Be courageous! A call to speak up for what you believe | Bari Weiss
May 29, 2024
auto_awesome
Journalist and editor Bari Weiss discusses the importance of courage in a polarized world, urging individuals to speak up for their beliefs. She shares inspiring examples of bravery, emphasizing the need for dialogue, truth, and respect in society.
Courage is crucial in speaking out against conformity and silence.
Defend personal beliefs and values with courage in divisive times.
Deep dives
Challenging Conformity and Speaking Up
In the podcast episode, writer Barry Weiss discusses her journey from being an opinion writer for The New York Times to resigning due to the perceived stifling conformity of the paper. She argues that her beliefs are not controversial and calls on individuals to use their voices during divisive times. Weiss emphasizes the importance of speaking up against prevailing norms and advocating for personal beliefs.
The Perception of Boring Views as Controversial
Weiss explores how her previously considered standard liberal views have now become deemed provocative or controversial in intellectual spaces. She questions the rapid shift in societal acceptance of once mundane opinions as radical. Weiss reflects on how seemingly unremarkable beliefs are now labeled as extreme, questioning the factors contributing to this transformation.
Cultivating Courage in Defending Values
The podcast delves into the concept of courage in defending values and ideas in the face of societal shifts. Weiss suggests that cowardice within the silent majority has contributed to the current societal crisis. She emphasizes the importance of courage in upholding virtues like justice, compassion, and truth, highlighting the necessity of actively defending freedom and advocating for genuine dialogue and debate.
In an unflinching look at issues that widen the political divide in the US, journalist and editor Bari Weiss highlights why courage is the most important virtue in today's polarized world. She shares examples of people who have spoken up in the face of conformity and silence — and calls on all of us to say what we believe. (Followed by a Q&A with head of TED Chris Anderson)