r/ContraPoints • u/infinitetwizzlers • 5d ago

Manichaean struggle mention

On today’s episode of Pod Save America, Jon Lovett used the phrase “Manichaean struggle”… what do we think the odds are that he just watched Conspiracy? I’m gonna say 99%.

20 Upvotes

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u/bonzogoestocollege76 5d ago

It’s a pretty common term.

I do wanna make the point that the Dualistic Manichaeanism we imagine comes from Augustine who practiced an unorthodox or heretical sect. For a long time he was the primary source on the sect but the recovery of authentic texts show that they weren’t dualistic. They believed that both good and evil matter were mixed together and would be purified. This bears similarity to the Buddhist idea of “Dependent Co-Arising”.

It was a Silk Road religion so it had influence from Buddhism as well as Zoroastrianism and Christianity. For people interested in religious history it’s a super fascinating dive.

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u/infinitetwizzlers 5d ago

Sure, but I’ve never heard him say it before lol. i mean realistically it’s not THAT common in every day life, unless you’re on a college campus or something. I just think people are more likely to use a word after they’ve recently heard it.

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u/bonzogoestocollege76 5d ago

I think for a college educated person it’s common shorthand

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u/infinitetwizzlers 5d ago

….. what?… most people I know are college-educated. I have never once heard someone use this term in casual conversation.

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u/bonzogoestocollege76 5d ago

Idk 🤷 different circles then. It’s a pretty common shorthand when discussing ethics.

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u/Avent 5d ago

Can confirm, used it a lot when writing papers on religion and ethics.

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u/infinitetwizzlers 5d ago edited 5d ago

Must be. I don’t find myself having academic discussions about ethics very often.

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u/frambosy 5d ago

I think it is funny, because I know it is a real English word but I've never seen it commonly used. On the contrary, in French it's a much more commonly used term. Like I searched the translation for "dualism" in French but it's literally just "dualisme" and I've never really seen that word, even if I understand it, while "manichéisme" is a term I would use to describe "dualism" in French more naturally.

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u/vanillabeanmini 5d ago

She was in Pod Save America and Jon's in the lgbt community so I'd say it's likely

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u/FlashInGotham 5d ago

Lovett is the only one of those guys who has any sort of cognizance of what is actually happening so I believe it.

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u/No-Ladder7740 5d ago

Contrapoints pronunciation of that word threw me for a loop. I had only ever seen it written down and have been pronouncing it man-eesh-ian. Apparently that's wrong.

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u/Daisy-Fluffington 5d ago

In Ancient Greek Ch is always a K (Chronos for example).

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u/No-Ladder7740 5d ago edited 5d ago

Shronos

Seriously I don't think I realised it was Greek. I thought it was Persian. I guess in Persian it must be خ (ie ch/kh pronounced x - or I've even sometimes seen it written as a glottal stop) whereas I assumed it was ش (pronounced shhhh like you're hushing someone)

Although if I'm being honest I'm totally steelmanning myself here and I didn't ever really think about the pronounciation that consciously, I just said the letters like a big dumb englander.

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u/WildFlemima 5d ago

Pod save America has been rubbing me the wrong way lately, is this just me?

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u/infinitetwizzlers 4d ago

Nah it’s not just you.