try to live up to it.”
True! The honesty is one of many reasons I come back. History, especially the history we share is important, and it’s important to be honest about it even if it’s terribly painful at times. It’s about the only shield we have against people who wish to pull the wool over our eyes.
You know, I love Martyrmade for many reasons, but among them is a deep sympathy for Darryl’s inclination to over-shoot the original goal and turn every comment response into a 1,000 word essay. I have the same curse-blessing-thing and I just relate a lot. I’m currently in college and I have a tendency to hit double the required word count on just about any assignment-- writing 20 pages is a breeze, but if I have to edit it down to 5 I can lose my mind and several hours (days?) of my time pretty quickly. And I also feel a need to constantly apologize for overwriting lol. All I’m trying to say is, I get it
I can definitely testify to this part: "I see a lot of other content creators who take on much less controversial topics talk about how much hate mail they get, and I have trouble believing that they’re telling the truth." Unfortunately, that's not my experience. When I did an episode with Dan Carlin about the politics of Nazi Germany, in addition to decent amounts of hate mail, I received even a couple of death threats... all that for me and Dan stating the political equivalent of 'the sun is hot', since we didn't really say anything that any historian would find controversial
I nearly posted a reply to Scott Adams’ recent Twitter rant about race, by linking an article by Pat Buchanan called “A Briefing for Whitey” or something like that. I believe it’s one of his most viewed essays ever. And I was going to mention your series too. But I decided not to respond to the thread. Too much complexity. also I have been thinking about how recently I was on a zoom call (I work in corporate America) and was waiting for the call to start, and a black colleague took too long to mute whatever she was listening to. I heard just this: “white people...” so I gathered that she was listening to some CRT themed thing. And it dawns on me that many(not all) black people hate me for being white. I am nearly 50 years old and this only recently occurs to me.
To the reader who wanted to know more about the public housing failure, I recommend “High Risers - Cabrini Green and the Fate of Public Housing,” by Ben Austen.
Very interesting answer to my first question. I appreciate you taking the time. You still left me hanging concerning when we get to hear about the Mexica and their wacky exploits again (my question about immigration was really just a cover for my Aztec question).
Looking forward to the book list. I'm new here and haven't listened to many of your podcasts yet. This series was the first one I checked out in detail. Well done.
Never knew about the long history of blacks and Jews. Same thing with the history of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Took notes on both listened to fear and loathing twice.
Re: hate mail and the lack thereof
I think it would be difficult for most to take offense with your "everyone is blameworthy but no one is to blame" attitude towards these large social movements and events. Especially because you are unflinching honest in your characterization and retelling of the history.
Also, 4-8 hour podcasts are one hell of a gatekeep.
"Constant mass immigration tends to fix a society in an eternal present, because the past is not shared and the future will be so unpredictably different that neither are worth thinking about." Is a really concise way of putting it. I'll be stealing it for future discussions. Past and future also becomes not worth FIGHTING for in that eternal present, at least for a lot of people involved.
Thank you Darryl for putting this together, and thank you for enlightening. There are no longer the dinner conversations or bar talks about these subjects with any of my peers before we hit an immovable object and have to change topic. Your research is refreshing. Appreciated.
Naivete... maybe with your first series... although the last descriptor for any of your podcasts I would choose is naive.
Hubris... I would say you are close to the sun... but you have one awesome set of wings brother!!! That wax must be made of asbestos!
Keep soaring!!
“I trust my readers/listeners, and they’ve shown trust in me, and so whenever I write or record, I do it as if I’m having a conversation with you guys alone. I know that most of you would be far more disappointed by me being dishonest or closed-minded than if I simply took a stance you didn’t like, and so I appreciate that and try to live up to it.”
True! The honesty is one of many reasons I come back. History, especially the history we share is important, and it’s important to be honest about it even if it’s terribly painful at times. It’s about the only shield we have against people who wish to pull the wool over our eyes.
Just fantastic stuff, Darryl. Thank you for taking the time. The Great Migration is wholly under-appreciated for its historical impact.
You know, I love Martyrmade for many reasons, but among them is a deep sympathy for Darryl’s inclination to over-shoot the original goal and turn every comment response into a 1,000 word essay. I have the same curse-blessing-thing and I just relate a lot. I’m currently in college and I have a tendency to hit double the required word count on just about any assignment-- writing 20 pages is a breeze, but if I have to edit it down to 5 I can lose my mind and several hours (days?) of my time pretty quickly. And I also feel a need to constantly apologize for overwriting lol. All I’m trying to say is, I get it
I thoroughly enjoyed this series considering it’s rare to find a complex take about complex issues.
Thank you!
Thank you for those links Darryl! Will check them out :)
I can definitely testify to this part: "I see a lot of other content creators who take on much less controversial topics talk about how much hate mail they get, and I have trouble believing that they’re telling the truth." Unfortunately, that's not my experience. When I did an episode with Dan Carlin about the politics of Nazi Germany, in addition to decent amounts of hate mail, I received even a couple of death threats... all that for me and Dan stating the political equivalent of 'the sun is hot', since we didn't really say anything that any historian would find controversial
I nearly posted a reply to Scott Adams’ recent Twitter rant about race, by linking an article by Pat Buchanan called “A Briefing for Whitey” or something like that. I believe it’s one of his most viewed essays ever. And I was going to mention your series too. But I decided not to respond to the thread. Too much complexity. also I have been thinking about how recently I was on a zoom call (I work in corporate America) and was waiting for the call to start, and a black colleague took too long to mute whatever she was listening to. I heard just this: “white people...” so I gathered that she was listening to some CRT themed thing. And it dawns on me that many(not all) black people hate me for being white. I am nearly 50 years old and this only recently occurs to me.