Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen West. This is Philosophized This. I'm working on a book for the

creation of Meaning Series. And if you're an artist and some of your work was inspired by the

creation of Meaning Series and you want to be featured in the book, send me an email,

steve at stevenweshhow.com. PhilosophizedThis.org is the website for recommended reading,

transcripts, and other ways to support the podcast. Thanks to everyone who supports on Patreon.

Shoutouts this week. Netine Goyle. David Almeida. Josh Hill. Tony Frodo. And Mediana Dantesto Santo Silva,

who is a long time friend of the show. And for whatever it's worth one of the best dog owners I've

ever met in my life. So thanks to everyone. Today's episode is part one on Susan Sontag. I hope

you love the show today. So we can never know what Simone Vee would have said about so many things

that came to pass after her death of the age of 34 years old. But lucky for us, there were plenty

of other brilliant people out there that took inspiration from Simone Vee's work. And some of them

went on to have a pretty giant impact on the culture that surrounded them. And one of my personal

favorites is going to be the woman we're talking about today, the legendary essayist that went by the

name of Susan Sontag. Susan Sontag, if she was anything, was truly a cultural critic of the highest

order. She wasn't one of these fake critics. She wasn't one of these bald endudes on the internet

given hot takes trying to get clicks. She wasn't a coward. In fact, she spent most of her

career standing up to some of the most powerful people in the world, never shying away from saying

the things that really didn't make these people too happy. She was somebody that ultimately

refused to bow to anyone. And what she respected the most about someone like Simone Vee in particular

was that she was the kind of person that wasn't satisfied just being some typical

voice of reason that sits around trying to be a moderating influence on the world all the time.

Because that's what some of the critics out there do, right? Some of these people do their work

...