Our next Occupied Media interview is with political scientist Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin. Corey really needs no introduction at this point, his book and his award-winning blog are staples of left-wing discourse. I did, however, want to highlight a recent two-part interview posted to Naked Capitalism (part I and part II). Also, if you're not following Corey on twitter, you should (@CoreyRobin).
Corey and I discuss his book, with a particular emphasis of how Corey's theory of conservatism applies to Occupy Wall Street.
London Review of Books piece.
Mike Konczal piece (OWS as peasant's revolt).
Chris Hayes interview (part I, part II, part III).
Special thanks to video editor Paul Shockey for once again handling our chronic sound problems.
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Thanks for doing this interview, Taryn. There were so many things not brought out that Corey goes into in the book, among them the antidemocratic nature of conservatism, although he did implicitly allude to it when he said conservatism is a reaction to emancipatory movements of the left from below. It really needs to be brought home that the aims of conservatism are not consistent with the aims of a democratic society. The left should be outlining exactly the aims of a democratic society in making the case against conservatism point by point. Also, Liberalism is a philosophy of the center, not the left. It is a worldview that provides for piecemeal reform over time, as Chris Hedges has pointed out. I would have liked you to have asked so many more questions following the outline of the book and to have enlarged on his last chapter by bringing up the conservative response to women's and workers' rights. Lastly it would help you to look into the camera when doing interviews instead of sideways and to keep hand movements and drinking to a minimum.
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