Diet Soap - a podcast
Douglas Lain
The Diet Soap podcast began in 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008. Since then it has gone through many transformations, including becoming the podcast for a critical theory imprint out of the UK. Today the Diet Soap podcast is running under its original name for Sublation Media.Sublation Media includes a book publishing effort for critical theory and left politics, a magazine that covers current events and theoretical issues, youtube videos on theory and politics, and finally the Diet Soap podcast. The podcast is where we continue to interrogate the left and each other while having a good time.
Episodes
Episode 711: Ashley Says: We Must Become Gods
Ashley Frawley returns to discuss her major piece for Compact Magazine entitled: "We Must Become Gods." Here's an excerpt from her essay:"It was through Marxism that I encountered Prometheanism, and with it the exhilarating realization that both man and the world are unfinished projects. We could master nature and democratize abundance and freedom through technological innovation. And anyway, I thought, we were already doing it, even as the walls of our economic system pressed up against our ambitions."Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 710: Sublation, Platypus, the Campaign, and COMPACT???
In this episode of the Cutrone Zone, Chris discusses the four activities he's taken up as a left public intellectual over the past 20 years, and how they contribute to the project of socialism.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 709: Matt McManus on the Need for Utopia
Matt McManus discusses his essay in Jabobin magazine entitled "Utopia Is a Promise Worth Fighting For." This was a review of the short book "Utopia for Our Century: A Manifesto of Hope" by David Albertson and Jason Blakely. Utopia is a Promise? https://jacobin.com/2026/08/books-utopia-more-meritocracy-communismUtopia Manifesto https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300278088/utopia-for-our-century/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 708: Have the Children Learned?
Chris Cutrone re-evaluates his time as a Marxist pedagogue and wonders what went wrong. He's still reeling from the death of the Millennial left. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 707: Lukacs , Formalism and the Avant Garde
Jörg Pohl is an actor in Germany and a director of politically progressive plays. In this interview for Avant Art, Pohl discusses Lukacs and his criticisms of expressionism. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 706: Socialism as Defined by a Billionaire and Vivek Chibber
Chris Cutrone joins Douglas Lain to reexamine the meaning of "socialism" and how the term is misunderstood today. They explore the difference between anti-capitalism and socialism. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 705: Ralph Leonard on birthright citizenship
Ralph Leonard joins Douglas Lain to discuss Ralph's recent essay for Compact entitled:"When Britain Ended Birthright Citizenship"Link to Compact:"When Britain Ended Birthright Citizenship" by Ralph Leonardhttps://www.compactmag.com/article/when-britain-ended-birthright-citizenship/Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 704: What Can We Learn From the Soviet Avant-Garde?
Jörg Pohl is an actor and director living in Germany. He has been a member of the Thalia Theatre ensemble since 2009, and in this episode of Avant Art, he leads a discussion on the work of the Russian director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 703: Adorno on Class Politics and Late Capitalism
In this episode of the Cutrone Zone, Chris takes on the pedagogical task of reassessing what class politics are, what they were, and what they might be. He recapitulates two essays by Theodor Adorno:Imaginative Excesses:https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/adorno_imaginativeexcesses.pdfLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1968/late-capitalism.htmSupport Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 702: Why Has Elite Theory Captured the Left?
Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss Cutrone's essay: "Was Lenin PMC?"In this podcast, they discuss how James Burnham's work on the managerial revolution and his conservatism infected and directed left discourse.Was Lenin PMC? by Chris Cutronehttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/was-lenin-pmc-how-elite-theory-doesn-t-fit-the-movement-for-socialismSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 701: Spencer Leonard on the Jacobins
In this episode of the Spencer Leonard Hour, the professor of Marxism discusses why commies prefer the French Revolution to the American Revolution.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 700: Wagner the Revolutionary
Jim Igor, aka The Perfect Wagnerite, discusses the contradictions and revolutionary potential of Wagner's operas. He argues that Wagner represents both the ambition towards freedom and the self-defeat of the bourgeois revolution. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 699: The New DSA and the Death of the Left
In this CutroneZone, the Last Marxist evaluates the political significance of the rise of the DSA candidates in the Democratic Party. What does this mean for the left at it's future? Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 698: What if Reality is Real?
Christopher Norris discusses his contribution to the 2007 collection "Adventures in Realism" entitled "Realism and Anti-Realism in Contemporary Philosophy: What's Truth Got to Do With It?" Rather than rehearse the philosophical arguments in the paper, Doug discusses the political import of analytic philosophy and realism. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 697: Chris Cutrone on the MOU
In this episode of the CutroneZone, everyone's favorite contrarian discusses the meaning of the MOU, Israel's future decline, and the contemporary moment of post-neoliberalism. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 696: Fatal Friends: Did The US Eat Europe?
Werner Rügemer discusses his book "Fatal Friendship: First Phase: From World War I to II." From the book jacket: Rising US capitalism presented itself to the world with freedom, democracy, and prosperity. However, the practices of America First-genocide, labor exploitation, and warlike plunder of foreign property-were merely modernized.The First World War became the first major global business venture, making allies dependent. After the war, US corporations invested in Western Europe. Mussolini was showered with loans. US corporations supplied Franco and equipped the German Wehrmacht for a war against Russia.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 695: Spencer Leonard Discusses America
As we approach the Semiquincentennial of the American Revolution, Spencer Leonard reflects on why we seem to be forgetting what it means. Spencer is a collaborator on the Sublation Media film in production now: Forgetting The American Revolution. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 694: Is KITSCH All There Is?
Why must art be either avant-garde or Kitsch today? What could count as avant-garde art today? Should today's critics examine the formal techniques involved in the production of Kitsch? Is that all there is? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 693: Cutrone Responds to Rockhill's Fans
The Last Marxist Chris Cutrone responds to his critics and to the defenders of Gabriel Rockhill. He also argues for the necessity of individual thought and a willingness to critique and oppose the majority. Support Sublation Mediahttps:patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 692: Decoding Chomsky and Epstein
Chris Knight is a political activist and the author of the book "Decoding Chomsky: Science and Revolutionary Politics." In this episode of Diet Soap, Knight discusses Chomsky's legacy, his role within the military industrial complex, and the meaning of the Epstein scandal.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 691: Cutrone's New Film: The Last Election
Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss their new film entitled "The Last Election." Film description: In 1992, the dissident writer Douglas Lain ran a rubber goldfish for president and declared himself a surrealist. In 2024, he took a group of young Marxists to both the RNC and the DNC. This film is the result.Purchase the Film: The Last Election:https://www.patreon.com/posts/last-election-158717862Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 690: History, Acting, and Perception
Rudi Greiser and Douglas Lain discuss the various approaches to acting that have developed in the West. How should a new Avant Garde, a new Expansivist Realist theatre, understand the history of and techniques deployed by actors.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 689: From China to the World
Chris Cutrone discusses how China fits into the Global Capitalist order and how we should understand the way the world works today.Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 688: Protestantism Exported to Africa
Ethiopia’s Pentay are among the largest evangelical communities in the world, having grown from about 5% of the population in the 1980s to roughly a quarter today. M Rowton's essay "White Fields" in Sublation Magazine presents an expansive realist understanding of the Pentay movement. White Fields by M. Rowtonhttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/white-fieldsSupport Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 687: Project Freedom? (War is Politics by Other Means)
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's new gambit: Project Freedom. Has this already led to an escalation back into combat? Is Trump falling into the escalation trap? What will this do to the markets? Are the walls finally closing in on Trump?Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 686: An Example of Petulant Millennial Statism
Chris Cutrone and "Tibor Szamuely" discuss the essay Belinksy Meets MAGA, which was recently published on the Sublation Substack. This Substack will be changing its character this month as Expansive Realism is introduced. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 685: Spencer Leonard on Why Rousseau Still Matters
Spencer Leonard follows up on Monday's livestream on Bonpartism with a conversation about the concept of society, the significance of modernity, and the question of Rousseau's anarchism. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 684: Jeffrey Epstein's Necrophilia
Ashley Frawley returns to discuss her recent essay for Compact entitled "Jeffrey Epstein's Necrophilia." Ashley's Essay at Compact:https://www.compactmag.com/article/jeffrey-epsteins-necrophilia-and-ours/Support Us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 683: Chris Cutrone on Trump's Version of "Regime Change"
Chris Cutrone discusses his essay for Sublation Magazine based on his recent presentation at the Platrypus Affiliated Society convention.Trump's Not Regime Change at Sublation Magazinehttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/trump-s-not-regime-change-in-iran-name-vs-substance Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 682: Noam Chomsky and an Emasculated Left?
Arturo Desimone discusses how the contemporary left targets individuality, creativity, and masculinity for cancellation. He uses Noam Chomsky as an example.His Essay at Counterpunch:https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/13/against-cancellation-chomsky-and-the-cyclical-emasculation-of-the-left/Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 681: Spencer Leonard on Habermas
Spencer Leonard from the Platypus Affiliated Society discusses the politics of Habermas and how Moishe Postone's critique of Habermas both landed and missed.Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 680: Chris Cutrone on the Democrats and Iran
In this episode of the Cutrone Zone, the Last Marxist describes how to separate the propaganda from reality, and declares that this is Trump's World and we're just living in it.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 679: Analyzing the FRIENDS Technique
Rudi Grieser and Douglas Lain discuss the history of the sitcom and the techniques deployed in the television show FRIENDS. How did the FRIENDS machine operate? What were the elements deployed in the production of FRIENDS?Support Us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 678: Reproductive Freedom in a Wrong Life?
Ethan Linehan discusses his 2022 essay for Sublation Magazine entitled, "Wrong Life and Abortion." In the essay he critique's Conrad Hamilton's article "Abortion, Capitalism, and Demographic Control" and discusses how a living socialist movement would approach the question of reproduction and freedom.Wrong Life and Abortion at Sublation Magazinehttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/wrong-life-and-abortionSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 677: Cutrone asks: What if the US wins?
In this Cutrone Zone, the Last Marxist asks: What if Trump and America actually win this conflict with Iran? Cutrone insists this is Trump's world and we just live in it. Not because this is a good thing, but because it's a political reality (Cutrone says). Who does it serve to think otherwise?Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 676: The Death of Habermas
In this episode of Sublation Magazine, Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the significance of Habermas. Can we still learn from the junior member of the Frankfurt School? Can there be Communicative Action? Support Sublation MediaHttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 675: Iran Still Under the Islamist Thumb
Mani is a member of the Expansive Realist Workshop in Portland, Oregon, an Iranian ex-pat, and an MD. In this episode of the Diet Soap podcast, he discusses the attacks on Iran, the Islamic Republic, Christopher Hitchens, and his hopes for an emancipated Iran. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 674: The Anti-War Movement?
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain continue to discuss the war on Iran. How should the left respond to the war on Iran? What was revolutionary defeatism? Will there be a draft? Can the US avoid a ground war? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 673: Trump's Plan for Iran is Rational and Coherent
Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's invasion of Iran as an example of bourgeois politics. Rather than condemning the invasion from the perspective of neoliberalism, they neither condemn nor support but describe. Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 672: How To React Without a Left?
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the likely effect of the attacks on Iran. Where will this go next? What motivated the Trump administration? Who will run Iran now? Support Sublation Mediahttps;//patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 671: C Wright Mills & Sociology's Problem With Marx
Join Spencer Leonard and Douglas Lain on "The Spencer Leonard Hour" as they engage in a systematic study of the history of sociology. They explore the intricate relation between sociological imagination and Marxist theory. This discussion offers a clear perspective on the economy through a socialist lens.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 670: Why Socialists Should LOVE America
Chris Cutrone speaks out in defense of the American Revolution as vital to the struggle for socialism.Why Marxists loved Americahttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/why-marxists-loved-americaSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 669: Try Being Civil?
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss the question of civility in politics. What is the purpose of the principle of charity? Is civility a hindrance to politics? Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 668: Noam Chomsky’s reputation will never recover
Ralph Leonard, freelance writer for Sublation Magazine and the New Statesman among other publications, joins Doug to discuss the career and reputation of Noam Chomsky and discuss his recent article on Chomsky that appeared in the New Statesman:Ralph Leonard on Chomsky in the New Statesmanhttps://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2026/02/noam-chomskys-reputation-will-never-recover-from-the-epstein-filesSupport Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 667: Is Trump Ushering In an AI Dystopia?
Chris Cutrone discusses how Trump, Elon, International Capital, and Capital itself are ushering in a world littered with personal robots, self-driving cars, AI therapists, and other Kitsch Crap that could easily have been lifted from an old issue of Amazing Stories. Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 666: Are You ALREADY Dead?
Danny Mulligan and Douglas Lain discuss Ernest Becker, death anxiety, and modernity in this episode of the Diet Soap Podcast.Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 665: Chris Cutrone on IRAN
Douglas Lain and Chris Cutrone discuss the uprisings in Iran and their meaning within the history of the left.Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 664: Chris Cutrone on Jared Kushner and Gaza
Chris Cutrone discusses the recent peace deal in Gaza and how it came about. Doug and Chris discuss a recent 60 Minutes interview with Kushner and Witkoff. Interview on 60 Minutes:https://youtu.be/dNa6PcU1Ke0?si=IrN7-Gy9XPzaTU0wSupport Sublation Media on Patreon:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 663: Spencer Leonard on Trump's Attacks on the Left
In this episode of the Spencer Leonard hour Professor Leonard discusses the new executive orders from the Trump administration, orders that specifically target "anti-capitalists" and "antifa."Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Episode 662: Did Marxism Die With Charlie Kirk?
In this Spencer Leonard Hour, we discuss how Marxism rose up in the last fifteen years only to fall away again. What destroyed the burgeoning neo-Marxist movement?Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap