0:00 Is “black heterodoxy” a euphemism for “black conservatism”?13:34 Classical liberalism’s role in Free Black Thought15:07 Erec: I saw things while working as a diversity officer that I can’t unsee22:47 Why the Democratic Party doesn’t like Erec30:38 How Free Black Thought is fostering agency in the black community36:16 Erec: The onus is on us, not affirmative action, to prepare black students for college<a target="_blank" href="https://w

0:00 The state of campus speech after 10/75:48 Daniel: Why are critics of cancel culture silent when it comes to Israel?15:43 “Explaining” Hamas vs. “excusing” Hamas26:17 Tyler: American Jewish students worried about their safety have been primed by modern identity politics29:31 The tension between DEI and antisemitism response teams38:17 The linguistic ambiguity of “From the river to the sea”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com

0:00 How Bob gave Glenn his start in podcasting2:05 Is the Gaza War in Israel’s best interests …11:46 … and if not, what should Israel have done in response to October 7?18:06 How Hamas gained control of Gaza26:53 Bob: Some in the Israeli government wouldn’t mind a wider war in the Middle East36:46 What does “From the river to the sea” actually mean?46:10

0:35 A quick announcement1:46 What led Yascha to write about identity6:22 An intellectual history of “identity synthesis”12:15 What’s so bad about “strategic essentialism”?19:15 From postmodernism to post-civil rights28:45 The three key claims of identity synthesis36:02 What led up to the summer of 2020?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.c

0:00 Persia at the turn of the twentieth century6:43 Woodrow Wilson’s contradictions11:14 Did Howard Baskerville escape the prejudices of his time?16:39 How Baskerville got involved in Persia’s democratic revolution26:43 How Czar Nicholas II aided the counter-revolution32:29 The erasure of Baskerville in post-1979 Iran36:31 The theological origin of the Isl

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comGlenn and John answer subscriber questions.

0:00 Why John thinks pro-Hamas sentiment on the American left is racist 6:11 Distinguishing between anti-colonialism and antisemitism 12:46 There are great crimes in America’s past. But we shouldn’t let them define us.17:08 Glenn: We’re standing on the precipice of something catastrophic 27:57 John’s proposal for the US’s role in Israel’s domestic conflict 34:59 Is it right for people to lose their jobs over opposing Israel? <a target="_bla

0:00 Why John thinks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was rational6:55 How small states deal with world powers10:13 If Russia’s action were rational, were the US’s?16:40 John: The Ukraine invasion violates international law, but Russia has reason to see it as just21:58 The risk of escalation29:26 Zelensky’s expert manipulation of the West33:51 Is it a coincide

0:00 The blowback from Coleman’s TED Talk 8:50 Did TED intentionally throttle promotion for Coleman’s talk? 17:08 John’s trouble with TED while promoting Woke Racism 20:21 Coleman’s forthcoming book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America 29:17 Race in public and private life 43:49 Closure on the TED affair 45:14 What are the goals o

0:00 Introduction by Greg Burnep4:27 What does affirmative action mean in 2023?11:06 Randy’s distinction between “disadvantage” and “discrimination”18:21 Diversity’s double-talk31:18 Did the Supreme Court say discrimination is allowed at military academies?34:33 Glenn: Affirmative action distracts us from bigger problems41:16 Affirmative action is an elite

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.comGlenn and John answer subscriber questions.

0:00 What’s wrong with critical race theory, anyway? 3:31 Why “black Columbia” pretends that John doesn’t exist 12:08 CRT’s racial power-grab 18:06 Does the Jewish American example apply to African Americans? 23:10 Disguising failure as victimology 32:15 Why Dan thinks the CRT tide is ebbing 39:58 The schadenfreude of the Ibram X. Kendi scandal <a t

0:00 How Sabby got her start on YouTube6:18 What happened to the Justice Democrats’ “hostile takeover”?11:31 Is the US sliding into fascism?19:26 The tension between race and class on the left27:15 Donald Trump’s rising popularity among black men32:39 The military-industrial complex and climate change42:07 Sabby’s argument for worker co-ops<a target

0:00 Tyler’s concept of “racial gamification” 6:30 Affirmative action in spirit and practice 13:18 Why can’t we just determine admissions based on academic merit alone? 19:17 The fading popularity of “traditional” affirmative action 22:47 Re-weighting and funding the admissions process 32:28 How can we get white “allies” to act normal around black people? 38:2

0:00 Biden’s new DEI initiatives7:59 The disparate uses of disparate impact13:59 Shep’s new book, The Crucible of Desegregation: The Uncertain Search for Educational Equality23:15 The problem with claims that education is resegregating29:56 Are we heading back to the bussing debates of the 1970s?35:52 Shep’s book, The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education<a target="_blank" href="https://www.yo

0:00 Can a white man tell Harriet Tubman’s story?9:59 What the fall semester has in store for Glenn and John17:25 How John makes the sausage at the New York Times22:55 John: We now memorize rap lyrics instead of poetry36:18 Is wokeness on the wane?42:12 What John just doesn’t get about Carol Swain51:46 A Democrat by any other name<a target="_blank"

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0:00 Why Carol joined Black Voices for Trump9:59 Why should black people support Trump?16:31 Carol: Democrats stole the 2020 election26:07 Does Trump face a credible assassination threat?30:35 The redefinition of white supremacy35:51 Deracializing the crime debate39:58 Carol’s new book, The Adversity of Diversity: How Real Training Can Promote Healing

0:00 A sixteen-year-long conversation5:45 Race and socioeconomics on the cusp of the Obama Era21:19 The myth of black poverty and deindustrialization32:56 Glenn pulls rank37:59 Why Glenn changed his mind about the Manhattan Institute50:15 Is the think tank world any more “objective” than academia?Recorded August 19, 2023Links and ReadingsGlenn and John’s first conversatio

0:00 Haim’s history with The Glenn Show7:54 How Haim ended up fighting in Ukraine17:42 The legionnaire’s lingua franca27:55 Haim’s riposte to Cornel West on Ukraine42:27 A pen in one hand and a gun in the other47:56 Haim: Ukraine’s sovereignty and national identity must be respected53:34 Is the two-state solution dead?Recorded July 23, 2023L

0:00 The protestant ethic and the spirit of wokeness 10:47 Is comparing wokeness to religion a slander on religion? 21:08 Ian: Wokeness is a distraction from real political problems 28:02 How Ian experienced his own cancelation 41:31 America’s exportation of wokeness 45:45 Has wokeness aided and abetted Trump and Brexit? 52:54 John: Enslaved people did fi

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

0:00 How Jay’s position on affirmative action changed12:15 Jay: I can’t see the virtue in affirmative action as it’s practiced20:07 Why did so many Asian students defend policies that discriminated against Asians?25:35 The hidden cultural argument in the California Mathematics Framework32:01 Is the “people of color coalition” coming apart?34:55 Why so little outrage over the SCOTUS affirmative action decision?<a target="_blank" href="https

0:00 Peter’s role in the Supreme Court affirmative action case8:57 Are legacy admissions affirmative action by another name?19:17 Why Peter got interested in affirmative action24:20 Glenn was for affirmative action before he was against it30:33 Peter: Universities are not honest about admissions34:20 The brilliance of Roland Fryer51:17 Campus diversity af

0:00 How Matt first encountered Christopher Hitchens6:07 Matt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment8:00 Why Matt thinks Cornel West’s Vietnam-Afghanistan analogy is flawed14:21 What’s worth preserving in the left-liberal tradition?21:38 Matt: Identity politics is a “toxin”27:20 Was affirmative action ever necessary?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube

0:00 John: Let’s be honest about what “taking race into account” means in affirmative action10:09 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 critique35:00 John: The fact that racism exists does not

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

0:00 The problem with scientific consensus6:36 Why Jay and his colleagues were branded “fringe epidemiologists”15:52 Jay: We need to engage with everyone—even those with mistaken beliefs25:55 Persuading science skeptics36:04 How do we stop COVID overreach from happening again?46:38 Jay: Gain-of-function research is impossible to do safely55:03 Are some ide

0:00 Why Cornel is running for president10:45 How Cornel links American militarism abroad and inequality at home15:15 Cornel’s pitch to skeptical right-of-center voters20:30 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 capitalism37:34 Might Cornel inadvertently hand the election to the Republicans?<a target="_blank" href="htt

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

0:00 Bob’s new book, The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope7:02 Bob: “Liberals have given up” on changing black family dynamics15:02 Two-parent families are preferable, but single-parent families need help22:01 Do children help women organize their lives more effectively than men?29:14 Is community college helping or hurting young black men?38:38 How Bob thinks police and com

0:00 Inside the mind of a crack columnist4:19 The blowback from Norman Finkelstein’s TGS appearance15:27 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, 2023Links and ReadingsJohn’

0:00 Charles’s argument for emphasizing education over systemic racism5:21 Donique: Teaching African American history doesn’t require critical race theory15:36 Charles: We are the 97%!18:48 How Donique balances oppression and triumph in black history24:02 What does Florida’s Stop WOKE Act actually say?33:30 What’s wrong with integrating LGBT history and black history?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2bTfigpo0&#38;t

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

0:00 John: “I love linguistics, but it no longer loves me”9:44 How Glenn and John are getting written out of their fields19:27 Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die …27:28 … but the New York subway is getting scary37:45 Glenn: Reparations would be “impractical, unfair, and divisive in the extreme”50:50 A possible left-wing objection to reparations57:22 Glenn

0:00 Why YouTube censored a TGS episode6:25 How can YouTube justify censoring matters of opinion?15:15 Why there’s no such thing as free speech26:00 Nikita’s notes on Substack Notes39:53 Democratizing content moderation46:11 Creating better, community-centered comments sectionsRecorded May 4, 2023Links and ReadingsNikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica<

0:00 Has Norman been shut out of mainstream political debates?7:54 Norman’s conflict with Alan Dershowitz16:50 Is Israel an apartheid state?19:25 Identifying with Paul Robeson33:08 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?<a target="_blank" href="

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 involved in illegal activity of one sort or another. If there is some kind of large-scale disorderly event, you’ll likely find Omar there. After a discussion of Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News, John and I spend most of the episode talking about Omar: what made him who he is, why he acts the way he does, and what, if anything, can make him change. John has little sympathy for structural explanations for Omar’s behavior. According to John, culture makes Omar who he is, not the history of American racism, not implicit bias, and

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

0:00 Heather’s new book, When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives8:20 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 home40:39 Will black doctors necessarily provide better care to black patients?50:26 Canceling Western art<a target

0:00 Mark Goldblatt’s recent book, I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism10:55 Wokeism’s roots in postmodern thought15:05 The “mysticism” of woke thinking17:44 Learning from Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations26:29 John breaks his silence on transgender issues35:13 The political consequences of subjectivism41:46 Why Mark thinks transgende

0:00 The gigification of academia8:26 Is education just another commodity?18:14 What do historians do?26:22 Daniel: The university system is an unregulated cartel35:08 The liberalism (not the leftism) of the university38:22 Using (and getting used by) new technology43:19 An alternate history of global economic development<a target="_blank" href="ht

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com0:00 Identitarianism in the medical profession5:13 The (exaggerated) psychiatric toll of Covid7:31 Why were psychiatrists publicly diagnosing Trump?12:29 Sally’s quest for a kidney donor23:30 How the kidney donation system works and why it doesn’t29:30 The ethics of selling a kidney34:42 Can we put a price on the human body?43:44 Would paying donors exploit the poor?48:17 Is paid kidney donation a political possibility?53:12 The roadblocks facing paid kidney donationLinks and ReadingsSally’s book, P.C., M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-Under-Therap

0:00 Al Sharpton’s National Action Network still exists, apparently5:00 MLK’s understanding of America’s contributions to democracy12:58 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 vacuum36:30 The under-recognized success of the black middle class<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFddNjwXI9A&#3

0:00 What’s wrong with cancelation?13:28 A defense of Charles Murray21:24 Cancelation and the closet28:08 Jonathan’s book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth39:35 Jonathan: “The marketplace of ideas” is a necessary but insufficient metaphor42:51 Is Trump an agent of disinformation?54:22 What the woke and MAGA crowds have in common<

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

0:00 The disruption of Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech at Stanford Law School9:33 Why did people have a problem with Duncan?13:51 Will the current Supreme Court overturn Obergefell v. Hodges16:37 The necessity of free inquiry and reasoned discourse26:44 What it’s like being a FedSoc conservative at Stanford Law34:30 The fallout from the Duncan protests41:30

0:00 John’s recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher7:23 The rigors of the lecture circuit10:29 The difference between equity and equality22:10 How do we know that African Americans are just as smart as everyone else?30:59 The new black bourgeoisie38:33 Standards in the arts are relative. But how relative?51:15 John sets the record straight

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 opportunity for some friendly debate. Jim begins by introducing supersymmetry, a subfield in physics he helped to define back in the ‘70s. It’s extremely complex stuff, but he breaks it down. We spend the bulk of our time, though, talking about race in the sciences. Jim stresses the value that diversity plays in an under-recognized aspect of scientific innovation: imagination. In Jim’s view, while tests are important, there are limits to what they can tell us about who is most likely to produce the next big advance in

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, 2023Links and Readings<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Magnolia-Flower-Zora-Neale-

0:00 Oded's new book, The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality7:58 How inequality and growth emerged over the course of human history18:52 Breaking free of a 300,000-year-old stagnation cycle27:24 Humanity's phase shift into modernity33:39 Inequality and the formation of institutions44:18 The deep links between geography and institutions<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_GiD-X1UM&#38;t

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 <

Glenn Loury & Delano Squires (Blaze Media)0:00 Why Delano is a conservative7:06 Delano’s critique of Raphael Warnock and the “Afristocracy” 19:26 Delano: “The designer is the definer” 27:43 Abortion and black lives41:44 Are abortion rights necessary to protect women’s rights? 47:53 Delano: Government is no substitute for fatherhood53:48 Can we reweave the social fabric?Links and ReadingsDelano’s writing at Blaze MediaThe Woodson Center’s 1776 Unites Black and Married with KidsIan Rowe’s book, Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victim

0:00 The “utter horror show” and incompetent policing of the Tyre Nichols killing7:52 The relatively peaceful reaction to the killing15:25 What set off the cops?21:53 Why Peter thinks police units like SCORPION should not be disbanded27:25 Should we get rid of qualified immunity?30:21 Policing and white supremacy40:45 Peter: We on the left have ceded law a

0:00 Ernie’s work as an organizer5:45 Tension, polarization, and reconciliation12:49 The drama of organizing18:21 The definition of power27:52 Ernesto’s work getting running water and sewers to border communities31:26 Market activity vs. market ideology41:31 What’s wrong with meritocracy?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96_8A

0:00 Glenn and John go to Cambridge9:25 The Hamline University Prophet Muhammad controversy 14:38 John: “Physics is physics”18:45 The Harlem Renaissance and Black Studies26:35 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, 20

0:00 Steven’s best-selling book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters2:38 Steven: Concerns about catastrophic climate change “beggar belief”9:43 The complexities of climate change models15:07 Should we worry about rising sea levels?24:54 Hurricanes, tornados, and other extreme weather events29:59 Is a zero-emissions goal worth the cost?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

0:00 A brief intro from Glenn1:03 The lionization of the lightweights5:45 The unified field theory of non-whiteness19:16 An honest conversation about crime27:51 Glenn’s birthday menu30:46 It’s time to choose a side41:46 Clarence Thomas, black icon44:54 Policing Joe Rogan51:56 By any means necessary? 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

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 into winners and losers, each of which has earned the fate that has befallen them. In our conversation, Michael lays out his argument in the book, which takes issue with the notion that an individual’s economic success or failure is an index of their character. The idea that the wealthy deserve their wealth and the poor deserve their poverty ignores the powerful economic forces that shape the outcomes of people’s lives, forces that operate well outside the control of the people affected by them. We discuss the distinction betwe

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. Let’s get into it.We begin with a little jazz talk. I ask Greg how he goes about incorporating the principles of the music into the workshops he leads with the Jazz Leadership Project. He goes on to explain how the history of jazz provides a way of understanding how we can begin to envision a society that moves past race. Greg uses the work of Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison as examples, but I want to know wh

0:00 Why Glenn does The Glenn Show13:02 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 denial25:45 Modeling epistemic modesty31:12 Why is race such an important issue for Glenn?39:13 The Old Glenn and the New Glenn45:46 Confronting the past<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/

0:00 Why are we paying so much attention to Kanye West’s antisemitism?14:02 The two words you never say together23:28 Could widespread antisemitism take hold in the US?36:53 The mythological black past and the realities of the present48:12 How necessary is rootedness to the modern human experience?56:54 How we make race, how race makes usRecorded on December 10, 2022Links and Readings<a target="_blank" href="https://ww

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 say than that format allowed, so we agreed to meet face to face. Both of us are passionate defenders of our positions—capitalism for me and socialism for Rick—so we knew we needed a moderator to keep things on track. Luckily, I knew just the person: my lovely wife, LaJuan Loury. If you’re a regular viewer, you’ll know that LaJuan and I have some stark political differences; her views have more in common with Rick’s than wit

0:00 How the pandemic affected diversity in the theater10:24 James gets drawn into an “antiracist” meltdown during rehearsal21:08 James’s story of ostracism and Loving v. Virginia26:58 Juilliard students revolt39:19 A plea for mutual understanding in the theater47:57 A preview of things to come on The Glenn Show50:32 Glenn’s problem with “racial

0:00 What does “black identity” mean?4:53 Why Bob left the Civil Rights Movement8:04 Shelby: Our problem today is freedom, not racism15:36 Glenn: We can’t afford to give up on black collective goals21:30 Why Shelby wouldn’t sign a letter of support for Clarence Thomas30:13 Would freeing ourselves from race mean sacrificing collective action?39:10 The tactic

0:00 Glenn’s culinary dilemma3:31 Why the Republican Party depresses John8:14 What’s the difference between Herschel Walker and John Fetterman?13:12 Glenn’s argument for voting Republican30:01 Woke theater’s “melodramatic agitprop”43:10 Kanye, Kyrie, and the Jews54:00 What’s “systemic,” “structural,” or “institutional” about racism?Recorded on Novemb

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 Brown pedigree ends up interested in such un-Brown-like figures as Charles Murray, Roy Beck, and Scott Atlas. Rob traces out his path from Brown to the Cato Institute to starting his own company, Good Kid Productions. He talks about some of his work, including a forthcoming doc about James Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse and one defending Roland Fryer from Harvard’s spurious sexual harassment charges. We then discuss the niches we’ve created for ourselves outside of the mainstream. Rob asks whether there’s a place for <str

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 to confront some very dark episodes from my past, and they don’t always cast me in the most flattering light. As I explain, I think that presenting this unvarnished account of my own actions is necessary, both in the service of truth and in building credibility. John says he’ll probably never write a memoir, but I believe that if he sat down to do it, people would be more receptive than he thinks they would. After a rant about the “lightweights” against whom John and I often find ourselves pitted in the public square, w

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 teaching of Western Civilization and American history.” Perhaps I’m biased, but I can think of no one who more richly deserves such recognition, and so I was proud to be asked to deliver some remarks in tribute to John at a ceremony, which I offer below. (I’ve also recorded an audio and video version for those who prefer to listen and watch. The audio is available now, video will uploaded tomorrow.)Next month will mark the fifteenth anniversary of <a target

0:00 How Rafael came to the Manhattan Institute7:33 Rafael’s new book, Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most15:35 Is prison the right response to violent crime?26:20 Why Rafael believes in three-strikes-type sentencing guidelines31:42 Incarceration may lower crime, but is it just? 41:54 Rafael: Defunding the police is an indefensible idea<a target="_blank" href="https:

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 scandal34:10 Why is there no Latino Michael Brown?41:22 Exalting (and exaggerating) the victim role47:47 Glenn’s daughter’s upcoming appearance on The Glenn Show49:48 Elite discrimi

0:00 Matt’s profile of the artist Rahmaan Statik11:26 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 police46:59 A snapshot of crime in Chicago52:26 Matt runs the numbers on Illinois’s out-of-wedlock births</p

0:00 Is Florence Price’s music worthy of its current popularity?12:20 The decline of blind auditions18:27 Do diverse orchestras attract diverse audiences and musicians?23:26 Why Don is protecting his real identity27:00 Glenn delivers a soliloquy on humanity32:06 John: Eliminating blind auditions is “bat s**t crazy”38:22 Should John’s daughters benefit fro

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 been found culpable for the alleged rape of a fellow student. Lara explains how the Title IX regulations under which John was investigated unfairly stacked the deck against him. These regulations, while providing needed protections for women, can also allow for unfair results that can potentially destroy the lives of the accused without giving them a chance to defend themselves. As a feminist, Lara is committed to defending women’s equality, but she is also uncomfortable with the ways that some progressives seem willi

This week, John McWhorter and I welcome special guest Ian Rowe to TGS. Ian is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder and CEO of Vertex Enterprise Academies, and author of the new book Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power. Ian is doing outstanding work establishing charter schools throughout New York City, so John and I invited him on to discuss his efforts, among other topics. We begin by discussing how the Rodney King beating and the LA riots that followed the acquittal of the officers involved led Ian and Nique Fajors to make a documentary, which, decades later, developed into their podcast Invisible Men. Ian thinks that two related and competing narratives—“blame the system” and “blame the victim”—place pressure on black teens

Source post0:00 Introducing Glenn Loury8:50 What is “social capital”?19:24 Racial inequality and self-segregation 30:01 Glenn: “The jig is up” on affirmative action<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="h

0:00 What’s on the menu for Glenn’s birthday party 4:49 John’s Twitter spat with Ibram X. Kendi 14:05 What do we lose by changing testing standards? 20:39 Glenn: If groups matter, then culture matters 32:04 How to prove a racist wrong 39:19 The ballad of Glenn and Woody 51:50 Mitchell S. Jackson’s Esquire essay about Clarence ThomasLinks and Readings John and Ibram X. Kendi on Twitter, part oneJohn and Ibram X. Kendi on Twitter, part two John’s NYT piece, “Lower Black a

Normally this week I would post a conversation with John McWhorter. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to record. He’ll be back next week. This week, I’m presenting my conversation with Steve McIntosh, President, Co-Founder, and Director of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. I’ve already spoken with two ICE fellows this year—Stephanie Lepp and Greg Thomas—so this TGS episode constitutes a continuation of the series. I ask Steve about his latest book, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, which he delivers as a primer on “cultural evolution.” He traces out a historical narrative that takes us from traditionalism to modernity to our present moment of “pr

This week, one of the most controversial TGS guests of all time returns: Penn Law professor Amy Wax. She’s currently in a dire predicament. Her job is on the line. Whatever you think of Amy’s positions, there are issues at play in her case that have implications for people of all political persuasions, and she deserves to be heard out. Amy begins by recounting the events that have led up to her conflict with the administration at Penn Law and taking issue with the charges leveled at her by the school’s dean, Theodore Ruger. Some of those charges are quite serious: racism, sexism, and xenophobia. But Amy contends that they are overblown and implausible. Amy thinks this conflict began when she questioned the efficacy and ethics of affirmative action in public. If the LSATs and other standardized tests predict classroom performance, we shouldn’t be surprised when students admitted with low test scores do

John McWhorter is back, reporting from his Catskills bungalow for the latest installment in our ongoing conversation. Let’s get into it. While I’m at home rather than a bungalow, I’m fresh off a wonderful vacation in North Carolina, which I spent surrounded by my wife, children, and grandchildren. Two of my granddaughters are now young women in college and law school, and they had some questions for me about some of the public positions I’ve taken. I recount the discussions I had with them about the Harvard-UNC affirmative action case and the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling. John recounts how calls for proportionate racial representation in the performing arts are leading not only to backstage disruptions but to the elevation of theatrical works that, in John’s view, lack quality but have the “right” political message.John thinks that intellectual insecurity sometimes plays a part in c

As I announced last week, we here at the newsletter and The Glenn Show have a new partner: the Manhattan Institute. I realize some of you may not be familiar with the Institute’s work and point of view, so today I’ve got Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salam on the show to talk about what the Institute does and how some of its scholars and fellows are thinking about the problems facing New York and other American cities today. The Manhattan Institute is often regarded as a conservative place, but as you’ll hear, there’s nothing predictable or partisan about how Reihan understands those problems and their potential solutions. Reihan begins by talking a bit about how he first became aware of me and my work. He’s a formidable thinker himself, so I have to say I’m pretty flattered! After discussing how he came to take on his current role at the Manhattan Institute, Reihan talks about some of the changes in crime rates in US cities ne

This week on The Glenn Show, John McWhorter and I are joined by Richard Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the the New School. Richard is Marxian in his orientation and I am not, so we do some debating here. And while we may not agree on much as far as economics goes, we do share some concerns about the direction of the left in this country. Before the conversation, I make an important announcement: Beginning today, I’m partnering with the Manhattan Institute to bring you The Glenn Show and this newsletter. I lay out what this means in my introduction and in conversation with John at the end of the show, but here are two important takeaways. First, I will maintain full editorial independence over all the content on the podcast and at the newsletter. And second, we’re lowering the cost of the newsletter. For mont

This week, we’re getting into cosmic terrain here on The Glenn Show with my guest and Brown University colleague, theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander.Steph takes his inspiration not just from other physicists but from artists and musicians as well. And I can report from personal experience that he is a tremendous jazz saxophonist. For him, there’s nothing superficial about the relationship between science and art. His first book, The Jazz of Physics, explores the connection between music and the elemental forces that hold our universe together. Steph’s project reminds me of one of my favorite books, Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, which explores the role of self-reference in science, art, and music. Apparently I’m on the money, and Steph explains the central role of self-reference in his books. Steph and I both work in quantitative fields that demand measurable e

John McWhorter is back again for one of our twice-monthly conversations. This is a hot one, so let’s get into it. In this week’s episode, we discuss three controversial figures: Herschel Walker, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Wax. We begin with John’s outstanding column about Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia. John pulls no punches. He sees Walker as an insultingly underqualified contender meant solely to attract Georgia’s sizable black vote. John argues that Walker seems to have no meaningful knowledge of any relevant policy issue, and he’s apparently uninterested in trying to make it seem like he does. I do my best to present the case for Walker, but John does have a point. Robert Woodson and I wrote an open letter decrying recent ugly, racist

My guest this week is my friend Rajiv Sethi. Rajiv is Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and he writes an occasional newsletter at Imperfect Information. He’s published widely on problems of crime and segregation, among many other topics, and as you’ll hear in this conversation, he’s done some deep thinking about an area that is sadly pertinent to our society today: gun violence. I first ask Rajiv to catch me up on how economists are thinking about the state of financial markets today, and in short, things aren’t looking good. You don’t need a PhD in economics to know that. Just look at your stock portfolio. But Rajiv makes an interesting connection between the economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s analysis of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ongoing, much-publicized cryptocurrency crash. Rajiv talks about his blogging and his Substack, including his cri

Last month, John McWhorter and I participated in Heterodox Academy’s 2022 conference in Denver, Colorado. We spoke in front of an audience and discussed how to model constructive disagreement. But before that, we had a bit of a warm-up session with Zach Rausch, host of the Heterodox Out Loud podcast. Zach had us in to talk about our long relationship as conversation partners, civil discourse, and the purpose of the university. Newer listeners may be interested to hear about my “origin story” with John. While we’re good friends now, that wasn’t always the case. We’ve had our ups and downs, and we’ve switched sides on some issues. (Here’s our first recorded conversation, from November 2007.) But we keep coming back because we enjoy talking to each other too much to quit, and because we believe if we don’t have the kind of conversations we have, they might not happen at al

A couple weeks ago, The Glenn Show returned to New York’s Comedy Cellar. This time I was joined by John McWhorter and a trio of fantastic comics: Sherrod Small, Jon Laster, and Nimesh Patel. There were a lot of laughs and a lot big questions addressed, so let’s get into it.John and I begin with a comment left on one of our previous conversations from an economically disadvantaged white man who recounted his frustrated attempts to get into law school. Affirmative action helps elevate women and racial minorities, but shouldn’t it focus more on socioeconomic factors than “diversity”? John and I are always trying to move the needle on issues like this, and it’s sometimes hard to tell whether our conversations are having an effect. The crowd seems to think they are! John brings up charter schools, and I advance an argument in favor of more school choice. We then m

As many of you know, Nikita Petrov, Creative Director of The Glenn Show and this newsletter, is Russian. He left his country after the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, the war and the role of Russian individuals in it have been weighing heavily on his mind, along with broader questions about responsibility and belonging. In this episode of The Glenn Show, Nikita and I discuss the problems of group affiliation and government action. When large-scale political and civil conflict fragments a society, how do we decide who “our people” are? And relatedly, how much responsibility do we bear for the actions of “our people” and our governments? This leads us to discuss racial and ethnic group belonging. I’m black, but how does that affect how I regard my relations with others of my race? One of “the people with three names” seems to t

John McWhorter is back again for the latest installment in our ongoing, nearly decade-and-a-half-long conversation. Let’s get into it. John starts out telling us about his current whereabouts: a Dirty Dancing-style bungalow in the Catskills. We move on to a developing story out of Princeton, New Jersey, where a group of parents has written an open letter protesting the school district’s “dumbing down” of the math curriculum in the name of DEI. John and I are on the same page on this one: How much longer are we going to pretend that this is doing any good for the students? The way that the Princeton school district went about implementing these curriculum standards was, at best, deceptive. Don’t parents have the right to know how decisions that affect their kids are being made? Of course, DEI is a business, one that has created thousands of jobs for administrators and

For this week’s episode, I’m joined by NYU psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of several books, including (with Greg Lukianoff) The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure and The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Jonathan is also the co-founder of Heterodox Academy, where I serve on the advisory council. Despite that connection, this is our first extended public conversation. This is not, however, the first time I’ve engaged with Jon. After a talk some years ago, I asked Jon a question during the Q&A session, which I reintroduce here. Heterodox Academy’s mission is very important, but does focusing exclusively on viewpoint diversity prevent us from acknowledging that some

John McWhorter is back once more for an episode of The Glenn Show, so let’s get into it. I begin by reporting on my current “European Tour.” Last week I spoke at the London School of Economics, and I’m currently headed from Toulouse, France to Marseille to deliver the keynote address at the International Conference on Public Economic Theory. It’s been quite an enlightening experience so far, as I’ve gotten a look at how young black European economists are thinking about inequities within and without their profession. John and I discuss a recent report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which offers a picture of racial disparities in the UK that differs greatly from that of the US. But as John notes, the impression that people abroad have of our problems is often distorted. One of our real problems is our tendency to filter all thinking about race and ethnicity through “blacks

Earlier this year, I announced that I would be donating 10% of the net income from this newsletter to the Woodson Center to support the vital work that they do. I also want to use the newsletter and TGS as a platform to promote the work of Woodson Center-affiliated organizations that are making change on the ground in communities around the country. My first guest in what I hope will be a long ongoing series is Sylvia Bennett-Stone, Director of Voices of Black Mothers United, who is joined by Robert Woodson himself. Sylvia and Bob were on hand at the recent Old Parkland Conference, where I had the honor of speaking, so we sat down for an in-person discussion. (You can also read the great essayist Gerald Early’s account of the conf

This week, I’m back with my friend John McWhorter. A lot has happened since we last spoke, so let’s get to it. We begin by discussing the horrific, racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. John states that, among other things, the event makes him wish we had a word besides “racism” to help us distinguish between truly racist acts like that shooting and situations where there may be racial disparities but no actual racism present. One of the shooter’s motivations was so-called “great replacement” theory, or the idea that there is a conspiracy on the part of Democrats or Jews or whoever to “replace” large parts of the white population in the US with Latino immigrants. Tucker Carlson has given much airtime to a version of this theory (though without any overt antisemitism), and I’ve appeared on one of Tucker Carlson’s shows in the past. John asks me if I think Tucker is indirectly responsib

This week’s episode is a throwback to 2015, when Daniel Kaufman, professor of philosophy at Missouri State University, editor of the online magazine the Electric Agora, and (at that time) a mainstay on bloggingheads.tv and meaningoflife.tv, invited me onto his show Sophia. I stumbled across this video again last month, and I think it remains an illuminating discussion that addresses some fundamental questions about economics and the social sciences. We begin by discussing the “science” part of the social sciences. I explain that we economists tend not to philosophize about our discipline as much as other social scientists. But many major economic thinkers (think Keynes, Marx, and others) elaborate concepts that do ask fundamental questions about the nature of economics. To call a disciplin

This week’s plan for the show was to have Edmund Santurri, professor of philosophy and religion at St. Olaf College, join John McWhorter and I to talk about his soon-to-be terminated appointment as the director of the college’s Institute for Freedom & Community. Ed’s situation is the latest instance of a college’s administration folding to pressure from left-wing activists (more on that below). Unfortunately, Ed was only able to join us for the very beginning of this episode before tech glitches had their way with us. Ed’s story is important, and I do wish we had been able to carry on a full conversation, but it was not to be. We do make some headway, though. Ed begins by explaining how, after he invited a series of speakers viewed by some as controversial, St. Olaf’s administration announced that they would remove him from his role as director of the Institute for Freedom & Community a year earlier

This week, I welcome Briahna Joy Gray to TGS. I’ve appeared on her podcast, Bad Faith, and now she’s here to return the favor. Briahna and I have some pretty pronounced political differences—she’s the former National Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, after all. But we get along anyway, because we both believe in the importance of free speech and open debate. And make no mistake, there is a lot of debate in this episode. [Note: We recorded this conversation at Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and there was no video equipment on hand. Instead, Nikita Petrov has created an animation version of me to provide some visual stimulation.]I may be uncomfortable saying that I’m a “man of the right,” but I’m certainly “conservative for a black guy.” But Briahna points out that there are many black peop

Normally I would post one of my bi-weekly conversations with John McWhorter today, but John and I had too many scheduling conflicts to find time to talk this week (he’ll return in two weeks). So in his stead, I’m talking with Greg Thomas, co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project and senior fellow at the Institute for Cultural Evolution.We begin by discussing Greg’s work with the Jazz Leadership Project, which uses the principles of jazz to train leaders within businesses and organizations. He’s got some big-league clients, so I was interested to know how Greg implements ideas and strategies from an originally African American art form within a corporate environment. Greg was a friend of the great critic, poet, and novelist Stanley Crouch, and I ask him about how they came to know each other. This leads us to discuss the intellectual lineage that runs from Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray through Crouc

On this week’s episode of The Glenn Show, I welcome my old friend Stephanie Lepp, the Executive Producer at the Center for Humane Technology. I first met Stephanie through her husband, Nathaniel, who was a student of mine at Brown. Stephanie produced a podcast called Reckonings, which told the stories of how people transform their worldviews. I went on the show in 2015 and told the story of the evolution of my own political worldview (links below). Since then, we've been wanting to do another round. It's time! This time, Stephanie joins me on The Glenn Show, to once again help me wrestle with how my views have changed and with my responsibilities as a public intellectual.Stephanie begins by asking me to step back and consider a big-picture question: What is my goal as a public intellectual? It’s not something I often ask myself in such explicit terms, and Stephanie pushes me to articulate a response. Stephanie engages me on the affirmative action ques

This week, John and I are talking about the ten-year anniversary of the Trayvon Martin shooting, one of the most politically consequential events of the 2010s. A decade later, are we in a better place than where we started? John and I begin by discussing the New York Times’s recent package commemorating the event, which features a written piece by Charles Blow and video interviews with Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates, and Al Sharpton. All of them reinforce the mainstream narrative about Martin’s death—that he had been senselessly attacked by Zimmerman for no reason. Yet much evidence supports Zimmerman’s story: that he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin assaulted him. John discusses how his skepticism toward the mainstream Trayvon Martin narrative contributed to the end of his relationship with The Root. My own skepticism continues to pose challenges for me, as many of my stude

Over the last couple years, I’ve been in communication with Noam Dworman, the owner of the Comedy Cellar in New York, which is one of the most influential comedy clubs in the country. He suggested that we collaborate and put together a show that would explore the relationship between truth, free speech, and comedy. After a lot of back and forth, we came up with the idea of putting non-comedian intellectuals into conversation with professional stand-up comics. We weren’t quite sure what would happen, but we both sensed the idea had great potential.And so, last month, The Glenn Show held its first live event. Roland Fryer, Coleman Hughes, and I served as the “serious” participants, and Noam invited the comics Andrew Schulz, Judy Gold, Shane Gillis, T.J., and Rick Crom to come up and offer their thought

This week I welcome Sam Harris to TGS. Sam is a neuroscientist and philosopher, the host of the podcast Making Sense, and the proprietor of the meditation app Waking Up. He’s a searching, truly open-minded thinker who follows the evidence where it leads, even if that means admitting that he was wrong about a previously held position. We begin by discussing Sam’s uncertainty about how to navigate some aspects of the discourse on race. He wants a world in which race simply doesn’t matter all that much, but he’s unsure of how to bring that world into being. Sam highlights the stakes of the affirmative action question by asking us to imagine that we have to undergo brain surgery at the hands of a surgeon who got through medical school despite relatively low performance. Would we want this surgeon operating on us or our c

This week on The Glenn Show, John McWhorter and I are joined by the journalist Matt Taibbi. Many of you are likely familiar with Matt from his many books, his political journalism for Rolling Stone (among other outlets), his Useful Idiots podcast, and now his outstanding Substack newsletter, TK News. Matt lived and worked in Russia and the former USSR for several years, so I thought he’d be an excellent source for some insight into the war in Ukraine. We begin by discussing Matt’s brief career playing in the MBA—that’s the Mongolian Basketball Association. We then move on to more pressing matters. Like many journalists and experts, Matt had been confident that Putin would not invade Ukraine. Unlike many journalists and experts, he issued an apology to his readers for making the wrong

With the war in Ukraine escalating, I thought it would be a good idea to bring on a guest with some expertise in international relations. So I called on Daniel Bessner, an intellectual historian, associate professor at University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and a co-host of the American Prestige podcast. Daniel is a man of the left, so we spend a lot of time here arguing, and we have a great time doing it.Note: We recorded on February 22, 2022. Between then and now, the situation in Ukraine has changed quite a bit. In order to avoid confusion, we have edited out a portion of the conversation that is no longer up-to-date.Daniel and I begin by discussing what Putin’s invasion of Ukraine might tell us about the US’s standing in the world. Daniel argues that Putin’s willingness to ignore the US’s warnings reflects the decline of America’s global hegemony. He compares the pres

It’s John McWhorter time once again here at The Glenn Show. Let’s get into it. John and I are both busy guys, but people might not realize how much juggling it takes to manage life as both an academic and a public intellectual. I talk about why I may soon wind down my role at Brown University and devote myself more fully to public endeavors. We then move on to discuss psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, who has been fired or suspended from several academic and medical appointments after referring to Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech as a possible “freak of nature” in a tweet. It was a tacky, poorly worded tweet, no doubt. But clearly Lieberman was attempting to compliment Gatwech in the same way one might might refer to an unusually gifted athlete as a “freak.” John and I ask, does Lieberman really deserve to have his life destroyed over this? We then move on to disc

This week, I welcome Matt Rosenberg to TGS. Matt is a journalist who grew up in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and the author of the recently published book What Next, Chicago?: Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son. The book delves into the causes and effects of the city’s recent, alarming rise in crime and also chronicles those who are trying to address the problem. As a native of Chicago’s South Side, I share Matt’s concerns, and I highly, highly recommend that everyone read his book. We begin by talking about Matt’s personal connection to the city, and his memories of the Yippie protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Matt explains what drove him to return to Chicago after leaving the city years ago. He then gets into the deep relationship between street crime and political corruption in the city. He notes that he’s not the only person covering these stories, but there are few journalists making

John McWhorter is back, just like you knew he would be. This week we’re talking about the future of affirmative action.We begin by discussing Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s new film adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story. John argues that people who dismiss the musical as just “something some old white people wrote” are far too simplistic and limited in their view. I haven’t yet gotten a chance to see the new adaptation, but I’m a fan of the music and lyrics, so I’m inclined to agree with him. We then move on to affirmative action. When the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard admissions case next term, there’s a good chance they’ll end up declaring affirmative action unconstitutional. If that happens, John and I agree that we’ll likely see fewer black students admitted to elite universities, though I think administrators unwilling to scale back their focus on diversity

As many of you know, I’m in the midst of writing a memoir. I’m now calling it The Enemy Within, but its earlier title was Changing My Mind, an allusion both to my intellectual development and to my shifting political orientations. In the course of thinking through my past, I’ve wondered how much the new, more conservative Glenn would have to say to the more liberal Glenn of the ‘90s and ‘00s. So I decided to stage a little “debate” between us. Mark Sussman, my editor here at the newsletter, went through a lecture I delivered at Baruch College in 2000 where I laid out the argument that would become The Anatomy of Racial Inequality. He picked a few clips emblematic of the Old Glenn’s positions, where he thought there might be room for some interesting agreement and disagreement (you can watch the whole lecture here). We then recorded my reactions, with Mark “moderating” between

On this week’s show, I’m talking to the political scientist Steven Rhoads, author of the influential book The Economist’s View of the World, which was recently reissued in a substantially updated edition. Steven thinks the fundamental principles of economics can help even non-economists see the world in a more rational and solution-oriented way, and I have to say, I agree!I begin by asking Steven how a political scientist came to write a book extolling the virtues of economics—why not write one about his own discipline? After all, economists are constantly saying unpopular things that can sound a little heartless (at least if you don’t understand the reasoning). Steven explains what attracts him to economics. We get into the concept where all modern economics begins: the market. Steven asks, if, as some people suppose, only right-wing ideologues champion the efficiency of markets, why do left-wing economists

I’m back with my friend John McWhorter for one of our regular conversations. A lot has happened on the race and politics front over the last two weeks, so we’ve got a full docket of topics to discuss.And speaking of dockets, after overcoming some technical difficulties, we spend a good chunk of time on matters relating to the Supreme Court. Ilya Shapiro, the incoming director of Georgetown University’s Center for the Constitution, was put on leave by the school after tweeting criticism of Joe Biden for passing over his preferred candidate for the Supreme Court in favor of a “lesser black woman.” Shapiro refers to Biden’s promise to nominate a black woman to fill Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat on the Supreme Court when he retires later this year. Was Shapiro’s tweet racist? Neither John nor I think so, though it was poorly phrased. We go back and forth over the how much representation should play into t

Here at The Glenn Show, I’m taking a little break from politics and culture to talk dollars and cents. My good friend and former Boston University colleague Larry Kotlikoff is here to discuss his new book, Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life. In it, Larry brings his knowledge and expertise as an economist to bear on the everyday problems of spending, saving, and investing. In this episode, he shares some of that advice with TGS viewers.But, wait a minute. Larry is a serious academic economist. Why did he write an advice book? He explains what he’s trying to accomplish with Money Magic. Larry talks about why investing in stocks may not be the best use of your money even when the market is up (especially if you’re carrying debt). I ask Larry about some of my own recent experiences managing my money, and he breaks things down in a way that non-economists can understand. For e

John McWhorter and I often find ourselves aligned on the issues we discuss on The Glenn Show. We’ve even received criticism for how much we agree with each other! This episode should please those critics, as John and I actually find ourselves in stark (though productive and friendly) disagreement on a few matters. Let’s get into it. We begin by talking about Joe Biden’s recent press conference. Personally, I think he performed pretty badly, as the White House subsequently had to walk back several of his statements. Are these just more of Biden’s characteristic gaffes, or do his misstatements reflect a deeper confusion within the administration? What values does Biden’s presidency represent, anyway? We go on to discuss voting rights and election legislation. We disagree about proposed changes to state-level voting laws: John thinks they're racist in their intent, and I remain to be convinced of that. We also d

This week we’ve got Heather Mac Donald on The Glenn Show. Heather is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor to City Journal, and author of several books, including The Diversity Delusion, The War on Cops, and The Burden of Bad Ideas. Heather’s writing combines meticulous research and sharp, uncompromising prose. Her positions on crime and policing have led some on the left to regard her as a bit of a boogeyman. But while she is a fierce critic of failing progressive policies, she’s also a deep and surprising thinker, as you’ll see here. We begin by exploring Heather’s recent readings in African American literature, and her reflections on the behavior of white people in this country through the mid-twentieth century. We then move into one of Heather’s area of expertise: crime and policing in American cities. She points out that those who blame rising violent crime rates on the Co

John McWhorter is back for our first conversation of 2022. Let’s get into it!We begin by discussing the death of the groundbreaking black actor Sidney Poitier. Portier was best known for his roles in films like The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. John puts forward the fascinating theory that Poitier’s Caribbean origins and mannerisms made him acceptable to white American audiences who were unaccustomed to seeing black men in dramatic leading roles. We also recently lost the legal scholar Lani Guinier, who was involved in a political controversy in the ‘90s when Bill Clinton nominated her for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and then pulled the nomination after receiving political pressure from the right. Though Lani and I were on different ends of the political spectrum, she was an important legal thinker, and I think

This week I’m honored to have the distinguished Robert Woodson on the show. Since joining the civil rights movement as an activist and organizer in the ‘60s, Bob has dedicated himself to finding solutions to the problems of poverty and dysfunction in America. Through the Woodson Center, Bob helps fund and advise programs that are on the ground and working to solve some of the toughest problems in American communities. He’s got more awards and achievements than I can possibly list here, and there’s no telling how many lives he’s changed over the years. In this conversation, Bob and I talk about some of the problems with large-scale anti-poverty funding. Bob argues that, while big programs and studies may have their hearts in the right place, they are plagued by inefficiency and often vulnerable to misappropriation. Moreover, welfare programs can introduce perverse incentives into vulnerable communities, creating cycles of depe

It’s been a big year here at The Glenn Show. So as 2021 draws to a close, I thought it would be a nice idea to round up some choice selections from the conversations I’ve had with John over the past year. This episode is a kind of “best of” compilation of segments that got a big response from viewers or that I personally thought were important or noteworthy. I couldn’t include all of the highlights, but I think these clips give a good sense of what my conversations with John were all about in 2021.I must also offer my thanks and gratitude to everyone who read, listened, watched, and commented this year, and especially to those of you who continue to support TGS by subscribing to this newsletter. We wouldn’t be able to do it without you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you!I’m sure I left out things that regular viewers think were worthy of inclusion. What were some of the segments that resonated with you over the last year? What caused you to think, chan

On this week’s show, I talk with Professor Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As you might have guessed, we get into some very controversial territory. But that’s why I enjoy talking to Amy—she doesn’t pull her punches.Amy begins by talking about her position at Penn Law, where a group of alumni are attempting to get her fired. It’s not the first time people have tried this—as Amy notes, she’s been “canceled” many times, but she’s still here. We move on to a discussion of immigration. While I think the U.S. has benefitted from the talent and value of non-Western immigrants and will require more of them in the future if we’re going to compete, Amy is more skeptical. She wonders whether immigrants from South Asia and East Asia have democratic sensibilities that are compatible with American culture. She worries, too, that these immigrants will adopt woke polit

The “common sense” of the Woke Left sees so many issues, from the historical effects of redlining to the relationship between race and IQ, as matters that no longer require discussion. “Redlining is responsible for present-day racial wealth disparities, period. There is no relationship between race and IQ, period. End of discussion.”But the discussion is not over, these matters and many others are not settled. Treating them as such just papers over matters of vital concern that require serious thinking. John and I have in some sense made it our mission to unsettle these so-called settled questions. And in the course of doing it, we’ve unsettled the people that consider the questions settled as well. We talk a bit about in this week’s conversation.I begin by talking to John about reaching what may be the current high-water mark of his fame: He was a clue on a recent episode of Jeopardy. There are perhaps more

The audiovisual experiments continue here at The Glenn Show. In some of our recent conversations, John McWhorter and I talked about how we would reply to “Simone,” a fictionalized version of one of my students at Brown who believes that systemic racism causes most or all of the racial disparities in the US. I think Simone is wrong about that, but this idea is so widespread that John and I agreed that we can’t just brush it aside. We need to address and refute it head on. We attempted to do that in this conversation. And I think we did a pretty good job! But in a comment, a reader, Adam, pointed out that we neglected to anticipate some very strong arguments that Simone might have made in her own defense. I <a target="_blank" href="https://glennloury.subst

This week on TGS we’ve got Rav Arora. He’s a compelling writer on race matters in the US. He’s also a college undergraduate, though it would be a mistake to underestimate him. He’s already published in a number of widely read outlets, including the New York Post, Quillette, and City Journal. He’s also got a Substack called Noble Truths, where he writes about psychedelics, meditation, and cultural trends. I begin by inquiring into Rav’s intellectual background. What is this young guy from Canada doing writing about race and crime in the US, anyway? Rav talks about how the summer of 2020 led him to rethink his views and begin writing about them for the public. Rav is quite critical of the way that race, crime, and policing are covered in the US media, but he’s got a nuanced view of things. He talks about why he thinks we need police reform and also more polic

John and I often talk about how we feel about race in America, but we rarely delve into why we feel the way we feel. What factors in our own lives primed us for those emotional responses? While John and I often agree about where the politics of race have gone wrong, we just as often experience very different feelings about these matters.I start the discussion off by raising a question a friend put to me recently: are we wasting our time engaging with “red meat” issues in the race debate? Should we stick to the hard data before wading into the culture war? This leads us to discuss our very different emotional responses to the people we disagree with. I tend to go to anger and John tends toward empathy. We look to our respective pasts to try to understand why we diverge in this way. In fact, we stay in the past for a while, looking back on our exposure to Afroc

In this week’s TGS, my old friend Larry Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University, is back to talk about some of our most pressing economic concerns. Chief among them is the inflation rate, which has hit a 30-year high. By some accounts, inflation is now threatening to do major, possibly longterm damage to the US economy. But are things as bad as they seem? Larry will take us through his analysis and talk about some other looming economic troubles. If you want to understand how these things work, Larry is your guy.We begin by discussing just why high inflation poses such a dire threat to the economy. Obviously it’s something to be concerned about, but will it get bad enough to send us the way of Weimar Germany? This leads us to discuss Biden’s recent policy decisions, including the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Larry argues that it’s not as costly as it sounds when you consider that it’s parceled out

A couple weeks ago in this space, I published an autobiographical sketch called “The Double Life.” It elicited such a strong reaction from readers that I wanted to revisit it, so I recorded an audio version and Nikita Petrov, my creative director, created a video feature to go along with it. I plan to do more of these audio/video pieces in the future, mostly for subscribers. Let me know what you think of this new feature in the comments!This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, ad-free versions of the podcast, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below. 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

This week, John and I continue our discussion of systemic racism, which was kicked off when one of my students wrote a searing critique of some of my positions. John and I agreed that “Simone” (not her real name) deserved a real, intellectually serious response. We can’t just blow off Simone and people like her—that is, sober-minded, sincere, intelligent progressives and leftists who happen to think that systemic racism is responsible for all or most of America’s racial disparities. In responding to their critiques, we hope to persuade them that there are more accurate ways to describe the situation. The first part of this attempt came by way of our conversation with Randy Kennedy. This is the second entry. In our next conversation, John and I hope to move from outlining the problems to proposing some solutions.This conversation kicks off with the revelation that <stron

Recently, I was asked to deliver a speech at the National Conservatism Conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida. It was high-profile affair with many prominent conservative intellectuals, media figures, and politicians speaking and in attendance. And I don’t mind saying I had a prime speaking slot! I used the speech to develop some ideas I’ve aired here on TGS, and I think many of you will be gratified by the reaction they get from the crowd. But make no mistake: I’m not just telling them what they want to hear. In the speech, I try to make the case for black patriotism, the forthright embrace of American nationalism by black people. I argue that, ultimately, most black people want the same things as most other Americans: safety, a shot at improvement, a fair and just government, and personal freedom. Black people share a common culture with the rest of the country—emphasizing racial difference obscures that essential f

This week’s TGS features two incomparable guests: John McWhorter and Randall Kennedy. John, of course, needs no introduction. Randy is a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of many books, the latest of which is Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture. In this episode, we get into it pretty much immediately. Randy admits to being “thrown” by Donald Trump’s election and to finding his campaign openly racist. I, as you may know, think that is an oversimplified explanation of Trump’s appeal in 2016. We go on to discuss how a certain amount of racism will be with us for the foreseeable future, and we’ll just have to deal with it. Given that the situation will never be perfect, what would constitute an “acceptable” level of racism? We then go on to discuss two of the “big issues”: Policing and affirmative action. There’s a lot of intensity in this conve

I know this week everyone is expecting one of my conversations with John McWhorter. But due to some unforeseen events, we ended up shifting things around a bit. Next week you can expect to see John and I speak with Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy, where we’ll engage issues of systemic racism, among other topics. Two weeks after that, John and I will be back to have our own discussion about systemic racism. We said we wanted to formulate serious responses to those who believe systemic racism is still the cause of racial inequality in the US, and you can expect to see that in the coming weeks.For this week’s episode, I’m presenting a recent lecture I gave at Baylor University and the Q&A session that followed. The lecture distills some of my ideas about social capital, the bias narrative and the development narrative, and the problems that beset urban black

In this week’s TGS, we’re talking about an issue that seems local but has big national implications. Wai Wah Chin is the Charter President of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, and she joins me to discuss an ongoing controversy in New York City’s exam schools. These schools are rigorous public high schools that focus on STEM subjects, and admission is determined by student performance on a single exam. If you can excel on one test, you can get access to a free first-rate education, regardless of income, race, zip code, or even past academic performance. This is especially important in a city where top private schools often charge tens of thousands of dollars in tuition. Historically, exam schools have been a triumph of colorblind meritocracy. They’ve brought untold numbers of talented but under-resourced students to the attention of top universities.

In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m back with my friend John McWhorter, and we have much to discuss. John joins me fresh from a day trip to Brighton Beach, a neighborhood in Brooklyn where Russian language, food, and culture abound. He talks about teaching himself Russian and the benefits of the Glossika language-learning tool. Then, in a continuation of last week’s conversation with David Kaiser, we move on to the history of redlining, which is quite a bit more complex than some recent commentaries would have you believe. A recent edition of John’s New York Times newsletter addressed the issue, and it received some criticism from the distinguished historian Thomas Sugrue. This leads us to discuss the problems of authority and perception that attend writing from the Olympian heights of the paper of record. From there, I give a progress report on my memoir</strong

In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m talking to David E. Kaiser, author of many books about American and international political history. As a distinguished professional historian, David has seen many changes in the way history is written both inside and outside the academy, not all of them for the better. In this conversation, David talks about why Ta-Nehisi Coates’s highly influential 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” and the view of race and American history it represents leaves out many crucial facts about how we came to be where we are.We begin in a slightly counterintuitive place, with a discussion of how many historians’ views of the Cold War changed after Vietnam. In David’s telling, it became more and more common to see historians placing blame for escalating hostilities on the U.S.’s foreign policy rather than the U.S.S.R.’s. David sees a similar sort of revisionism at work in contemporary historians’ perspectives on t

For this week’s episode of The Glenn Show, we’ve upped our production game a little. In late August, John McWhorter and I met up for an all-too-rare in-person conversation in Manhattan, and the filmmaker Rob Montz and his crew were on hand to record it. It was wonderful to be able sit face-to-face with John, and Rob did a wonderful job capturing the energy in the room. It wouldn’t have been possible to pull all of this together without the support of the subscribers here: Thank you! We’re hoping to create more special content like this in the future, so your contributions are greatly appreciated. John and I begin by discussing his gig writing for the New York Times, in particular a recent piece about Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s Blues Opera. It’s never been produced, and John is assisting in trying to usher it to the stage. We move from the blues to matters

For this edition of The Glenn Show, I’m joined by someone who may be familiar to long-time viewers: Bob Wright. Bob is a distinguished journalist and the author of many books, including The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and Why Buddhism is True. He also happens to be the co-founder of Bloggingheads, the platform on which The Glenn Show was born and has flourished. In our conversation, Bob walks us through the early days of Bloggingheads and the flash of inspiration that led him to create the site. We then move on to discuss Bob’s ideas about evolution and international relations, and how they’re influenced by game theory (something I know a bit about). Bob’s ideas about the nature of conflict and cooperation have a number of implications for combating the sort of nasty political tribalism that we see so much today, both domestically and internationally. Of course, more non

In this week’s TGS, I’m joined once again by intellectual historian Daniel Bessner. Given Daniel’s area of scholarly expertise—US foreign relations—it should be no surprise that the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan colors our discussion. But we range much further than that. We debate Daniel’s conception of “American empire” and its origins in the Cold War. He is quite critical of American foreign policy during that period (and beyond), and I do push back on some of his more pointed critiques. We go on to discuss the course of America’s engagement with the world after the Cold War’s end, and Daniel offers a theory as to why the 1990s saw so much popular interest in World War II. We move on to discuss climate change as a particular kind of foreign policy problem. I out myself not exactly as a “climate skeptic,” but as someone who thinks we may be panicking premature

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 <str

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 the

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 b

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<

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

Above you’ll find my conversation with University of San Francisco law professor Lara Bazelon. She specializes in criminal law and has won exoneration for wrongfully convicted incarcerated people. We discuss systemic racism in the criminal justice system and debate the pros and cons of various reform efforts. We go into the details of Yutico Briley’s wrongful conviction case in which Lara and her sister Emily were involved (you can read Emily’s piece about it here). Then we shift gears and discuss the challenges of writing fiction. We talk about Lara’s absorbing new novel A Good Mother and my memoir-in-progress. These are pretty deep waters, as we reflect on how our writing has forced us to confront some hard questions about our roles as professionals and parents

This week John and I have something a little different for you: An interview with Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley about his recent book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. We discuss Sowell's ideas, their influence, and his place within the pantheon of American (and black America), intellectuals. Among his innumerable contributions, Sowell's books—especially A Conflict of Visions, Knowledge and Decisions, and Basic Economics—are a particular focus of this wide-ranging conversation. We also get into a broader discussion about black intellectuals, conservatism, and the academy. And don’t worry, Substack subscribers, John and I will be posting our monthly Q&A later this week. Stay tuned!As always, I’m curious to know what you think. Let me know here and on Discord.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.y

Here is my conversation with NYU law professor Richard Epstein. In this conversation, Richard talks about his involvement with a legal action aimed at stopping construction on the currently planned site of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. We discuss the legal issues. We also talk about critical race theory—its origins in the legal academy of the 1970s and 80s, its foundational ideas, its impact on American education, and whether it should be banned by law. We conclude with Richard, who urged Trump to resign in January 2017(!), decrying what he sees as a lack of "comity" on the part of the Biden administration.I hope you enjoy the conversation! As always, I’m curious to know what you think. Let me know here and on Discord. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuwR3PE5qP0&#38

Here is my latest conversation with John McWhorter. We begin with a review of our respective academic careers and how being black has affected our work. We also assess the recent involvement of Al Sharpton and Benjamin Crump in the case of a white Arkansas man who was shot dead in June, under suspicious circumstances, by a police officer during a traffic stop. We close with an extended discussion of critical race theory, which we define carefully and evaluate thoroughly. We agree that CRT should not be banned by law, but we endorse the efforts of parents to weigh-in with their local schools against it.And, in case you haven’t seen it, we are now taking questions for our next Q&A. Let us know what’s on your mind! <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watc

Today I’m posting something a little different than normal. This is a conversation with NYU political scientist Larry Mead. It’s part of his series “Culture and Poverty,” and he’s generously allowed me to repost it here at The Glenn Show. We discuss some ideas from Larry’s book, Burdens of Freedom: Cultural Difference and American Power. Larry argues, among other things, that one of the major distinctions between “Western” and “non-Western” cultures is the role of individualism. Larry sees Western culture—as exemplified by the US—as predominately individualist in its orientation. When immigrants from non-Western cultures struggle to assimilate, he argues, it’s often because they have problems adjusting to this individualist orientation.There are certainly merits to this argument. But in this discussion, I push back on Larry’s description of African American culture as basically non-Western. This, it

Here, John and I begin with an assessment of a sharp, thoughtful Quillette piece by black intellectual Aaron Hanna which is critical of black conservatives. (Both John and I have written responses which Quillette will publish.) This lead us into philosophical terrain, where we engage questions about free will, ethnic/racial differences in culture and so on. We go on to discuss critically a recent New York Times piece by Jenée Desmond-Harris, “Which Black People Should You Listen To?” Her answer, which we dispute: not people like us! We critically assess Thomas Sowell's "black rednecks" argument, that black culture reflects the legacy of Scotch-Irish norms common to Southern/Appalachian enclaves. And we agree to disagree about the merits of Charle

Here is my conversation with Charles Murray (of The Bell Curve fame) about his new book, Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America. We review the argument of his book—that the "American Creed" of fair play and equal treatment for all is imperiled by a failure to reckon with the actual differences across racial groups in measured intelligence and participation in violent crime. We explore the evidence for his claim about racial differences, the extent to which these facts are being denied, and the plausibility of his concern that said denial threatens to undermine the republic. We also discuss the effectiveness of policy interventions aimed at reducing racial disparities. As always, I’m curious to know what you think. 0:00 Intro <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgUc

Here’s my latest conversation with John McWhorter. Our talk ranges over a number of seemingly unrelated subjects. We discuss the decision by Princeton's classics department to stop requiring students to master Greek and Latin (which John sees as a lowering of standards). We analyze the general problem Black students face of deciding whether to "dispel" doubts about their abilities through outstanding performance on the tests, or to "dismiss" those doubts by rejecting the tests as intrinsically biased. We also talk about my appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News platform (which John had advised against). And we conclude, anticipating the upcoming Father’s Day celebrations, with some reflections on fatherhood.0:00 Intro 1:30</

Last week, I have announced at Patreon that I’m moving the operation to Substack. I gave every Patron a complimentary subscription for the first month. If you’re reading this, chances are you are such a person, with a comp that will run out on July 2. At that date, you will have to decide if you want to continue getting subscriber-only posts for $7/month or $70/year. I hope the things you’ll see in this first month will convince you to stay.Some of you have already made up your mind. I see that several hundred people have switched to a paid option and made the first payment. Many have chosen an annual rather than a monthly subscription, which is cheaper for you and costs less in transaction fees for us. Some people have opted for a “founding member” plan, which allows you to pay a custom, bigger amount. All

Larry's concerns about the debt-to-GDP ratio ... On the general relativity of fiscal language ... Why would anybody buy U.S. treasury bonds? ... Larry's defense of fiscal hawkishness ... A critique of Biden's COVID relief funding ... How to raise taxes while maintaining incentives to work ... There is no such thing as a corporation ... 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

John's appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher" ... Why John's 2000 book Losing the Race remains relevant today ... The "noble victim complex" ... The counterproductivity of victim narratives ... Where do you draw the line in calling out nonsense? ... Trading agency for victim status ... The exciting roster of upcoming TGS guests ... 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 founding of Voices of Black Mothers United ... How the criminal justice system failed Sylvia's daughter ... Sylvia's work: advocacy, community intervention, and positive policing ... What is the role of systems and structures in street violence? ... How Voices of Black Mothers United is branching out ... Sylvia's book, Mind Fields: A Healing Journey to Survive the Murder of a Child ... 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

Critical Race Theory's prevalence in American schools ... What’s at the root of racial disparities in education? ... Destandardizing the standards for success ... The evolution of how we communicate about race ... Kendi and the cops; Bazelon and systemic racism ... ... 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 impact of the Glenn Show and new initiatives ... How to reach out to the Glenn Show: [email protected] ... The current climate: how afraid are people and how afraid should they be? ... The current climate: how afraid are people and how afraid should they be? ... Seeking to engage productively with opinions we may not understand ... Glenn's interactions with his graduate and undergraduate students ... 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

Fighting through Covid-19 and the pandemic ... Daunte Wright and how police violence goes beyond race ... The "fake" narrative about Black people and the cops ... The tremendously high stakes of race matters in the U.S. ... America's "badass motherfucker" problem ... Woke hypocrisy as the Chauvin verdict nears ... 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

Life as a university professor during Covid ... What happened to the civil rights movement? ... Glenn and John disagree on voter suppression ... Debating Stacey Abrams’ approach to politics ... The exaggeration of victimhood ... How social media has changed academia ... 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

Who was moral and political philosopher John Rawls? ... Why Rawls' "A Theory of Justice" is such an important text ... Is taxation an infringement on liberty? ... Understanding the freedom vs. liberty paradox ... Focusing on the poor to improve human well-being ... Accounting for earned success or failure ... 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 contentious origins of Glenn and John's relationship ... Cancellations at Georgetown and racial disparities in academic performance ... What is to blame for racial disparities in academic performance? ... The quality-fit tradeoff and the mismatch effect ... Is racism widespread in American universities? ... Cornel West's departure from Harvard ... 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

Patreon Q&A announcement ... Glenn's initial impressions of BLM ... How should racial justice advocates advance their interests? ... The problem of colleges as "spaces of consumption" ... The pros and cons of cancel culture ... Cancel culture as a "weapon of the weak" ... Glenn's feelings about Trump's presidency ... 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

New anti-racist guidelines for teaching math in Oregon ... Defending the ideals of the Enlightenment ... What anti-racists get wrong about knowledge and achievement ... Why class matters more than race for improving education in the U.S. ... The Capitol riot and the threat(s) of political extremism ... Possible new frontiers for the Glenn Show ... 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

Changing the narrative on race in America ... Navigating the increasingly polarized landscape ... Why Glenn takes issue with the 1619 Project ... Bob’s new Apocalypse Aversion Project ... Confronting nationalism and identity politics ... Globalization, privilege, and "meritocratic hubris" ... The evolution of Bloggingheads.tv ... 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

Do Glenn and John over-discuss race and racism? ... The hurdles to hosting debates on TGS ... The guys consider their role in the national discourse on race ... The challenges of being a contrarian ... Confronting in-school violence among Black youth ... The New York Times' "contemptible" treatment of Donald McNeil ... 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

Tracing wokeism's origins to mid-century postmodernism ... Determining the right historical narrative on race ... Do progressives have a problem confronting their own racism? ... What can and can't be said about the 2020 election ... Can the insurrectionists be defended? ... Biden vs. Trump on critical race theory ... James challenges Glenn's recent mea culpa on Trump ... 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

Monthly Q&A with Glenn and John ... TGS 2.0, new newsletters, and John's new book ... Critiquing the Biden administration's first moves ... The excesses and dangers of critical race theory ... The latest stories of woke hysteria on campus ... The performative outrage of anti-racist crusaders ... Campus wokeism vs. corporate wokeism ... 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

Robert's work on rising homicide rates in U.S cities ... The connection between work, school, and crime ... How some criminal justice reform attempts have failed ... Why the massive upsurge in crime in U.S. cities in 2020? ... The challenge of "engaging the family" in the U.S. ... The surprising data on gender in single-parent homes ... Did the summer 2020 protests lead to the rise in crime? ... 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 Show 2.0 and reactions to the storming of the Capitol ... What if it was BLM protesters that stormed the Capitol? ... Glenn: I was wrong about the threat Trump posed to democracy ... The tectonic plates shifting beneath American society and politics ... Glenn and John debate the merits of impeachment ... 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 three books that pushed Glenn away from the right ... A crisis of identity: who is Glenn Loury and what is his project? ... Glenn's left-leaning moderatism and work in the 90s ... The link between Glenn's economic work and his social theory ... The evolution of Glenn's perspective on Obama ... The Iraq War, the 2008 crash, and how "the elites failed us" ... The current and future state of the American university ... 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 rightward shift in the early 80s ... A feeling of alienation from the Black elite ... Glenn and Daniel discuss neoliberalism and the "American empire" ... Glenn's emergence as a public intellectual ... How Glenn earned a unique place in public discourse ... Glenn's hiatus from and return to economic theory ... How Glenn helped coin the term "social capital" ... 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

Why won't Jones, Kendi, and others come on the Glenn Show? ... The need for more discussions between black intellectuals who disagree ... The dilemma faced by contrarian black intellectuals ... John and Glenn ponder their niche ... What can't be said about race ... Will we see a more honest discourse on race after Trump? ... John explores the current controversy at the Dalton School in NYC ... 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

A working-class undergrad with a job, a wife, and two kids ... Why Glenn was drawn to economics ... How studying economics shaped Glenn's politics ... Anti-Semitism at Harvard and the origins of MIT economics ... Why Glenn believes in meritocracy ... Glenn discusses his influential early work ... 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

Coleman Hughes named to Forbes' "30 Under 30" ... The predictable platitudes of John's critics ... The waning of wokeness ... Should Thomas Jefferson have known better? ... What is driving today's race crusaders? ... The denial of Black agency ... Nikole Hannah-Jones and the “1619 Riots” ... 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 political landscape in Chicago in 2020 ... How do you improve a human being? ... What "The Bell Curve" missed about human development ... How teaching and empowering parents positively impacts children ... The taboo of family-focused anti-poverty efforts ... What is the source of implicit bias? ... James: Politicians on both sides cultivate and exploit racial turmoil ... 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

Welcome to the Glenn Show 2.0 ... A path to forgiveness for the canceled ... John’s upcoming book and wokeism after Trump ... Why is it so easy to get away with junk sociology today? ... John speaks his mind on Ibram X. Kendi ... The mass delusion of the anti-racism movement ... What is required of public intellectuals? ... 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

Leon's new journal Liberties and the current political climate ... Leon: Art "should not be subjected to a political standard" ... Glenn and Leon disagree on Trump ... Leon, an “unrepentant interventionist,” discusses foreign policy ... What's inside the first edition of Liberties? ... Leon defends the idea of Zionism ... America and Israel: two experiments in moving past anti-Semitism ... Thoughts on America's moment of racial reckoning ... 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 announces a new version of The Glenn Show ... Eli and Shelby's new documentary, What Killed Michael Brown? ... "Why is it so hard to see the truth here?" ... Shelby: Post-'60s liberalism is the culprit ... What changed in black communities between 1950 and 1980? ... White guilt as a drug ... Eli: BLM had an agenda and was waiting for a tragedy to exploit ... Shelby: The solutions lie in old-fashioned values ... A father and son collaboration ... 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

Jon's new book, Trump's Democrats ... Doing ethnography in the Rust Belt, an Italian-American suburb, and Appalachia ... Jon: Trump is a familiar figure to these voters ... How Trump embodies honor culture ... Trump's flouting of the norms of the professional class ... Why this style works better locally than nationally ... Jon: Race is not as important as place ... Will Trump's Democrats defect to Biden? ... 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 critiques attempts to make race a part of academic hiring ... "Optics equality" and the denial of group differences ... Improving low-income primary schools ... Topics on which you can't challenge the consensus ... Glenn's letter denouncing his own university's president over BLM ... Can academics "cite inclusively"? ... Will online education disrupt colleges? ... Advice for a nontenured professor with heterodox views ... What should a university administrator do? ... ... 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

A tribute from an Israeli fan and a mea culpa from John ... The political influence of Ice Cube and Kanye West ... Shelby Steele’s new documentary, What Killed Michael Brown? ... Appeals to American honor vs. appeals to American guilt ... The effects of economic restructuring on Black social mobility ... 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 on the persistence of racial inequality ... Adaner on the persistence of racial inequality ... Determinism vs. individual moral judgment ... Is structural racism a real thing? ... Can exhortation change culture? ... Why Glenn prefers universal programs ... Does capitalism reinforce racial inequality? ... Contingent moments in America's racial history ... Glenn and Adaner offer some policy solutions ... 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

Daniel's book, The Meritocracy Trap ... Daniel: Meritocracy props up medical innovation at the expense of health ... Examining meritocracy in economics departments ... Daniel says legal education in Germany is easier and better ... Daniel: Higher education is much too intensive and much too exclusive ... Olympic athletes are far better than they were 70 years ago. Is that a good thing? ... Glenn asks if Daniel's position requires him to repudiate affirmative action ... 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

Ian's path from engineering to educational entrepreneurship ... Ian rebuts the "corporate type" charge ... "1776 Unites," an alternative narrative to the 1619 Project ... Glenn presents a conservative case against reparations ... What can be done to help the black family? ... Why are black students suspended more often than white students? ... Ian: Black faith leaders are needed to bridge the divide ... 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

BLM and the looming threat of political violence ... Can social justice movements redefine what counts as “knowledge”? ... Sympathy and objectivity in ethnographic writing ... Remembering Stanley Crouch ... Princeton’s racial justice pickle ... Le Monde takes an interest in Glenn and John ... 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

Peter: "Mismatch theory" is not a front for racial prejudice ... The problem of data transparency and affirmative action ... Who gets access to affirmative action data? ... Repairing the “broken trust” of America’s racial history ... Would more data transparency actually stop race-based affirmative action? ... Determining the optimal amount of affirmative action ... 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

Peter's controversial research on racial disparities among STEM majors ... Is affirmative action leading to a dumbed down curriculum? ... Peter's work on the lawsuit alleging Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants ... Roland Fryer's research on race and lethal police force ... Stories vs. statistics ... Remembering Glenn's late wife, economist Linda Datcher Loury ... 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

John detects a burgeoning pushback against racial wokeness ... The anti-racist “bluff” ... Glenn: Most Americans agree with Trump’s defenses of the police ... Comparing the 1963 March on Washington to its 2020 sequel ... Why doesn’t Trump disavow violence committed in his name? ... 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 complex heterogeneity of Black American politics ... Why are there so few conservatives in academia? ... Is there any hope of attracting more of them? ... Glenn proposes the creation of a Conservative Studies program ... How Covid-induced austerity might affect diversity in university hiring ... Would it even be possible to staff a conservative academic institution? ... 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

Peter: The police aren’t hated, but politicians are listening to the haters ... What is driving rising violent crime rates in NYC? ... The problem of discussing racial disparities in crime and policing ... Contesting Jill Lepore’s account of the history of policing ... Disambiguating police defunding and police reform ... 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 two crises in Chicago ... Richard: "The quarantines are overdoing it" ... Richard's critique of clinical trials for pharmaceuticals ... The recent looting in Chicago ... A classical liberal approach to fixing housing on the South Side ... Why didn't the Chicago PD stop the looting? ... Richard praises Trump's "fairly solid record of achievement" ... Will vote by mail produce a disaster? ... 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 feasibility of group testing for Covid ... Is Trump responsible for inadequate testing? ... Larry: The government should fund companies developing rapid home testing ... Critiquing the FDA’s approach to testing ... Larry: Rapid home testing could bring the economy back within three weeks ... 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

Why Michele thinks schools shouldn't have closed ... Are teachers’ unions bad for students? ... Glenn: Teachers are almost certainly not a high-risk group ... Is the school reopening fight about health concerns or politics? ... Maintaining student accountability in distance learning ... 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

Debating Charles Murray’s new book, Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class ... Amy: It is an undeniable fact that there are IQ differences between whites and blacks ... Do group IQ differences have a place in politics? ... Does public opinion about race influence elites? ... Amy: Bohemians belong on the margins of society ... The benefits of a meritocratic society ... 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

John on "a truly medieval moment" ... Why Glenn didn't sign the Harper's open letter ... Linguists petition against fellow linguist Steven Pinker ... Is this actually just about the economics of the collapsing media industry? ... Calling someone a racist vs. calling someone a witch ... John's harsh review of White Fragility ... Critiquing an open letter by 300 Princeton professors on anti-racism ... 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

John explains how the current national crisis came to be ... Is civic discourse dead? ... Glenn: We are sliding into a state where the basic preconditions of society are at question ... Is America going backwards on race? ... Glenn: "I feel like my side is losing, and I think it's a catastrophe" ... Can faith help bind up the nation's wounds? ... 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

John: White Fragility is "one of the worst books ever written" ... Debating how we should remember Woodrow Wilson ... Glenn: Our story is about more than just domination and oppression ... On being a dissident black academic ... Why John resigned from the board of the National Books Critics Circle ... Should John and Glenn fear defenestration by the mob? ... 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

David's memoir, A Life in History ... David: Political history is being ignored in the academy ... Defending the Western model ... Did the Vietnam War spark a turn away from Enlightenment values? ... The 1619 Project and the ideals of the founding ... The lament of the white male ... Why is college so expensive? ... Did the founders actually believe in universal values? ... 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

How Glenn and Carol first met ... Carol's 1993 book, Black Faces, Black Interests ... Would Stacey Abrams have won if she were pro-life? ... Carol's journey to Christianity ... Carol's prescient book on the new white nationalism ... Carol: "I have a lot of respect for Jared Taylor" ... Carol's harsh critique of identity politics on college campuses ... Are black conservatives winning, losing, or something else? ... Why Carol loves Donald Trump ... 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

Coleman's post-collegiate life (with a cameo from Glenn's wife) ... Reopening and the invisible cost of agreeing with Trump ... Thomas Sowell's thoughts on partisanship ... Glenn: Trump is "bumbling his way through" the tradeoffs of reopening ... Masks as a way of life ... Do racial disparities in Covid deaths demonstrate systemic bias? ... 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

John: George Floyd's murder was not an exclusively racial matter ... Glenn: "We're in the grip of hysteria" ... John: Apparently anti-racism trumps even medical science ... What it's like being a black contrarian right now ... Glenn: The real threat to black people is crime ... John argues that fixing problems with the cops has to be the first step ... 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

Was the pandemic lockdown overkill? ... How Michele transitioned her high school students to distance learning ... Michele: We changed the rules on our students ... The “herd mentality” opposing herd immunity ... Michele: “Teachers should be getting back to work” ... 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

Josh: This is a more dangerous moment than any I can remember ... Was George Floyd lynched? ... Glenn views police abuse as a universal problem and fears racialized backlash ... Josh worries about free and fair elections in November ... Glenn: Violence and looting must be denounced ... Glenn and Josh agree that Trump is not up to the task ... The price of order and the cost of chaos ... 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 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis ... Is crime a moral failing? ... Glenn: "Black people in poor cities need the cops" ... The Central Park birder incident ... Meditating on the tears of Eddie Glaude ... Glenn decries Biden's racial pandering ... John: The problem is with cops and with guns, not racism ... 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

Amy wants to starve the higher ed beast ... Do Americans need affirmative action for graduate school? ... Glenn and Amy criticize undergraduate instruction ... Amy: "There's a certain degree of feminization that is going on as well" ... How should students be graded during the pandemic? ... Amy explains what we should and shouldn't be doing during the pandemic ... The Wuhan lab theory ... 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

Michael's new documentary, Created Equal: Justice Thomas in His Own Words ... Is some of the criticism of Thomas from the left racist? ... Why isn't he celebrated in the black community? ... Thomas's originalist view of the Constitution ... Thomas's wife Ginni, a conservative activist ... How Thomas's grandfather shaped his life ... The Anita Hill hearings and their legacy ... Why does Thomas rarely speak at oral argument? ... 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

Nikole Hannah-Jones wins a Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project ... Glenn: This is "a desperate struggle for dignity" in the face of black failure ... Self-hatred and patronization ... Glenn: A bubble that I thought would burst hasn't burst ... Biden's black agenda vs. Glenn's black agenda ... John: Black men need jobs ... Race and the picking of fruit ... Glenn: Don't teach children that their future is outside of their hands ... 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

Brandon explains what a coronavirus is ... Where the virus came from ... Evaluating the "laboratory escape" theory ... The path to an effective vaccine ... Brandon: We have not been alarmist about the pandemic ... Why a forecasting model can be way off but still correct ... Brandon: The federal government has underreacted from the start ... Brandon critiques the surgeon general's messages to African Americans ... 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

Jody describes what it's like inside his hospital ... How an outbreak in a prison could overwhelm the local hospital system ... Jody: "Most people don't need to be locked up, and don't need to be locked up for that long" ... What about all the murderers and rapists? ... Why Jody is not a prison abolitionist ... How Covid kills ... 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

How would the late Mark Kleiman have viewed the policy response to the pandemic? ... The democratic legitimacy of the administrative state ... Glenn: Policy experts can't determine human values ... Are the economic tradeoffs of shutdown too great? ... Harold: The costs of Covid are vivid in people's lives ... Did Trump unintentionally help tamp down civil unrest? ... 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

How Bob joined and eventually split with the civil rights movement ... Critiquing the government bureaucracy of the American welfare state ... Bob: Affirmative action has been exploited by middle-class blacks ... Black achievement during the century after the Civil War ... Glenn asks, "what is to be done?" ... Bob: "I don't have any choice but to be optimistic" ... Glenn: "Black people ought not to be taught to hate our country" ... 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

John on being at Covid ground zero in Queens ... The many racial disparities the pandemic has made plain ... But after the disparities are acknowledged, now what? ... Differences in life expectancy, health, and diet ... Does the pandemic make the case for universal healthcare? ... Racial discrimination by health care providers ... 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

Wilfred's new book, Taboo: 10 Facts You Can't Talk About ... The view of corona from Western Kentucky ... Wilfred: A universal shutdown doesn't make sense... ... ...instead we need random serological testing ... Is the pandemic revealing a structural weakness of democracy? ... Examining the racial disparity in infection rates ... Glenn: Experts should be "on tap, not on top" ... 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

Applying just war theory to the pandemic ... Danielle's three options: "freeze," "surrender," and "mobilize and transition" ... There's never been a vaccine for a coronavirus ... How Danielle's COVID-19 response working group came together ... Mixing free-market and command-economy strategies ... Trump's "request for proposals" ... 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

John reports on sheltering in place in NYC ... Race and the coronavirus ... Is calling the disease the "China virus" xenophobic? ... John wants President Cuomo ... Glenn: "You go to the crisis with the president you've got, not the president that you wish you had" ... John maligns and Glenn defends the president ... Do you feel safe? ... 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

Personal finance during a public health emergency ... Harold: No one totally understands the US economy ... Social isolation and emotional support ... Thought experiment: 600K deaths vs. a massive recession ... Looking back at the HIV epidemic ... Does it make sense to compare our situation with South Korea's? ... Will the virus kill identity politics? ... Harold is very pleased that Dems went with the moderate ... 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

Rajiv: Testing is the key to defeating coronavirus ... How do we know if we're overreacting to the virus? ... Considering credit forbearance ... Rajiv argues for public banking through the Federal Reserve ... Debating universal basic income ... The ethics of public imposition ... 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

Why quarantine is not enough ... Larry's proposal for a universal mandatory testing regime ... Glenn pushes back on Larry's plan on economic and libertarian grounds ... Is inflation coming? ... The importance of the "velocity" of money ... Why public health must come before economic health ... 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

Heather argues that we are overreacting to the coronavirus ... Heather: "Everyone should be a capitalist in a pandemic" ... Public goods and exponential growth ... Grading the Trump administration's handling of the crisis ... Has the media exaggerated the threat? ... Glenn predicts this will be a major blow to populism ... 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

How COVID-19 is affecting Glenn and John’s semester ... The mass psychology of coronavirus-inspired shutdowns ... Glenn: The social justice implications of the virus are legitimate ... Will Trump’s handling of the crisis be his downfall? ... Glenn: “The pussy grabber needs help!” ... Is Trump an effective politician or a hapless dolt? ... 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 recent spike in assaults on ultra-Orthodox Jews in NYC ... Is anti-Semitism or something else the root cause? ... Bob: The demonization of Israeli Jews has filtered down ... Are liberal Jews downplaying black anti-Semitism? ... Bob argues that Palestinians in Israel are doing relatively well ... Glenn: "There ain't gonna be no two-state solution" ... Ex-Leninist Bob makes the case against Bernie ... Would a Jewish president be good for the Jews? ... 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

Ian describes the charter school network he runs ... How teachers are treated in charters vs. in public schools ... Ian rebuts the charge that charters cherrypick their students ... Why Ian's schools are all single-sex ... The political campaign against charters ... Ian's critique of using the 1619 Project as curriculum ... The "Who's your daddy?" truck in the Bronx ... Is the racial achievement gap the wrong problem to focus on? ... 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 landmark 1977 paper, "A Dynamic Theory of Racial Income Differences" ... Glenn's theory of "relations before transactions" ... Critics accused Glenn of "flirting with the idea of black inferiority" ... What William F. Buckley said that broke Glenn's heart ... Why do Maine and Vermont let prisoners vote, when most states don't? ... Glenn vows to finish his memoir this summer ... The roles that two black academics played in Glenn's early career ... 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

Do blacks and Latinos have aligning interests? ... Ernesto: Immigrants have an irrational belief in the American dream ... Debating the benefits of immigration ... Can universal health care and open immigration be reconciled? ... Why Peter called Mexicans the "ambivalent minority" ... Will Latinos socially assimilate? Will blacks be left behind again? ... Revisiting Lincoln's Second Inaugural ... Ernesto: Most Latinos just want to work ... 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

John: The central claim of the NYT's 1619 Project "simply isn't true" ... Glenn offers a defense of the Project's perspective ... What the Constitution's three-fifths clause really meant ... John: "America is an endless rehearsal" ... After Kobe Bryant died, was it bad taste to bring up his rape accusation? ... Glenn praises Khalil Gibran Muhammad's The Condemnation of Blackness ... 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

Wesley's new book of essays, The Souls of Yellow Folk ... The meaning of Andrew Yang as an Asian American ... Ivy League admissions, intermarriage, and Harvard's "personality scores" ... Wesley: There's a "false crisis" about race in NYC elite public schools ... Wesley's essay about the Virginia Tech mass shooter ... The dismissed grievances of the Asian-American male ... 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

John: The racial conversation has improved over the past decade ... Decrying the "racism" explanation when black people don't succeed in a given field ... Glenn: "You're the weakest sister at the table, and you're gonna place demands?" ... The young black men who jump turnstiles and cross in the middle of the street ... So what does Martin Luther King Day mean now? ... How and why black culture changed so much between 1960 and 1970 ... Do changing sensibilities exonerate Russell Simmons? ... 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

Is impeachment justified? ... Summarizing Corey Robin's new book, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas ... Scott: Robin doesn't understand Thomas's actual constitutional interpretation ... Critiquing Robin's psychological reading of Thomas's childhood ... Thomas's actual views on gender and the family ... 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

What's new about the culture wars? ... Meghan: "White women are the new white men" ... Reacting vs. responding ... Meghan: Gen Xers had the advantage of second-wave feminist childhoods ... Meghan's controversial essay on "toxic femininity" ... The different kinds of power men and women have ... The case for and against pussy hats ... 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

Peter explains how stop-and-frisk went too far ... Who or what deserves credit for NYC's massive murder decline? ... Peter: Reducing poverty is not the way to reduce crime ... Are cops reaping the whirlwind? ... The aftermath of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and Laquan McDonald in Chicago ... Criminal justice reform and the potential backlash ... 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

Bob reminisces about the origins of Bloggingheads.tv ... Where The Glenn Show fits into the BhTV ecosystem ... Speech policing, the "n-word," and the uses of ridicule ... What's Trump's executive order on anti-Semitism really about? ... Does the IDW care about protecting speech critical of Israel? ... Bob critiques The Trayvon Hoax ... Bob: Be wary of throwing around the word "hoax" ... Quillette accuses Bob of palling around with tyranny apologists ... 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 and John respond to criticism of their discussion of The Trayvon Hoax ... Why Glenn finds the film credible despite its creator's conspiracy theories ... John: The public didn't get the full story of Zimmerman's 911 call ... The case as a forerunner of larger dynamics in American political culture ... Did Zimmerman have a rational prejudice? ... Glenn and John ain't running away ... What was Trayvon thinking? ... 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

George Zimmerman sues a bunch of people for $100 million ... Rightwing filmmaker Joel Gilbert's The Trayvon Hoax ... Gilbert's past conspiracy theorizing ... An age of fake news and relativism ... What John thinks really happened ... Recent racially charged hoaxes ... The racial narrative and "whose side are you on?" ... 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 the US tax system favor the rich? ... Why spending is more equally distributed than wealth ... How Larry makes his calculations ... How billionaires can avoid paying taxes ... Larry: We should tax consumption instead of income or wealth ... Larry critiques Andrew Yang's universal basic income plan ... Should Trump get credit for a good economy? ... 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

Critiquing William Nordhaus's work on the economics of climate change ... Larry: My plan for carbon taxation is a win-win ... Can elderly voters who don't care about the future be won over? ... What about critics of capitalism itself? ... Accounting for the uncertainties of climate science ... The work of the 2019 Economics Nobel laureates ... 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 Niskanen Center's defense of a "free-market welfare state" ... Hidden ways the government obstructs the free market ... Why a wealth tax probably wouldn't work ... Steve's ambivalence about impeachment ... Glenn says the emoluments charges are "penny ante b******t" ... Steve: Trumpism has to be defeated at the ballot box ... The vain search for the "generic Democrat" ... What happens to the NeverTrumpers post-Trump? ... 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

Buzzwords vs. the power of reason ... College students stay silent instead of saying the wrong thing ... Why cultural appropriation is such a flashpoint ... John: "It's hard to be an individual" ... Cosmopolitanism and fearing the cops ... The sense of belonging that comes from being oppressed ... 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

Coleman's new essay, "The Case for Black Optimism" ... Does it make sense to compare blacks and whites in terms of progress? ... Glenn presents the counterargument ... Coleman detests that blacks are viewed as "one massive problem" ... Glenn sees many blacks as being in desperate straits ... The problem with focusing too much on problems ... Coleman's congressional testimony on reparations ... 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 wants to hear more before supporting impeachment ... John: "Does it not bother you that your country is being run by an idiot?" ... Is Trump a truer tribune of the people than Obama? ... Glenn fears violent civil unrest if Trump is ousted ... Abortion and Trump's Supreme Court picks ... 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

What does it mean to be a black conservative? ... Why Glenn's views on affirmative action have shifted back and forth ... What happens if affirmative action is eliminated? ... Glenn critiques the idea of a "New Jim Crow" ... The case against reparations ... Feeling like the token black conservative ... Could reparations lead to a national spiritual renewal? ... Glenn takes questions from the audience ... 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

Is polarization a problem to be solved with "water or fire"? ... If Trump wins reelection, will national reconciliation be possible? ... How John's biography prepared him for this work ... Love thy political antagonist as thyself ... Marianne Williamson and the possibility of racial forgiveness ... Martin Luther King's legacy in today's black activist movements ... Glenn: Any movement for justice must be transracial ... 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