A Violent Yet Flammable World (w/ Kristaps Andrejsons & Daniele Bolelli)
In light of the recent killing of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk and the realization among many that the United States is facing a stark rise in the possibility of greater political violence than any other time in its recent history, it became clear that a deeper conversation on the nature and, more importantly, the reality of political violence was necessary. This became even clearer as the flippancy with which people were treating violence—both the violence that had befallen Kirk and the violence that was being encouraged by the most enraged elements of the American right, including the state—increased in the week that followed.Thanks to this disconnect from reality, it seemed apparent that some outside and unique perspectives were needed, so I gathered together two of my favorite fellow historical/sociopolitical podcasters whose backgrounds as non-American and immigrant American give them such perspectives: the excellent Kristaps Andrejsons of The Eastern Border podcast and the excellent Daniele Bolelli of the History on Fire and Drunken Taoist podcasts. In this special conversation, we discussed the overall nature of political violence (“existential rhetoric” became the key term of this conversation) and where it appears to come from, where this crop seemed to start, as well as what Americans don't necessarily appreciate about the reality of such violent and destructive norms being created and reinforced.And most importantly, Daniele was able to get me to question my own stance on how to characterize threatening speech, live on the show. So please, enjoy (as much as one can with such topics).Support Kristaps’ Car for Ukraine fundraiser, which provides much-needed trucks for Ukrainian troops on the front lines.…History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today if you want to show some love for what I do and make and what to help keep the show and all my written content going:David AdamcikDavid AlsbachGregg AndersonRajan AthulRobert BabeonMichael BeachZazu BenbenBenjaminGreg BosaiJohannes BreitsameterCarol ABCCharles CCurtis ChristiansenJason ColemanClayton ConnellCliffydeuceCRB.CyrdaddygorgonDannyLynda DavisPaul DeCosterRegina Dick-EndrizziNeil DickensNathan DiehlBob DowningDramicasJ DubMartin E.EastoneGavin EdwardsHowie FeltersnatchPierre GhazarianJosh GoedertSam GrahamJayson GriesmeyerNathan GroteBenjamin HamiltonPeter HauckJack HennemanEric HodgesMike JarulicJoe6245Lionel JosephThomas JustesenMike KalninsBryn KaufmanLeah KodnerBenjamin LeeConstance LoucksMaddyMounty of MadnessJose MartinezMike MaylebenJudy McCoidKyle MohneyKostas MorosRyan MortensonCameron NeedhamShiranSkip PachecoDavid PageMolly PanSr. PowellBrian PritzlAnaR737PJ RaderGleb RadutskyAleksandr RakitinReptilycusMatthew M. RicePhillip RiceTerry RosenDan SJon Andre SaetherJake ScaliaEmily SchmidtJulian SchmidtAndrew SeeberJoshua Simpson