1Dime Radio

Get access to The Backroom, 100+ exclusive episodes, on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeIn this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined by Ashley Frawley, sociologist, senior editor at Compact, COO of Sublation Media, visiting researcher at the University of Kent, and author of Semiotics of Happiness and Significant Emotions. We discuss her Compact essay “How Society Got a Sex Change,” the rise of the “trans subject” as the ideal subject of contemporary capitalism, and why gender ideology should not simply be understood as a culture war distraction, but as part of the class war itself.This conversation covers the politics of vulnerability, therapy culture, indigenous identity, “healing” discourse, the feminization of the ideal worker, faux feminism, the role of NGOs and international institutions, the EU’s promotion of gender ideology, and why the contemporary ruling class increasingly prefers subjects who are fluid, dependent on institutions, and detached from tradition. We also discuss the parallels between today’s gender panic and past moral panics, including the Satanic Panic and multiple personality disorder, and why social distress often takes culturally specific forms.The second half of this conversation is available in The Backroom on Patreon.Timestamps:00:00:00 MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA (The Backroom Preview) 00:04:00  Introduction to Ashley Frawley00:09:00  How Society Got a Sex Change00:13:00  From the Masculine Subject to the Feminine Subject00:19:00  Women, Work, and the New Spirit of Capitalism00:25:00  Faux Feminism and the War on Motherhood00:30:00  The Trans Subject as the Ideal Capitalist Subject00:37:00  Institutions, IVF, and the Managed Self00:40:00  Is Gender Ideology Being Pushed?00:45:00  NGOs, the EU, Canada, and Progressive Policy Diffusion00:48:00  Happiness, Therapy Culture, and Psychological Solutions to Economic Problems00:50:00  Multiple Personality Disorder and the Satanic Panic00:58:00  Why Some Moral Panics Travel Across Countries01:03:00  Gender Ideology, Power, and the Good Subject01:06:00  Preview of The Backroom on PatreonGUEST:Ashley Frawley• Ashley at Compact: https://www.compactmag.com/contributor/ashley-frawley/• “How Society Got a Sex Change”: https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-society-got-a-sex-change/• Ashley on X/Twitter: https://x.com/AshleyAFrawley• Ashley at Sublation: https://sublationmedia.com/author/ashley-frawley/• Ashley’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawleyFOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeThis is a Backroom episode being released publicly as a window into what 1Dime patrons get regularly. Dr. Jane Hayward, Lecturer in China and Global Affairs at the Lau China Institute, King's College London, joins for an honest accounting: Trump's tariffs, labour conditions, the real estate collapse, Belt and Road, and why decades of “China is about to collapse” coverage keeps ageing poorly. Most conversations about the Chinese economy talk past the real questions. The Western press cycles through collapse predictions that never land. The online left points at high-speed rail and calls it socialism. Neither camp is seriously reckoning with what China's model actually is, what it costs workers, or what it implies geopolitically. If you have never heard a Backroom episode before, this is what over 100 exclusive conversations sound like. Become a patron for full access.Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro / 1Dime Radio Bumper00:03:22 Welcome to the Backroom00:07:01 Why So Many on the Left Romanticize China00:17:06 Labour Conditions, State-Controlled Unions, and Worker Rights00:26:22 Trump’s Tariffs: Reindustrialization Rhetoric vs. Geopolitical Containment00:39:28 Belt and Road — Is “Debt Trap Diplomacy” Real?00:52:59 China’s Real Estate Collapse Explained01:00:14 Why “China Is About to Collapse” Keeps Getting It Wrong01:09:25 Hukou Reform, Urbanization, and the Urban-Rural Divide01:13:42 Civil Society, NGOs, and Internal Policy Debate Under XiGUEST: Dr. Jane HaywardLecturer in China and Global Affairs, Lau China Institute, King’s College London• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@janehaywardchina• Website: https://www.janehaywardchina.co.uk/FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• IG https://www.instagram.com/1dimeman• Channel https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.#China #ChineseEconomy #ChinaEconomy

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeThis week on 1Dime Radio, I’m joined once again by Dr. Cadell Last, founder of Philosophy Portal, for a deep discussion on *nationalist internationalism*, the idea that genuine internationalism actually requires nationalism as a precondition. We explore why national sovereignty, taxing the rich, immigration control, labor power, and democratic self-determination often cannot be secured by isolated states alone, but instead require serious international coordination between nations.This episode was originally a patron-only bonus episode. In the Backroom preview at the start, we also get into Nick Fuentes, the return of repressed contradictions, and the increasingly unavoidable questions around race, gender, immigration, and identity that mainstream liberals and much of the left have struggled to confront directly.Timestamps:00:00:00  Backroom preview, race, white culture, and repressed contradictions00:03:53  Immigration, demographic change, and the Nick Fuentes phenomenon00:10:49  A different critique of immigration00:14:23  Nationalist internationalism00:18:05  Why Marxist internationalism lacks a real libidinal anchor00:30:56  Marxism’s cultural blind spot00:37:13  Global capitalism, assimilation, and the nation-state00:43:03  Borders, capital flight, and international coordination00:48:48  Religion, depoliticization, and politics as substitute faith00:52:01  What kind of socialism can answer the meaning crisis?00:59:27  The EU, the UN, and stronger unions against fragmentation01:03:25  Final thoughts on nationalism and internationalism as a dialectical processGUEST:Dr. Cadell Last, Philosophy Portal• Website: https://cadelllast.com/• Philosophy Portal: https://philosophyportal.online/about• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PhilosophyPortal• Substack: https://philosophyportal.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/cadellnlastFOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack: https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.Tags: #Nationalism #Internationalism  #Immigration 

Get access to Part 2 & The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeIn this episode of 1Dime Radio, Benjamin Studebaker returns to lay out his case for a *supranational federation*, his answer to a problem that keeps resurfacing across both left and right politics: the limits of the nation-state in a world shaped by capital mobility, capital flight, interstate competition, and war. We break down Benjamin’s six-part “Why Federalism” series, why he thinks national governments cannot meaningfully tax capital or secure lasting peace on their own, and what kind of political system he thinks would actually be necessary to move beyond today’s global deadlock.In The Backroom on Patreon, Benjamin gives his take on the phenomenon of Clavicular, looksmaxxing, dating culture, and the broader social collapse behind both. Part 2 of our conversation on the Supernational federation will also be available only on Patreon, in which I challenge Studebaker on some issues I have with his proposal. Timestamps:00:00:00 The Backroom preview: looksmaxxing, Clavicular, and modern dating00:03:11  Benjamin Studebaker returns, Why Federalism, and the limits of the nation-state00:07:31  How competition makes political systems converge00:10:37  From military competition to commercial competition00:15:24  Why fear-based internationalism fails00:20:20  Why even nationalist goals now require supranational politics00:29:58  The democratic vs technocratic split00:35:18  The Chamber of Labor and the Chamber of Status00:42:25  Tribune, First Citizen, and global executive power00:45:31  How could a supranational federation actually emerge?00:51:01  Healthcare, universities, and organizing around concrete issues01:08:56  Capital mobility, tax competition, and why national solutions get undercut01:19:55  Medicare for All, capital, and the limits of monetary sovereignty alone01:25:01  Why China has to be part of the project01:30:04  Can nation-states build this, or would they sabotage it?01:40:30  Why the left needs a positive vision, not just critique01:48:24  Issue-based organizing, consumer unions, and a new political frameworkGUEST:Benjamin Studebaker, political theorist, PHD from Cambridge, author of The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way Is Shut and Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies• Website: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/BMStudebaker• The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: https://link.springer.com/book/9783031950087• Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-legitimacy-in-liberal-democracies.html• Why Federalism, Part 1, The Problem that Needs to Be Solved: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-the-problem-that-needs-to-be-solved• Why Federalism, Part 2, Creating the Cataracts: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-creating-the-cataracts• Why Federalism, Part 3, The Unit Question: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-the-unit-question• Why Federalism, Part 4, On Citizenship: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-on-citizenship• Why Federalism, Part 5, On the Role of China: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-on-the-role-of-china• Why Federalism, Part 6, The Conclusion: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-the-conclusionFOLLOW 1Dime:• My Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeIn this episode of 1Dime Radio, I sit down with my friend Artin Salimi for a nuanced debate on immigration, what the right gets wrong, what the left gets wrong, and why the issue cannot be reduced to either xenophobic panic or liberal denial. We get into labor markets, Thatcherism, Brexit, brain drain, asylum, nationalism, class politics, and the ways neoliberal capitalism both drives migration and weaponizes it politically. This is a serious attempt to think through one of the most explosive political questions of our time without demonizing immigrants or parroting elite talking points.In The Backroom exclusive on Patreon, we continue our debate on immigration, and I put forward some of my more controversial hot takes, pushing further on borders, nationalism, class power, elite blind spots, and what a serious alternative to both neoliberal globalism and right-wing scapegoating might actually look like.Timestamps:00:00:00  The Backroom preview (Patreon): Socialism, Borders & Brain Drain 00:03:19  Nuanced Discussion on Immigration00:05:00  Why immigration dominates politics00:11:33  Thatcherism and the neoliberal immigration trap00:16:56  Brexit and why immigration still rose00:21:26  Labor demand, empire, and who actually benefits00:24:01  What both the right and left get wrong00:32:35  Immigration is economics, but not only economics00:39:37  Borders, deportations, and pathways to citizenship00:42:22  Refugees, asylum, and what integration actually requires00:50:10  Migrant labor, unionization, and the underclass problem00:55:02  Rootless cosmopolitans, nationalism, and elite blindness01:05:05  Empire, colonial history, and migration blowback01:14:02  PMC politics, Bernie, AOC, and why the left sounds alien01:17:51  Full Backroom episode on PatreonGUEST:Artin Salimi, YouTuber, rapper, and academic• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArtinSalimi• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artinsalimi666/• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/artin-salimi-208799242FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeWhy has modern environmentalism failed to build a real mass politics? In this episode of 1Dime Radio, I’m joined by Matt Huber, author of Climate Change as Class War, to talk about why mainstream climate politics has so often been trapped in consumer guilt, lifestyle moralism, and elite discourse, instead of building power through class politics, labor, energy, and production. We discuss why carbon footprint politics became such a dead end, how the PMC shaped green ideology, why so much environmental messaging alienates ordinary people, and what a serious socialist approach to climate change would actually look like.In this week’s Backroom episode on Patreon, I go further into degrowth, the degrowth debate, and the conflict between ecological limits, abundance, socialism, and industrial modernity.Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:03:45 Why climate activism failed00:07:00 Climate change as class war00:09:10 Production, not consumption00:16:58 Carbon taxes and backlash00:19:43 Agriculture and emissions00:33:45 The left, growth, and electrification00:39:27 Oil, Canada, and industrial politics00:41:06 Degrowth vs abundance00:49:03 The PMC problem00:56:21 Why green politics alienates workers01:24:00 Farmers and the working majority01:31:12 Environmental health and populism01:40:28 Nitrogen, industry, and decarbonization01:45:56 Electrification and climate jobs01:49:46 Backroom previewGUEST:Matt Huber, author of Climate Change as Class WarBook: Climate Change as Class WarFOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeOutro Music by Karl CaseyLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeIn this episode, I sit down with Peter Coffin to talk about AI, automation, art, and why so much of the left has responded to these technologies with moral panic instead of material analysis. We get into the backlash to using AI in political and historical media, the difference between using AI as a tool versus treating it as a substitute for thought, and why so much so-called “AI slop” is really just an extension of older forms of capitalist standardization.We also talk about AI and music, writing, note-taking, bullshit jobs, the PMC side of anti-AI sentiment, the environmental critique, and why these tools could open up new possibilities for visualizing history, philosophy, and political theory in ways that would never be funded by major studios or institutions.Timestamps:00:00:00  Backlash to using AI History footage in Marxism Explained video 00:03:20 Automation Under Capitalism00:05:42 AI and Creative Work00:09:47 AI for Research00:12:00 Blaming AI for Everything00:16:00 What Creativity Is00:18:03 Can AI Make Art?00:24:05 Copyright and Rent-Seeking00:29:59 AI for Writing00:35:47 Why AI Sounds Bad00:41:38 Why the Left Hates AI00:45:02 Human Experience00:49:23 AI as Identity Politics00:51:10 PMC Panic00:53:49 AI Music and Slop00:56:57 Media Literacy00:58:56 The Environmental Critique01:03:05 Visualizing History With AI01:03:05  Visualizing Marx, Kautsky, Gramsci, and Machiavelli with AIGUEST:Peter Coffin, YouTuber, documentarian, and writer• Peter's Documentary Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ImportantDs/videos• Substack, P on Stuff: https://petercoffin.substack.com/FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeBenjamin Studebaker returns to 1Dime Radio to cut through the noise surrounding the war between Iran, Israel, and the United States. We break down what the actual strategic objectives seem to be, why this conflict may not unfold like Iraq, what a Libya-style collapse in Iran could look like, whether regime change by air power is really possible, and why oil prices, regional power balances, and American domestic politics may matter more than the loudest media narratives.In The Backroom, Benjamin and I discuss “Neo-Leftism” through the case of Spain and Pedro Sánchez. We also get into the end of history thesis, the clash of civilizations debate, and what all of this reveals about the contemporary left.Timestamps:00:00:00 Backroom preview clip00:02:44 Intro00:06:14 Oil shocks, inflation, and why U.S. domestic politics matters00:09:37 Why this is not Iraq 2.000:11:27 Regime change without a replacement?00:12:41 Libya and the failed-state scenario00:25:00 Precision strikes and the new warfare paradigm00:33:06 Diaspora politics, monarchists, and the Shah fantasy00:43:26 Does anyone actually want a democratic Iran?00:45:57 Can Iran meaningfully escalate?00:47:29 Why Russia and China are unlikely to intervene00:51:50 Will Trump send ground troops?01:45:59 Neo-Leftism, Spain, and Pedro SánchezGUEST:Benjamin Studebaker, PhD at Cambridge, political theorist and author• The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy• Legitimacy in Liberal DemocraciesFOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (95+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeIn this episode, I’m joined by PF Jung to analyze the rise of Nick Fuentes, what makes him appealing, and why so many young people, especially young men, seem increasingly drawn toward the far right. In The Backroom on Patreon, PF Jung breaks down his idea of dark centrism, a synthesis of culturally conservative and economically left-wing politics, and explains how he situates himself between the contemporary left and right.Timestamps:00:00:00 Economically Left, Culturally Right (The Backroom Preview)00:03:40 Meet PF Jung00:04:53 The Rise of Nick Fuentes’00:09:27 When Labels Fail00:16:13 Order and Liberty00:20:21 Israel and the Right00:25:27 Why Men Drift Right00:29:34 Dark Centrism00:35:58 Family and BLM00:39:30 How to Beat the Right00:46:54 Jordan Peterson00:51:35 Backroom PreviewGUEST:PF Jung• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PFJung• X/Twitter: https://x.com/PF_JungFOLLOW Tony of 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeThis week on 1Dime Radio, Tony is joined again by Benjamin Studebaker, political theorist with a PhD from Cambridge, to dig into Ben’s recent article on “Debilitated Democracy,” the idea that modern democracies do not simply “decline”, they get structurally less capable over time, as modernization accelerates, politics fractures, and governance is pushed into an executive-technical machine that neither elected leaders nor technocrats can fully control. From there, we tackle Ben’s argument for why America can’t become an autocracy, and why people confuse authoritarian policy with autocratic rule, plus how federal complexity, institutional pluralism, and factional conflict make “dictatorship” fantasies harder to cash out in real life.Parts 2 and 3 of my conversation with Studebaker are in The Backroom on Patreon only. In The Backroom, as alluded to in the Backroom Preview in the first 2.5–3 minutes, Benjamin and I answer some of the most common questions we get regarding our politics. Are we post-left? Marxist? Or what? In particular, I try to get Studebaker to articulate what his personal political philosophy is, and what solutions or alternatives to our current impasse he believes in.Timestamps:00:00:00 Studebaker’s Political Philosophy (The Backroom Preview)00:04:13  Intro, “Debilitated Democracy,” and the autocracy question00:13:08  Technocrats as “priests,” and why institutional trust collapses00:28:08  Elected officials vs technocrats, the executive branch tug-of-war00:47:36  Kelsen, Habermas, and democracy’s legitimation crisis00:54:47  Trump, tariffs, visas, and the political limits of “disentangling” from the world order00:59:18  Authoritarian policy vs autocratic rule, why America can’t be an autocracy01:11:59  Nick Land, Curtis Yarvin, and the “CEO-king” temptation01:23:23  Government shutdowns, food stamps, and “embedded democracy.”01:35:25  Managing the European right, and why France and Germany are different01:43:05  State capacity, charismatic leaders, and modern governance limits01:56:08  Backroom teaser: what “left” and “right” even mean nowGUEST:Benjamin Studebaker• Substack: https://bmstudebaker.substack.com/• Website: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/• X: https://x.com/BMStudebakerFOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.