

The Glenn Show
Glenn Loury
Race, inequality, and economics in the US and throughout the world from Glenn Loury. glennloury.substack.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 18, 2023 • 1h 4min
Haim Shweky – An American-Israeli at the Ukrainian Front
0:00 Haim’s history with The Glenn Show7:54 How Haim ended up fighting in Ukraine17:42 The legionnaire’s lingua franca27:55 Haim’s riposte to Cornel West on Ukraine42:27 A pen in one hand and a gun in the other47:56 Haim: Ukraine’s sovereignty and national identity must be respected53:34 Is the two-state solution dead?Recorded July 23, 2023Links and ReadingsHaim’s writing for this newsletterHaim’s Substack, The GarlandGlenn’s recent conversation with Cornel WestHaim and Nikita Petrov’s exchange on the Ukraine WarNikita’s Substack, Psychopolitica This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Aug 11, 2023 • 1h 8min
John McWhorter & Ian Buruma – The Spirit of Wokeness
0:00 The protestant ethic and the spirit of wokeness 10:47 Is comparing wokeness to religion a slander on religion? 21:08 Ian: Wokeness is a distraction from real political problems 28:02 How Ian experienced his own cancelation 41:31 America’s exportation of wokeness 45:45 Has wokeness aided and abetted Trump and Brexit? 52:54 John: Enslaved people did find ways to improve their own livesRecorded August 7, 2023Links and ReadingsIan’s Harper’s piece, “Doing the Work”John’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black AmericaJian Ghomeshi’s 2018 NYRB piece, “Reflections from a Hashtag”Tomiwa Owolade’s book, This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain MatterDavid Brooks’s NYT oped, “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?”John’s NYT oped, “One Sentence Does Not Define a Curriculum”The Florida Board of Education’s 2023 standards for social studiesRobert Cherry’s essay on slavery at this newsletter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Aug 9, 2023 • 10min
July 2023 Q&A
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

Aug 4, 2023 • 1h 15min
Jay Caspian Kang – Affirmative Elitism
0:00 How Jay’s position on affirmative action changed12:15 Jay: I can’t see the virtue in affirmative action as it’s practiced20:07 Why did so many Asian students defend policies that discriminated against Asians?25:35 The hidden cultural argument in the California Mathematics Framework32:01 Is the “people of color coalition” coming apart?34:55 Why so little outrage over the SCOTUS affirmative action decision?42:26 When students internalize artificial trauma narratives49:06 America can’t economically decouple itself from China. Will anti-China rhetoric wane?55:49 What will and won’t change in the wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard1:05:29 Isn’t there some value to diversity in education?Recorded July 24, 2023Links and ReadingsJay’s New Yorker piece, “Why the Champions of Affirmative Action Had to Leave Asian Americans Behind”Jay’s book, The Loneliest AmericansJay’s podcast with E. Tammy Kim, Time to Say GoodbyeJay’s 2019 New York Times Magazine piece, “Where Does Affirmative Action Leave Asian-Americans?”Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s book, The Asian American Achievement ParadoxNatasha Warikoo’s book, Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban SchoolsThe California Mathematics FrameworkRoland Fryer’s NYT piece, “How to Fix College Admissions Now” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Jul 28, 2023 • 1h 1min
John McWhorter and Peter Arcidiacono – The Economics of SFFA v. Harvard
0:00 Peter’s role in the Supreme Court affirmative action case8:57 Are legacy admissions affirmative action by another name?19:17 Why Peter got interested in affirmative action24:20 Glenn was for affirmative action before he was against it30:33 Peter: Universities are not honest about admissions34:20 The brilliance of Roland Fryer51:17 Campus diversity after affirmative actionRecorded July 22, 2023Links and ReadingsGlenn’s 2020 conversation with PeterPeter’s paper, “What happens after enrollment? An analysis of the time path of racial differences in GPA and major choice”Mary Sue Coleman on the steps of the Supreme CourtJohn’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black AmericaRoland Fryer’s paper, “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force”Federico Echenique and Roland Fryer’s paper, “A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions”David Austen-Smith and Roland Fryer’s paper, “The Economics of ‘Acting White’” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Jul 21, 2023 • 54min
Matt Johnson – The Lessons of Christopher Hitchens
0:00 How Matt first encountered Christopher Hitchens6:07 Matt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment8:00 Why Matt thinks Cornel West’s Vietnam-Afghanistan analogy is flawed14:21 What’s worth preserving in the left-liberal tradition?21:38 Matt: Identity politics is a “toxin”27:20 Was affirmative action ever necessary?35:29 Matt: I wish the left would rediscover Hitchens’s universalism45:04 Hitchens’s “fearless liberalism”Recorded July 6, 2023Links and ReadingsMatt’s new book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-EnlightenmentHitchens’s NYRB review of Douglas Murray’s Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred DouglasHitchens’s book, Why Orwell MattersGeorge Orwell’s book, Keep The Aspidistra FlyingGlenn’s recent conversation with Cornel WestMatt’s Quilette essay on John MearsheimerMatt’s Quillette essay on Bayard RustinJonathan Eig’s King: A LifeNathan Glazer’s book, Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public PolicyRoland Fryer’s NYT oped, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”Glenn’s debate with HitchensTa-Nehisi Coates’s Atlantic essay, “The Case for Reparations”Bayard Rustin’s 1965 Commentary essay, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement”Norman Finkelstein’s book, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic FreedomGlenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Jul 14, 2023 • 1h 4min
John McWhorter – The End of Race-Based Affirmative Action
0:00 John: Let’s be honest about what “taking race into account” means in affirmative action10:09 Glenn: How can anyone argue that race-based affirmative action doesn’t violate the 14th Amendment?19:29 Why are we so focused on elite institutions?24:32 John: The University of California works just fine without “racial preferences”30:28 “You’re pulling the ladder up behind you” is an invalid critique35:00 John: The fact that racism exists does not justify changing standards44:04 Why Roland Fryer thinks we should put our money where our mouth is on race and education51:04 Will the post-Students for Fair Admissions future turn into a “Hardship Olympics”?Recorded July 8, 2023Links and ReadingsZachary Bleemer’s paper, “Affirmative Action, Mismatch, and Economic Mobility after California’s Proposition 209”Zachary Bleemer’s paper, “Affirmative Action and Its Race-Neutral Alternatives”The Supreme Court opinions in Students for Fair Admissions v. HarvardJohn’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black AmericaJohn’s NYT piece, “On Race and Academia”Roland Fryer’s NYT oped, “How to Fix College Admissions Now” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Jul 12, 2023 • 7min
June 2023 Q&A
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

Jul 7, 2023 • 1h 6min
Jay Bhattacharya – Rewriting the COVID Narrative
0:00 The problem with scientific consensus6:36 Why Jay and his colleagues were branded “fringe epidemiologists”15:52 Jay: We need to engage with everyone—even those with mistaken beliefs25:55 Persuading science skeptics36:04 How do we stop COVID overreach from happening again?46:38 Jay: Gain-of-function research is impossible to do safely55:03 Are some ideas too dangerous to test?59:30 Jay: Fauci’s blunder was so catastrophic that only history can judge himRecorded June 23, 2023Links and ReadingsRav Arora and Jay’s newsletter, The Illusion of ConsensusDoris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnThe Great Barrington DeclarationSteve Koonin’s book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Asks Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It MattersSteve Koonin’s TGS appearanceTjalling Koopman’s, Three Essays on the State of Economic ScienceEmily Oster’s Atlantic piece, “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty”The Norfolk Group DocumentGlenn’s paper, “Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of ‘Political Correctness’ and Related Phenomena”Richard Feynman demonstrates flaws in Challenger’s O-ringsRoger Shattuck’s book, Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Jun 30, 2023 • 1h 5min
Cornel West – The Presidential Aspirations of Cornel West
0:00 Why Cornel is running for president10:45 How Cornel links American militarism abroad and inequality at home15:15 Cornel’s pitch to skeptical right-of-center voters20:30 Is there tension between Cornel’s commitment to stopping climate change and his commitment to helping the working class?33:50 The moral potential and pitfalls of capitalism37:34 Might Cornel inadvertently hand the election to the Republicans?41:44 Cornel: Tim Scott and Clarence Thomas are wrong, but they’re sincere46:06 Why Cornel thinks the US is partially culpable for the Ukraine War52:04 Should Palestinians recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel?1:00:23 Cornel’s ideas about the US borderRecorded on June 16, 2023Links and ReadingsCornel’s campaign websiteCornel’s TGS appearance with Teodros KirosGlenn and Richard Wolff debate capitalism and socialismCornel and Robert George on PBS’s Firing LineSteve Koonin’s TGS appearanceErnesto Cortes’s TGS appearanceBenjamin Schwartz and Christopher Layne’s Harper’s essay, “Why Are We in Ukraine?” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe


