Spectacles In Conversation

Join Harry and Philip for a discussion of the dissatisfying settlement for an admittedly corrupt establishment politician in Brazil. It turns out democracy is messy, and being blind to that can cause a lot more problems than you might imagine.

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To read or comment on the Insight discussed in this episode, click here.

To listen to that same article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.

Join Harry and Philip for an especially long (and excellent) discussion about today's Insight on the increasingly discouraging situation in Tunisia and the utility of mainline American foreign policy strategies, like sanctions, in addressing it.

P.S. It's so long, because we couldn't find a thing to cut. This one is jam-packed with great thoughts and some fun jokes, especially at Noah Rothman's expense.

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To read or comment on the Insight discussed in this episode, click here.

To listen to that same article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.

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To read the older Insight about Tunisia, click here.

To read the Insight about Afghanistan referenced in this discussion, click here.

Join Harry and Philip as they expand on today's Focus, discussing the politicization of the court and what it would take for Congress to do what needs to be done.

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To read or comment on the Insight discussed in this episode, click here.

To listen to that same article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.

Join Harry and Philip as they continue an exploration of the role of myth in political life by looking more closely at the myths which have historically underpinned American politics. What is the relevance of historical American myth to today’s controversies and culture wars? How does history help illuminate current challenges? Most importantly, what can we do when lived realities render myths unbelievable to citizens in a democracy?

Next week, we will be evaluating the emergence of new myths and narratives in American political life, and the consequences of those new myths.

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• “1776 Report,” by the President’s 1776 Advisory Commission.
• After Nationalism, by Samuel Goldman.
• “America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made it One,” by Nikole-Hannah Jones, in New York Times Magazine.
• Federalist No. 2, by John Jay.
• “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” by Abraham Lincoln.

00:00 - Introduction

00:36 - Excerpt from Lincoln's Lyceum Speech

03:14 - Recap of last week

04:56 - Episode topic, main questions

06:06 - Contemporary challenges, the relevance of this discussion

08:02 - Historical precedent of changing myths

10:02 - First myth: "Covenant"

15:11 - Second myth: "Crucible"

19:53 - Third myth: "Creed"

23:55 - Why is this myth being challenged?

26:44 - What is the challenge posed by the 1619 Project?

27:34 - The lesson offered by 1619

29:11 - Defenses of American myth, 1776 Report

30:59 - The lesson offered by 1776

33:11 - Two options with myth at risk

36:47 - The way forward for American myth

38:21 - Next week's topic

39:01 - Outro

Join Harry and Philip for a discussion of today's Insight, "Voting Rights Bill a Dead End for Democracy," and what the future of American elections is shaping up to look like without voting rights action taken yesterday.

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To read or comment on the Insight discussed in this episode, click here.

To listen to that same article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.

Today, Harry and Philip sit down to discuss today's Insight, "The Big Fail Isn't in Kabul. It's on Our TVs," and talk in more depth about the problems today's media is causing in democracy and how our criticism differs from the Trumpian attack on the free press.

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To read or comment on the article we are discussing, click here.

To listen to that article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.

On this episode, Harry and Philip begin a month-long exploration of myth & politics. First up for discussion - What is myth? What does it have to do with politics? Why is myth important? How does it work? What would life be like without it?

Next week we will be taking a look at the history of American political myths and where we may be headed, so don't miss out on the start of this series!

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Links

To comment on this article, click here.

To listen only to other episodes of Bird's Eye, click here.

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Further Reading (email [email protected] for any of these)

“Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics,” by Alexander Wendt in International Organization.

“The cultural evolution of prosocial religions,” by Ara Norenzayan et. al. in Behavioral and brain Sciences.

“Erichthonius,” from Who’s Who in Classical Mythology, Routledge.

“Evolutionary Social Constructivism,” by David Sloan Wilson, in The Literary Animal, edited by Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson.

“Mythistory, or Truth, Myth, History, and Historians,” by William H. McNeill in Mythistory and Other Essays.

Natural Right and History, by Leo Strauss.

Political Myth, by Christopher Flood.

“Prosociality and religion,” by Jo-Ann Tsang et. al. in Current Opinion in Psychology.

Republic, by Plato, translated by Allan Bloom.

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Table of Contents

00:00 - Intro/Housekeeping

00:44 - Noble Lies

01:32 - Episode Topic Introduction

02:21 - What is myth?

06:01 - How is this relevant to politics?

07:19 - Three Examples of Political Myths

13:24 - Do myths have to be true or false?

16:43 - How important are things besides myth?

18:30 - Why do humans resort to myths?

22:06 - How do myths work, and what can they do?

25:40 - How do myths change over time?

29:05 - How does myth align the individual and common goods?

33:37 - What are some disadvantages of myth?

36:36 - How does war shape myths?

37:30 - What would life be like without myths?

40:40 - Next week's topic

41:09 - Signing off

Today, Harry and Philip sit down to discuss today's Insight, "The Misadventure of Nation-Building in Afghanistan," and talk in more depth about just what exactly doesn't work about nation-building and why we can't be looking to the examples of Germany and Japan for guidance.

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To read or comment on the article we are discussing, click here.

To listen to that article in Spectacles Out Loud, click here.