FAIR Perspectives

Konstantin kisin is a Russian-British comedian, podcaster, writer and social commentator. He made international headlines in 2018 by refusing to sign a "University Behavioral Agreement" form, which banned jokes about religion and atheism, and insisted that all humor must be respectful and kind. He is also the creator and co-host of the Triggernometry YouTube show, where two comics interview economists, political experts, journalists and social commentators about interesting, controversial and challenging subjects. In this episode, we discuss Twitter under Elon Musk's leadership, why Sam Harris left that platform, why free speech absolutism is a trap, how the western culture war affects views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's own internal politics, Konstantin's book 'An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West', redefining words for political purposes, wokeness and comedy, the debate surrounding gender ideology and trans issues, and why the UK seems better equipped to handle this than the United States.

Our guest this week is Greg Thomas. Greg is a writer, teacher, entrepreneur, and CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, which uses a creative methodology to frame leadership and team development through the lens of jazz. Greg has written about culture, race, and democratic life in publications ranging from the Village Voice, Integral Life, New Republic, Salon, UPTOWN, The Root, the Guardian Observer, and the New York Daily News—as jazz columnist. We discuss jazz and its ability to serve as a foundation for learning leadership and connection, the power and importance of art and storytelling in our culture, race and the idea of transcending race in our society and personal lives, Greg’s use of the term “Black American” and the tensions of trying to adopt it without racialization, whether “American” is an ethnicity, how to disentangle culture and ethnicity from race, and more.

Today we speak with David Bernstein. David is the founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, which supports viewpoint diversity, counters radical ideology in the Jewish community, and opposes novel forms of anti-Semitism. His recent book 'Woke Antisemitism: How a Progressive Ideology Harms Jews' is now available on Amazon. It's a first hand account from a longtime Jewish leader about how woke ideology shuts down discourse, corrupts Jewish values and sponsors a viral and new strain of anti-Semitism. In this episode, we discuss how woke anti-Semitism differs from other forms of anti-Semitism. Jews as an identity group, the difference between identity and identity politics, the role of Israeli geopolitics in anti-Semitism, the pros and cons of tribalism, the conflict between blacks and Jews, culture as a strategy for living in the world. And what the Jewish style of cancel culture is. This episode was recorded on October 11th 2022. We also discuss in this episode Kanye West's then recent tweet about going DEFCON 3 on Jewish people. Since then a lot has developed in the story of Ye's anti-Semitism, including multiple further tweets, podcast appearances and most recently his announcement of a 2024 presidential campaign with noted anti-Semite Nick Fuentes as a staff member. We hope to have David back on the show again soon to discuss the many updates of the story and the recent spread of this style of anti-Semitism.

Today we speak with Dr. Patrick Lockwood. Patrick is a practicing clinical psychologist and professor and the author of The Fear Problem: How Technology and Culture have Hijacked our Minds and Lives. Dr. Lockwood focuses on trauma and addiction treatment. He also has a podcast on YouTube about topics related to mental health, wellness, psychology, and neuroscience called The Psychology Checkup. And in this episode, we discuss his background as a psychologist, how he treats patients with unjustified fears. The pros and cons of social media, pineapple on pizza (spoiler alert: he's anti), the oversimplification on both sides of the trans debate, the -gender distinction, the over medication of children, and the tendency for psychology to over correct.

Today we speak with Rosie Kay. Rosie is a British choreographer, best known for her shows 5 Soldiers, MK Ultra, and choreographing the handover in the 2018 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. In 2019 Rosie resigned from her dance company following an investigation after claims were made by her dancers regarding her views on gender and biological . In 2022 she launched the K2CO dance company, where company members are asked to sign a commitment to freedom of expression, the charter of creation, affirming that the workplace will be a safe space, where we will be free to express our thoughts and feelings without fear of being silenced, shut down, or canceled. In this episode, we discuss her background as a dancer and choreographer, the discourse around representation and marginalized groups in the arts, gender ideology and the importance of biological , the role of art in human connection, FAIR in the arts, and Rosie's plans for the future.

Our guest this week is Dr. Carlos Hoyt. Carlos is a teacher, author, and facilitator providing guidance beyond the false and problematic habits of mind that result in social bias. He explores race, racial identity, and related issues as a scholar, teacher, psychotherapist, parent, and racialized member of our society. In his book, The Arc of a Bad Idea: Understanding and Transcending Race, as well as his workshops and lectures, Dr. Hoyt interrogates master narratives and the dominant discourse on race with the goal of illuminating and virtuously disrupting the racial worldview. We discuss his unique views on racial identity and how he developed them, how we should approach the reality of genetic differences between human groups without using race, his background and work as a DEI facilitator, affinity groups, and his change.org petition to amend the 2030 census to improve the collection of "race" data and whether it inadvertently reinforces racial categories or actually works to dismantle them.

Today we have a special episode, FAIR is releasing a short film from filmmaker Daisy Wu, starring friend of FAIR Ye Pogue. Our conversation today is with Ye and Daisy but first, we are proud to present their film "The Chinese box" which touches on how the government reinforces racial categories, often against the will of people who feel flattened by those categories. Xiaowen “Daisy” Wu is currently an international student studying film and television production at the University of Southern California. She previously finished her undergrad degree at Boston University. Her work explores identity, feminism and social issues. Dr. Ye Zhang Pogue is a health policy researcher and behavioral scientist. She explores The concept of identity in American culture through writing. Because of her experience of living and coping with bipolar disorder and its stigma, she has developed a unique way of seeing the world through common humanity. She writes for Psychology Today's blog, the human identity, and her work has been published in Newsweek and on FAIR's substack. She is also the Vice President of the nonprofit organization, Asian Americans for equal rights. And now, I bring you The Chinese box.

In this episode, we speak with Meg Smaker. Meg is an award-winning American filmmaker and director of Boxeadora, which received critical acclaim as “one of the best boxing films of all time” by Paste Magazine, and most recently The Unredacted, formerly titled Jihad Rehab—her début feature length documentary, which premiered at this years Sundance to rave reviews before becoming the subject of a cancelation campaign from a small group of activists. We discuss her background as a firefighter, how the 9/11 attacks caused her to move to Yemen, learn Arabic, and study Islam, her documentary film and the various criticisms levied against it, the importance of compassion in art and in life, and how you can support Meg and her mission of making the film available so you can make up your own mind. To support Meg and keep updated on when you can see the film, visit jihadrehab.com.

Today, we speak with Bryan Caplan. Bryan is an American economist at George Mason University, and the New York Times best selling author of many books, including The Myth of The Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, and most recently, Don't Be A Feminist. He's also the editor in chief writer for the blog Bet On It and has published in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many more publications. In this episode, we discuss anarcho capitalism, and how we will work in our society. Bryan's book, Don't Be A Feminist, the advantages and disadvantages of being a man versus being a woman, Bryan's argument for open borders, the burden of immigration on the welfare state, and much more. 

In this episode, we speak with Salomé Sibonex. Salomé is a writer, visual artist, and social critic, as well as the host of the podcast Silver Eye Society and the writer of the Substack Spiritual Soap. Salomé’s work spans the topics of identity—both her own & identity as it functions in society—psychology of the self, and socio-political subjects such as love, hate, the culture wars, and spiritualism and mythology as functions of human expression. We discuss Salomé's background as a woke communist, her work as a writer and cultural critic, why shame, guilt, and misanthropy seem to be so prevalent in our culture and discourse, how best to engage on social media, and why Alex Jones isn't the problem.

Our guest this week is Nick Gillespie. Nick is an editor at large at Reason, 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

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/

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

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!

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.

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 Spectator and 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.

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

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.

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.  

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.