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In another edition of P&C’s “shortcut to the classics,” the boys review a classic moral tale

Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Pigweed’s homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss Melville’s last major work.

The story of Billy Budd is carefully crafted to create a tale of moral confusion and conflict. Set after the French revolution, and very shortly after two significant mutinies in the British fleet, the innocent Billy has run afoul of the law on a British warship. His case cries out for leniency, but it’s not a time for leniency.

The story makes you believe Melville was struggling with the conflict between justice and mercy.

This is a short, dense work, that’s well worth your attention.

It’s as if people are vying to be more of a victim than others. Is that a sound political base?

P&C drink and review BMore Sour from Oliver Brewing, then discuss the intersectional coalition.

“Intersectionality” is the complex cumulative way in which multiple forms of discrimination combine or intersect. It seems to turn “being a victim” on its head. People vie to have more victim boxes to check so they can be more oppressed and therefore — in a peculiar way — have more power.

Along with these categories is the assumption that people who check the same boxes have the same lived experiences and therefore the same opinions.

The Democratic Party seems to have abandoned its traditional base and has adopted something like this intersectional coalition as its new foudnation. Will it work? Does this intersectional coalition have enough in common to stay together?

When did juries start, and what is their function?

The boys drink and review Negra Modelo for Cinco de Mayo, then discuss the jury system.

Pigweed was recently called to jury duty, and the boys discuss the history and development of the jury system and some of the interesting details about it.

What does a “jury of peers” mean? How are juries selected?

The main purpose of a jury is protection against arbitrary government power. Is it doing that effectively?

What is jury nullification, and is it a good thing or not?

What should we do when a jury is under public pressure to reach a pre-determined verdict? Should we replace citizen juries with professional juries?

Cringe comedy, earring boy, anti-intellectualism, Lee Greenwood, and mandatory breathalyzers in cars

P&C drink and review a strong ale from Lagunitas, then do five topics in five minutes each.

1. Do you like cringe comedy? Do you feel embarrassed when someone else is doing something embarrassing? Do you like that sort of comedy? Does that say anything about you?

2. Earring boy. Are we allowed to think less of someone if they dress like an idiot? At some point, “being me” is no excuse — unless you can work in some gender fluidity thing. Then all bets are off.

3. Anti-intellectualism. The boys discuss three possible definitions. (1) You never study anything in any depth. (2) You’re not interested in so-called intellectual things. (3) You’re skeptical of elite intellectuals.

4. Lee Greenwood and his patriotic song. What’s with the “at least” part? It seems to take away from the positive tone of the song.

5. Snuck into the “infrastructure” bill is a proposal to make breathalyzers required on all new cars. Isn’t this assuming guilt? And what does it have to do with infrastructure?

The right rejoices while the left melts down. What’s all the fuss about?

The boys drink a whiskey sour, then discuss the implications of Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform Twitter.

Musk claims that he wants to create an inclusive arena for free speech. This has caused the left to melt down.

I thought the left liked free speech.

Part of the problem is the lack of transparency. Twitter has some hidden algorithm that promotes, demotes or even bans certain content. Is it fair? Is it slanted to the left or the right?

Twitter has become a dumpster fire, and many conservatives believe it is biased against them. Is it? Will Elon make it better or worse?

Has the left’s reaction simply confirmed everything the right has said about Twitter all along?

The bystander effect, the Stanford prison experiment, and other weird stuff.

The boys drink an experimental beer with backyard hops, then discuss some popular psychology ideas that might not be true.

The bystander effect. The rape and murder of Kitty Genovese created a viral story that promoted the idea of bystander apathy.

The Stanford prison experiment. After normal kids are randomly assigned as prisoners and guards, the guards become abusive and the prisoners became compliant.

The Milgram experiment. People are willing to inflict extreme pain on innocent people if an authority figure urges them on.

In each case, there are profound questions about the legitimacy of the conclusions, but those questionable conclusions are firmly implanted in the public mind.

Jonathan Haidt says the last 10 years have been uniquely stupid. Why? Because of social media.

The boys drink and review a homebrewed Old Ale, then discuss Jonathan Haidt’s essay on how and why the last ten years have been uniquely stupid.

He points the finger at social media, and a few particular features: retweets, likes and shares. “We might have just handed a four year old a loaded weapon.”

The problem is that outrage spreads faster than sensible talk. A Republic requires time to slow things down and insulate public policy from the mania of the moment.

Social media amplifies polarization. It’s a major source of the fights and divisions, and it accentuates the outrageous. Common ground is considered a betrayal by the true believers. Those who express sympathy for opposing groups get friendly fire from their bad judgment.

The cure is to convince people to interact with others who don’t share their beliefs. But nobody does that.

Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse. There are technologies in place that will make this problem much bigger.

Haidt offers some suggestions for how to fix this mess, which the boys discuss.

What is it, who believes in it, and when is it supposed to happen?

The boys drink and review Sprucey Goosey from 1623 brewing, then discuss the Christian idea of the rapture of the church.

The modern view of the rapture was popularized by John Darby in the 19th century, along with “dispensational premillennialism.” That has become the default position of American Evangelicals, although it was not the majority view of the church through history.

P&C try to unpack some of the elements of eschatology — the millennium, the rapture, and the tribulation — then explain the basic idea of the rapture, and how it fits in with different ideas about the end of the world. They also discuss some of the major personalities involved in promoting or predicting the end of the world, like Harold Camping.

P&C try to take the measure of a very unmeasured man

The boys drink and review 1621 Brewery’s East Bound and Brown Indian Brown Ale, then look back on Donald Trump and assess his good and bad qualities.

Now that we have some distance, what can we learn about the Trump phenomenon?

The boys recommend two bird’s eye view perspectives to govern how we view Trump. First, there is “Donny from Queens.” Second, there is the observation that the right takes Trump seriously but not literally, while the left takes him literally but not seriously.

The boys review a few lists of accusations against Trump and try to parse them according to those two rules.

They might not be what you’ve been told. Sometimes the origins or phrases are shrouded in mystery.

The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Swirl, a chocolate peanut butter white stout, by DuClaw, then discuss various common phrases of dubious origin.

Close but no cigar. The whole nine yards. At the drop of a hat. Pushing the envelope. Best foot forward. Spitting image. In the nick of time. Pudding time. Beyond the pale. Jump on the bandwagon. Get off your high horse. Living high on the hog. Mad as a hatter. Toe the line. Crossing a red line. Dressed to the nines. Up to scratch. The bees knees. Apple of my eye. Therein lies the rub. Okay. Cat got your tongue. Turn a blind eye. Bit the bullet.

P&C review and comment on these sayings and try to probe possible origins.

The boys delve into this mysterious, dramatic and somewhat frightening text.

P&C drink and review Sweet Baby Jesus, a chocolate peanut butter porter from DuClaw, then discuss the last and possibly weirdest book in the New Testament.

The Book of Revelation is often compared to a drug-induced hallucination. It’s anything but. It’s a very structured, organized book that ties together many prophetic themes from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament tradition.

Many themes in pop culture come from this book. The beat, and the mark of the beast. The mysterious number: 666. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Themes about Babylon, and the whore of Babylon. Plagues. Bowls of the wrath of God.

P&C go chapter by chapter and explore the major themes of the book and some of the possible meanings of the text.

The overall message is that just as Jesus conquered through suffering and death, Christians are called to the same fate, and will conquer in the end.

When do they help and when do they hurt?

P&C drink and review Union Brewing’s Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss quotas.

Quotas have become part of the landscape in many parts of our society. University admissions. Hiring. Political appointments.

The boys believe that quotas undermine the accomplishments of the people they are designed to help.

President Biden promised to choose a black woman as vice president, and then made the same promise for his first SCOTUS nominee. Is that good for the country?

P&C expose the hypocrisy of the left in pretending to want racial, ethnic and sexual diversity on the court while opposing nominees like Janice Rogers Brown or Miquel Estrada.

The NFL has also entered the game of racial and sexual quotas for coaching positions, leading to ridiculous and counter-productive measures for football.

Why do we dream, and is there anything to be learned from our dreams?

P&C drink and review Zelus Beer Company’s “Light Into Dark” Porter, then discuss dreams and dreaming.

Why do we sleep? What’s the benefit of spending so many hours in an unconscious, vulnerable state?

Where do dreams come from? Are they messages, or just a rehash of the day’s events?

The boys review theories from psychoanalysts and from modern science, and discuss what we’ve learned about dreams and dreaming with modern technology.

They review the four stages of sleep, and when we’re most likely to dream.

The boys also discuss common dreams and their alleged interpretation, which raises the question, are dreams a mechanism for getting messages from our subconscious? Is it healthy to pay a lot of attention to your dreams?

Suburbs and shopping malls seemed to go hand in hand

P&C drink and review an amber ale from Guinness, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss mall culture.

Longinus gives a quick history of the development of suburbs and malls. Shopping centers evolved into department stores, and the next step was malls. They were mostly to serve the growing suburbs.

Malls started popping up all over the place. Investors got involved, and malls were built as investment vehicles rather than to serve actual communities.

The boys review Patches, What if, Nightfall, and Breeds There a Man

P&C drink and review a homebrewed Black Saison, then — with special guest Longinus — continue their “shortcut to the classics” series with a review of some of Isaac Asimov’s short stories.

Asimov was an amazingly prolific and wide-ranging author. This is just a taste of his impressive body of work.

Patches — The conflict and contrast between individualistic humans and a collectivist entity that seeks to liberate humans from their quarrels and conflicts.

What if — A married couple on a train meets a man with a device that can show them what would have happened if the circumstances of their life had been different.

Nightfall — A planet with constant sunlight from six suns faces the prospect of total darkness, which is predicted to have devasting psychological effects on the population.

Breeds There a Man — The essential, genius scientist in a Manhattan Project-like venture is going insane because of a strange theory about how humanity is being regulated and controlled by mysterious forces.