Influence of Upbringing and Identity Politics

My guest today is Briahna Joy Gray. Briahna was the national press secretary for Bernie Sanders and his 2020 campaign. Before that, she was a columnist and Senior Politics Editor at The Intercept. Her work has also appeared in many other outlets like Rolling Stone magazine, Current Affairs, New York Magazine, and The Guardian. Briahna currently hosts the Bad Faith Podcast, which I hope to go on soon.

We talk about how Briahna's international childhood influenced her worldview. We discuss American exceptionalism and patriotism, and whether they're justified, how identity-politics crowds out the issues of poverty in class, the effects of crime in poor neighborhoods, and the cancellation of Whoopi Goldberg. We argue about the extent to which culture is a cause of racial and ethnic disparities. We go on to talk about our cultural obsession with four-year colleges and the prospect of instead supporting vocational schools much more than we currently do, minimum wage laws, and socialism generally.

I really enjoyed this one and I hope you do too.