The Aaron Renn Show

In this episode, sociologist Musa al-Gharbi discusses his book We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite.

How should we understand the "woke" phenomenon? Where did it come from? Why do elite whites claim to be marginalized, while showing little care for genuinely marginalized people around them like the service workers they rely on?

Article referred to in the podcast about China interfering to elect Bill Clinton president in the 1990s: https://musaalgharbi.com/2018/03/01/democrats-unlearned-lessons-2020/4/

GUEST LINKS:
📖  We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite: https://www.amazon.com/Have-Never-Been-Woke-Contradictions-ebook/dp/B0D6QDVW24/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theurban-20
🌐 Website: https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/
🐦 Twitter/X: @Musa_alGharbi

CONNECT & FOLLOW:
🌐 Website: https://www.aaronrenn.com/
🐦 Twitter/X: @aaron_renn

Jon Askonas is a professor of politics at Catholic University. He wrote an interesting piece for Comment magazine on how Americans went from seeing technology as a source of progress to viewing it as leading us to an apocalypse. He joins us to discuss: How and why did this shift take place? Why are we so anxious? How should we live in this age of anxiety?

Read "Building a Future in the Face of the Apocalypse": https://comment.org/building-a-future-in-the-face-of-the-apocalypse/

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Academia is almost entirely dominated by the left. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, has thrived in it as a strong Catholic. But is it possible for conservatives and Christians to follow the same path today? What are the signs of optimism both for conservatives in academia, but also for a healthier climate for academia itself? George joins me to discuss these topics and what's he's personally been doing to push academia in a healthier direction.

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Ryan Williams is the president of the Claremont Institute. Claremont is the institutional base of West Coast Straussianism, and has long been known for its fellowship programs and quarterly journal The Claremont Review of Books. It has attracted controversy in the Trump era for its willingness to engage with dissident ideas. It published the mega-viral "The Flight 93 Election Essay" and also the first mainstream review of the book Bronze Age Mindset. Williams joins me to talk about Claremont and how they've navigated our new political world.

Claremont Institute: https://www.claremont.org/

The Flight 93 Election: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/digital/the-flight-93-election/

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Despite major progress in civil rights, black economic uplift, and even electing a black President, the question of race continues to be an ongoing major issue in the United States. There are continuing significant racial disparities between races. A black underclass still remains in America. And political and cultural debates around race continue to be major flashpoints. This includes within the evangelical church, where debates over race have become very intense.

Joining me to discuss the ongoing question of race is Robert "Bob" Woodson, Sr. He is one of American's foremost civil rights leaders and experts on alleviating poverty. He's been an advisor to Presidents, a MacArthur Genius Grant Award winner, and recipient of numerous other awards. He's the founder of the Woodson Center and editor of the new book A Pathway to American Renewal.

What actually is the state of racial inclusion in America? Where has progress been made, and where does it still remain? How many of the problems around race today are actually class related? How should American evangelicals think about the question of race and how should they seek to engage on it? What are some of the most encouraging initiatives and leaders that he sees in the country today?

Buy A Pathway to American Renewal: https://www.amazon.com/Pathway-American-Renewal-White-Black-ebook/dp/B0D4HDLSN2/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theurban-20

The Woodson Center: https://woodsoncenter.org/

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Justin Shubow is the president of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that promotes the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture. He was also formerly the chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts. He joins me to talk about our public buildings and how to make them beautiful.

Note that this podcast includes a discussion of specific buildings. Pictures of these buildings are shown in the video version of the podcast, which you can watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6MwHNiEgcQ

National Civic Art Society: https://www.civicart.org/

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Bestselling author Rod Dreher has a knack for putting his finger on what people are going to be talking about next. He's done it again with his new book on re-enchantment, Living in Wonder. He joins us today to talk about embracing what historian Tom Holland calls the "weird stuff" in Christianity. 

What does it mean for the world to be enchanted? Isn't enchantment just superstition? What does the trend towards psychedelics and the occult tell us about the public's longings? Are demons real?

Note: There are some quality issues on Dreher's audio feed.

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Wonder-Finding-Mystery-Meaning/dp/0310369126/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theurban-20

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Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Yes, he is related to the Guinness brewing family. He has an incredible life story, being born in China to medical missionaries and living through the communist takeover there. He has a DPhil from Oxford and has been involved with many eminent organizations ranging from the Brookings Institution to the Trinity Forum.

He’s also the author of many books, including his latest Our Civilizational Moment: The Waning of the West and the War of the Worlds, which he joined me to discuss today. What is a "civilizational moment"? Why did Christianity lose its purchase on the West? Why have some contenders to replace it fared better than others? What should Christians in the Wes be doing today?

But Our Civilizational Moment: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Civilizational-Moment-Waning-Worlds/dp/B0DL3LW558/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theurban-20

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Delano Squires is a Research Fellow in Life, Religion and Family at the Heritage Foundation, and a contributor to the Blaze. He joins me today to talk about the enduring relevance of the call to manhood and family, and how to live that out in today's world.

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Stephen Eide is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute who studies homelessness and mental illness. He joins me to discuss his new article in National Affairs magazine about how to help the homeless and those who struggle at the very bottom of society.

Read Eide's article: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/uplifting-the-man-farthest-down

Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/