The Phileas Club 70 – Up all night

On this episode we talk about:

  • Everyone should travel!
  • Politics in Australia
  • Up all night movement in France
  • Apple censorship in China
  • And more…

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Comments

  1. Hey Patrick,

    First, I’d like to thank you for the show(s), I’ve been listening to the RDV tech and the Phileas Club quite a long time ago and started listening to it again recently and really it just got better! The concept of the Phileas Club is great and I don’t know any other equivalent show. It’s soooooo damned important to make people talk together from all over the world and you managed to gather a great team to do it. As Paul mentioned in this episode, it seems rare nowadays to hear people from different opinion arguing without fighting, so really well done! 🙂

    As a french guy I found this topic quite interesting and I couldn’t resist the urge to comment on it! Like many people I would define myself as a left person in the UK (where I’m currently living) and probably more on the center right in France, but I have the feeling that it doesn’t really matter anymore. When you asked Antoine about communism in China I thought that was a good example of the fact that globalisation clearly blurred the line and might lead to a vision less extreme on the definition of the “left” and the “right” in politic. America is starting to get less afraid of the word “socialism” and Putin recently declared that Lenin failed in this political view (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/vladmir-putin-accuses-lenin-of-placing-a-time-bomb-under-russia), that’s a strange world we’re living in, far from the post-cold war extreme polarisation between east and west!

    In my humble opinion, the big danger is to keep using this kind of exclusive labels because once both part lost the battle, the extremes become too often the natural options for many electors. And politic is a full time job so all candidates understood a long time ago that all they need was to pick a side and hit strongly the other part to get elected, forgetting in the process to identity and attack the issues. We don’t need ideology, we need ideas, innovations, and the french politicians (right and left) desperately lack of imagination. I would agree with Antoine that the current French government is obviously more on the right side of the political spectrum and misguided the electors to get the power and I think the anger comes for this reason more than any other. The lie is so strong that they can’t introduce any ideas anymore, whether they believe in it or not! (I will not start on the labor laws, but I’m not totally convinced that all of it should be trashed for example)

    The “up all night” movement might be seen as an attempt to start debating again and that’s a good start in my opinion. Like you I’m a bit skeptical on the outcome, especially if they stay in a “shaming” process and want to “destroy” things more than building something new, but I think that they bring some kind of hope to people who otherwise would go straight to the extreme right, and I think hope is already a huge thing!

    After the May 68 protests two right-wings candidates ended up in the second round of the presidential election so history might repeat itself, but we can’t deny that this movement changed the society and I’d like to think that it can happen here as well. People need to talk, to argue, to debate, to question the world, and they should NOT surrender to the “whatever” feeling. Lot of young people don’t vote anymore because they think their vote won’t make any difference. This is a huge issue, and that also explain the anger which shouldn’t be scorned. Politic is too important to let politicians dealing with it alone 🙂

    Anyway, that was a long one. Congrats again for the show, I’m not a Patreon yet but that needs to change!

    PS: On the universal wage and the athenian democraty I strongly recommend you the videos of the French youtuber Usul, very well documented: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrUsul2000

    • Thanks for the comment Jeremy. I really like the idea of labels being obsolete… I’m not sure that we can ever let go of them completely, but today I certainly feel like none of them really fit me personally, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Especially in the context of international awareness we’re in. Glad you’re enjoying the show, and I’ll take a look at the Usul videos (know about him for a while, he does great stuff indeed!)

  2. Jack Dennahower says:

    Thank you for another very entertaining and informative presentation, Patrick. I got quite a chuckle out of the “huffs” I heard in the background (from Antoine I presume) when you were making comments concerning the French political spectrum. I do have to say though that I enjoy how well you and your guest hosts discuss the news from different perspectives. It is most educational.

    Keep up the good work.

  3. Fine work as usual. Aussie elections sound interesting, didn’t really think about the student issues in Hong Kong for quite some time, I share your skepticism on the point and effectiveness of long term protests. Since Turki wasn’t there I will add his obligatory “you French people are crazy”

  4. Another great discussion on topics that enlighten my admittedly limited American brain. The only point I’d like to add is that yes American college students would most definitely gain a lot by traveling abroad but unlike other, more progressive nations, here in the U.S. higher education is viewed as a profit-center first, and then whatever societal benefits a distant second. A typical American student will accumulate a massive amount of debt getting an education. Adding in the cost to spend a semester or year studying in another country, no matter how beneficial, is a complicated matter.

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