Benjamen Walker

Not All Propaganda is Art 7: Manufacturing Dissent

In 1959, Anti-Americanism surged in the UK. England seethed over America’s treatment of its Prime Minister who was smacked down for daring to use diplomacy to resolve the crisis over divided Germany.  In 1959 England also fretted over a new American export: the Beatnik. The British foreign office forcefully responded with a report advocating for “ an increased effort in the field of press, radio and television in the U.K. to say the right kind of things about the Americans.” This is the very moment Kenneth Tynan was commissioned to make a documentary for British Television about American Non-conformism and Dissent. We take a close look at one of the Cold War’s most bizarre and inspired artifacts of Anti Anti-American propaganda.

Shownotes: Laura Bradley writes on Brecht and German theater. Kenneth Tynan’s documentary aired on January 27th, 1960 and then was supposedly erased (it wasn’t).

Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing at https://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.


Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing athttps://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.

Not All Propaganda is Art 6: The Kitsch Debate

In the summer of 1959, Nixon and Khrushchev argued over a washing machine in a backstage kitchen in Moscow, while American Cold War intellectuals gathered in the Poconos to defend Kitsch. Dwight Macdonald, whose theory of mass culture translated too easily into Anti-Americanism, was barred from participating because this was no ordinary mass culture conference; it was an Anti Anti-Americanism operation. Meanwhile, in London, Dwight Macdonald delivered a mass culture lecture of his own called “America, America,” based on the most famous article Encounter magazine never published.

Shownotes: Jefferson Pooley wrote about Edward Shils and The Remobilization of the Propaganda and Morale Network. Sophie Scott-Brown wrote about Raphael Samuel and the New Left.

Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing at https://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.


Support ToE and get access to the incredible exclusive bonus companion series to Not All Propaganda is Art by subscribing athttps://theoryofeverything.supercast.com/, or subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts by hitting “Subscribe” right on the show page.

Fake it till you make it (False Alarm! part xv)

Fake it till you make it (False Alarm! part xv)

The grand finale of False Alarm! This one has it all, the little boy who cried wolf, your host’s AI plant, the paintings of Hilma af Klint, the blockchain powered SingularityNet, and Nuclear Armageddon!  Centuries in the making plus a message from the future!

New series logo by Val Dorito.

Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol AI network
CEO of SingularityNET Ben Goertzel
Hilma af Klimt at the Guggenheim

Thanks to our new sponsor, Dashlane, get 10% off at www.dashlane.com/theory

STILL A FEW TOE COINS LEFT!!!

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Utopia (part iv)

Utopia (part iv)

Our search for Utopia takes Andrew far from Mundania to the magickal Den of Iniquity in a pagan community called The Valley of The Dragons. Plus, your host takes a tour of FDR’s New Deal Utopias in search of a future that is possible.

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Time Travelin’ Trump

Time Travelin' Trump

Donald Trump says all his ‘nuclear knowledge’ comes from his favorite uncle John G Trump. According to ToE special correspondent Chris, Uncle Johnny also gave Donald a time machine ring. Learn all about how John Trump acquired this ring (from Nikola Tesla) and how Vladimir Putin stole it (from Robert Kraft) and what Donald Trump is prepared to do to get it back (nukes).

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Utopia (part iii)

Utopia (part iii)

Artist and Filmmaker Ruth Dusseault tells us about how the internet has changed the American Commune. Plus ToE’s Andrew Callaway lets us in on an internet joke about  Socialist Dolphins.

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False Flags

False Flags

Underneath a giant American Flag in a Midwest Airport Your host takes a knee in order to tie his shoe. Trouble. Big Trouble. Plus False Flag meets Dictionary.com  

Utopia (part ii)

Utopia (part ii)

Our series continues with ToE’s Andrew Callaway reporting from an off the grid fully sustainable little piece of heaven called Earthaven. Plus Will Wilkinson on Libertopia and the limits of Ideal Theory.


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Utopia (part i)

Utopia (part i)

A new ToE mini series on technology, society, work, art, love (the ToE basics) but this time your host dons a pair of Utopian tinted glasses, and sends Toe Producer Andrew Callaway on the road to visit Utopian communities. Plus Basic Income. ********** click on image for more information and links***********  

CthulhuCon (Revisited)

Cthulhu Con (Revisited)

A special Halloween week fall treat! We’re revisiting a segment from my old podcast Too Much Information. I’ve always wanted to share it here, but this thing I dreamed about in 2010 (Cthulucon, a gathering dedicated to the writings and memory of the writer HP Lovecraft) actually became a real con! I never wanted my dream to compete with that…  but well dreams are strong and my friend Luc Sante’s essay on Lovecraft is still one of the best things ever written about the man.

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