Just because Academia suffers from internal decay and the death of its legitimacy, doesn't mean we ought abandon the tenants of it's development. C.B. Robertson returns as a guest to present an argument regarding the use of language and how it applies to reality. Accurately conveying ideas from one person to another must pass through the lens of individual subjectivity and it has consequences about what we know about reality. So we engage in the subject of subjectivity without the pretense...

Some arguments are like communism: you cannot completely stamp them out, and every once in a while and old dispute must rise to the surface only for us all to realize that it's something stupid we are debating. The comparison of competition shooting to tactical shooting is one of those subjects, full of passionate attempts at equivocating the two things and then claiming one to be the superior form of training. but this leads to a deeper, more impactful topic regarding Gun Culture. Perhaps...

What does Gun Control and Christian Nationalism have in common? Particularly, the rhetoric against them. While bad arguments of a similar fashion do not make a justification for either, they do help illustrate the way rhetoric functions.  If not already, Christians should be prepared to face the horns of this dilemma: either chose to be condemned as a Christian Nationalist, or be gouged on the horn of an inevitably failed proposal, and be labeled as a hypocrite.  We are called to be in the...

There's plenty of buzz on the topics of such as AI and transhumanism when it comes to individual agency, questions about what it means to be human. However, such topics inevitably lead to ethical questions beyond if we can stretching deeper into whether we should. J Drago joins the show to talk about these subjects and more. At the heart of the Identity Crisis in the West wrestles a contradiction where we are pressured to identify with great moral maxims and rules to live by, while...

There is a strain that runs through current political ideology that divides mankind into two parts. Some call them oppressors and oppressed, others see it as fascists and anti-fascists, but at the core it is the dividing of the population into two different categories: those who will inevitably do evil by their nature, and those who are justified in using violence so long as it is used to prevent the other from doing evil.  Technique, Skill, Tactic, Strategy, followed by Theology or...

In a recent clip, a speaker on MSNBC described Christian Nationalism as believing that Rights exclusively come from God, or at least, they are not granted by the State. Historically, the prevalence of this belief led to the persecution and even killing of Christians.  When a State sees itself as the granter or generator of Rights, it cannot abide by citizens appealing to a higher power.  Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com SSP and boutique products at...

The idea of combat being some rite of proving is neither new, nor something to be trivialized. Dreams of glory, the horrors of war, cynicism towards honor, and a demystification as pseudo-enlightenment all appear in both literature and the stories we tell ourselves and each other. In this conversation with Nic Magjack3r, he tells the story of his first gunfight, beginning long before with the years of training, some institutionally provided, and much done of his own volition, as well as the...

If we are going to talk about ideological and information warfare, we would be foolish to ignore the intellectual or ideological injuries that a person may receive. On this this show we have talked about moral injuries where a person experiences a situation where they take part in, or are unable to stop an event which directly contradicts their moral system or values.  In a similar fashion someone becomes an intellectual casualty when their ability to evaluate information has been...

Audio Warning: This was our first attempt at a recording with this many people. It's not the best sound but the conversation is worth the wait. In this grand episode of the REDACTED Culture Cast, we are joined by New and Returning faces appear to discuss industry innovation, who we'd like to see come to SHOT SHOW, and center on Culture, Community, and Calling. A trade show first, and community gathering second, the biggest firearms industry event of the year draws more than just attention....

Two recent events (depending on how you interpret the news cycle) help point out the relevance of Culture as a potential attack vector. In the interview by Tucker Carlson, Putin accused Ukraine of breaching the separation of church and state by banning the practice of orthodox Christianity. To us in the west, the nuance of this decision can easily be lost, considering that we are close to what we call Protestantism and Catholicism, by proximity, but not Orthodoxy. At the same time there is a...

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they responded to the mere existence of Tucker Carlson's interview of Vladimir Putin. Cries of outrage, traitor, and denouncements, as loud as they were, quickly faded, and so should our intellectual respect for the minds attached to the mouths and keyboards making such claims. But all is not so simple, nor so clear, in the international world of intrigue. This Episode was released in light of the immense processing time required to make the...

While medication has focused on treating the physical injuries that can contribute to PTSD, it remains ill equipped to address moral injuries one may encounter in war. Beyond the stigma placed on military veterans, and a cruel incentive program directed at their mental health, the idea of PTSD, when reduced to merely physiological responses to trauma, only looks at half the problem. A moral injury is defined as "When one feels they have violated their conscience or moral compass when they...

Gun Culture is amalgamous. Christ is eternal.  There's a Christian Trend. How are we to approach it? Are we here because it it fits the marketing quota? How do we deal with authenticity being the current icon? I do not know the artist for the closing song. Reach Out.  Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

It is possible to look at a situation that takes place within our culture, acknowledge that happened was wrong, even to offer aid, without trying to turn it into a movement. In an time where a public display of implied suffering can be a financially lucrative grift, we are all in danger of become jaded and cold hearted towards our own people.  One form of entryism uses the (often legitimate) suffering and grievances of people in order to integrate a set of rules that ultimately overturn or...

A side note, for those who read these: SHOTSHOW has a strange effect on the industry, where for those who attend, it seems quite easy to get in, and for those who do not, it appears exclusive, and sometimes with dramatic consequences. If it comes across as elitist and exclusionary, please forgive me. For many, SHOTSHOW is the one time a year where all our industry friends come together at one place, and we often get to reconnect with people we haven't seen for years, all in the neon light of...

2023 was a painful year, and the sentiment is that it's only beginning.  The question remains, what is the IT that is only beginning? What is the cause or explanation of the upheaval? Books have been written on the subject, and they pile up on bookshelves and in influencer's reading lists, but do they end up helping or perpetuating the problem. In this episode, I put forward the theory that we are experiencing the end of an age, the Secular Age as Charles Taylor puts it. In order to explain...

The landscape of discussion on masculinity hosts many tribes. Some demand specialization, others, annihilation. All of which appear unhappy about the state of masculinity in the West. Questions about masculinity are ultimately inquiries about not only his identity, but about society, government, and how we should live. Kenneth W. Royce, Author of over 15 books, provides the Modules for Manhood, three books that cover a great breadth of topics, giving the reader an introduction into the many...

The Ends Justify The Means You have to break a few eggs to make an Omelette And similar phrases are not only used to moraly justify atrocities, but are wielded rhetorically as a call to action instead of a moral argument.  Whether a case of desperation, or of utilitarian ends, we take a look a this form of moral argumentation and see if it holds water.  Three layers challenge the legitimacy of such sayings:  1. The Argument is Incomplete.  2. I struggles under any moral scrutiny 3. It only...

The subject of Civil War is once again in the mainstream, this time brought forward by a trailer by the very namesake. Dark Humor gets many of us through our tough times, but if this means anything, it's that we're not there yet.  As a result, we are once again engaging with Just War Theory, having to do with some problems that the classic model struggles with, particularly when it comes to dealing with the morality of killing in War.  A time for honest intellectual engagement, we'll be...

By my estimation, since the Second World War, the West has taken for granted why men will voluntarily go off to war. It generally minimizes it into some semblance of the male fantasy or selfish ambition or patriotism. However, how we, ourselves make these decisions, or think about Just War Theory as individuals, has consequences for our lives that go well beyond internet clout. As it appears war is creeping into the lives of the individual, we must consider why it is we, ourselves, would...

If entrance into the military counts as initiation into Gun Culture (it doesn't, but work with me here), then I have spent 15 years in various parts of this community. What are the lessons to be learned from it? First, we all enter naive, whether into a job or a discipline or a skill tree. As we learn where we need to correct our way of thinking, we are faced with options for growth, or resentment.  Second, group constitution takes second place to group attitude when it comes to success....

We don't talk about gear too much on the REDACTED Culture Cast, but when we do, we do it with a flair of the unorthodox. Cody, the man behind Bargain Bin Tactician, tells his story of entering into Gun Culture, searching for community after moving, and how he has approached gear from the outside looking in. The curse and cure of gun culture is how much it is centered around items. In a sense, what we spend our money on is the best reflection of what we consider valuable, even if what we say...

If war is simply conflict between Governments or states, and the use of armies targets the politcal, which economic warfare attacks a people's market or access to resources, what would it look like for a hostile country to use culture as an attack vector in a warlike fashion? Define it too broadly and innocent people will suffer as they get swept up alongside insurgents, producing a breeding ground for more conflict. Define it too narrowly, however, and insurgencies will be left to roam free...

Putting community building into practice, Brent built a community through volunteering his time and experience to put on events for those who wanted to attend. Instead the basic Pistol and Rifle classes, they went well beyond including shooting from and around vehicles, to a version of a foreign weapons day. An antidote to the pessimism that hangs over Gun Culture, this conversation demonstrates that not only can we visualize what we want to see, but put it to action. AS two veterans, we...

Three methods of approach, three subject that produce the context for our lives. We take a look at three different subjects: Politics, Economics, and Culture to consider what we are working with when it comes to either side of the Is-Ought divide. Politics deals with governing systems, whereas economics deals with markets, but how to people formulate how these systems should function is a different question entirely.  Correction in the description:  Hume's Fork refers to the difference...