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Give Them An Argument
Ben Burgis
292 episodes
3 days ago
Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economy Read Ben's essay "Taking the Red Pill: William Clare Roberts vs. Vivek Chibber on the Class Matrix": https://benburgis.su...
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All content for Give Them An Argument is the property of Ben Burgis and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economy Read Ben's essay "Taking the Red Pill: William Clare Roberts vs. Vivek Chibber on the Class Matrix": https://benburgis.su...
Show more...
TV & Film
Religion & Spirituality,
News,
Politics
Episodes (20/292)
Give Them An Argument
Why Everyone Should Read Vivek Chibber
Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economy Read Ben's essay "Taking the Red Pill: William Clare Roberts vs. Vivek Chibber on the Class Matrix": https://benburgis.su...
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1 day ago
2 hours

Give Them An Argument
Is "Elite Capture" the Problem with Identity Politics?
Ben Burgis talks about why he doesn't buy Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò's defense of identity politics in Táíwò's book "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)." Check out the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture Read Ben's review: https://damagemag.com/2025/06/11/uncaptured-identity-politics-is-no-substitute-for-a-politics-of-class/ Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and recei...
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4 days ago
1 hour 13 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Are Service Workers and Public Sector Employees Part of the Proletariat?
Are service workers part of the "productive" part of the working class? And what does that mean? How about public sector employees--if they're not productive workers, does that mean that their interests don't align with productive workers and socialists shouldn't support the welfare state after all? Ben Burgis talks about what the Trotskyist leader and Marxist economist Ernest Mandel gets right and wrong in his introduction to Capital Vol. 2. Read Ben's essay: benburgis.substack.com/p/are-...
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6 days ago
1 hour 25 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Ana Kasparian Tries to Teach Bill Maher Basic Things About Palestine
Many-time GTAA guest Ana Kasparian went on Bill Maher's podcast Club Random. Ben Burgis watches the part where they argue about Gaza and breaks it down. Read Ben's article "The “Human Shields” Defense of Bombing Gaza’s Civilians Is Morally Bankrupt": https://jacobin.com/2023/11/human-shields-bombing-gaza-palestine-israel-defense-forces-morally-bankrupt Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occa...
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1 week ago
1 hour 23 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Fuentes is a Symptom
Nick Fuentes is comically vile. So, why is it so hard to exile him to whatever dark corner of the discourse he deserves to go back to? One problem is that, when the whole landscape is soaking in ethnic essentialism, it's hard to draw the line at one particular version. Read Ben's essay: https://benburgis.substack.com/p/fuentes-is-a-symptom Link for Andy's show: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/meat-for-tea-presents-le-cirqu/1201459995272451/ Link for the Tallywacker one: https://brenda...
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1 week ago
53 minutes

Give Them An Argument
The Penguin Edition of Marx's Capital is So Much Better Than the Princeton
The new edition of "Capital" has been getting a lot of buzz. But...guys...it's really bad. Read Ben's essay: benburgis.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-fowkes-translation Read Matt Huber's thread: https://x.com/Matthuber78/status/1962512243343385070 Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helpi...
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1 week ago
1 hour 19 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Zohran is Right and the Online Left is Wrong
Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani's critics on the Left think he's a sell-out for not backing a primary challenge against Hakeem Jeffries or firing Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Some of them are about ready to denounce him as a fascist collaborator for sitting down with Donald Trump. Do any of these arguments add up? Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to acces...
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2 weeks ago
1 hour 15 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Trump: We Lost Vietnam and Iraq Because of Woke
Donald Trump, who we keep hearing is a peacemaker, said his speech for the 250th anniversary of the founding of Navy that the U.S. only lost the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan because we got too "woke" about war tactics. Ben Burgis breaks it down. Get tickets to the election night show in NYC: https://www.barfreda.com/#/events/156966 Read Ben's article in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2025/10/trump-vietnam-afghanistan-war-woke Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @G...
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2 months ago
1 hour

Give Them An Argument
The Labor Theory of Value and Marx's Theory of Exploitation
Both supporters and opponents of the Labor Theory of Value often assume that the LTV and Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation are a package deal. Others, like G.A. Cohen, have questioned that link. Ben Burgis takes a look at the debate, arguing that these two ideas are related...but not in the way a lot of people assume. Sign up for Ben's Capital classes at patreon.com/benburgis Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numer...
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2 months ago
1 hour 32 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Krystal Ball vs. Saagar Enjeti: Is it “Neo-Confederate” to Refuse to Cooperate with ICE?
Last week, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti had an interesting mini-debate on whether states and cities that don't cooperate with ICE are doing something wrong on the grounds that it involves a "neo-Confederate" rejection of federal supreamcy. Ben Burgis breaks it down. Watch the 32-hour workweek video previewed at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr35Wr0H9mM Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits rang...
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2 months ago
52 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Curtis Yarvin Says We Can't Handle the Truth
Ambiguously fascist JD Vance guru Curtis Yarvin has written an odd little essay called "You Can't Handle the Truth." Ben Burgis responds! Read the essay: https://graymirror.substack.com/p/you-cant-handle-the-truth Read Matt McManus's essay on Yarvin: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/curtis-yarvin-thiel-carlyle-monarchism-reactionary Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive pos...
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2 months ago
1 hour 7 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Robert Nozick's Wilt Chamberlain Argument Against Redistribution
Libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick made a classical argument against redistributing wealth and economic resources in his book "Anarchy, State & Utopia" based on a thought experiment about the basketball player Wilt Chamberlain. Marxist philosopher G.A. Cohen takes it apart piece by piece. Ben Burgis discusses! Read Ben's article about this in Jacobin: Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from...
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2 months ago
39 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Debunking Pro-Israel Talking Points on Gaza
Today is the 2-year anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. Ben Burgis breaks the absurdity and evil of the way many people have tried to defend it, and puts the issue in a larger context. Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going: patreon.com/benburgis Read the weekly ...
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2 months ago
1 hour 7 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Democrats are Screwing Up the Shutdown
Ben Burgis talks about his Jacobin article "Democrats are Screwing Up the Shutdown" and subsequent developments. Read the article: https://jacobin.com/2025/10/democrats-shutdown-health-care-bernie-aoc Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going: patreon.com/benburgis Read the weekly philosophy Substack: benburgis.sub...
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2 months ago
37 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Breaking Down Zohran on The View
It's Friday! Let's end the week with something fun and watch Zohran sparring with the ladies on The View about Palestine, electability, and more. Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going: patreon.com/benburgis Read the weekly philosophy Substack: benburgis.substack.com Visit benbu...
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2 months ago
52 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Is Analytic Philosophy a Dead End for the Left?
That's the claim made by Neil Vallelly in a shockingly poorly-informed article for Jacobin (reviewing Christopher Schuringa's book "A Social History of Analytical Philosophy"). Jacobin editor Nick French defended analytic philosophy in a counterpoint review of the same book ("Is Analytic Philosophy a Class Ideology?") published the same day. In this episode, Ben Burgis argues in this episode that French is correct but that the whole exchange suffers from ignoring the overlap between analytic ...
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2 months ago
1 hour 20 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Trump Classifies "Anti-Capitalism" as Political Violence Pre-Crime
Trump's new national security directive classifies all of the following as indicators of incipient political violence that need to be investigated and disrupted before they come to fruition: • anti-Americanism, • anti-capitalism, • anti-Christianity, • support for the overthrow of the United States Government, • extremism on migration, • extremism on race, • extremism on gender • hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, • hostility towards those who hold traditi...
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2 months ago
56 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Missing the Point About Charlie Kirk
Ben Burgis addresses the controversy about the article he and Meagan Day wrote about political violence and free speech after the Charlie Kirk assassination, all of the ways the most tedious and unhelpful people on the Left found to miss the point, and the broader perils of this moment. Read the original article: https://jacobin.com/2025/09/charlie-kirk-murder-political-violence Follow Meagan on Twitter: @meagankday Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Be...
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2 months ago
1 hour 1 minute

Give Them An Argument
Richard Wolff and Ben Burgis Address a Socialist Conference in Mexico City
We're back! This last weekend, Ben Burgis was at an international conference of socialist, communist, and labor parties in Mexico City hosted by the Partido del Trabajo (the smallest but furthest left of the three parties in Claudia Sheinbaum's coalition). He introduced Richard Wolff to the assembled delegates, and Wolff have a barn burner of a talk outlining just what's happened to American society in the last few decades. We share the video + Ben gives some background on the conference and ...
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2 months ago
53 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Season 7 Episode 25: Jake Departure/Season Finale/Fun Shit
After a four-year run on the show, Producer Jake is saying goodbye. (Although presumably he'll be saying "hello" again on some future episodes as a guest.) One of his predecessors, Producer Cale, joins us to see the lad off. Jay Zeroni, who's never been a GTAA producer but is still a good guy, joins us in the postgame for patrons. We're having some fun with our Season 7 finale before we take a break (at least from full episodes) for a couple weeks, and then we'll be back with some big format ...
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4 months ago
1 hour 54 minutes

Give Them An Argument
Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber's work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonialism-transition-feudalism-capitalism-history-economy Read Ben's essay "Taking the Red Pill: William Clare Roberts vs. Vivek Chibber on the Class Matrix": https://benburgis.su...