Lean Out with Tara Henley

In recent weeks, many Canadian commentators have expressed shock that the country is experiencing a wave of populism. But Toronto author Jeff Rubin is not surprised. In fact, he predicted it, in an opinion piece for the New York Times in 2019.

Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist at CIBC World Markets, and a former senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. His latest book, The Expendables: How the Middle Class Got Screwed By Globalization, looks at how many people’s livelihoods have been devastated by the current economic order.

On the podcast today, Jeff argues that the conditions in this country have paved the way for the trucker revolt, that class is at the root of this unrest — and that we should all be taking a close look at the policies that perpetuate inequality.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

As we all think through the class tensions that have surfaced in Canada, it’s a good time to take a closer look at an ethos held by many of those shaping the dialogue.

This group of decision-makers and opinion shapers, which includes the media, is often referred to in leftist circles as the professional managerial class. Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine, has recently published a book on the PMC, titled Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class. It is a fierce and funny polemic, and one so sharp and insightful that I’ve gone back to read it several times now.

In our conversation today on the podcast, Liu touches on everything from mommy bloggers to land acknowledgements — and argues that we must insist on viewing society’s current struggles through an economic lens.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

It’s hard to imagine better timing for a book release. This week — as our culture finds itself embroiled in numerous debates around speech — Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama has published a brilliant new book that provides historical perspective.

Jacob is the founder and executive director of Justitia, a human-rights think tank based in Copenhagen. Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media is a deeply-researched, engaging, and humane title that grew out of Clear and Present Danger, Jacob’s podcast project on the global history of free speech.

I’m so pleased to have Jacob Mchangama as my guest on the podcast. Here is our wide-ranging discussion, taped last week, in which he touches on everything from Athenian democracy to Orwell and Mandela — and makes the case that censorship is not a good solution to the societal tensions we are living through.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

Those of us in the media who’ve lived and worked in Vancouver know just how harrowing the opioid crisis can be. A short walk through the city’s Downtown Eastside reveals a level of human suffering that would make anyone stop in their tracks. Still, those of us who have covered the crisis also know what a hard sell the issue is. Mainstream outlets are often reluctant to dive into the epidemic. And few reporters make it their beat.

Travis Lupick is an exception. The Vancouver journalist, now based in California, has been on the frontlines of this story for years, and he’s just published his second book on the subject. Light Up the Night: America’s Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival profiles two women in the harm reduction movement. Their stories are a testament to the personal pain behind the statistics — but also the resilience and tenacity of the drug user activists working to stem the tide of deaths.

Travis Lupick is on the podcast today to tell us about these remarkable women, and about his experiences covering one of the biggest stories of our time.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

Today, broadcaster Jamil Jivani announced his move to Substack. The Canadian lawyer and media personality — and author of Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity — has revealed that he was fired last month from his role as host of The Jamil Jivani Show.

Jamil is an important voice in this country, and someone I admire and respect. His firing raises a number of questions, and Lean Out is pleased to have the first interview. On this special bonus episode of the podcast, Jamil talks about his firing, his move to independent media — and why he thinks diversity of thought is a principle worth fighting for.

Lean Out did reach out to Bell Media and iHeartRadio reps and received this comment from a Bell Media spokesperson: “We do not comment on employee matters.” 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

I first met Johann Hari in a coffee shop in London. Chasing the Scream, his deep dive into the war on drugs, radically shifted the thinking around addiction. When I sat down with him, we were discussing his next game changer, Lost Connections, which transformed the public conversation around mental health.

This week Hari has published a new “big think” book, and he’s now poised to have a similar impact on the debate over the attention crisis. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again is a thought-provoking journey into the forces robbing us of our attention, from big tech to poor nutrition, pollution, and stress — and a look at how we might begin to reclaim our minds, and our lives.

I’m thrilled to have one of my favourite writers on the Lean Out podcast this week, in a wide-ranging discussion about how the attention crisis affects us as individuals and as a society. (And as media!) My guest today is the excellent and very engaging Johann Hari.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

The lab leak theory has been in the news again, following Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform releasing a letter with more details on a February 1, 2020 call between Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins and expert scientists, discussing the pandemic’s possible origin.

It’s a story that Toronto’s Elaine Dewar has been following for some time. The investigative journalist wrote a book on the topic during the city’s endless months of lockdown, following the trail through news reports, medical papers and government documents — and detailing alarming details about connections between the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg and Chinese military scientists.

Elaine Dewar’s book, On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An Investigation is a riveting read, and the subject of our conversation on this week’s episode of the podcast.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

Free speech is not particularly fashionable these days. Indeed, this summer NPR’s On the Media dedicated an entire episode to the topic without interviewing a single defender of free speech.

With free speech skepticism on the rise, the new book Free Speech And Why It Matters could not be more timely, or more important. British comic Andrew Doyle initially found fame with his hilarious social justice warrior Twitter parody, Titania McGrath. But he’s since become known as a crusader for free speech and the host of Free Speech Nation. In his thoughtful, well-argued, and well-written polemic, Andrew Doyle walks through key arguments in favour of free speech, and makes the case that the erosion of speech rights we’ve witnessed in recent years is destructive for democracy and human rights — and awful for art. Here is episode two of the Lean Out podcast, featuring Andrew Doyle.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com

When I pressed the publish button on my first Substack post on Monday morning, I had no idea what to expect. I certainly could not have anticipated what came next. I received a tidal wave of emails, calls, texts, DMs, Substack comments and tweets from people all across the country and, increasingly, around the world. The people who wrote to me are of different political persuasions and hold different jobs (though media was well represented). They expressed different ideas and told different personal stories and made different arguments. What they shared in common was a deep aversion to the divisiveness of our current media, and a deep yearning for something better.

How did we get here? What is driving this divisiveness? Whose interests does it serve? And what do we do about it?

There is no better person to unpack these questions than Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor at Newsweek. If you follow media, you know that Newsweek’s opinion section is home to some of the most robust debate in America’s mainstream media. Now Batya has published a powerful book, Bad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy. For anyone puzzling over the woke press, this book helps make sense of the phenomenon. I could not be more thrilled to have Batya on the inaugural episode of the Lean Out podcast and look forward to hearing your responses.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tarahenley.substack.com