John McWhorter, linguist and cultural commentator, joins for a wide-ranging Q&A. He discusses labeling wokeness as a religion and why that concept provokes liberals. Listeners ask about AI and PhDs, campus debates over Israel, university discourse, and responsibility in crisis reporting. Short, engaging exchanges with subscriber voices throughout.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
NPR Upbringing Explains Liberal Sensitivity
A long-time subscriber recounts growing up with NPR and links that upbringing to liberal sensitivity about religion.
The story explains why being called 'religious' feels like an insult to many on the left.
insights INSIGHT
Wokeness Framed As A Religion
John McWhorter labels wokeness as a religion to highlight its faith-like commitments rather than empirical grounding.
Glenn Loury agrees the label bothers liberals because it implies nontruth and ritualized belief.
insights INSIGHT
Religion Label Undermines Revolutionary Claims
A listener suggests liberals recoil because 'religion' forces pluralist tolerance of competing beliefs.
That framing threatens movements aiming for broad social overhaul by making adherence optional.
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On this edition of my monthly Q&A session with John McWhorter, we invited a handful of subscribers to record their video or audio to be played during our livestream. I think it worked great—I loved hearing everyone’s voices and seeing their faces. We’re definitely going to keep this feature around. And if you want to hear and see your fellow TGS fans, and you’re not yet a subscriber, please consider becoming one.
We start off the Q&A with a question from John Bingham, who wants to know if a PhD in economics is still worth pursuing when AI works so well as a substitute teacher, even at that high level. Neil asks whether excessive attention to the Israelissue within academia is leaving the larger biases within the university unaddressed. Lennart asks Glenn to comment on an exposé about a behind-the-scenes political struggle at UATX. RAO asks what colleges are doing to promote civil discourse across identity lines. Adam Gorski asks John an insightful question about his categorization of wokeness as a religion. Joe Nalven asks who’s to blame for the ICE shootings in Minneapolis: protesters, law enforcement, or the media? Neal Gittleman asks whether John and I were being irresponsible in speculating about the motivations of the mass shooter at Brown University before the facts were in. And finally, Jason expresses his appreciation for the show and John’s role in it.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in and sent us recordings, and to all of my subscribers. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.
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