Wisdom of Crowds

Who poses the biggest danger to our country aside from Trump: the wokes, the integralists—or the Never Trumpers themselves? Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon joins Shadi and Damir to talk about his new essay about Weimar Germany, polarization, and the allures and dangers of moral certitude.  Reading List "The Weimarization of the American Republic," by Aaron Sibarium (American Purpose) 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

What is dissolving the social bonds that tie us together in America? Is liberalism decaying? And is there a "successor ideology" waiting in the wings? Special guest Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, joins Shadi and Damir to talk about Jewish identity and American politics in the waning moments of 2020. Reading List: "Brooklyn's Anti-masking Protests Betray a Broken Culture," Yehuda Kurtzer (The Atlantic) "Memory Malpractice," Yehuda Kurtzer (Tablet) "Stop Being Shocked," Bari Weiss (Tablet) 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

Why so angry? Shadi and Damir talk about useful idiocy, neoconservatism, and the dangerous temptation of righteousness in politics. Come for Shadi musing about U2 and stay for Damir rhapsodizing about Guy Debord. Reading List: Not the Coen Brothers. "On Romance and Being in a Constant State of Alarm," Shadi Hamid (WoC) "The Biggest Risk to This Election Is Not Russia. It’s Us." Fiona Hill (NYT) 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

Does rhetorical escalation among our elites belie the stability of the nation today? With Amy Coney Barrett nominated for the Supreme Court and partisan rancor at an all-time high, Shadi and Damir pick apart their doubts about the health of our democracy. Reading List: Shadi's prescient tweet "Resisting the Juristocracy," Samuel Moyn (Boston Review) 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

The great Nils Gilman of the Berggruen Institute and Noema joins Shadi and Damir to talk about why the upcoming elections feel existential, why our federal government feels increasingly illegitimate, and why Shadi's most recent piece in The Atlantic has annoyed so many people. Reading List: "Human Rights and Neoliberalism," by Nils Gilman (LA Review of Books) "The Collapse of Racial Liberalism," by Nils Gilman (The American Interest) "The Democrats May Not Be Able to Concede," by Shadi Hamid (The Atlantic) 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

Shadi thinks Damir is getting more worried about our institutions. Damir reveals the depths of his relentless fatalism. All because NPR thought it was a good idea to interview a radical apologist for rioting and looting. Reading List: "One Author's Controversial View: 'In Defense of Looting'," by Natalie Escobar (NPR) "Between Orientalism and Postmodernism: The Changing Nature of Western Feminist Thought Towards the Middle East," by Shadi Hamid (Hawwa) The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics, Mark Lilla (NYRBooks) "The Free Floater," by John Gray (TNR) 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

During a livestream, Shadi and Damir talked about the site redesign and relaunch, why it's smart to abandon Big Tech platforms during the upheavals of the Age of Wokeness, how America is definitively not on the cusp of revolution (no matter what the activists might think), and whether violence was likelier if Trump defeats Biden than vice versa. 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

It's summer. Damir rings up Shadi to talk about the pleasure of writing and the pain of exercising, before the conversation takes a much darker turn. Required Reading: Islamic Exceptionalism, by Shadi Hamid That Mohammed Tweet, by Shadi Hamid 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

Stand up straight! The Washington Post's Christine Emba joins Shadi and Damir to ponder the positive aspects of the woke wars, the role of ideas in furthering social change, and the virtues of lukewarm takes. Reading List: "Why George Floyd Died," by Rod Dreher (The American Conservative) 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

Are we reaching a tipping point in our politics, and is the very legitimacy of our democratic system is being called into question? The Week's Damon Linker joins Shadi and Damir to discuss how a desperate narrative seems to be taking a hold on the Right, its historical antecedents, and whether the threat comes from an illiberal ideology or if our Union has always been more precarious than we thought. Reading List: "When Conservatives Become Revolutionaries," by Damon Linker (The Week) "Democracy Maybe," by Lee Drutman, Joe Goldman, and Larry Diamond (Voter Study Group) 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