As part of our ongoing therapy, we welcomed Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Jonathan is one of our favorite authors, and his books “Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought” and “The Constitution of Knowledge - A Defense of Truth” are heavily earmarked in both our bookshelves.

We ask Jonathan to help us hold on to our values and ideals in the face of October 7th, when everything we thought we knew was challenged. We talk about moral courage, what the roles of universities should be, how silence can be weaponized to make us feel like a minority, and we draw some optimism from Jonathan’s struggle for gay marriage – when it seemed like the whole world was against him.

Why JR was not surprised by the reaction to October 7th
And why it’s good that the veil came off
It is your job to educate
“Ohio State opposed Genocide” – does it matter?
When massacre and rape are too controversial to condemn
Swastika graffiti is too easy to condemn
Spirals of silence and false consensus
If you don’t speak up – you lose.
The parallels to Jonathan’s fight for gay marriage
Are idealism and policy incompatible?
The amazing story of Frank Kameny
Fallibilism > skepticism.
What JR missed when he wrote Kindly Inquisitors
Twitter/X is an epistemic sewer
Civic literacy
Thanks for the free publicity, crazies
Don’t rise to the bait of the craziest person.
The person you need on your side is the quiet person in the middle
Optimistic? Hopeful.

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Milo Alosi is DONE with Canadians