Month: March 2022

Prepared to explore “Empathy in the Age of Schadenfreude,” the God Squad showed up to a room full of people disturbed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  It turns out our planned topic was just the opening we needed to explore how one addresses the moral complexities of the war in Ukraine.

Join us for this timely conversation as we seek spiritual reinforcement from God Squad originals Pastor Betsy Ouellette Zierden of St. George Island United Methodist Church, Father Tim Holeda of St. Thomas More Co-Cathedral, and Rabbi Jack Romberg, author of "A doorway to Heroism: A decorated German-Jewish Soldier who became an American Hero."

Schadenfreude = the experience of feeling joy due to another person’s misfortune.

As the political landscape has devolved into a Mad Max hellscape of blame and retribution (and sometimes even worse), can we find a way to wrestle up a little empathy for our fellow human, even the ones who we don’t agree with — liberal or conservative; Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist; black, white or brown and everyone in between? Is it possible to find humanity amidst the age of political ruin? We’ll find out.

Find this event online at The Village Square.

This podcast series is presented in partnership with Florida Humanities.

Village SquareCast is part of The Democracy Group podcast network.

Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss Peter Thiel’s history, how the network he cultivated has influenced Silicon Valley, and his recent move into funding Republican candidates.

Moira Weigel is an assistant professor at Northeastern University, a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic magazine. She also co-edited Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk about What They Do--And How They Do It. Follow Moira on Twitter at @moiragweigel.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Moira wrote about Peter Thiel and the importance of his network in The New Republic.
• Paris wrote about why Peter Thiel isn’t an outlier in Silicon Valley.
• Reason Magazine asked “wasn’t Peter Thiel supposed to be a libertarian?”
• In February 2020, Peter Thiel stepped down from Facebook’s board.
• Books mentioned: The Contrarian by Max Chafkin, From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner, Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, The PayPal Wars by Eric Jackson, Predict and Surveil by Sarah Brayne.

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