Give Them An Argument
Give Them An Argument is a YouTube show and podcast dedicated to building a smarter, funnier and more strategic Left. New episodes are live on YouTube on Monday nights with an exclusive postgame for GTAA patrons after the main show. (To become a patron, go to patreon.com/benburgis and sign up for the monthly cost of a milkshake at a 50s nostalgia diner in 1994.) Past guests have included Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, David Pizarro, Gregory Sadler, Glenn Greenwald, Krystal Ball, Bhaskar Sunkara, Sam Seder, Ana Kasparian, Emma Vigeland, Matt Christman, and Amber Frost. The show has also featured debates between host Ben Burgis and opponents ranging from Walter Block to Charlie Kirk.Ben is a philosophy professor, Jacobin columnist, and frequent debater. He did a regular "Debunk" segment on the Michael Brooks Show until 2020. He's appeared on the Debate Night with Charlie Kirk, System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Rising, Krystal, Kyle & Friends, the Majority Report w/Sam Seder & the Joe Rogan Experience.benburgis.compatreon.com/benburgis
Show episodes
Marxist Twitter has been fighting about Vivek Chibber lately. Ben Burgis takes the opportunity to address the immediate controversy but also the much broader value of Chibber"s work. Read the Jacobin Chibber interview on the origins of capitalism that everyone is freaking out about: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/colonial
Ben Burgis talks about why he doesn"t buy Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò"s defense of identity politics in Táíwò"s book "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)." Check out the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture Read Ben"s review: https://damagemag.com/2025/06/11/
Are service workers part of the "productive" part of the working class? And what does that mean? How about public sector employees--if they"re not productive workers, does that mean that their interests don"t align with productive workers and socialists shouldn"t support the welfare state after all? Ben Burgis talks ab
Many-time GTAA guest Ana Kasparian went on Bill Maher"s podcast Club Random. Ben Burgis watches the part where they argue about Gaza and breaks it down. Read Ben"s article "The “Human Shields” Defense of Bombing Gaza’s Civilians Is Morally Bankrupt": https://jacobin.com/2023/11/human-shields-bombing-gaza-palestine-isra
Nick Fuentes is comically vile. So, why is it so hard to exile him to whatever dark corner of the discourse he deserves to go back to? One problem is that, when the whole landscape is soaking in ethnic essentialism, it"s hard to draw the line at one particular version. Read Ben"s essay: https://benburgis.substack.com/p
The new edition of "Capital" has been getting a lot of buzz. But...guys...it"s really bad. Read Ben"s essay: benburgis.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-fowkes-translation Read Matt Huber"s thread: https://x.com/Matthuber78/status/1962512243343385070 Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgis Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show B
