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Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry
Pagan America
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"It's not that it's fake, it's that it's evil." That was what today's guest replied when I asked him to describe the nature of paganism. It's a term that we usually associate with Ancient Rome. But John Daniel Davidson uses a more expansive definition of this particular outlook on the supernatural, and he warns against it in the strongest possible terms.
John is a senior editor at The Federalist and the author of 'Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come.' Today we speak about the dangers of re-enchantment, and why John believes that the dark side of the supernatural must be regarded with the utmost seriousness.
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Divided Britain
20:24|In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed the local elections in Britain and what the results indicate about political polarisation, especially with regards to age, ethnicity, class, and sex.
The radicalisation of young women | Maiden Mother Matriarch 195
01:08:29|We've all heard of the manosphere. We've all come across commentators who blame it for the radicalisation of young men. Political leaders express immense concern about manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, who are blamed for the alienation of their young fans from mainstream society. We hear a lot less about the femosphere. In a recent New Statesman cover story, titled 'Meet the Angry Young Women', journalist Emily Lawford and pollster Scarlett Maguire broke fresh ground in outlining just how radicalised young British women are. This is partly a story about the internet, specifically the femosphere. It's also a story about declining economic prospects for young people, elite over-production, and the increasing hostility directed against men. Emily Lawford is the online editor at the New Statesman. Scarlett Maguire is the founder and director of Merlin Strategy.
The rise of the cougar
21:15|In this bonus episode, I spoke with Meghan Murphy about the apparent rise in the eagerness of young men to date older women. Is it because of politics? Anti-ageing skincare? Money? A lack of interest in fatherhood? Or something else?
Meet the transwoman opposed to trans activism | Maiden Mother Matriarch 194
01:14:37|MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees. Brianna Wu is a transwoman and a passionate Democrat who wants people with gender dysphoria to be protected from discrimination and given access to sex reassignment medical treatments. But only if this treatment has proper safeguards, and is never offered to children. To achieve this compromise – a centrist position, Brianna argues – trans activists must get their house in order by marginalising the misogynists and the fetishists who have taken over the movement. Today we discussed whether this is really possible. Is there a future in which trans activism is not at odds with feminism? Or is the backlash against this movement already too entrenched?
What happens when a country embraces assisted death? | Maiden Mother Matriarch 193
01:21:04|Give the gift of everyday luxury by going to cozyearth.com and using my code COZYMMM for 20% off site wide. And if you get a post-purchase survey do please mention that you heard about Cozy Earth from the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. Whether you’re buying for yourself, or for somebody else, Cozy Earth creates the comfort that makes a house feel like home. Philosopher Kathleen Stock is careful about terminology in her new book. Her argument is not against assisted suicide, or euthanasia, but specifically against assisted death services. That is, "formal structures for helping consenting people to die with the aid of clinicians." It's these "formal structures", she argues, that end up transforming health services into something very different from what we're used to. Legalising assisted death services is often represented as progressive, freeing, and compassionate. But when we normalise this manner of death, and when we give the state power to control these death services, we risk crossing over into what Kathleen describes as a "moral darkness." Kathleen is a contributing editor at UnHerd and the author of the bestselling 2021 book 'Material Girls.' Her new book is titled 'Do Not Go Gentle: The Case Against Assisted Death.'
Is 'microlooting' cool?
21:50|In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed a recent controversial New York Times podcast featuring Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino speaking in defence of so-called 'microlooting' and other criminality. We spoke about the backlash to this episode and whether the Left is now pivoting away from peak-woke priorities like language policing and towards something more militant and more masculine.
A monster created by the state
19:43|In this bonus episode, I spoke with the Telegraph's Poppy Coburn about the Southport Public Inquiry, and the ideological factors that led state agencies to treat Axel Rudakubana like a victim, rather than a threat to the public. We also spoke about Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane and the protests last week over a gang rape reported in the Surrey town of Epsom.
The threat of a new dark age | Maiden Mother Matriarch 192
57:09|MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees. Nigel Biggar has personal experience of the cultural revolution that has come to the universities of the Anglosphere. In 2017, he found himself in the middle of a heated controversy over a project he was leading on the morality of empire, and he quickly discovered that there are some questions that you are not supposed to ask in universities today.In a new book, he warns us not to dismiss the culture wars as trivial, or as something that will blow over without any special effort. Nigel sees this, not only as a political conflict, but also as a spiritual one. What is the university actually for? How does one identify what is true and what is not?Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, and last year he entered the House of Lords as a Conservative peer. His new book is titled ‘The New Dark Age: Why Liberals Must Win the Culture Wars.’
Communism with Anglo characteristics
19:59|In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed the rise of a new style of Leftism in the Anglosphere, embodied in figures like Zack Polanksi and Zohran Mamdani. Discussed in this episode: Rupert Lowe statement on the Greens. Times of London analysis of the Green vote. Akhmed Yakoob on the Greens.