The Glenn Show

0:00 How Matt first encountered Christopher Hitchens 6:07 Matt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment 8:00 Why Matt thinks Cornel West’s Vietnam-Afghanistan analogy is flawed 14:21 What’s worth preserving in the left-liberal tradition? 21:38 Matt: Identity politics is a “toxin” 27:20 Was affirmative action ever necessary? 35...

0:00 John: Let’s be honest about what “taking race into account” means in affirmative action 10:09 Glenn: How can anyone argue that race-based affirmative action doesn’t violate the 14th Amendment? 19:29 Why are we so focused on elite institutions? 24:32 John: The University of California works just fine without “racial preferences” 30:28 “You’re pulling the ladder up behind you” is an invalid cri...

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0:00 The problem with scientific consensus 6:36 Why Jay and his colleagues were branded “fringe epidemiologists” 15:52 Jay: We need to engage with everyone—even those with mistaken beliefs 25:55 Persuading science skeptics 36:04 How do we stop COVID overreach from happening again? 46:38 Jay: Gain-of-function research is impossible to do safely 55:03 Are some ideas too dangerous to test? 59:30 Jay:...

0:00 Why Cornel is running for president 10:45 How Cornel links American militarism abroad and inequality at home 15:15 Cornel’s pitch to skeptical right-of-center voters 20:30 Is there tension between Cornel’s commitment to stopping climate change and his commitment to helping the working class? 33:50 The moral potential and pitfalls of capitalism 37:34 Might Cornel inadvertently hand the electio...

The following bonus episode was previously available only to paying Substack subscribers. We’re now releasing it to the public. 0:00 Identitarianism in the medical profession 5:13 The (exaggerated) psychiatric toll of Covid 7:31 Why were psychiatrists publicly diagnosing Trump? 12:29 Sally’s quest for a kidney donor 23:30 How the kidney donation system works and why it doesn’t 29:30 The ethics of...

0:00 Why Jonathan’s course “Culture in America” got canceled 9:07 The fragility of liberal arts education 17:24 Managing “CRT zealots” in the classroom 27:44 Is there a future for free inquiry? 35:03 John: Black middle-class students don’t need affirmative action 44:57 Is diversity the problem, or is it elitism? 52:35 The virtues (and virtue signaling) of Randall Kennedy Recorded June 17, 2023 Lin...

0:00 Bob’s new book, The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope 7:02 Bob: “Liberals have given up” on changing black family dynamics 15:02 Two-parent families are preferable, but single-parent families need help 22:01 Do children help women organize their lives more effectively than men? 29:14 Is community college helping or hurting young...

0:00 Inside the mind of a crack columnist 4:19 The blowback from Norman Finkelstein’s TGS appearance 15:27 Is it enough to be a “happy warrior” for your cause? 28:45 How did MLK become MLK? 37:37 What’s in a name when that name is “Woodrow Wilson”? 49:10 Glenn: “Clarence Thomas’s name should be on public school buildings” Recorded May 30, 2023 Links and Readings John’s NYT archive Norman Finkelste...

0:00 Charles’s argument for emphasizing education over systemic racism 5:21 Donique: Teaching African American history doesn’t require critical race theory 15:36 Charles: We are the 97%! 18:48 How Donique balances oppression and triumph in black history 24:02 What does Florida’s Stop WOKE Act actually say? 33:30 What’s wrong with integrating LGBT history and black history? 44:19 Sexuality’s ever-s...

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0:00 John: “I love linguistics, but it no longer loves me” 9:44 How Glenn and John are getting written out of their fields 19:27 Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die … 27:28 … but the New York subway is getting scary 37:45 Glenn: Reparations would be “impractical, unfair, and divisive in the extreme” 50:50 A possible left-wing objection to reparations 57:22 Glenn goes ham on reparations Recorded May...

0:00 Why YouTube censored a TGS episode 6:25 How can YouTube justify censoring matters of opinion? 15:15 Why there’s no such thing as free speech 26:00 Nikita’s notes on Substack Notes 39:53 Democratizing content moderation 46:11 Creating better, community-centered comments sections Recorded May 4, 2023 Links and Readings Nikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica The censored TGS episode, “I Feel, Therefo...

0:00 Has Norman been shut out of mainstream political debates? 7:54 Norman’s conflict with Alan Dershowitz 16:50 Is Israel an apartheid state? 19:25 Identifying with Paul Robeson 33:08 Norman’s new book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! 44:42 Norman: Wokeness is a “triple scam” 53:28 What’s become of Angela Davis? 1:00:05 Cornel West's chosen path 1:09:01 Obama’s self-proclaimed “neat trick...

In this week’s episode, John and I return to a familiar character: Omar. For those of you unfamiliar with “Omar,” he’s our invented surrogate for the kind of young black man whose behavior is wreaking havoc on Chicago and St. Louis. Omar is economically disadvantaged. He was more than likely raised by a single mother. He underperforms academically, and he may have dropped out of high school. He’s...

0:00 Heather’s new book, When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives 8:20 Are racial disparities in medical school the result of racism or skills gaps? 20:03 Do we really know what causes racial disparities? 32:23 Closing racial achievement gaps begins at home 40:39 Will black doctors necessarily provide better care to black patient...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com Glenn and John answer questions from the Substack community.

0:00 Mark Goldblatt’s recent book, I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism 10:55 Wokeism’s roots in postmodern thought 15:05 The “mysticism” of woke thinking 17:44 Learning from Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations 26:29 John breaks his silence on transgender issues 35:13 The political consequences of subjectivism 41:46 Why Mark thinks transgender people are mentally disordered 50:...

0:00 The gigification of academia 8:26 Is education just another commodity? 18:14 What do historians do? 26:22 Daniel: The university system is an unregulated cartel 35:08 The liberalism (not the leftism) of the university 38:22 Using (and getting used by) new technology 43:19 An alternate history of global economic development 47:29 The end of the American century 54:27 Daniel’s critique of US su...

0:00 Al Sharpton’s National Action Network still exists, apparently 5:00 MLK’s understanding of America’s contributions to democracy 12:58 Are the “people with three names” grifters or merely limited in their racial vision? 21:07 How do you change the minds of black voters? 30:13 The national black leadership vacuum 36:30 The under-recognized success of the black middle class 41:30 Ian’s got a fou...

0:00 What’s wrong with cancelation? 13:28 A defense of Charles Murray 21:24 Cancelation and the closet 28:08 Jonathan’s book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth 39:35 Jonathan: “The marketplace of ideas” is a necessary but insufficient metaphor 42:51 Is Trump an agent of disinformation? 54:22 What the woke and MAGA crowds have in common 59:41 Why Jonathan is hopeful about the consti...

0:00 The disruption of Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech at Stanford Law School 9:33 Why did people have a problem with Duncan? 13:51 Will the current Supreme Court overturn Obergefell v. Hodges 16:37 The necessity of free inquiry and reasoned discourse 26:44 What it’s like being a FedSoc conservative at Stanford Law 34:30 The fallout from the Duncan protests 41:30 The vulgarity of the insults hurled at...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com Glenn and John respond to questions from Substack subscribers.

0:00 John’s recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher 7:23 The rigors of the lecture circuit 10:29 The difference between equity and equality 22:10 How do we know that African Americans are just as smart as everyone else? 30:59 The new black bourgeoisie 38:33 Standards in the arts are relative. But how relative? 51:15 John sets the record straight on his dancing skills Recorded March 19, 2022...

My guest this week is the distinguished physicist Sylvester “Jim” Gates. Jim was my colleague at Brown for years (he’s now at the University of Maryland), and we’re both alumni of MIT. Jim has made pathbreaking contributions to areas of physics that laymen like me can barely understand—he’s a deep, deep guy. He’s also got some thoughts on race and diversity in the sciences that give us an opportun...