Know Your Enemy On Friendship (w/ Andy Elrick)
Dec 1, 2025
Explore the intriguing dynamics of friendship and politics in a lively conversation. Delve into whether friendships should be fixed or accepted as they are. Discuss the delightful, non-instrumental nature of friendships and how deeply personal beliefs intertwine with politics. Reflect on the challenge of maintaining friendships despite conflicting views, using historical examples like Bill Buckley. Lastly, ponder the ideal versus the reality of apolitical friendships and why they seem unlikely to exist in practice.
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Balance Delight With Moral Vigilance
- Embrace delight in friendships but stay attentive to how friends' beliefs affect others.
- Avoid pretending political irrelevance when those beliefs produce tangible harms or associations.
Lingering Ties To Problematic Friends
- The hosts recall associations with figures like Bill Buckley and friends who wrote odious columns.
- These lingering friendships raise doubts about ignoring friends' problematic beliefs or writings.
Limits Of A Politically Neutral Friendship
- The conservative view praises friendships that exist independently of politics or change motives.
- But insisting on total separation overlooks how friends' beliefs manifest in real-world harms and associations.