Wisdom of Crowds

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week, Elisabeth Zerofsky of The New York Times Magazine joins us after recent reporting trips in Paris and Berlin. In Part 1, we talked about the upcoming French election and the rise of the far-right in France. The West is looking on nervously as President Macron tries to fend off a challenge from Marine Le Pen, a populist with ties to Putin. Regardless of the outcome, French voters have veered to the right—with fear of Islam driving public debate and mainstream politicians refusing to disavow the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.   In Part 2 of the discussion, available here for subscribers, the conversation shifts to Germany's growing sense of crisis. Is Germany the new "sick of man of Europe"? During the Trump years, American liberals saw Angela Merkel as a sort of substitute leader of the free world. But Merkel legacy's may be in for a not-so-kind reckoning. Also: Damir wonders out loud whether Shadi is, deep down, a crypto-neoconservative.   Subscribers get access to all paid content, including weekly bonus episodes, Q&A features with Shadi and Damir, our full essay archive, as well as members-only conversations with guests like Ross Douthat and Glenn Greenwald. You can subscribe here and cancel anytime.   Required Reading   "The End of History Dies Hard in Berlin" by Elisabeth Zerofsky (Wisdom of Crowds)   "France's Far Right Turn" by Elisabeth Zerofsky (New York Times)     "'Worst crisis since the second world war’: Germany prepares for a Russian gas embargo" by (Financial Times)   Philly D.A., directed by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicola Salazar (Amazon)     Trump's meeting with Germany

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week, Shadi and Damir debate whether the war in Ukraine is breathing new life into the liberal idea. It seemed like liberalism might stage a comeback, but Putin-adjacent rightwing populists are still going strong in France and Hungary. Shadi insists he's a liberal who's critical of liberalism, which pushes Damir to question what exactly that means in practice. When is too much illiberalism too much? Also: Damir wonders whether Prohibition got a bad rap.In the full subscriber-only episode, Shadi and Damir go deeper into how the challenges to liberalism play out in foreign policy, and debate whether democracies are less cruel during war. Is America a moral power? Does that make us better?Required Reading- "Is There Such Thing as the Common Good?" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds)- "Why I Am Not A Liberal" by Liam Bright (Sooty Empiric)- "A Country of Their Own" by Francis Fukuyama (Foreign Policy)- "Preparing for Defeat" by Francis Fukuyama (American Purpose)- "Can Liberalism Thrive Without a Wolf at the Door?" by Ross Douthat (New York Times)- "The Enemies of Liberalism Are Showing Us What It Really Means" by Ezra Klein (New York Times)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week we were joined by Christine Emba, a columnist at the Washington Post and author of the fascinating new book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. What resulted was the longest episode in Wisdom of Crowds history, delving into some uncharted territory. We discuss a lot of big topics—the perils of modern dating, the sex recession, consent, incels, marriage, porn, and Tinder hookup culture. If we have so much freedom, why are we so unhappy about it?Shadi presses Christine about whether her arguments about sex are a metaphor for broader disappointments with liberalism and the burdens of unlimited choice. Damir wonders if Christine is being a bit Straussian in an attempt to push conservative values into sex discourse.In the subscriber-only portion of the conversation, we dive deeper into the fraught world of sex culture in America today. When one can "order" the delivery of a sexual partner, like the Tinder Delivery Guy story from Christine's book, is it time to go back to the drawing board? Can a case be made that people were more happy decades (or centuries) ago? Also, Christine lays out her argument that consent is not enough.Required Reading- Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, by Christine Emba (Amazon)- "Consent is not enough. We need a new sexual ethic." by Christine Emba (Washington Post)- "Victorians, Manners, and the Woke Wars" (Wisdom of Crowds)- "Cat Person" by Kristen Roupenian (New Yorker)- "A Manifesto Against Sex Positivity" by Michelle Goldberg (New York Times)- "Searching for a Mate: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary" by Michael J. Rosenfeld and Reuben J. Thomas (American Sociological Review)

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)