The guest
Michael Malice: Ukrainian-born American author, anarchist, and podcaster known for books on North Korea (Dear Reader) and anarchism (The Anarchist Handbook). A frequent media personality famous for his contrarian wit and Soviet-emigre perspective.
What this episode covers
In Lex Fridman's 200th episode, Michael Malice explores totalitarianism, conscience, and anarchism through the lens of his Soviet-Jewish heritage. The two discuss the writers Malice admires most (Orwell, Camus, Emma Goldman), the everyday cruelty of mediocre people given power, and what real heroism looks like in small acts of defiance. They debate Malice's anarchist thesis that the state is morally identical to a mugger, exploring price signals, decentralization, and private alternatives to government services. The conversation closes on hope versus cynicism, kindness, and Malice's bucket list, framed by deep mutual affection between the two friends.
Recommended on this episode
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Animal Farm
George Orwell
“one of my favorite books”
“so animal farm by george orwell is one of my favorite books it's an allegory about at least i think about the soviet union”— Lex Fridman
MediaRecommended
The Death of Stalin
Armando Iannucci
“there's a superb film”
“there's a superb film uh the death of stalin which is kind of that's what i do with north korea you know he puts a humorous spin on”— Michael Malice
BookRecommended
The War on Small Business
Carol Roth
“this amazing book”
“carol roth wrote this amazing book called the war in small business and she talked about we have seen for the first time in history a massive wealth transfer”— Michael Malice
The guest's own work
BookBy the guestISBN verified
Dear Reader
Michael Malice
“one of the reasons i you know talk about north korea so much why i wrote dear reader is because it's very easy”— Michael Malice
BookBy the guest
Ego and Hubris
Michael Malice
“my biography ego and hubris is like 500 now on ebay it's like hard to find came out in 2006”— Michael Malice
BookBy the guest
The White Pill
Michael Malice
“given my upcoming book the white pill and covering what happened back in the day under stalinism and later”— Michael Malice
BookBy the guestISBN verified
The Anarchist Handbook
Michael Malice
“you've assembled uh a number of essays from anarchist thinkers in a new book called the anarchist handbook you mentioned emma goldman”— Lex Fridman
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
BookReferencedISBN verified
My Disillusionment in Russia
Emma Goldman
“she wrote a book that they titled my disillusionment with russia and i remember this is one anecdote which i'm going to discuss in the forthcoming book”— Michael Malice
BookReferenced
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
“i just recently reread the idiot by destiusky i often feel like the idiot that's why when i say i'm an idiot i often think about prince mishkin”— Lex Fridman
BookReferencedISBN verified
Five Chimneys
Olga Lengyel
“there's a book i read called uh uh five chimneys i think this woman who was an auschwitz survivor and what she talked about”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
Team America: World Police
Trey Parker and Matt Stone
“i think team america did a good job they made kim jong il into a clown and they made a joke of it”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
Scare Tactics
Sci Fi Channel
“there was a show called scare tactics which was basically a candid camera but they would scare people like they'd have vampires whatever hidden camera”— Michael Malice
BookReferencedISBN verified
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl
“man search for meaning with victor frankl you know just it's you're you're in the holocaust you're in a concentration camp”— Lex Fridman
MediaReferenced
Modern Wisdom
Chris Williamson
“i'm going with my buddy chris williamson he hosts the modern wisdom podcast he is one of my closest friends”— Michael Malice
BookReferenced
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
“let's also point out that tolstoy wrote warned peace and he wrote anna karenina so this was not some naive or innocent”— Michael Malice
BookReferenced
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
“let's also point out that tolstoy wrote warned peace and he wrote anna karenina so this was not some naive or innocent”— Michael Malice
BookReferencedISBN verified
Social Statics
Herbert Spencer
“the right to ignore the state from his book social statics it was deleted from later editions people found it and reprinted it”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
The Hunt
Universal Pictures
“my friend ethan supply who i'm sure people know played a basically character based on him in the hunt”— Michael Malice
Big reveals from this episode
- Malice names Emma Goldman, Albert Camus, and George Orwell as three of his top-10 heroes for fighting totalitarianism from the left.
- He recounts how North Korea and Stalin punished families as a unit, with the NKVD placing children's death warrants on the desk during interrogations.
- Malice gets emotional admitting his own happiness is built on the suffering of relatives murdered in WWII Ukraine.
- Malice argues many people 'effectively don't have souls' and lack the capacity for moral defiance, which Lex pushes back on hard.
- Malice states the only difference between a mugger and the government is an 'air of legitimacy' and that they are morally identical.
- He defends never voting, comparing it to not taking communion since no president is the steward of his soul.
- Malice reveals he is leaving New York for Austin, persuaded by friends and cheaper real estate, and is renting month-to-month to preserve freedom.
Worth remembering
- The terms 'Bolshevik' and 'Menshevik' come from Russian for 'bigger' and 'smaller'; the Mensheviks were sarcastically named despite having the numbers.
- Malice's networking advice: take someone out for their birthday because for $25-30 you can make their day feel special at almost no cost.
- He cites Hannah Arendt's 'banality of evil,' arguing the mediocre person abusing small power is more common and disturbing than the SS guard.
- Malice describes himself as an 'octopus on the eighth hand,' valuing the tiny protests that move humanity forward.
- He argues every market trends toward decentralization, citing record labels, TV networks, and Coca-Cola's Freestyle machines.
- Malice uses Detective Comics #27 (Batman's first appearance) to illustrate von Mises's economic calculation problem about price signals.
- Goldman and Berkman's mentor Johann Most published a pamphlet on building dynamite as a way to level the playing field against the state.
- Malice's number-one bucket-list item is a deep-sea submersible dive to see 'god's mistakes' in their natural environment.
- Lex closes with Jack Kerouac's 'the only people for me are the mad ones' passage to explain his friendship with Malice.
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