FAIR Perspectives

Latest Episodes:

Liberty, Individualism, and Identity with Nick Gillespie - Ep. 26 Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Nick Gillespie. Nick is an editor at large atReason, the Libertarian magazine of free minds and free markets and host of The reason Interview with Nick Gillespie. He serves on the board for Ideas Beyond Borders, and is the co author with Matt Welch of 'The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America'

We discuss what Libertarianism is and is not, the relationship to anarchism, the role of the state in an ideal society, the lack of a unifying social or political narrative, libertarianism successes in the West, the rise of China's willpower, social media and the tensions between libertarian views on private companies versus free expression, Francis Fukuyama and our crisis of identity and more.

Nick emailed us shortly after the recording to make one correction: At one point Nick refers to there being currently 100,000 school districts in the United States, a reduction from previous numbers, but there are actually currently 13,500 school districts, also a reduction from previous numbers of 100,000 in 1940.

Follow Nick GIllespie on: https://twitter.com/nickgillespie

Why America is Uniquely Stupid with Jonathan Haidt - Ep. 25 Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Jonathan Haidt. Jonathan is a social psychologist, professor, and author whose research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures—including the cultures of progressive, conservatives, and libertarians. He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis, and of The New York Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind, and The Coddling of the American Mind, which he co-authored with Greg Lukianoff.

We chat with Jonathan about his recent Atlantic article “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” social media and its effects on our discourse and culture, the need for a shared story, the importance of dissent, the distinctions between liberalism and conservatism, the global impact of America’s descent into what he calls “structural stupidity,” and what measures we can take to improve it.

Follow Jonathan Haidt on: https://jonathanhaidt.com/

Is Conversation Impossible? with Peter Boghossian - Ep 24 Jul 26, 2022

Show notes

Today, we speak with Peter Boghossian. Peter is an American author and philosopher. He was an assistant professor of philosophy at Portland State University for 10 years, and his areas of academic interest include atheism, critical thinking, pedagogy, scientific skepticism, and the Socratic method. His main focus is bringing the tools of professional philosophers to people in a wide variety of contexts and teaching people how to think through what often seem to be intractable problems.

In this episode, we discuss why Peter left PSU, the grievance studies hoax, the coming realignment in our culture war to rebuild our reform institutions, his work as a founding faculty member at the University of Austin, Street Epistemology, the problems at NPR, and how to have impossible conversations.

Follow Peter : https://linktr.ee/peterboghossian

Can Education Fix Society? with Will Reusch - Ep 23 Jul 19, 2022

Show notes

Today we’re speaking with William Reusch. William is a Los Angeles-based high school teacher, social scientist, and host of the Cylinder Radio podcast, which focuses on deep explorations of controversial and contentious topics. Through his work, Will is working to change the standard school model from one that exchanges imagination for compliance, to one that uses imagination to innovate.

We discuss his role as an educator in public and private schools, political differences amongst teachers, his run-ins with Nikole Hannah Jones, Marc Lamont Hill, and other proponents of CRT, tackling controversial topics in the classroom, CRT in K-12 education, the increasing distrust between parents and teachers, and his approach to constructive engagement on social media.

Critical Race Theory in K-12 Education: An IG LIVE conversation Should CRT in the classroom!

, Gender, and Youth Transition with Dr. Erica Anderson - Ep 22 Jul 12, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Erica Anderson. Erica is a clinical psychologist and transgender woman best known for her work on sexual and gender identity for teens. She has over 40 years of experience working at multiple healthcare facilities, and is now an advocate for safe and well-informed transitions of those experiencing gender dysphoria.

We discuss her background as a clinician and a transgender woman, the definitions of “” and “gender,” and how they relate. The difficulty discussing the topics of gender, , and transgenderism in our discourse and social media, gender stereotypes and gender essentialism, the difficulties and challenges regarding gender affirming care, peer influence regarding transgender youth, and how concerned people on all sides of these issues can approach these conversations more productively.

There’s Hope for the West with Douglas Murray -Ep 21 Jun 28, 2022

Show notes

In this episode we speak with Douglas Murray. Douglas is a journalist and author of The Strange Death of Europe, The Madness of Crowds, and most recently The War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason. Douglas is a columnist for The Spectatorand has also written regularly for numerous other outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Evening Standard and The New Criterion.

We discuss how Douglas labels himself, the utility of labels in general, the difference between the British and the American Right, his book The War on the West, how self-criticism in America has become self-loathing, dog whistles, noticing the good and the bad in all societies, whether there is hope for the future, and whether Douglas has any praise for the left.

The Classics Belong to Everyone with Dr. Anika Prather - Ep 20 Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

Today, we speak with Dr. Anika Prather. Dr. Prather teaches in the Classics Department at Howard University, and is the founder of the Living Water School, a unique Christian School for independent learners based on the educational philosophies of classical education and the Sudbury model. Dr. Prather's research focuses on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the canon.

In this episode, we discuss Dr. Prather's background as a thinker and educator, the difference between the Western canon and the classics, how works of literature belong to everyone regardless of their ancestry or skin color, her alternative approach to decolonizing curricula, why students have trouble appreciating and engaging with the classics, W.E.B DuBois vs Booker T. Washington, and the importance of telling stories from a human perspective.

We have moved to a new YouTube channel- https://bit.ly/3O9Bs4H

There Are No Victims with Ian Rowe - Ep. 19 Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

In this episode we speak with Ian Rowe. We discuss his origin story, The Success Sequence, being racialized in America, the phenomenon of acting white, and the difference between equity and equal opportunity. We also learn about his new charter school network, discuss how to help disadvantaged kids, and touch on the relationship between meta narratives and individual agency.

Ian is an author and educator, as well as co-founder and CEO of Vertex Partnership Academies, a new network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools opening in the Bronx in August of 2022. Mr. Rowe is also a resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education, upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. Mr. Rowe is a social entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience founding and leading organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors that empower young people to effect positive change in their own lives. He is also the author of the recent book Agency, which seeks to inspire young people to overcome the victimhood narrative and discover the pathway to power.

We Should Be Rational Optimists with Steven Pinker - Ep 18 May 24, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Steven Pinker. Steven is a cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, Enlightenment Now, and most recently, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.

In this episode we speak with Steven about his books, the public’s responses to them, and whether those books have had a positive effect. We talk about the euphemism treadmill and whether we can ever escape it, the misunderstandings of terms like optimism and idealism, the tensions between human nature and the potential for progress, social media and the ways we can improve it, and how we can all be more rational.

Announcement : We're excited to share that members of FAIR Community can now submit questions for upcoming Q&A episodes of FAIR Perspectives. To ask questions about FAIR, the pro-human movement, the podcast and more, sign up for FAIR Community at fairperspectives.org.

Free Speech is Weird w Greg Lukianoff - Ep 17 May 17, 2022

Show notes

In this episode with Greg Lukianoff., we discuss free speech as a principle, why the many arguments for censorship or restricting speech don't hold water. We also touch on cancel culture, disinformation, campus free speech codes, and the potential benefits of Elon Musk taking over Twitter.

Greg is the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). He is the author of several books, including The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, which he co-wrote with Jonathan Haidt.

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