Amanda Holmes reads Stevie Smith’s “The Frog Prince.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Spencer A. Klavan joins in to discuss his recent book, “Light of the Mind, Light of the World: Illuminating Science Through Faith."
Intro music by Jack Bauerlein.
Sometimes there's an interview that brings radical clarity about the current moment. Professor Anita Say Chan's book Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech & Our Fight for an Independent Future ties Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the tech billionaires empowered under Trump to eugenics movement of the 19th and 20th centuries with chilling specificity. She offers two key insights: first, that the focus on "merit" is an effort to convince Americans to give up democracy (in which everyone gets a vote/say/rights on the basis of their humanity) in favor of a system where various characteristics (such as IQ/race) "qualify" one for human rights. Second, she argues that by claiming only they (and their individual genius) can save the world, tech giants are persuading Americans that government should shrink to a "benevolent autocracy" where the rich rule. As Peter Thiel has said, "I no longer believe that freedom and Democracy are compatible." Seen through the lens of the eugenics movement, the end goals become shockingly clear, as does the role the left must play.
As Donald Trump attempts to impose a foreign and economic policy regime that has been in the doghouse for eight decades now, he is staking his presidency on ideas that seem to have been discredited by history and elementary logic. But who knows? Maybe he'll succeed. Give a listen.
The most significant event in American history was undoubtedly the Civil War.
The Civil War was, of course, the result of the institution of slavery, which had existed for generations by that time. By the same token, the opposition to slavery had existed for just as long.
The opposition to slavery began amongst devoutly religious people but eventually spread into a mass social and political movement.
Learn more about the abolitionist movement, its origin, and its growth on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Betty Shamieh was the first Palestinian American playwright to have a play produced off-Broadway. She describes her debut novel, Too Soon, as a "Palestinian American Sex and the City." The novel follows three Palestinian American women across generations as they navigate love and identity. In today's episode, Shamieh speaks with NPR's Pien Huang about using comedy as a way to humanize characters who may be dehumanized in the real world, the 10 year writing process for the book, and how she didn't necessarily want to write it, but she knew she had to.
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With so much water in the eastern U.S., why can't the region pipe some of it to its drought-prone neighbors in the West? This perennial question nags climate journalists and western water managers alike. We break down why building a pipeline is unrealistic right now for the Colorado River.