A.C. Grayling on culture wars and the age-old cycle of ‘cancellation’

The ‘war on wokeness’ may feel like a new phenomenon, but in fact, it’s been around for centuries.

People have been ‘cancelled’, in one way or another, since the beginning of time – it's human nature to form tribes, create an ‘us’ and ‘them’, and serve as judge, jury, and sometimes literally, executioner.

But in recent years, the ‘culture wars’ have erupted between the left and right, progressive and conservative, the woke and anti-woke over everything from gender and sexuality to race and equal rights.

Discriminations – Making Peace in the Culture Wars is the latest work by British philosopher A. C. Grayling, where he delves into some of the biggest issues of our time.

He joins us today on The Front Page to discuss wokeness, who decides who gets to be ‘cancelled’, and  understanding mankind’s inherent need to be right.

A.C. Grayling will be appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival from May 13–18. For more information and tickets, visit www.writersfestival.co.nz. 

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.