Full podcast episode: kzread.info/dash/bejne/gImfus6ulpa1iaQ.html Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzread.info Guest bio: Michael Malice is a political thinker, podcaster, author, and anarchist.

“Don’t take that away from me too Michael, you’ve taken everything.” A genuine comment where he’s acknowledging his views have been hit hard. I love this in Lex. Respect.

One of the best LFP's so far. Because Lex and Michael are so equal, they have no reservations to each other. Like brothers, without the sibling rivalry😄

@pretorious700

Жыл бұрын

Malice is about 2 levels above lex intellectually

I am not an Ametican. To me US people generally are more friendly and welcoming than anywhere else I have travelled to. Russian friends seem to be cautious of new comers and pride themselves on an outwardly hard persona. USA is a culturally young country. Russia has old set boundaries. Here, Australia has reverted to its convict / jailer origins.

@glebb..3416

Жыл бұрын

Convict origins? How so?

@SupremePaulie

Жыл бұрын

Good point

@-BUILT_LIKE_A_BAG_OF_MILK

Жыл бұрын

​@Gleb B. / Глеб Б. Australia was used as a dumping ground for criminals in the British Empire.

@damiens6465

Ай бұрын

If they fell in with their convict origins they sure dropped all that during the vid

This is deep. As a Eastern European that part when Lex said 'don't take this away from me' hit home. Stoicism is all we have in the hard times. If you take that away, you have nothing else left.

Quote from Geoffrey Roberts' book Stalin at War: "While Western leaders spoke of Soviet expansionism, Stalin complained of Anglo-American Globalism." (Globalism is a hot topic these days.) Quote from the same book recounting an interview with Averell Harriman, the American ambassador to Moscow from 1943-1945: "Stalin the War Leader...was popular, and there can be no doubt that he was the one who held the Soviet Union together....I do not think anyone else could have done it, and nothing that has happened since Stalin's death induces me to change that opinion....I'd like to emphasize my great admiration for Stalin the national leader in an emergency--one of those historical occasions when one man made such a difference. This in no sense minimizes my revulsion against his cruelties; but I have to give you the constructive side as well as the other." Another good book to potentially look into on this subject matter is Susan Butler's Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership. It doesn't downplay his brutality, but it actually gives a thorough description of what Stalin was like as a person. Lex, you seem to be trying to understand why Stalin was the way he was lately, so hopefully it's a helpful book suggestion for you. Love your podcast!

@woodoyoy

Жыл бұрын

Soviet union was held together by pure fear of death. Parents were afraid of telling their own children their opinion on Stalin because if they told it to someone in school, they are done. Don't read books, just look at North Korea

Michael strikes me as simply clear in his observations, his conclusions.

Malice is right. Here in Russia, the ppl are tougher and don't fall into "beggers". Americans are more trusting by far.

@ModernPracticalStonemason

Жыл бұрын

I admire the Russians (I’m Scottish) and the way our culture is headed in the west I believe we may be screwed. However, the way we’re portrayed in our own media’s don’t shed much of a light on how the working class feel and act so don’t be misled thinking we’re soft or weak.

@benchambers1305

Жыл бұрын

Half the country thinks our election was rigged. We’re not as trusting as you think we were founded on a revolution against one of the biggest empires on earth.

@DrFeelgood1127

Жыл бұрын

@@ModernPracticalStonemasony thats good to hear, cus only thing I hear from Ireland and Scotland is how crazy leftist they’re becoming

@DrFeelgood1127

Жыл бұрын

But I know it’s a thing where people think LA and NYC speak for America. And I probably only hear people from London

@damiens6465

Ай бұрын

We in the west are completely screwed. I admire the russians/ eastern europeans. They're suspicious of power as we all should be.

His actions were enough to make him evil, his mindset is something else though.

❤ One of the best LFPs! Thank you! And Merry Christmas to you both!

Look at the "relationship" between Stalin and Bulgakov. It is very revelatory. Stalin took a personal interest in the writer and his work, even expressing admiration for some of his works. Ultimately, though, Stalin's actions towards Bulgakov were sadistic, a lot like the way some children "play" with flies, torturing them without mercy. Stalin tortured Bulgakov and I think he got a pathological, sadistic enjoyment out of it. Bulgakov wrote a book or play. Stalin banned it. Bulgakov wrote a play called "Batum" which sings the praises of Stalin...Uncle Joe banned it. Bulgakov begged to leave the Soviet Union multiple times and Stalin denied him every single time. Yes, it is all very, very revelatory of Stalin's fundamental character. Ultimately evil.

Why that guy have lipstick on?

Michael Malice describing lack of trust as a Russian characteristic doesn’t seem correct to me. Some of the things he describes is basic self preservation. Maybe he is talking about the degree to which Russians don’t trust. The degree to which you can trust is contextual and perhaps these contexts are more limited in Russia and if so why friendships and allegiances are strong.

@tommythecat4961

Жыл бұрын

to be fair, I don't think he considers a genetic trait. More like the fact Russians have lived in oppressive societies for centuries at this point. Anyone could be an informer during soviet times, ESPECIALLY those close to you, so nobody shared their thoughts. And even before, during the Tsar's reign, you had the Ochrana. Before that, some other secret police. So it's a cultural trait, but Russia has had this culture for so long that it now almost comes natural to them. Not saying I agree, just trying to understand what he means.

@lul220

Жыл бұрын

@@tommythecat4961 If Michael was trying to say that you have done a much better job 👍. I agree with everything you just wrote . I think a level of distrust is there for good reason for most people but for Russians as with some other societies it is and often has been a matter of life and death.

@ganjinfly

Жыл бұрын

Боже какая чушь.

@ganjinfly

Жыл бұрын

​@@tommythecat4961 Да, а в других странах всегда была демократия, только в Российской Империи был царь и монархия. О каком вообще недоверии тут идет речь? Все люди разные, во-первых. Во-вторых, большинство людей по умолчанию доверяют друг другу. Это верно и для России. В третьих, нормально в СССР люди друг к другу относились и доверяли, и анекдоты политические рассказывали. ПС. Извините, лень переводить)

It's never the ideology that's wrong, it's always the people that don't follow it religiously.

No matter what kind. Lex is always in a suit.

@bens6865

Жыл бұрын

It's hard for me to take him seriously in that Santa suit

Love the suit Lex !!

This is a great chat between 2 men examing history and reflecting themselves in historic characters. Amazing depth and honesty from both men. Thank you.

Hey, very enjoying this talk! Your wit is excellent. Lex, I would love to see and hear you making interviews to dead personas of the past. That would be quit a show. I hope that one day we get to see and read the archives of the USSR. Thanxs

I wish I could be 3rd one on the podcast there👋🙏

It's been said Stoicism is a philosophy of despair. The problem with Stoicism is it thinks resilience is strength. And many agree with this in their everyday usage of these two words; because they are content to operate with sparse vocabulary.

Seeing Lex look so somber as he talks about these different groups of people really hits me. You can always see how he's considering so many factors as an intellectual, but tries to remain so human in his thinking as he's justifying the emotions of every side in his head. Lex seems like he really cares about the human behind the human experience, even if he's been given such a just reason to hate them.

@ziloj-perezivat

Жыл бұрын

lol.

@moustachio05

Жыл бұрын

Go outside and touch grass

@wantanamera

Жыл бұрын

Get your hands dirty

The World was gone mad. Stalin was a product of his times and culture - The Age of Monsters conjured up from the rancid muck of the First World War believing the previous empires toppled because they weren't hard enough.

@MrEo89

Жыл бұрын

You know the world has gone mad when Lex chooses the Santa suit over the standard adult male uniform. 🧐🤨🙃

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

I see him in the same way. I don't think we have ever had a specific Age of Monsters, I think we are still living in one

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

@Daniel Pattillo I hear you, but that's kind of my point... What I mean by the Age of Monsters being continuous is not that we aren't capable of the same horrors, but that it is actually easier to commit those horrors. We keep hearing about the possibility of nuclear war. In one instance, with just a few miscalculations and zero diplomacy, we can push a button and watch as millions of lives are extinguished in mere minutes. We are actually more monstrous and more uncaring than ever before and when that is an option that keeps getting mentioned.... Can't think of anything more Monstrous.

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

@Daniel Pattillo guess not 😂

@aminerkin9844

Жыл бұрын

Would you say the same about Hitler?!

8:13 He's just like me, fr fr.

I thought that was santa at first glance

Дед Мороз

Stalin wasn’t necessarily a psychopath, but I firmly believe that he was a sociopath. The common adage in the psychology world is that psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made. Joseph Stalin, prior to being intimately involved with the Bolsheviks, was a career criminal. He was a gun runner, an arsonist, a hitman, a bank robber, a racketeer - you name it. Stalin was a textbook thug, and his disgusting disregard for human life when in positions of political power was because of the way he had lived and essentially train himself to live as a young man.

@randylahey8207

Жыл бұрын

This 100%. I always laugh at the idea that if Stalin hadn't come around, Lenin would've produced the utopia. First of all, no. Secondly, some other thug would've stabbed him in the back instead. That's how it works. Stalin was just the most ruthless thug at the right time, and his disregard for human existence only intensified.

Good fun…

Lex is smart. But sometimes I think he sees the world like a 12 year old.

@BronzeBullBalls

7 ай бұрын

Lex sounds like a less refined Joe Rogan to be honest... except, he is not athletic, jacked or a jock.

@badcornflakes6374

3 ай бұрын

​@@BronzeBullBallslex is an athlete, wth? And is sick with the guitar too

I would love to see lex at a party he would be a great person to have a conversation with lol 🤣

the lip-stick ?

@lacuevadelvampiro

Жыл бұрын

he ate a doritos locos tacos...

@adamvoid555

Жыл бұрын

he's from the Kraftwerk.

Is that guy wearing lipstick?

@anthony5227

Жыл бұрын

Yes 😂

@StockpileThomas1

Жыл бұрын

love it

@StockpileThomas1

Жыл бұрын

He looks like he could play in Kraftwerk

guy: *kills ~20 million people* Lex: was he evil? Lex Fridman in a nutshell.

@12sleep23

Жыл бұрын

600 million

@sniperking6321

Жыл бұрын

If it wasn't his intention than he was just stupid.

@glebb..3416

Жыл бұрын

900 gazillion!!!

@mustang607

Жыл бұрын

I wonder is Stalin originally told the people, You will own nothing and be happy?

@Miltty

Жыл бұрын

Imagining Lex would ask if Stalin is evil during 1930-1940 in USSR, I’m pretty sure he’d get a very clear answer!!

Michael's comment about the fiance part.... Calling it Nasty and Cruel. That is not a Russian character trait at all, it's a human character trait. I've had plenty of girl's nights where my friends gather round and tell stories about their boyfriends that are equally evil and nasty. I might not know that many Russians, but I know plenty of other people and they act this way too.

@johnlaudenslager706

Жыл бұрын

I think Michael just says it is more common and acceptable among Russians than many/most others, for instance, Americans.

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

@Flaneur Well, I think it's pretty clear that shit has been pretty tense in those parts for past few years. The Russian Invasion is a result of the tension. People have been feeling uneasy and like they might need a strong leader in case war breaks out. And Russia kind of proved them right.

Yes. Stalin was evil. There, saved you 5 minutes.

Stalin was insane.

This man has very little knowledge about Stalin.....

Dictatorship is bad for one mental health, even for the dictator himself.

Lex in every episode: So how can we relate this conversation to Putin? Is Putin really evil? Or is he just pretending to be evil? DUDE. BROTHER. YES. YES HE IS EVIL. YES!

😟

When the Nazis were invading, Stalin wouldn't evacuate the civilians thinking it would inspire his Army to fight harder. This was why the death toll was so insanely high.

@artyshmunzuk5435

Жыл бұрын

Not only that, but he also refused to believe his own spies that nazis are coming and our country at that time paid a huge price. As a Russian citizen it baffles me how could we forget all that tremendous amount of suffering that was caused by Stalin. My history teacher (she was like 70) adored him and to me it was something unreal. As a history teacher she should've known how much death and pain that regime was responsible for.

@glebb..3416

Жыл бұрын

@@artyshmunzuk5435 Without him, you would be probably speaking german. Or the Russian population would be much smaller. Either way, Stalin was no angel, but he was one of the best leaders that made the USSR powerful after the civil war. He was brutal, he made mistakes, but a strong and effective leader. Unlike putin...

@ganjinfly

Жыл бұрын

@@artyshmunzuk5435 Very revealing. As they say, the younger the person, the worse he lived under Stalin.

@alisonmercer5946

Жыл бұрын

All of the executions of red army men by Stalin. Or to the gulag

lex is right this is a human thing - i'm married so i know lol

He must be wearing lipstick because Xmas red

Про вашего собеседника в России сказали бы: "Смотришь в книгу - видишь фигу". Он наверняка читал про Сталина по книгам Солженицина и таких же ненавистников - балаболов.

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣 I bought the book he is promoting during this podcast, and it's filled with lies about Russia. Hopefully someone smarter than me will pick his book apart.

Stalin simply wanted the USSR to become more powerful, regardless of the suffering.

Fucking bait. Yes

Malice is better.

Z

his lips are too red!

he executed his own son...... so, I'm putting my money on "no, he was a sweetie" :D:D

@proffesionalvirgin919

Жыл бұрын

His son died in a Nazi concentration camp after Stalin refused to treat him with favoritism over a higher ranking official in a prisoner trade. He was not executed by Stalin.

@andrewsmith3257

Жыл бұрын

@@proffesionalvirgin919 exactly. Apparently his son jumped into an electric fence and killed himself although that could be conjecture. Regardless he died in the camp.

@tusker2418

Жыл бұрын

@@andrewsmith3257 His son died in a Nazi Concentration Camp like millions of other Red Army soldiers. And Stalin didn't give him preferential treatment, what we would call today Nepotism... When people refer to Stalin executing his son, it's because he wouldn't make a special deal to save his son over other soldiers. So the popular narrative is that he had his son executed. I haven't come across a definitive cause of death, but he absolutely died in the custody of the Nazi's. That's just a fact. My only point is, out of all the reasons to criticize Stalin...this one ain't it. WWII was a horrible thing for humanity and there are thousands of stories that can be told about the heroism and sacrifice of the Allies in that war. We should be telling those stories instead and amplifying that message rather than giving credence to false narratives.

Michael malice > Lex Fridman

These guys have been losing the plot for a while now.

Oh Americans can't be cruel lol

What nonsense about Stalin that he did not expect an attack and he disappeared for several days at the beginning of the war? How could he not expect this, when several sources told him about it? The exact date of the attack was not clear, yes. But on the 21st, he was informed of it and the troops advanced to the border, although it was already too late. And Stalin himself, as he was in Moscow, remained in it. -Where did this story come from that he ran away and cried: "I agreed with Hitler, but he deceived and attacked"? Everyone understood that there would be a war, and the treaty was a postponement. About the characters and national traits of Russians, about our distrust, unfriendliness, I will not even comment. PS. Two Ukrainian Jews talk about Russian psychology and Stalin))) "To break their spirit, not to feed them")) Stalin, of course, wanted to starve the Ukrainians to death. Therefore, the famine was not only in Ukraine. That's how bad he was. And Putin is also angry - he attacked Ukraine unjustifiably, and then he also attacked his gas pipeline. We Russians are all very evil. It's just our psychology.

So it's like Biden and his posse

@80teg

Жыл бұрын

read a book

@IlmarBeekman

Жыл бұрын

@@80teg triggered

@tommythecat4961

Жыл бұрын

I'm anything but a fan of Biden, but comparing him to Stalin and his clique is morally, historically, politically wrong. No political analyst worth his or her salt would make the comparison, it just doesn't make any sense.

@ziloj-perezivat

Жыл бұрын

@@tommythecat4961 Biden is worse than Stalin

@moustachio05

Жыл бұрын

@@IlmarBeekman you people really need to go outside

Two phonies pretending to be deep. Peak 2022

That was an inexperienced guest. He may know Russians, he may not, but he has no clue on Americans. Should had me on your show with him and I'd have spiced your show with American cultural philosophy. He'd have to go back home and rewrite his thesis.

why is this guy wearing lipstick