What is Critical Race Theory? What does it believe? Where does it come from? How does it work? And what can we do about it? These are core questions to understanding our times. In this series of lectures, originally delivered in Tampa, Florida, in July of 2021, James Lindsay, the founder of New Discourses, gives thorough, deep answers to these questions.
For those interested in learning even more, Lindsay’s newest book, Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis, was developed out of the notes for this series of lectures. His notes for this lecture served as the basis for the very detailed third chapter of the book. Get the book and follow along with the lectures!
Session 1: What is Critical Race Theory?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/BED_D6Hc6TU
In the first of these lectures, Lindsay dives into a pressing question: what is Critical Race Theory? In particular, he seeks to offer answers and insights about what defines Critical Race Theory, both in terms of what it represents as a Theory and in terms of what its core beliefs are as a religious system. His answer is simple: Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism. In this illuminating lecture, Lindsay takes us through excerpts from introductory and advanced Critical Race Theory texts to make clear not only that CRT is, in fact, Race Marxism, but what that means in practice for everyone. He stresses particularly that Critical Race Theory is a belief system founded on the article of faith that racism that benefits white people is the fundamental organizing principle of society. He then details thirteen core beliefs, or tenets, of the Critical Race Theory faith and explains how they form a comprehensive, systematic system of belief around that core article of faith. Join him for this and the subsequent lectures in the series to understand Critical Race Theory like you never have before.
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Standalone Article: What is Critical Race Theory?
Session 2: The Proximate Ideological Origins of Critical Race Theory
In the second of these insightful lectures, Lindsay takes us into the “proximate ideological roots” of Critical Race Theory. These twentieth-century ideological antecedents to CRT include the Critical Legal Studies movement in law, the New Left and its radical activism (as it went first into the streets and then into the classroom), neo-Marxism (also known as Critical Marxism or Critical Theory), Cultural Marxism, and postmodern Theory. Critical Race Theory, you’ll learn in this lecture, did not arise in a vacuum, out of nowhere. It arose from Marxists who needed to answer certain questions about why their Theory had failed in so many disastrous ways and how they might get to their glorious Revolution by other means. Critical Race Theory turns out to be one of those means, and in this lecture, Lindsay makes it clear where these lines of thought came from and how they separated and then recombined to give us the Identity Marxist and Woke Marxist Theories we see today, especially including Critical Race Theory. In this lecture, it will become absolutely clear why Lindsay characterizes Critical Race Theory simply as “a neo-Marxist conflict theory of race, i.e., Race Marxism.” You will also come away understanding the twentieth century history of Marxist thought better than ever. Join him in this and the other lectures in the series to understand Critical Race Theory like you never have before!
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Standalone Article: The Proximate Ideological Origins of Critical Race Theory
Session 3: The Deep Ideological Origins of Critical Race Theory
In this third lecture in this eye-opening series on Critical Race Theory, Lindsay goes even deeper, into what he refers to as the “deep ideological roots” of Critical Race Theory. These roots are, predominantly, in the Communist Theory of Karl Marx. Marx’s mid-19th century ideas were based on other ideas, however, particularly those of the German idealist G.W.F. Hegel and the French romantic Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In this lecture, Lindsay makes abundantly clear the relevance of these 18th and 19th century social theorists and philosophers to the Critical Race Theory plaguing the world today. He also makes important connections through the intellectual godfather of Critical Race Theory, a black scholar from the turn of the 20th century named W.E.B. Du Bois. After this lecture, you will have a deep understanding of how Critical Race Theory is both Race Marxism and just a racial manifestation of the broader “dialectical faith of Leftism” that finds its origins primarily in Hegel and Rousseau. Join him in this and the other lectures in the series to understand Critical Race Theory like you never have before!
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Standalone Article: The Deep Ideological Origins of Critical Race Theory
Session 4: How Critical Race Theory Operates
In this fourth lecture in the series, Lindsay steps away from Theory and into praxis, that is, the practical application of Critical Race Theory. That is, in this lecture, Lindsay breaks down what Critical Race Theory does: makes more Critical Race Theorists (and nothing else). He also elaborates on how Critical Race Theory does it, which is through the complicated idea called “praxis” and through a significant number of linguistic, social, and psychological distortions and extortions. For those in attendance and many since, this lecture has been considered the most eye-opening and clarifying of the series. Critical Race Theory is as Critical Race Theory does, and all Critical Race Theory does is take every pain to transform everything in society into a Critical Race Theorist programming machine. If you are facing Critical Race Theory in your life, this is a must-watch lecture on the operating principles of Critical Race Theory. Join him in this and the other lectures in the series to understand Critical Race Theory like you never have before!
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Standalone Article: How Critical Race Theory Operates
Session 5: What to Do About Critical Race Theory
In this fifth and final lecture in the series, Lindsay offers a stirring alternative to Critical Race Theory. The approach he advocates has two prongs, one practical and the other cultural. Practically, Critical Race Theory must be fought. Being Race Marxists, Critical Race Theorists will not stop on their own, even if we ask very nicely (or firmly). Their better nature cannot be appealed to because their entire program insists that Critical Race Theory is humanity’s better nature (in fact, the only way it can avoid being racist). Thus, practical solutions that challenge and limit Critical Race Theory’s implementation are needed with the overarching goal of removing the influence of Critical Race Theorists from power they only ever abuse. Secondly, Lindsay dives into the need for a cultural renewal in the classically liberal principles that founded nations like the United States. He makes calls for decentralization of power and, even more importantly, a new Common Sensibility to replace the fractured intersectional sensibility imposed upon us by Critical Race Theory. Join him in this and the other lectures in the series to understand Critical Race Theory like you never have before and, in this lecture, to gain some clear ideas on how to take action to defeat its pernicious influence in our societies!
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Standalone Article: What to Do About Critical Race Theory
Source link
Author New Discourses
