How (Not) to Talk About Racism
Added 2021-06-30 16:32:24 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam are back in the same room — Matt's study — enjoying brown liquor, each other's company, and a surprisingly coherent discussion of the right's latest fixations: our "rainbow regime" and "critical race theory."
Listen to find out how Matt's mother feels about his porn-stache, if Sam feels bad about boosting the career of Robin DiAngelo, whether the term "white fragility" has any utility, and why queer community is a metaphysical conundrum for Christian post-liberals. It's fun!
Sources and Further Reading:
R.R. Reno, "Our Rainbow Regime," First Things, June 24, 2021.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells, "How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory," The New Yorker, June 18, 2021
David Theo Goldberg, "The War on Critical Race Theory," Boston Review, May 7, 2021.
Robin DiAngelo, "White Fragility," International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 2011.
Comments
Also I hope being thrust into the same space as chapo incites a guest spot for Matt christman.
Edward Smith
2021-07-26 16:36:14 +0000 UTChttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/02/the-post-dirtbag-left Great ink for our most cherished podcasters this week in the press.
Edward Smith
2021-07-26 16:29:42 +0000 UTCFascinating and well put! Thanks for this, and for listening. (-Sam)
Know Your Enemy
2021-07-06 17:53:02 +0000 UTCGreat episode, as always. What I find really interesting is how close some of the arguments raised by RR appear to a kind of a critique which is by now almost routine in queer and trans studies: namely that in embracing the rights-based, liberal framework, mainstream LGBT movement opened itself for cooptation into the post-Fordist ideals of self-fashioning, mobile subject. As a result, mostly white, mostly middle class gay men came to stand in for the entirety of the LGBT+ population, and the validation of their desire for rights (military and marriage) came to stand in for the conclusion of the gay liberation as a whole. But where writers such as Lisa Duggan, Jasbir Puar, or Dean Spade differ from likes of Reno is that this is for them not a sign of the intrinsic nature of queerness, but rather a significant flaw within the contemporary LGBT politics, resulting in significant and often keenly felt exclusions of more marginalised queer populations.
JSzpilka
2021-07-06 17:50:43 +0000 UTCextremely good episode y'all struck a deeply resonant chord with this perpetually conflicted catholic gay, deeply greatful
Dan L
2021-07-03 05:09:29 +0000 UTCExcellent episode. The more you bring these racist religious creeps, the more I appreciate my subscription. Truly a case of you go there so I don’t have to. Thnx
edward ripple
2021-07-02 14:30:37 +0000 UTCSam hit on something I'm thinking about a lot, when trying to come up with an interpersonal approach to talk about race with my white liberal friends/work mates/ school parents. Sam mentioned the mental fortitude of people, to even have the skills to push through their uncomfortable feelings, to have these difficult conversations. This goes beyond their personal experiences of being in a a segregated community by historical design. I have a very hard time separating "Emotional Intelligence", from anti-racist work. In work environments, unfortunately we don't tend to hire people because of their emotional intelligence, so when we need to address these issues in a work environment [where many people are forced to confront this], they literally lack the skill-set. It was not part of the job requirements for hire; frankly I'm not sure how to interview for mental flexibility, intellectual humility, and listening skills. I find I hit a wall with college-educated successful white liberals, who have been validated as "smart". Anyway, I enjoy hearing you two fellas hit on so many intellectual topics, and incorporating a great curiosity with empathy.
Sam Murphy
2021-07-01 17:47:11 +0000 UTCFor a great perspective on origins of corporate-backed pride, folks should check out Aly Brantley’s new book on the Coors boycott !!
Anna Duensing
2021-07-01 16:30:11 +0000 UTCOh to be clear this doesn't actually matter, I just felt compelled to correct the record. Paul is definitely a crank, I'd link to some of his more deranged comments on a right wing blog about Williams but the whole site got taken down after its proprietor David Kane almost lost his job at Harvard when students found his racist screeds...
Sam Q. Bit
2021-07-01 14:56:59 +0000 UTCSorry, we usually have that information handy but in the moment I wanted to convey that he was not just some random crank who wrote for First Things (rather, he's a well-heeled crank at an elite LAC)—Matt
Know Your Enemy
2021-07-01 14:49:59 +0000 UTCGreat conversation guys. I'm glad you mentioned how American history is taught in schools, and I'd like to once again recommend James W. Loewen, author of "Lies My Teacher Told Me", as a guest to have on (not sure he does podcasts but it's worth a shot!). Find him at https://sundown.tougaloo.edu/
Mark K
2021-07-01 14:05:06 +0000 UTCHate to do this to you but Darrel Paul teaches at Williams, not Amherst (and as a queer semi-recent Williams grad I can confirm he's a dick to queer and especially trans students on campus)
Sam Q. Bit
2021-07-01 05:46:06 +0000 UTC
