This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIn a classic wide-ranging episode, Shadi and Damir kick things off by noticing that the Ukraine War is no longer capturing “the discourse” as it did a week ago. Does how we consume media make it difficult for us to grapple with the moment’s most important stories? And does the same phenomenon make us overrate the importance of things like wokeness?As the conversation proceeds, and talk turns to Biden’s democracy-versus-autocracy worldview, Damir asks Shadi if he would have supported the Vietnam War, and whether he might one day end up a politician.In the subscriber-only portion of the episode, Shadi and Damir talk about religion, legality, war, and the importance of the existence of God for the possibility of justice. Is it better to be a believer than a godless agnostic?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWhat’s the nature of our enemy in Ukraine? Is it Putin, Russia, or authoritarianism? What are the sources of the West’s strength and its capacities for revival? And how should we think about evil in the world? The political philosopher Samuel Kimbriel joins Shadi and Damir to help unpack these questions, and many others in a wide-ranging philosophical discussion.In the subscriber-only portion of the episode, the debate intensifies around whether finitude entails a more confrontational American foreign policy or a more humble one. Will the threat of an external enemy push Americans out of their decadence and towards a new kind of proto-messianism?Required Reading- "Death and Morality in the War on Ukraine" by Samuel Kimbriel (Wisdom of Crowds)- "We Need to Talk About a No-Fly Zone" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds)- “Putin’s Palace: The History of the World’s Largest Bribe,” by Alexei Navalny (YouTube)- Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World, by Shadi Hamid (Amazon)- Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation, by Samuel Kimbriel (Amazon)- Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, by Svetlana Alexievich (Amazon)- "Ross Douthat on Decadence, Wokeness, and UFOs" (Wisdom of Crowds)- "The (Aggressive) Pursuit of Happiness" (Wisdom of Crowds)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe firebrand journalist and author Glenn Greenwald joined us for a broad-ranging discussion on the war in Ukraine and the past few decades of American foreign policy. We tackled the comparisons between Russia's invasion, the Iraq War, and other disastrous American foreign policy failures. Does America's good intent set it apart from countries like Russia, or are we more similar than we care to admit?In the full subscriber-only conversation, we ask Glenn whether the U.S. should continue arming the Ukrainian resistance, and what an endgame would even look like. Shadi argues that, for all its faults, American hegemony is better than any of the available alternatives while Damir wonders whether "better" is even a relevant category. Perhaps a multipolar world is inevitable. If so, how should we think about such a world and our role in it?Required Reading- Glenn's Substack- "War Propaganda About Ukraine Becoming More Militaristic, Authoritarian, and Reckless" by Glenn Greenwald (Substack)- "Victoria Nuland: Ukraine Has 'Biological Research Facilities,' Worried Russia May Seize Them" by Glenn Greenwald (Substack)- "The Ugly Truth About No-Fly Zones" by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds)- "There Are Many Things Worse Than American Power" by Shadi Hamid (The Atlantic)- "141 countries vote to condemn Russia at UN" by Ivana Saric and Zachary Basu (Axios)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week, Berlin-based journalist and New York Times Magazine contributing writer Elisabeth Zerofsky joins us to discuss how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has changed Europe. What explains the righteous fury of previously pacific Germans? Shadi asks Elisabeth and Damir what a "red line" in Ukraine could possibly be—or if it even exists. For example, how might the United States respond in hypothetical scenarios of large-scale massacres and the leveling of entire cities.In the subscriber-only portion of the conversation, we debate whether Europe has a preference for white—and specifically non-Muslim—refugees. "Anti-immigrant" leaders on the far-right are, all of a sudden, discovering a soft spot for migrants. Are Europeans racist? Perhaps, the argument goes, it's easier to integrate Ukrainians because they are secular, culturally similar, and look like "us." Can that ever justify the double standard? Shadi decides to do away with caution and make a rather controversial argument.Required Reading- "Negotiating with Madmen" by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds)- "On Putin, Rationality, and Believing In Heaven" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds)- Is EU Concerned? Twitter account- "Gerhard Schröder Casts a Dark Shadow over Berlin's Foreign Policy"  (Spiegel)- Benjamin Wittes' tweet- "Why John Mearsheimer Blames the US for the Crisis in Ukraine" by Isaac Chotiner (New Yorker)- Michael Cecire and Damir's Twitter exchange

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live Shadi and Damir sit down again, four days into the war in Ukraine, to look at where things stand, and where things could be going. We talk best- and worst-case scenarios, why the West can’t get militarily involved, and why the Europeans in particular are so white-hot furious about Putin's invasion.

Shadi and Damir sat down to do a quick episode today as Russia commenced its invasion of Ukraine. They talk about how the world got to this point, what we in the West could have done differently, what could happen next, and what it means for the future of America. We hope you find this real-time attempt at analysis useful and helpful.Required Reading- "Negotiating with Madmen" by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds)- "America’s role in the Russia and Ukraine situation" (AP) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveFrom Leon Trotsky to Sayyid Qutb to the Founding Fathers, Shadi and Damir discuss revolution in all its forms. The guys argue about the importance of ideas, the role of violence, and how order is legitimized. Can democracy keep the peace? Part 2 of our conversation is available here for subscribers. Shadi and Damir turn their attention to the revolutionary impulses on both the conservative right and the woke left. While the intellectuals behind these movements likely don't consider themselves to be advocating for the overthrow of our system, does that mean they are fine operating in the system? Or are we approaching a tipping point of revolutionary impulse in America? Subscribe here to listen. Members will also gain access to other paid content, including weekly bonus episodes, Q&As with Shadi and Damir, and our full archive of Friday Essays. Required Reading The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky, by Isaac Deutscher (Amazon) The Democracy Essays (Wisdom of Crowds) "Am I a Trotskyite?" by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds) Hitler: A Global Biography, by Brendan Simms (Amazon) Terrorism and Communism: A Reply to Karl Kautsky (Revolutions), by Leon Trotsky, Foreword by Slavoj Žižek (Amazon) "Taking People as They Are: Islam as a 'Realistic Utopia' in the Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb" by Andrew F. March (American Political Science Review) "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror" by Paul Berman (New York Times) "Liberalism Has an Unhappiness Problem" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) "Sohrab Ahmari on Liberalism, Tradition, and Political Catholicism" (Wisdom of Crowds)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIn this week's episode, we were joined by our friend Aaron Sibarium, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon. Aaron recently reported a piece showing how three states were rationing COVID drugs on race-based criteria. The article made a splash. Fox News covered the story, Trump referenced it in a speech (sloppily as always), and Twitter tried to rebrand it as a right-wing talking point.Prioritizing woke ideology over medical realities can cost lives. But we tried to stay true to the Wisdom of Crowds ethos and made our best faith effort to ask whether race-based triage can ever be justified on practical or philosophical grounds. Is this the result of good intentions going off the rails, or is something more sinister at work?Required Reading:- "Food and Drug Administration Guidance Drives Racial Rationing of COVID Drugs" by Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon)- "Hospital System Backs Off Race-Based Treatment Policy After Legal Threat" by Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon)- "Hospitalization and Mortality among Black Patients and White Patients with Covid-19" (New England Journal of Medicine)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIt used to be called "political correctness." It had its heyday in the 1990s, then it went underground. While we weren't paying attention, an entire architecture of speech restrictions was being built on campuses across the country. Greg Lukianoff, CEO of FIRE and co-author of the bestselling The Coddling of the American Mind, joins us to discuss what he calls the "second great age of political correctness."When people say cancel culture isn't real, are they arguing in good faith? One part of the story is the lack of diversity in American universities—in disciplines like anthropology, the ratio of liberal to conservative professors is 42 to 1. If we care so much about diversity, why don't we seem to care viewpoint diversity?Required Reading:- "The Second Great Age of Political Correctness" by Greg Lukianoff (Reason)- "How To Keep Your Corporation Out of the Culture War" by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff (Persuasion)- "The Polarization Spiral" by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff (Persuasion)- The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education- The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri- Manliness by Harvey Mansfield

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week we were joined by Sam Adler-Bell, cohost of the Know Your Enemy podcast. We examined the New Right, their earnestly held belief that liberals have already won the battle for the soul of the country, and America's crisis of legitimacy. Is it even worth trying to bridge the gap between left and right on cultural issues?Required Reading:- "The Radical Young Intellectuals Who Want to Take Over the American Right" by Sam Adler-Bell (New Republic)- "Young, Radical, and on the Right (w/ Nate Hochman)" by Know your Enemy- "Shadi Hamid on Being an Anti-‘Woke’ Progressive" by Matt Lewis- "Michael Brendan Dougherty on Identity, Culture, and the False Promise of Liberation" by Wisdom of Crowds- "Ross Douthat on Decadence, Wokeness, and UFOs" by Wisdom of Crowds" by Wisdom of Crowds- "Sohrab Ahmari on Liberalism, Tradition, and Political Catholicism" by Wisdom of Crowds- Trump’s Full Inauguration Speech 2017