Shadi Hamid

Shadi Hamid and Annie Laurie Gaylor debate whether religion is a force for good. They discuss the positive impact of religion on individuals and society, as well as the historical conflicts and discrimination it can perpetuate. The conversation explores gender roles in Islam, harmful consequences of extreme religious beliefs, and the need for human intervention over relying solely on prayer for healing.

Shadi Hamid, a Middle East politics expert, discusses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the ceasefire, pro-Israel stance, and challenges to establishing a Palestinian state. The speakers also touch on the forever culture war, free speech on universities, and the schism within conservatism.

Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk discuss the moral and ethical challenges in the Israel-Hamas war, exploring religious perspectives, collective morality, Christian ethics, and the complex dynamics of money, power, and privilege. They express concern for the ongoing conflict in Gaza and its potential spread.

Shadi Hamid, a Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at Georgetown University, dives into the complexities of U.S. foreign policy, discussing the National Security Strategy and America's global leadership. He reflects on his mixed identity and its influence on his worldview. Highlights include a critique of Bush's idealism leading to chaos in Iraq, the consequences of 9/11 on his faith, and the tension between Islam and liberalism. Shadi advocates for promoting democracy in the Middle East while respecting cultural diversity, making a case for a nuanced American power.

Shadi Hamid, a political analyst and author of The Case for American Power, dives into the complexities of U.S. foreign policy. He discusses why he believes America is still worth defending and the regenerative potential of democracies. The conversation explores how moral objectives require political power, America's appeal to immigrants, and the impact of U.S. hegemony on global democracy. Shadi also tackles criticisms from the Muslim community and highlights the importance of civic engagement for policy change.

Shadi Hamid, a noted columnist and senior fellow specializing in Middle East politics, argues for a progressive embrace of U.S. power in his latest insights. He critiques the Left's retreat from global engagement, highlighting the chaos in regions like Syria as a cautionary example. Hamid reflects on historical instances where U.S. intervention led to positive outcomes and warns that moral righteousness without action is futile. He calls for a pragmatic approach to influence American policy, especially in light of recent conflicts like Gaza.

Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk discuss tribal loyalties and influences on Gaza positions. Hamid's Muslim identity and Kaemingk presses on tribal perspective. Exploring evangelical views on Israel, end times, and group identity shaping political beliefs. Delve into complexities of differing views on Israel and managing disagreements in relationships. Emphasize on empathy, self-criticism, and dialogue in divisive times.

Sarah Haider, Shadi Hamid, and Murtaza Hussain discuss the effects of the Israel-Palestine conflict on geopolitics and American culture, including eliminationist rhetoric, the divide between the West and the Global South, and potential changes in American foreign policy. They also address the impact of the conflict on American culture, cancel culture concerns, offensive rhetoric, the perception of the conflict in the US, and the compatibility of being a Zionist and a feminist or humanitarian. Additionally, they delve into personal experiences, Twitter personas, age gap discourse, the fracture of the American cultural left, and the importance of humanity amidst escalating tensions.

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib hosts three guests, Sarah Haider of A Special Place in Hell, Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institute and Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept. Razib, Haider, Hamid and Hussain discuss the current state of the culture from the perspective of "brown" observers of the public sphere dominated by woke vs. anti-woke factions. Despite ideological differences, all four are skeptical of the ideological orthodoxies regnant in American culture, even though one, Hamid, identifies strongly as a partisan Democrat who is liberal. In a wide-ranging conversation (which begins with a review of how to pronounce each other's names), they discuss the case of Raquel Evita Saraswati, a woman Haider knew casually from the social activism sphere, who represented herself as a queer Muslim of Arab, Latino and South-Asian background. Saraswati, a Muslim who somewhat perplexingly co-opted the name of a Hindu goddess as her surname, was born Rachel Elizabeth Seidel and is of British, German and Italian ancestry. Due to her fifteen years of lying about her ethnic background, she was recently forced out of a position as chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Friends Service Committee. Haider and Hamid, in particular, discuss the pressure felt in some social justice movements for people to present incongruous backgrounds, like being a "queer Muslim," and how it has created a demand that is being satisfied by grifters like Saraswati. Saraswati highlights the role of religion and how it is inextricably connected to brown identity in the US, whether it is coded Muslim or Hindu. Razib and Haider, both atheists from a Muslim background, and Hamid and Hussain, both believing Muslims, discuss the American religious scene in the wake of New Atheism and the social and functional value of religion in an age where moral frameworks have been overthrown and updated. Hamid questions Haider on her views on the value of religious wisdom in maintaining and perpetuating social norms that she supports, like the idea that there are two sexes and her deemphasis on the importance of "gender identity." Hussain explains that religion, in a philosophical sense, should be considered distinctively from a more primal and animistic set of intuitions. All four meditate on the fact that they are outsiders not by dint of their race or immigrant background (or parental immigrant background), but their dissent from the dominant social norms of the ascendant professional-managerial class.

In this discussion, Shadi Hamid, a Senior Fellow at Georgetown and a columnist for The Washington Post, makes a compelling case for American power in his recent book. He describes it as a love letter to America, urging progressives to embrace its ideals while navigating its flaws. Shadi argues for seeking power to enact change, rather than maintaining moral purity. He emphasizes the importance of reclaiming national pride and discusses the significance of hyphenated identities in fostering unity.