The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

Today's guest is Columbia University linguist and New York Times columnist John McWhorter. In 2021, he published Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, which argued that politically correct "antiracism" was not only a new religion but a dangerous form of illiberalism that quashed free expression, individual liberty, and social progress.

McWhorter talks with Reason's Nick Gillespie about how far we've come since 2021—and whether we are entering a new era of open debate and cultural possibilities. They also discuss the apparent end of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, McWhorter's own experience with affirmative action over his decades in academia, and his forthcoming book Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words, which comes out in April.

0:00—Introduction

Previous appearances:

"John McWhorter: How To Defeat 'Woke Racism,'" November 17, 2021

Today's sponsor:

The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly, unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy in an age of intellectual conformity and groupthink. It doubles as a live taping of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie podcast. Go here to buy tickets and go here to sign up for Reason's NYC Events newsletter.

The post John McWhorter: Is 'Wokeness' Finally Dead? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Jim O'Shaughnessy is a superstar investor and venture capitalist who leads O'Shaughnessy Ventures and hosts the popular Infinite Loops podcast. He's also the coauthor of the new collection Two Thoughts, which compiles provocative quotes from figures ranging from Sam Adams and Ludwig von Mises to Frank Zappa.

O'Shaughnessy chats with Reason's Nick Gillespie about the power of free minds and free markets to improve the world, why societies thrive or perish, and how to build a better "bullshit detector" in an age of information overload. They discuss what went wrong during Joe Biden's presidency, particularly in relation to COVID-19 and AI policy, and what might go right under President Donald Trump's second term, especially if special interests are kept at bay.

1:17—Two Thoughts: A Timeless Collection of Infinite Wisdom

Today's sponsor:

The post Jim O'Shaughnessy: Don't Squander This Age of Innovation appeared first on Reason Magazine.

The Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, taking down with it the threat of international communism, right? Today's guest says no, writing that, "Far from dead, Communism as a governing template seems only to be getting started." Sean McMeekin is a historian at Bard College and the author of the mesmerizing book To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism. Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with him about the history of communism, how its focus on forced equality is inherently violent, and how Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and others each brought particular flourishes and horrors to its practice.

Gillespie and McMeekin talk about why communism has enduring and resurgent appeal in the West despite its history of violence and economic disaster. "We dodged a certain bullet" with the election of Trump, McMeekin says, but he argues that "whatever party is in power in Washington, I think we always have to jealously guard our civil liberties and we have to just constantly remind ourselves of what our values are and are supposed to be."

1:41 — The enduring appeal of communism

The post Sean McMeekin: Don't Whitewash the History of Communism appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Today's guest is Nico Perrino, executive vice president at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), director of the 2020 documentary Mighty Ira, which profiles the longtime head of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the author of a forthcoming book on the triumph of civil libertarians.

He's also the host of the popular podcast So to Speak, which takes an "uncensored look at the world of free expression through the law, philosophy, and stories that define your right to free speech." Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with him about the Biden administration's rotten record on speech issues, his hopes and fears for President Donald Trump's second term, and why he worries that, when it comes to speech, Elon Musk is "suffering from the curse of power, which is censorship."

0:00- Introduction

1:29- Biden administration's record on free speech

8:22- Internal and external pressures on tech platforms to censor

11:00- Double standards on free speech

12:19- Will speech be freer under Trump than Biden?

18:49- The TikTok 'ban' & DeepSeek AI

28:23- Elon Musk: friend or foe to free speech? 31:10- Free speech culture

36:00- What was 'cancel culture'?

39:22- Institutional neutrality and campus speech post-Oct 7

46:43- Generational attitude shifts on free speech

Today's sponsor:

The post Nico Perrino: What the Trump-Musk Alliance Means for Free Speech appeared first on Reason Magazine.

One of the very first things that Donald Trump did after being sworn in as president was to make good on promises to reduce both legal and illegal immigration. He even issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship, a right guaranteed by the Constitution's 14th Amendment. That order has already been blocked by a federal judge, and its fate may well end up being decided by the Supreme Court. But calls for less immigration are super popular, with 55 percent of Americans saying current levels should be decreased, the highest since 2001. Reason's Nick Gillespie disagrees with that—he believes that immigration is a good thing and that we should have more of it, done in an orderly, peaceful, efficient fashion.

So on January 21, the day after Trump's inauguration, Gillespie asked George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan and Cato Institute analyst Alex Nowrasteh to make the libertarian case for more immigration at a live event in New York City. They've written extensively on the topic and answer every question and concern you might have about immigration. The goal here is to steel-man critics of immigration and explain why more newcomers are good for our culture, economy, and country.

To get information about Reason's events in New York City, including The Soho Forum Debates, sign up for our NYC Events newsletter.

1:55—Trump's "Day 1" promises and actions

The post Alex Nowrasteh and Bryan Caplan: The Case for More Immigration appeared first on Reason.com.

"Even paranoids have real enemies," said the poet Delmore Schwartz, who was both clinically paranoid and definitely on to something, according to today's guest: Michael Shermer, the founder of Skeptic magazine, Substack superstar, and author of many best-selling books about rationalism, the evolution of morality, and pseudoscience.

He quotes Schwartz in his latest book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, to drive home the point that big, world-changing secret plots happen all the time, but there are reliable ways for us to decide whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, 9/11 was an inside job, or vaccines cause autism. For the record, Shermer says yes, no, and no on those counts.

Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Shermer about whether conspiracy thinking is on the rise, whether it's coded left or right, how wokeness poisons science, and whether the reelection of Donald Trump means free thought is ascendant. This interview was recorded at a live event in New York City in January. Sign up for invites to and news about Reason's New York events here.

Previous appearances:

The post Michael Shermer: Conspiracy Thinking, Wokeness, and the Future of Free Thought appeared first on Reason.com.

This week's guest is Christina Dent, whose organization, End It For Good, seeks to change the approach to addiction from a criminal justice issue to a health-centered one. But Dent is not your typical anti–drug war activist. She's an evangelical Christian who believes legalizing drugs is the conservative thing to do—a position she adopted after an encounter she had as a foster mom.

Reason's Billy Binion and Dent talked about her conservative religious upbringing, the surprising history of the war on drugs, how the current approach to substance abuse fuels crime, misconceptions about people struggling with addiction, and why prohibition is actually a progressive response. She has also offered to send a copy of her recent memoir, Curious, free of charge to anyone interested in learning more, which you can request at [email protected].

0:00—Introduction

25:57—Drug criminalization is anti-Christian conservative values

The post Christina Dent: The Evangelical Christian Fighting To End the Drug War appeared first on Reason.com.

"Tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary," says Donald Trump, who made many promises throughout the 2024 presidential race to raise the cost of imports from China, Mexico, and Canada—America's three biggest trading partners. But are Trump's tariffs a good idea or a terrible one? And is the era of free trade coming to a close?

That's the topic of today's Reason Interview. Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Dartmouth economist Douglas Irwin, author of Trade Policy Disaster: Lessons from the 1930s and Free Trade under Fire, now in its fifth edition. They talk about the negative impacts of the tariffs that Trump levied in his first term; why Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden also trafficked in protectionism; and why free trade is always under attack despite its overall benefits.

0:00—Introduction

Today's sponsor:

The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly, unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy that doubles as a taping of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie. The next one takes place on January 21 with two of the nation's most notable proponents of immigration liberalization, David Bier and Bryan Caplan, who will join Nick for a timely discussion about the state of U.S. immigration policy in 2025. They will discuss the implications of the incoming Trump administration's immigration proposals and make the libertarian case for why more immigration will make America great again.

The post Douglas Irwin: Why Trump's Tariff Plans Are Dangerous appeared first on Reason.com.

Today's guest is Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun famous for her activism against the death penalty. In the early 1980s, Prejean met a prisoner on death row—Elmo Patrick Sonnier—after an activist asked her to write him a letter. She served as Sonnier's spiritual adviser and accompanied him to his death, which inspired her work against capital punishment. Her 1993 book, Dead Man Walking, was made into a movie starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Prejean. Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally also created a highly regarded opera of the same name.

Reason's Billy Binion spoke with Prejean about growing up in the segregated South, her opposition to the death penalty, how she connects with crime victims, and her response to Christians who believe the death penalty is just.

0:00—Introduction

The post Helen Prejean: Why This Nun Is Fighting To End the Death Penalty appeared first on Reason.com.

Few figures have literally and figuratively electrified American culture the way Bob Dylan has. He released his first album in 1962, won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, and continues to perform about 100 concerts a year at the ripe age of 83. His life is chronicled in the new movie A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet.

But what's the meaning—or meanings—of Bob Dylan, who sang at Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, became a born-again Christian in the 1970s, and wrote a book called The Philosophy of Modern Song?

Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Jeffrey Edward Green, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the new book Bob Dylan: Prophet Without God. Green argues that Dylan's work embodies a uniquely American tension between commitments to individual self-expression, the pursuit of political and social justice, and being right with one's version of God. In this, he is akin to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and other figures who refused to subjugate their lives completely to a particular cause. Dylan's willingness to openly struggle with these conflicting demands—and his abiding interest in adapting past musical forms—helps explain why he remains so important to understanding where we've been as a country and where we might be headin'.

The post Jeffrey Edward Green: Why Bob Dylan's Prophecies Continue To Fascinate appeared first on Reason.com.