The Glenn Show

John's new gig writing for the New York Times ... Wisconsin students get a "racist" rock removed from campus ... Are present-day universities morally accountable for their involvement in the slave trade? ... Debating the legacy of Christopher Columbus ... Can we extricate modernity's benefits from its history of brutality and genocide? ... Is California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder a sellout? ...

John McWhorter is back for this week’s episode of The Glenn Show. In it, we discuss John’s new gig writing a newsletter for the New York Times. Anyone wondering whether he’s being stifled by the paper’s editorial sensibilities will be glad to hear the answer is a definite “no.” We spend a while discussing John’s recent piece about the removal of a “racist” rock from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus after administration gave in to student activists. From there we move on to a broader discussion of the historical relationship between the slave trade and American universities. We ask whether modern universities are morally culpable for the sins of the distant past. The scope broadens even further as we ask whether we can ever truly extricate the benefits of the modern world from histories of brutality and genocide. And finally, we move on to a discussion about black conservatives and accusations of “selling out.” This has particular relevance for the case of Larry Elder, a black conservative who is currently nipping at the heels of Gavin Newsom in the California governor’s recall.

This is a deep and provocative discussion, and I hope you’ll join in by commenting below. Let me know what you think!

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0:00 John's new gig writing for the New York Times

5:01 Wisconsin students get a "racist" rock removed from campus

16:39 Are present-day universities morally accountable for their involvement in the slave trade?

26:38 Debating the legacy of Christopher Columbus

40:18 Can we extricate modernity's benefits from its history of brutality and genocide?

50:52 Is California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder a sellout?

Links

John's new New York Times newsletter

John’s piece, “The Performative Antiracism of Black Students at the U. of Wisconsin”

John’s piece, “Let’s talk about ‘Sellouts’”

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Glenn's book leave ... A psychedelic experience inspires Nikita to talk to Glenn ... Healthy vs. unhealthy human connection ... Glenn: Critical race theory is "self-absorbed and small" ... Rising above "sectarian obsession" ... A brief history of Russian political infantilization ... Is Glenn the Jimi Hendrix of ranting? ...

Here’s something different for you. In this episode of The Glenn Show, I sit down with artist, writer, and TGS Creative Director Nikita Petrov to discuss two fundamental questions: “What the hell is going on?” and “What is to be done?” If those questions sound both deep and broad, there might be a reason. They occurred to Nikita in the wake of a recent psychedelic experience. Not your typical TGS fare, to be sure!

The conversation begins with Nikita explaining what he’s learned from working with me and observing my relationships with others. I confirm his suspicions: I am in a very exciting and satisfying stage in my life and career. Nikita then goes on to describe the meditations on human interconnectedness he experienced during his trip. He wants to know: How can we tell a healthy connection from an unhealthy one? Can we formulate a theory as to how to make such a distinction? And how can we apply such a theory to my own present area of concern, the rise of CRT? I try to explain why I think CRT promotes “unhealthy” human connections, and why it risks shutting us off from the richness of human art, culture, thought, and knowledge. We then discuss the relationship between ideology and identity, and we find some parallels between Russian and African American history and politics. And finally, we try to get to the heart of what makes a “Glenn rant” a Glenn rant.

I’d love to know what you think. Let me know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out Nikita’s YouTube channel and his newsletter, Psychopolitica!

This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.

0:00 Glenn's book leave

1:45 A psychedelic experience inspires Nikita to talk to Glenn

16:23 Healthy vs. unhealthy human connection

23:12 Glenn: Critical race theory is “self-absorbed and small”

38:03 Rising above “sectarian obsession”

49:14 A brief history of Russian political infantilization

57:28 Is Glenn the Jimi Hendrix of ranting?

Links

Glenn’s conversation with Cornel West and Teodros Kiros

Cixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem

Irving Howe, A Margin of Hope: An Intellectual Autobiography

Nikita’s newsletter, Psychopolitica

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Revisiting Glenn and John's first Bloggingheads conversation ... John's gig as a columnist ... The Black intellectual's challenge ... John: There is life outside the academy ... Disappearing factories and Black poverty ... Glenn calls for cross-racial working-class solidarity ... Is unequal school funding a red herring? ...

Today, I’ve got a special treat for TGS fans: my first ever recorded conversation with John McWhorter, which occurred on (brace yourselves) November 7, 2007. People who started following John and me in recent years may not be aware of how long we’ve been at this, but it’s been almost 14 years.

As you might expect, while the topics we discuss are familiar, our positions relative to each other have changed. In 2007, I was clearly to John’s left! One thing that hasn’t changed is John’s superhuman productivity. He notes at the beginning that he is just finishing up writing two books.

We begin by talking about John’s gig as a columnist for the New York Sun. I put the screws to John and ask him in a purposefully un-nuanced way if he is a conservative, and he answers with a typically nuanced response. We discuss John’s then-recent resignation from UC-Berkeley (a very gutsy move) before moving on to broader concerns like globalization’s impact on the black working class, the prospects for cross-racial class solidarity, and how to address racial disparities in education in a more targeted fashion than simply crying “more funding.”

At the conversation’s end, we both remark on how much fun it was to talk with each other (even on ancient technology like John’s cordless phone). I’m happy to report that it’s still fun. And I am extremely curious to know what you all think about the differences and similarities between where we started and where we are today. Let me know in the comments!

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0:00 A walk down memory lane

1:02 John's gig as a columnist

4:38 The black intellectual's challenge

17:17 John: There is life outside the academy

34:00 Disappearing factories and black poverty

40:53 Glenn calls for cross-racial working-class solidarity

51:39 Is unequal school funding a red herring?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

The bias narrative vs. the development narrative ... What are the causes of “behavioral maladies” in black communities? ... Will more funding for social services reduce violent crime? ... Glenn: The clock is ticking for the least advantaged African Americans ... Debating black patriotism ... American exceptionalism and the dominance of capitalism ... The necessary checks on capitalism ... The call (from Bernie Sanders) is coming from inside the house ...

Recently I had a rich, deep conversation with lawyer, Current Affairs contributing editor, and former Bernie Sanders National Press Secretary Briahna Joy Gray on her podcast Bad Faith. Briahna and I occupy very different ideological spaces, so I thought TGS viewers would be interested in watching the discussion. She has generously given me permission to share it here.

We begin by debating the possible causes of racial disparities and my own ideas about what we should do about it. More funding for social services is often floated as a possible remedy, but I have questions. This segues into a discussion of my essay “The Case for Black Patriotism.” Briahna asks whether my vision of patriotism necessarily entails a belief in American exceptionalism, and this leads into an exploration of capitalism and socialism more broadly. Finally, Briahna asks me a question that many people wonder about: Given my political views (and the fact that I’m not shy about proclaiming them into a microphone), how do my Bernie-supporting wife LaJuan and I keep the peace at home?

Briahna and I had a real debate here, but I was surprised by how many concerns we actually share. I hope you enjoy listening to the conversation as much as I enjoyed participating in it!

This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.

0:00 Intro 

1:40 The bias narrative vs. the development narrative

7:02 What are the causes of “behavioral maladies” in black communities?

11:36 Will more funding for social services reduce violent crime? 

20:37 Glenn: The clock is ticking for the least advantaged African Americans

31:44 Debating black patriotism 

43:40 American exceptionalism and the dominance of capitalism

54:47 The necessary checks on capitalism

1:01:41 The call (from Bernie Sanders) is coming from inside the house

Links

Glenn’s essay, “The Bias Narrative vs. the Development Narrative”

Glenn’s essay, “The Case for Black Patriotism”

Nikole Hannah-Jones’ introduction to the 1619 Project

Nathan J. Robinson’s Current Affairs essay, “Why Critical Race Theory Should Be Taught in Schools”

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Does systemic racism still exist in the US? ... Addressing “racial inequities” rather than “systemic racism” ... John: “The idea that modern colleges and universities are racist spaces is false” ... Race and the academic job market ... Why does anger persist even after progress toward racial redress? ... The (possible) origins of the recent wokeness wave ... Finding room for disagreement ...

On this edition of TGS, John McWhorter is back for one of our twice-monthly conversations. We take a long, critical look at the concept of "systemic racism"—what it is, what it isn't, and why it's become so popular in progressive discourses about race in the US.

We focus attention on institutions of higher education, drawing on our own experience to question whether this concept really applies at the elite institutions (Brown/Berkeley/Columbia) with which we have been associated. We open on a laconic note: neither of us were in the best of moods when we had this conversation. We close by inviting you to suggest topics for our future discussions that are, a) not about race, and, b) areas where John and I are likely to disagree. We hope you'll take us up on this!

This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.

0:00 Intro

2:19 Does systemic racism still exist in the US?

12:26 Addressing “racial inequities” rather than “systemic racism”

18:30 John: “The idea that modern colleges and universities are racist spaces is false”

29:18 Race and the academic job market

34:40 Why does anger persist even after progress toward racial redress?

44:57  The (possible) origins of the recent wokeness wave

52:55 Glenn and John agree to disagree

Links

Khalil Gibran Muhammad, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe