On Ideological Madness and Its Antidote: Douglas Murray and Stephen Blackwood

"One of the most perverse aspects of the 'diversity' worldview seems to me that because of its obviously false account of history it denies us access to the rich resources of the tradition that would help us bring about in ourselves the self-consciousness that it claims to be after."

A conversation between Douglas Murray and Stephen Blackwood, recorded on September 6th, 2019. They discuss Murray’s new book, The Madness of Crowds, which explores the ideological madness of our moment. They also speak about the metaphysical assumptions driving that madness, and about truth and forgiveness as fundamental to its antidote.

Works mentioned

Literature: T. S. Eliot, especially Four Quartets; Philip Larkin; Cecil Day-Lewis; Shakespeare

Music: Palestrina; Orlando Gibbons; Thomas Tallis, especially Spem in Alium and Lamentations of Jeremiah; Bach, BWV 622 (O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross); Gustav Mahler, especially Symphony No 3; Igor Stravinsky; Olivier Messiaen; Johannes Brahms; Benjamin Britten; Michael Tippett

Image:  Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Perseus and Andromeda, study for The Doom Fulfilled, 1875, Art Institute of Chicago.