The Glenn Show

0:00 John’s awkward run-in at the farmer’s market 5:40 Will people be reading Ibram X. Kendi in 2043? 17:03 Regret, doubt, and going against the tide  28:12 How Glenn and John negotiate their public profiles 40:50 Did Scott Adams deserve to get canceled?  52:47  What’s going on beneath the Scott Adams controversy? Recorded March 5, 2023 Links and Readings Ibram X. Kendi’s Zora Neale Hurston adapta...

0:00 Oded's new book, The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality 7:58 How inequality and growth emerged over the course of human history 18:52 Breaking free of a 300,000-year-old stagnation cycle 27:24 Humanity's phase shift into modernity 33:39 Inequality and the formation of institutions 44:18 The deep links between geography and institutions 50:38 Africa, Asia, and the trials...

0:00 Woke religion or woke cult? 8:59 Does suffering confer authority on the sufferer? 12:47 A world without “anti-black domination” 21:27 Is there an alternative to the criminal justice system? 34:42 Domination and the purpose of the university 42:47 How Vincent’s Telluride Association seminar blew up 50:45 The narrowness of the social justice framework 54:14 Glenn and John’s encounters with fans...

Glenn Loury & Delano Squires (Blaze Media) 0:00 Why Delano is a conservative 7:06 Delano’s critique of Raphael Warnock and the “Afristocracy”  19:26 Delano: “The designer is the definer”  27:43 Abortion and black lives 41:44 Are abortion rights necessary to protect women’s rights?  47:53 Delano: Government is no substitute for fatherhood 53:48 Can we reweave the social fabric? Links and Readings D...

0:00 The “utter horror show” and incompetent policing of the Tyre Nichols killing 7:52 The relatively peaceful reaction to the killing 15:25 What set off the cops? 21:53 Why Peter thinks police units like SCORPION should not be disbanded 27:25 Should we get rid of qualified immunity? 30:21 Policing and white supremacy 40:45 Peter: We on the left have ceded law and order to the Trumpian right 46:00...

0:00 Ernie’s work as an organizer 5:45 Tension, polarization, and reconciliation 12:49 The drama of organizing 18:21 The definition of power 27:52 Ernesto’s work getting running water and sewers to border communities 31:26 Market activity vs. market ideology 41:31 What’s wrong with meritocracy? 56:12 Does identitarianism stand in the way of reconciliation? Recorded January 19, 2023 Links and Readi...

0:00 Glenn and John go to Cambridge 9:25 The Hamline University Prophet Muhammad controversy  14:38 John: “Physics is physics” 18:45 The Harlem Renaissance and Black Studies 26:35 Is “getting past race” more trouble than it’s worth? 36:51 Is Joe Biden patronizing black people? 42:59 How a black musical changed the sound of Broadway  Recorded January 20, 2023 Links and Readings The Equiano Project...

0:00 Steven’s best-selling book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters 2:38 Steven: Concerns about catastrophic climate change “beggar belief” 9:43 The complexities of climate change models 15:07 Should we worry about rising sea levels? 24:54 Hurricanes, tornados, and other extreme weather events 29:59 Is a zero-emissions goal worth the cost? 38:05 How to fi...

0:00 A brief intro from Glenn 1:03 The lionization of the lightweights 5:45 The unified field theory of non-whiteness 19:16 An honest conversation about crime 27:51 Glenn’s birthday menu 30:46 It’s time to choose a side 41:46 Clarence Thomas, black icon 44:54 Policing Joe Rogan 51:56 By any means necessary? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acces...

This week I’m very pleased to have with me the political philosopher Michael Sandel. I’ve been an avid reader of Michael’s work for decades, ever since coming across his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice in the 1980s. Michael’s latest book, 2020’s The Tyranny of Merit , couldn’t be more timely. In it, Michael elaborates a critique of the meritocratic ideology that divides society in...

This week, John McWhorter and I are joined by Greg Thomas, senior fellow at the Institute for Cultural Evolution and CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, to discuss one of our perennial Big Questions: Are we ready to deracialize? As you may have gathered from his previous TGS appearance , that’s the kind of issue Greg loves to sink his teeth into. But I do have some questions of my own for Greg. Le...

0:00 Why Glenn does The Glenn Show 13:02 Glenn: “If I was going to vote for Trump, I wouldn’t tell you” 19:21 “The cat is out of the bag” on election denial 25:45 Modeling epistemic modesty 31:12 Why is race such an important issue for Glenn? 39:13 The Old Glenn and the New Glenn 45:46 Confronting the past 50:44 Putting “the funk” on the story of your life Recorded October 27, 2022 Links and Readi...

0:00 Why are we paying so much attention to Kanye West’s antisemitism? 14:02 The two words you never say together 23:28 Could widespread antisemitism take hold in the US? 36:53 The mythological black past and the realities of the present 48:12 How necessary is rootedness to the modern human experience? 56:54 How we make race, how race makes us Recorded on December 10, 2022 Links and Readings Dave...

This week we’ve got something special for you here at The Glenn Show. In late October, I convened in person in New York City with the economist Richard Wolff for an extended debate on the comparative merits of capitalism and socialism. Some of you may have seen Rick’s previous appearance on TGS , where he joined John McWhorter and me for a similar debate. Rick and I both felt that we had more to s...

0:00 How the pandemic affected diversity in the theater 10:24 James gets drawn into an “antiracist” meltdown during rehearsal 21:08 James’s story of ostracism and Loving v. Virginia 26:58 Juilliard students revolt 39:19 A plea for mutual understanding in the theater 47:57 A preview of things to come on The Glenn Show 50:32 Glenn’s problem with “racial inequity” 59:18 Getting through to “Donna” 1:0...

0:00 What does “black identity” mean? 4:53 Why Bob left the Civil Rights Movement 8:04 Shelby: Our problem today is freedom, not racism 15:36 Glenn: We can’t afford to give up on black collective goals 21:30 Why Shelby wouldn’t sign a letter of support for Clarence Thomas 30:13 Would freeing ourselves from race mean sacrificing collective action? 39:10 The tactical efficacy of racial identificatio...

0:00 Glenn’s culinary dilemma 3:31 Why the Republican Party depresses John 8:14 What’s the difference between Herschel Walker and John Fetterman? 13:12 Glenn’s argument for voting Republican 30:01 Woke theater’s “melodramatic agitprop” 43:10 Kanye, Kyrie, and the Jews 54:00 What’s “systemic,” “structural,” or “institutional” about racism? Recorded on November 13, 2022 Links and Readings John’s NYT...

My guest this week, filmmaker Rob Montz, is an unlikely figure: a libertarian-leaning Brown University graduate who loves ‘90s rap and produces politically inflected documentaries that push back against the orthodoxies of the mainstream media. Rob has featured me in several of his works, and so I thought it was time to return the favor and have him on TGS. I begin by asking Rob how someone with a...

I’m back with John McWhorter for the latest installment of our ongoing conversation. John hit some technical snags in the first ten minutes of the recording, so apologies if the beginning sounds a little jumpy. After that, things smooth out. On to the conversation. We begin by talking about my memoir , which is now, after years of false starts, humming along nicely. But the process has forced me t...

As I mentioned at the start of our latest subscriber-only Q&A episode, John McWhorter recently received the 2022 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education , bestowed by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. According to the ACTA, the award honors “individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to liberal arts education, core curricula, and the tea...

0:00 How Rafael came to the Manhattan Institute 7:33 Rafael’s new book, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most 15:35 Is prison the right response to violent crime? 26:20 Why Rafael believes in three-strikes-type sentencing guidelines 31:42 Incarceration may lower crime, but is it just?  41:54 Rafael: Defunding the police is an indefens...

0:00 Is racist heckling at sporting events a real problem? 15:13 John: “If you can’t be made fun of, you’re not part of the group” 26:42 The LA County Federation of Labor racism scandal 34:10 Why is there no Latino Michael Brown? 41:22 Exalting (and exaggerating) the victim role 47:47 Glenn’s daughter’s upcoming appearance on The Glenn Show 49:48 Elite discrimination against Asians Links and Readi...

0:00 Matt’s profile of the artist Rahmaan Statik 11:26 Chicago’s “Great Unraveling”  20:41 Is Chicago slouching toward dystopia?  29:50 How will the near-end of cash bail affect crime in Chicago? 33:24 The responsibilities of teachers, parents, and the police 46:59 A snapshot of crime in Chicago 52:26 Matt runs the numbers on Illinois’s out-of-wedlock births 1:02:44 Lori Lightfoot’s prospects for...

0:00 Is Florence Price’s music worthy of its current popularity? 12:20 The decline of blind auditions 18:27 Do diverse orchestras attract diverse audiences and musicians? 23:26 Why Don is protecting his real identity 27:00 Glenn delivers a soliloquy on humanity 32:06 John: Eliminating blind auditions is “bat s**t crazy” 38:22 Should John’s daughters benefit from affirmative action? Links and Readi...

This week I welcome Lara Bazelon back to the show. Lara is a lawyer, a professor of law, and the author of several books, including the excellent novel A Good Mother . Lara is also an energetic free speech advocate who has taken some principled stands that have, at times, put her at odds with other progressives. We begin by discussing Lara’s decision to represent a college student, “John,” who had...