Note: This review is also available on YouTube.

How many wellness brofluencer podcasters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Three: one to film it, one to sell the “ancestral light protocol,” and one to warn bulbs are “seed oils for your eyes.”

In this longer solo episode I dig into Scott Galloway’s Notes on Being a Man (Simon & Schuster, published Nov 5). Galloway is everywhere—NYU Stern prof, serial entrepreneur, and podcast mainstay—and his new book will land loudly with U.S. liberals searching for ways to “win back men” from Trumpism. I read the book closely—praise where it’s due, pushback where it matters—and make the case that while Galloway offers genuine, sometimes moving reflections on love, fatherhood, and responsibility, his framework ultimately shores up the liberal-capitalist status quo that keeps feeding the conditions in which authoritarianism grows.

Across the hour, I map Galloway’s 44 “notes” into five big buckets—reframing masculinity, capitalist pep talk, productivity metaphors, pro-family traditionalism, and the kinder-gentler counterweight to manosphere alpha tropes—and test how each plays in the current political economy.

I highlight where the book’s affective power (memoir + confessional humility) outpaces its thin endnotes and limited policy imagination; where “protect, provide, procreate” functions as a sticky brand more than a credible gender theory; and where straw-man takes (on “toxic masculinity,” college, participation trophies) obscure structural realities.

I also dig into the contradictions: the book’s bootstrap sermons versus its tender late-chapter wisdom on loyalty and unconditional love; the patriotic gloss versus the missing history; and how a spirituality of private consolation can soothe readers without moving them toward material change. If you’re a parent, teacher, organizer—or just a listener trying to make sense of “men’s crisis” content without getting pulled rightward—this breakdown offers context, citations to chase, and a rubric for reading similar books with both empathy and rigor.

Find me on YouTube and TikTok as @antfascistdad. Part 2's and extras on Patreon.

Brief: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1)

• (00:00:00) - Anti-Fascist Dad Podcast
• (00:01:01) - Scott Galloway's Notes On Being A Man Review
• (00:06:53) - Notes on Being Scott Galloway
• (00:08:32) - Galloway's Insecure Thoughts
• (00:16:37) - Notes on Being a Man Review
• (00:27:29) - Galloway's Race and Justice Ideas
• (00:29:01) - Guru Galloway
• (00:32:13) - Protect, Provide, Procreate
• (00:38:59) - Masculinity
• (00:44:39) - Our Kids Don't Need College
• (00:50:42) - The Problem With Meritocracy
• (00:56:07) - Sexual
• (00:59:39) - Galloway's Bootstraps
• (01:09:13) - Elder Wisdom?

Hello everyone! Part 2 opens with reflections on Mark’s balance between public scholarship and private parenting, then moves into his distinction between liberal history and fascist propaganda—the moment when sourcing gives way to myth. We discuss how protest slogans can be misread yet remain essential to antifascist diversity and vitality, and end with Mark’s hope for new generations unburdened by despair but grounded in struggle, truth, and imagination.

Bray, Mark. Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing, 2017.

Bray, Mark, and Robert H. Haworth, eds. Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader. Translated by Mark Bray and Joseph McCabe. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2019

Meet the Portland protest frog that started a movement - YouTube

‘I’ve definitely had spicier tamales,’ says Portland ICE protest frog that got pepper sprayed by federal agents - oregonlive.com

ICE Agents Shoot Pepper Spray into Protester's Frog Costume Air Vent

Antifa expert at Rutgers University flees US amid death threats

He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US | WIRED

Antifa expert at Rutgers University says he is moving to Spain because of death threats

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Flees to Spain After Death Threats - The New York Times

Antifa Expert to Flee with Family to Spain Following Death Threats | Democracy Now!

Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization – The White House

You can pre-order Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books | April 26 2026)

• (00:00:10) - Why You Can't Exile Anti-Fascism
• (00:01:46) - American politics of individualism
• (00:03:58) - How Fascism Became Explicit in Education
• (00:13:53) - Anti-Fascist Protest and Direct Action
• (00:22:41) - How to Build a More Radical Movement
• (00:25:16) - What Makes You Hopeful For Your Kids?
• (00:35:20) - The Kids of Anti-Fascism

Antifascist courage is a choreography of mutual aid, preparation, and care. In this episode I talk with scholar-organizer and retired Muay Thai fighter Ben Case, author of Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence (2022), about how “physical courage” develops across a spectrum of practices — from speaking up for a co-worker and signing a union card to holding a picket line and putting your body between ICE and your neighbor.

We dig into the realities of “big” vs. “little” violence, the strategic and moral limits of “respectable” protest narratives, and why bodies, training, and solidarity matter when the state blurs dissent with “disorder.” Ben lays out how fight-sport training can normalize adrenaline, prevent panic, and sharpen on-the-spot judgment; why movements we label “nonviolent” often include non-armed force; and how a range of tactics actually functions together on the ground. We also revisit the 2017 Richard Spencer punch as a case study in consequence, deterrence, and dignity — and what it does (and doesn’t) tell us about backlash and movement strategy.

Ben Case is an antifascist organizer and researcher whose work interrogates how punditry and policy launder certain protest tactics as “legible” while criminalizing others. He’s a retired pro Muay Thai fighter, a coach/official, and the author of Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence. His scholarship and fieldwork examine how non-armed force (property damage, de-arrests, sabotage) gets mislabeled or erased — with real consequences for movements and public understanding.

Part 2 now on Patreon: the second half of my conversation with Ben — plus a segment on the Graham Platner morality play (PTSD, internet alienation, a Nazi tattoo, accountability, and the anxieties of masculinity). Will remain paywalled for 2–3 weeks. Join at @antifascistdadpodcast to hear it now.

Subscribe on YouTube at @antifascistdad for weekly mini-essays and the Basics series; the first Basics installment is now public.

Join the Patreon for Part 2s, early access, and paywalled bonus briefs.

TikTok and YouTube @antifascistdad.

Pre-order the book that this project supports — Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books) — pub date April 26, 2026.

Brief: Beyond Violence and Nonviolence (Part 1) w/ Ben Case

Street Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence

Magic Numbers Are No Shortcut to Strategy (New article from Ben Case)

Venezuela Military Personnel

'Violent protest is not protected,' Biden says of college campus unrest - ABC News

The Success of Nonviolent Civil Resistance | ICNC

Hegset...

• (00:00:00) - Anti-Fascism Dad: Ben Case
• (00:02:53) - Fascist Squish and Antifascist News of the Week
• (00:12:45) - Ben Case on Non-Violence
• (00:19:00) - What Does It Mean to Be Physically Brave?
• (00:22:30) - Physical Training for Protestors
• (00:27:32) - Warm Hand Lock
• (00:29:46) - On The Perfect Protest
• (00:34:37) - The Difference Between Little Violence and Big Violence
• (00:39:52) - Black Bloc Protester Punch Richard Spencer in the Face
• (00:47:01) - Punishing Richard Spencer: Should You Be Punished?
• (00:49:46) - Fascist Dad of the Week