Uncertain Things

Latest Episodes:

The Agony of Abundance (w/ Nick Gillespie) Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

Nick Gillespie — editor at large at the libertarian institution that is Reason Magazine (and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie) — comes on the pod for an IRL conversation about 'The Agony of Abundance,' the paradoxical state in which we’re more prosperous, yet more dissatisfied, than ever. We discuss the negative narratives peddled by the media — a misdirection that’s untethering us from reality — and debate the limitations libertarianism and liberal thinking in an ever-more tribal world. And, before we go, we dive into psychedelics and whether they’re really worth all the fuss.

Uncertain Things is a reader-supported publication. To support this rag-tag podcast crew of two, consider becoming a paid member.

On the agenda:

-00:00 Housing Preamble

-04:12 Welcome to Uncertain Things

-06:01 Our Negative Perceptions vs. Reality

-23:39 Mass Misdirection

-33:28 Trust and the U.S. and Israeli Governments

-41:05 Liberalism vs. Tribalism

-01:08:57 On Generating a Liberal Revival

-01:24:08 Debating Psychedelics

Mentioned in this episode:

-The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad - Ezra Klein Show

-The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture - Amazon

-Big Tech Panic (w/ Shoshana Weissmann) - Uncertain Things

-What to Expect When No One's Expecting: America's Coming Demographic Disaster - Amazon

-‘They Aren’t Who You Think They Are’: The inside story of how Kanakuk—one of America’s largest Christian camps—enabled horrific abuse. - The Dispatch

-In Praise of Privilege - Uncertain

-Psychedelic Libertarianism with Nick Gillespie - Coleman’s Corner

-The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - Amazon

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Our Friend Attended a Trump Rally — And Witnessed History Jul 14, 2024

Show notes

PLEASE NOTE: We are releasing this episode in the immediate aftermath of the alleged assassination attempt on President Trump. Details and facts presented in this conversation are still being corroborated and are subject to be updated/corrected.

Recurrent guest Misha Thomas (“The Liberal Who Voted for Trump” / “Blackness and the Other Side of Trauma”) was visiting family in Pittsburgh yesterday when he decided to check out his first ever Trump Rally with his partner. After waiting for hours under the hot sun, they saw Trump take to the stage — and minutes later, heard rounds of bullets going back and forth. Misha shares his first-person account of what seems to have been an attempt to assassinate the former president.

To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Check out our free ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Progressives Are Silly (w/ Nellie Bowles) Jun 02, 2024

Show notes

Nellie Bowles is back! The journalist, writer of the TGIF newsletter, and co-founder of The Free Press (along with her wife Bari Weiss) returns to discuss her new book, Morning After the Revolution. In it, she chronicles the unfortunate series of events that led her to leave The New York Times in 2021. We get into that in this conversation, too (diving into the backlash she received for covering the more violent 2020 protests in Portland and Seattle) — as well as the stories of Progressive absurdism that pepper the book. And before we wrap, we get into Nellie’s thoughts on being a newly converted Jew in the wake of October 8th.

Uncertain Things is a reader-supported publication. To support this rag-tag podcast crew of two, consider becoming a paid member.

On the agenda:

-Surviving the NYT in 2020 [1:40-23:41]

-Absurdity and anarchy [23:42-37:18]

-The joys and pains of becoming Jewish [37:19-51:06]

Mentioned in this episode:

-Our previous conversation on San Francisco’s lunacy

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

The Indoctrination of Elite Education (w/ Bill Deresiewicz) May 22, 2024

Show notes

William Deresiewicz — author of (the newly updated) Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude — returns to the pod! This time we dive into one of the institutions we love to hate: elite universities. We dwell on and debate the protests at Columbia (et al.), the reasons why it’s all gone so wrong, and whether or not the solution is just to raze them to the ground.

Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-The context for Excellent Sheep, c. 2014 [2:39-12:21]

-The student as customer / PC police officer [12:22-27:32]

- The emptiness inside [27:33-40:02]

-To fix or ruin the elite reputation? [40:03-49:54]

-Getting into the protests & elite failure [49:55-58:58]

- What exactly went wrong [58:59-1:08:08]

-The answer isn’t yoga [1:08:09-1:29:36]

Mentioned in this conversation:

-Our last conversation with Bill

-Vanessa’s newsletter on solitude/friendship

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Down the Saddam Rabbit Hole (w/ Steve Coll) Apr 19, 2024

Show notes

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author, and former Columbia Journalism School dean (to us!), Steve Coll, takes us deep into the conspiracy-plagued mind of Saddam Hussein, the subject of his latest book The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. We go deep into the wonky journalism weeds — including what it took for Coll to get his hands on the Saddam tapes. And we ask our former dean the eternal question: Is J-School worth it?

-What it takes to put a book like this together [0:00-19:15]

-The Saddam tapes [19:16 -23:46]

-Inside the conspiracy rabbit hole [23:47-29:52

-Behind the conflicting perceptions [29:53-41:12]

-Oil, Israel, and failed policies [41:13-49:46]

-The U.S.-Israel relationship [49:47--53:32]

-How the media is covering the conflict [53:33-57:43]

-Objectivity and the rifts in journalism today [57:44-1:06:44]

Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPodon your social media of choice.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Three Drunk Jews Refuting Jonathan Glazer (w/ Batya Ungar-Sargon & Eli Lake) Mar 17, 2024

Show notes

With Vanessa off for the weekend to explore the world of psychedelics, the podcast has been hijacked by a cabal of furious, loud, and lubricated Jews. Adaam, 3 martinis and a Laphroaig in, is joined by Newsweek opinion editor and author of Second Class Batya Ungar-Sargon, and Free Press reporter and host of The Re-Education podcast Eli Lake. The three have gathered to refute Jonathan Glazer’s Jewishness being worth hijacking by anyone. In proper Talmudic engagement, Batya spits fire, Eli plays devil's advocate, and Adaam speaks up for the grammar Nazis. Be warned, this may be our most petty, potted, parochial, and problematic episode yet.

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What the Left Gets Wrong About Black History (w/ Charles Love & Wilfred Reilly) Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

Authors and co-hosts of the Cut the Bull podcast, Charles Love (Race Crazy) and Wilfred Reilly (Taboo, Hate Crime Hoax) join us for a lively conversation/debate about race, history, and K-12 education — and Vanessa gets put in the hot seat. Questions covered include: Should Black history be separate from American history? Are we over-indexing on sex and gender in the classroom? Is social media an “environmental toxin” — or just another misdirection from the left? And, of course, what are the biggest blindspots on the left and the right?

-Where we’ve been [0:00-4:47]

-Eric Adams, “environmental toxins,” and the Left [4:48-10:43]

-1619 and documenting history [10:44-30:54]

-Black history vs. American history [30:55-42:43]

-Sex and gender in the classroom [42:44-59:29]

-Diagnosing the misdirection [59:30-1:03:36]

-The failings of integration [1:03:37-1:09:20]

-How to fix education [1:09:50-1:13:18]

-Blindspots on the Left and the Right [1:13:19-1:18:39]

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Zionism and the Refugee Machine (w/ Dr. Einat Wilf) Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Einat Wilf is an Israeli writer, speaker, former (and future?) politician, podcaster (We Should All be Zionisists), and co-author of The War of Return. In this episode, we dive into some historical context for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Vanessa asking all the ignorant questions you were too afraid to ask: What/who was there in Israel before 1948? Was displacement a part of the Zionist vision? Why did displacement happen? Then we pivot to the subject of Dr. Wilf’s book: The right of return, and the fundamental reason why peace, until this day, has been impossible. We conclude with a deep dive into UNRWA — the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees — and explain the role it’s played in perpetuating the conflict, to this day.

On the agenda:

-Zionism’s Parents and the Land of Israel [3:22-11:33]

-The Disappointment of Emancipation/The Possibility of Self-Determination [11:34-21:21]

-On Sovereignty and Displacement [21:22-53:29]

-The Refugee Question [53:30-1:02:37]

-UNRWA & Palestinian Identity [1:02:38-1:33:58]

-Where do we go from here? [1:33:59-1:42:30]

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What Iran Wants (w/ Arash Azizi) Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

Iranian historian and writer Arash Azizi comes on the pod to share his perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict today — and why he believes ceasefire is the only viable path forward for Israel’s war with Hamas. Along the way, Azizi gives us on an overview of Iran’s politics since the Revolution of 1979 (i.e. how Soleimani became The Shadow Commander) and explains the country’s current stance toward Israel (which stands in contrast to the position of many Iranians). His second book about the country’s recent protest movements — What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom — will be out next year.

On the Agenda:

-Unpacking the Iranian Revolution (and the Left’s participation)

-Arash’s background

-Soleimani’s appeal (How we consolidated supreme power)

-Iran’s stance on Israel vs. Iranians’ sentiments

-Debating ceasefire

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Diaspora Palestinian to Hamas Apologists: Debate Me, Bro (w/ John Aziz) Nov 12, 2023

Show notes

John Aziz is a British Palestinian musician who has come into the public spotlight since October 7th for tweeting out for peace and against Hamas. In this conversation, we unpack why it’s so controversial for a Palestinian like John to be pro-peace, the trauma both sides aren’t acknowledging or addressing, and the overly-simplified, ironic, Star Wars narratives of the Western Left. Follow him on X and read John’s article in The Atlantic here.

On the agenda:

- John’s Background [0:00-08:37]

-The Challenge of Advocating for Peace [08:38-18:34]

- The Trauma on Both Sides [18:35-24:51]

-Why is so hard to speak out against Hamas? [24:52-29:59]

-New Ideology, New Leaders [30:00-38:36]

-The Star Wars Ideology of the Western Left [38:37-54:33]

- LGBT+ in Gaza [54:34-1:01:03]

- "I'll Debate Anyone" [1:01:04-1:02:51]

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