For the first time, I’m bringing a book into this space — because it moved something in me that theoretical considerations never could.

Reading Qui a tué mon père by Édouard Louis forced me to confront a reality I had only understood abstractly: what it actually feels like to be born into poverty and never escape it. To grow up in a body worn down by labor. To be shaped — and crushed — by policies written by people who will never live their consequences.

This episode is in the end about anger, again. Legitimate anger. The kind we’re quick to dismiss when it turns toward right-radical parties. Instead of asking “How could they vote like that?”, I’m asking: What did we fail to see? Who benefits from keeping people trapped in misery? And how do we — as progressive, educated people — participate in that failure?

It’s an uncomfortable & humbling lecture, and I hope this episode will give you a glimpse in what it made me feel.