Conversations with Peter Boghossian

Welcome to the first episode of All Things Re-Considered! This 5-episode series is an analysis of NPR journalism.In this episode, we hear from former NPR listeners about falling out of love with NPR,  insights from a former public media journalist, and conversation between Peter Boghossian and Matt Thornton about NPR's coverage of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ibram X. Kendi.This podcast is taken from the original YouTube video. To watch, visit https://youtu.be/PPvNucxB7TIEpisode 2 will be released Wednesday, October 19, so stay tuned!

Episode 2 of All Things Re-Considered explores the dangers of free speech, James Damore, academic harassment, where NPR gets its "experts," how Ira Glass broke a woman's heart, how the ACLU is breaking Ira Glasser’s heart, similarities between NPR and Fox News, and much more. A former public media journalist explains how NPR’s fashionable ideology facilitates bad journalism and former listeners share the stories that pushed them over the edge.  This podcast is taken directly from the video released on YouTube. To watch: https://youtu.be/U2RsN9g6huo. Connect with Peter Boghossian and the team at https://boghossian.substack.com/

Welcome to Episode 3 of All Things Re-Considered: Dinosaur Emojis & NPR's Compassionate Look at Antifa. We learn about T*RF demands, trans dinosaurs, bad journalism, objectivity, nonbinary alligators, the hyper-morality of Antifa, and much more. We also hear from three more former listeners (one masked) about their departure from NPR and public radio. Enjoy!

Topics include NPR vs. Public Radio, Trump trigger warning, cultivating fragility, holding powerful people accountable, not holding Rachel Levine accountable, ideology vs. science, divisive training, and much more. View this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHnGHhWnTP0

Gina, host of "Morning Sedition" on All Things Re-Considered, shares an update regarding the dinosaur emoji story from Episode 3 (https://youtu.be/Latb4tOUG-0)All Things Re-Considered received an interesting critique about the trans dinosaur emoji story we analyzed in Episode 3. We criticized the story for failing to include events explaining why feminists (so-called T*RFs) used the dinosaur emoji in September 2021. YouTube user “Fake Chuck” claimed NPR’s story DID​ provide the background information and he shared a link to prove it.Unfortunately for Fake Chuck, the link he provided was not to the story NPR ran, but to a former version of the story. While this former version does mention David Lammy’s dinosaur insult and feminists’ subsequent embrace of dinosaur emojis, NPR chose to redact this information when it released the story on its website and to public radio stations for broadcast. Knowing this is quite enlightening.You can view this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABiQYnlRpB4&t=27s

Fat identity/justice/liberation, intersectionality, saving public radio, interracial violence, George Floyd, Waukesha, Tony Timpa, Buffalo, data data data, qualified immunity and much more.  This is our final episode of All Things Re-Considered for the season. We will release a conversation about what we learned next week. This is a great time to leave feedback about the show and suggest other topics for re-consideration (besides NPR)!Watch the series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYNjnJFU-62s5cNuqeB-D-7QPymF6myk_

Watch the video of this conversation here.Now that the first season of All Things Re-Considered has concluded, Peter Boghossian and Matt Thornton met to discuss viewer feedback. The vast majority of feedback has been positive, but a few criticisms are addressed: why Peter and Matt used Rachel Levine’s preferred pronouns, the “Kazoo Dilemma” (who is responsible for its inclusion and who performed the devil’s instrument), why we chose to examine NPR, if/how NPR could be fixed, the possibility that NPR “has always been this way,” what news we can trust, and the future of All Things Re-Considered. We received several requests to release excerpts from the episodes that would be easier to share with friends than full videos. We think that’s a great idea, so individual show segments will be available over the next few weeks—just in time for lively discussions with friends and family throughout the holiday season. 

In "The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World," Andrew Doyle reveals the similarities between the destructive irrationality of 17th-century witch trials (and executions) in Salem and the illiberal collective mania afflicting modern society. Peter Boghossian interviews Doyle about themes explored, including the sly use of progressive language by Social Justice activists, the infection of major institutions, new segregation, “academic shibboleths,” gender stereotypes, trans medical scandals, whistleblowers, the meaning of “left” and “right” ideology, the instinct for authoritarianism and much more. Buy Andrew Doyle's bookAndrew Doyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewdoyle_com Titania McGrath: https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath 

In this episode, Peter Boghossian interviews Carl Benjamin. This is what Peter said about the discussion:Carl Benjamin, AKA "Sargon of Akkad," is best described as a free-speech activist, staunch critic of identity politics, and champion of English Liberalism.  When YouTube and Google shadowbanned his channel in 2019 for wrongthink, Carl continued creating content on Akkad Daily. In November 2020, he launched a new media venture: Lotuseaters.com.Carl and I have fundamental differences about our core principles, but we are able to explore these differences constructively. Carl challenged my views and I find his take on social and cultural issues to be insightful, refreshing, and unhindered by moral fashions. We discussed myriad topics over more than two hours; I’m sharing the most interesting segment, where the issue of national sovereignty sparks a deep inquiry into the value of rationality, the possibility of “moral facts,” the attainment of objective universal principles, and the possible pitfall of a doctrine of human rights. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.For further reading on ideas discussed, check out Michael Oakeshott, John Rawls, Richard Rorty, J. L. Mackie, Jürgen Habermas, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Michael Shermer.You can watch this conversation on YouTube.

Associate Professor of Psychology Charles Negy was canceled by an online mob for “offensive” speech on Twitter in June 2020. Within weeks, the University of Central Florida (UCF) launched an investigation, firing him six months later. In 2022, an arbitrator ruled that UCF did not have just cause for the termination and Negy was reinstated.In this interview with Peter Boghossian, Negy details his experience with university officials throughout the 2-year ordeal and considers how universities can be saved from illiberal ideology. Peter also introduces Negy to Hanna, a UCF student who was part of the mob that canceled him. Hanna explains her experience of indoctrination in the Social Justice movement and how she became a free speech advocate.Negy has filed a lawsuit against UCF’s board of trustees for violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments, negligence, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.You can watch this interview on YouTube.Follow Peter Boghossian Substack YouTube Twitter Instagram FacebookDonate to National Progress Alliance

This conversation can also be viewed on YouTube!Peter Boghossian had the good fortune to be in Australia in March, the same time Kellie-Jay Keen brought her Let Women Speak (LWS) tour to Australia and New Zealand. They were scheduled to meet, but Kellie-Jay’s tour was cut short when a violent mob of TRAs (trans rights activists) threatened her life.On March 25, Kellie-Jay was at Albert Park in Auckland for a planned LWS event. These gatherings have a very simple structure: women are invited to speak about women’s issues. Men are also allowed to speak, but they must wait until the end. Hundreds of TRAs came to Albert Park to protest Kellie-Jay, turning violent before the speakers even got started.The mob toppled metal barriers, dumped tomato sauce and water on Kellie-Jay, and one (a man) punched an elderly woman multiple times in the face, cracking her skull. The mob attacked Kellie-Jay, and according to police, she was lucky to have survived. (Andrew Doyle provides a solid assessment of the situation with clips from the event here.)Obviously, the event was canceled, as was the event planned in Wellington the following day. New Zealand police put Kellie-Jay under protection and advised her to leave the country immediately due to credible threats on her life.Peter didn’t meet with Kellie-Jay in Sydney as planned. But they did have an extended conversation following this authoritarian display of speech suppression and violence against women. In this conversation, we hear about what happened in Auckland, how she was defamed by Australian media before she arrived, why she’s not “anti-trans” (or a Nazi), why she rejects the idea of gender, what we should do about activist educators, why voting for truth takes precedence over other political issues, and how we can overcome this illogical, authoritarian, and increasingly violent ideology. 

This conversation can be viewed on YouTube When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives is the latest book by bestselling author Heather Mac Donald. Mac Donald sounds an alarm about the erosion of meritocracy through “disparate-impact” ideology in science, medicine, jurisprudence, and art. While concerns about civilizational decline are not a laughing matter, Peter Boghossian injects a playful element to this interview by taking on the role of a progressive and challenging Mac Donald to defend her claims. Mac Donald shares her research and views on equity, the scientific method, credentials in medicine and law, colorblind meritocracy, classical music, crime, and the skills gap, all while affably referring to Peter as “Mr. Lefty.”Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a New York Times bestselling author. Her writing has appeared in various publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The New Criterion. Her numerous honors include the Integrity in Journalism Award, the Eugene Katz Award, and the 2005 Bradley Prize.

You can watch this episode on YouTube!Billboard Chris is a child protection advocate who travels the world talking to people about gender ideology. When Chris came to Oregon, Peter Boghossian joined him for street conversations at Portland State University (PSU) and the University of Oregon. The night before their visit to PSU, Peter hosted a meeting with Chris, journalists Andy Ngo and Savanah Hernandez, author Matt Thornton, and activist Honey Badger. Videographer Reid Nicewonder filmed the discussion. Peter’s guests have experienced public violence from far-left activists. They discuss the decline of civil discourse and the rise of speech suppression, particularly on university campuses. They consider possible explanations for how police respond to violence by trans activists—often ignoring it or arresting victims to appease the mob.  Billboard Chris explains his moral and philosophical opposition to the life-long medicalization of children through “gender affirming” puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery. He argues that while gender ideology permeates many institutions and dominates corporate messaging, public opposition is widespread and bipartisan.  Don’t miss this conversation. You’ll hear stories from the trenches about the struggle to shine light on one of the most contentious issues of our time.  

There is an epidemic of primarily white people—and white women in particular—who are pretending to be Native Americans for professional gain. Dubbed “Pretendians,” these individuals are predominantly active in academia and hold tenured faculty positions or even department chairs. To help make sense of this institutionally supported fraud, Peter Boghossian spoke with Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American author and journalist who’s an expert on the phenomena of Pretendians. Keeler names names and pulls no punches in this conversation. In light of Peter's experience at Portland State University (PSU), he was only mildly surprised to hear Keeler’s report that three of its leading Indigenous Nations faculty are Pretendians: Ted Van Alst, Grace Dillon, and Judy Bluehorse Skelton. Jacqueline Keeler: https://linktr.ee/jfkeelerWatch this conversation on YouTube!

Keri Smith says she was in a cult for twenty years. It wasn’t NXIVM, Peoples Temple, or Heaven’s Gate, but something more widespread and insidious. Keri was a self-described Social Justice Warrior.Peter Boghossian talks to Keri about how Women’s Studies classes at Duke University provided the gateway to her conversion through new words, new definitions, and exposure to oft-repeated axioms. Keri describes her former self as a “woke evangelist,” spreading newfound truths about the patriarchy and righteous censorship. She became a Wikipedia editor to “correct history” and limited her media consumption to news, books, and speakers approved by the ideology.Keri lost friends and job opportunities when she left the Social Justice tribe, but she emerged with valuable experience. She shares advice about how to help others obtain freedom from illiberal dogma. Spoiler Alert: Facts aren’t enough to break the spell.Keri Smith is the host of Deprogrammed with Keri Smith where she interviews notable thinkers like Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay, William Allen, Samuel Sey, Charles Murray, Barbara Kay, and Dr. Bret Weinstein You can find her writing in Human Events, Fee.org, and The Dissenters Project, a collection of essays on the price of dissent. Keri has been a guest on many podcasts, including Timcast, Nerdrotic, Triggernometry, and Real Talk with Zuby. She recently hosted Mindsfest 2023 in Austin, Texas.Watch this interview on YouTube!

According to journalist and author Kenny Xu, progressives fail to grasp the importance of merit in academic admissions and degree conferral, particularly in medicine. While Xu supports the long-held liberal ideal of equal opportunity through education, he argues that the university is not the place to address group achievement gaps. Instead, educational interventions need to begin much earlier—ideally in kindergarten.In this conversation, Peter Boghossian and Xu discuss holistic admissions vs. merit in medicine, overcoming “diversity statements,” calculating competence, the elevation of kindness over data, discrimination against Asian students, what the SAT measures, why merit requires objectivity, the humility of the scientific method, the unsustainability of “kind lies,” violence against Asians, and much more.Kenny Xu is a journalist, author, and president of Color Us United, a non-profit organization advocating for a race-blind America. His forthcoming book is School of Woke: How Critical Race Theory Infiltrated American Schools and Why We Must Reclaim Them (August 1, 2023). Xu reported on academic discrimination against Asians in his former book, An Inconvenient Minority: The Harvard Admissions Case and the Attack on Asian American Excellence.Watch this conversation on YouTube!

“Is the trans movement anti-gay?” In honor of Pride Month, Peter Boghossian begins this conversation with an investigation into the increasing rejection of trans ideology by the LGB (without the T) community. Peter’s guest is Andrew Doyle, acclaimed author, comedian, and host of Free Speech Nation on GB News. Here’s an important piece of information to better understand this conversation: Andrew is gay.Andrew explains the impact the trans movement has inflicted on gay people over the last several years, including the rise of abusive language toward gays he “hasn’t seen since the ‘80s." Lesbians are labelled “sexual racists” or “transphobes” if they reject trans women as partners. (The same is true for gay men rejecting trans men—that is, women—but the abuse is not as pervasive.) Peter and Andrew discuss the incoherence of gender ideology, the nature of sexual attraction, how predators manipulate gender self-ID, and the sterilization of gay youth.  Also discussed: Bad woke art, sensitivity readers, primary education, censorship, standpoint epistemology, critical thinking, the long history of human fantasy and folly, and more.  Andrew Doyle is a journalist, playwright, satirist, and comedian. He is the creator of Titania McGrath, “a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice and armed peaceful protest.” He is the host of Free Speech Nation and an unabashed lover of art and literature.Watch this conversation on YouTube!

Helen Joyce is causing a lot of trouble. YouTube recently removed her conversation with Jordan Peterson (due to vague accusations of “hate speech” and “inciting violence”) and the BBC doesn’t invite her on air anymore. Among her heresies, she is guilty of believing there are two sexes and saying it out loud.Helen, an Irish journalist, bestselling author, and director of advocacy at Sex Matters, spoke to Peter Boghossian about the differences between men and women. In many arenas, the differences don’t matter, but they are a matter of consequence regarding women’s privacy, vulnerability, and physical competition. Peter and Helen discuss the definition of sex, why trans men should be allowed in women’s spaces, the tragedy of the commons, fa’afafine, evolution, the “thought-terminating cliché,” the tribal fear of rejection, the cultivation of mental illness, why institutions are losing their North Stars, and much more. Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce Helen Joyce on Twitter: @HJoyceGenderWatch this conversation on YouTube!

Michael Shellenberger appreciates the challenge skeptics offer regarding the existence of UFOs (also termed UAPs, "Unexplained Aerial Phenomena"). Skeptics, true believers, and everyone in between have taken note of Michael’s reporting on the topic. In this conversation with Peter Boghossian, Michael explains his level of confidence about visitations by non-terrestrial spacecraft. (Peter says the verified discovery of alien spacecraft would be a revolution comparable to humanity’s domestication of fire—and he wants it to be true but requires evidence.)Peter and Michael also discuss a more down-to-earth possible cover-up regarding the source of COVID-19. They explore free speech, censorship for adults vs. children, the Orwellian “Institute for Strategic Dialogue,” levels of societal hate, “crazy-making,” the attitudinal disposition to the truth as a basis of friendship, their friendship, and much more. Michael Shellenberger is an author, investigative journalist, and the founder & president of Environmental Progress, a nonprofit research organization. He also co-founded the California Peace Coalition, an alliance of parents of children killed by fentanyl and parents of homeless addicts. Michael is the author of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (with Ted Nordhaus), Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, and most recently, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities. He also coauthored An EcoModernist Manifesto. Twitter: @shellenberger Skeptic Michael Shermer also spoke with Michael Shellenberger about his reporting on alien spacecraft.  Next week, we’ll hear Peter's interview with Shermer! Watch this episode on YouTube

The world’s leading skeptic, author Michael Shermer, explains what it would take for him to believe claims of extraterrestrial visitation. Michael follows Pierre-Simon Laplace’s principle, popularized by Carl Sagan: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Michael has bet $1,000 that irrefutable evidence of human contact with aliens will not materialize by the end of next year. So far, he has no takers. Peter and Michael discuss the brain as “an engine of belief” and how the human desire for transcendence and moralization leads people to extend their confidence beyond the warrant of the evidence. Education is one antidote to this cognitive malady, and Michael promotes teaching children statistics, probability, and how to “think like scientists”.  Peter and Michael also discuss organizational splintering (including in the skeptic and atheist movement), fashionable beliefs, why believers in alien visitations aren’t interested in SETI, Bayesian reasoning, the deep state, true conspiracies, Dr. Paul Hotez vs. RFK Jr., childhood gender transition, and Michael’s forthcoming book, Truth.  Dr. Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. Michael wrote a monthly column for Scientific American for 18 years. He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain. His latest book is Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational.  Twitter: @michaelshermerYou can watch this conversation on YouTube!