Persuasion
@JoinPersuasion
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Nonprofit magazine for those who believe that a free society is worth fighting for. Editor: @Yascha_Mounk . Subscribe ✉️:
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This week's Persuasion:
1. "A Reckoning Is Coming for the Democrats," Sam Kahn
2. "The People Will Save the Planet, Not the Courts,"
@Valen10Francois
3. "What Trump Might Do in Office,"
@mbaharaeen
0
1
2
“Too many are claiming that the SAT is a “barrier.” It’s a gateway.”
In
@JoinPersuasion
,
@robkhenderson
explains why doing away with standardized testing could harm, rather than help, underprivileged students.
7
43
171
Join us at the Persuasion Festival for a conversation on mental health with
@NormOrnstein
and Dr. Benjamin Miller of
@WellBeingTrust
.
Next Sunday, July 31st, 2pm Eastern.
Register here 👉
Full Festival lineup here 👉
2
20
135
Foster independence. Don't compel thought or speech. Take mental health seriously.
In
@JoinPersuasion
,
@thefireorg
CEO
@glukianoff
presents his 10 principles for K-12 reform.
4
45
144
“Dictators never ask ‘why?’. It’s always ‘why not?’
And so far Putin has asked ‘why not?’ many times.”
On the Good Fight podcast with
@Yascha_Mounk
,
@Kasparov63
discusses the perils of not taking threats from authoritarians at face value.
Listen here👉
3
39
127
“In 2006, we said ‘[Putin’s] regime will not leave power through elections or the normal democratic process [...]’
In the West, nobody wanted to hear it.”
@Kasparov63
describes how the early warnings about Putin’s authoritarianism went unheeded.
Link:
4
40
122
"In almost every city, slogans in huge letters in English are visible from the air, on roads, lakes and rivers—phrases such as “We Want Democracy.”
Myanmar's democracy is under siege.
@benedictrogers
explains how the international community must respond.
5
69
117
"Even in my state comprehensive school, the kids segregated themselves on the basis of class rather than race.
"I think that's indicative of a wider problem in the UK, which is that class is still one of the main social dividing lines."
@tomowolade
9
25
103
In November,
@Kasparov63
joined
@Yascha_Mounk
to discuss the calculus of authoritarians like Vladimir Putin.
Full conversation:
“Dictators never ask ‘why?’. It’s always ‘why not?’
And so far Putin has asked ‘why not?’ many times.”
On the Good Fight podcast with
@Yascha_Mounk
,
@Kasparov63
discusses the perils of not taking threats from authoritarians at face value.
Listen here👉
3
39
127
1
30
87
Bellingcat has broken some of the world's biggest stories - and challenged everyone from Putin to Assad along the way.
Join
@Kasparov63
and
@Yascha_Mounk
tomorrow for a conversation with its founder, Eliot Higgins.
3
29
85
@NormOrnstein
responds: "If Trump does leave office without being held accountable... it would establish a frightening precedent.” (2/2)
Read the full article:
12
35
80
"This idea of service led him—a young man from a grateful family—to join the military to defend American liberty."
This July 4th, Khizr Khan reflects on the lessons and legacy of his son, Captain Humayun Khan, who died in defense of his adopted country.
4
14
74
"Your default assumption should be the null hypothesis: this is just one more unjustified freakout by older people about 'kids these days.'"
But the evidence that this time is different is very strong."
Read our reprint of
@JonHaidt
.
4
21
72
"Instead of lamenting our loss of control over the establishment, we should follow the lead of other movements that have successfully built their own counter-establishment institutions.
That is the goal of
@JoinPersuasion
."
7
23
61
The rich and famous will usually be just fine.
@ZaidJilani
argues it's the less privileged who will face the worst consequences from "cancel culture."
1/4
2
17
56
"If universities fail to recognize their role in fostering our collective social and political values, and fail to educate students about the importance of free expression, their graduates will surely go on to fail the rest of us."
@1AMorey
(
@TheFIREorg
)
2
7
59
"Putin invaded Ukraine because he wants Ukraine [...] but also because he wanted to prevent Ukraine from becoming a successful, Europeanizing democracy."
This week,
@sikorskiradek
&
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss the Russian president's motives.
Read and listen:
2
11
60
"It's not just Modi. [...]
He is the vehicle, the manifestation, the leader of a massive project to reshape India."
This week,
@Ram_Guha
speaks with
@Yascha_Mounk
about the crisis in the world's largest democracy.
6
17
57
"Luxury beliefs are defined as ideas and opinions that confer status on the affluent while often inflicting costs on the lower classes."
@robkhenderson
on social class and his forthcoming memoir:
2
12
58
"The proposed Danish bill, in essence, reintroduces a ban on blasphemy, and is so broad as to include even artistic expressions."
We are proud to publish an open letter against Denmark's new blasphemy ban.
Read it here:
@JMchangama
2
22
57
"Sober news coverage is a last barricade against the culture war that has overwhelmed every other aspect of Britain’s national life. Is that barricade about to fall?”
@IanDunt
examines the rise of partisan news sources in the UK, and their success.
2
27
55
There are currently more than 300 colleges that mandate vaccine boosters.
Some are considering requiring a fourth dose.
While well-intended, these policies might cause more harm than good, argue
@LeslieBienen
,
@KrugAlli
, and
@shvetaraju
.
1/4
6
15
55
On February 15th, pro-democracy leaders from around the world will convene for a virtual rally hosted by
@Renew_Democracy
.
Join speakers including
@Kasparov63
,
@PastorEvanLive
,
@AVindman
,
@YeonmiParkNK
,
@PreetBharara
, &
@DanielLubetzky
.
0
14
55
"For me, it was always very clear that I cannot be part of the system."
@sguriev
and
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss why Guriev rejected Putin's regime, why sanctions on the Russian economy are less effective than was hoped, and the new nature of dictatorships:
0
9
52
"Everybody focuses on the content, like, 'Oh, if we could just clean up the content, it would be okay!' No, it's not the content.
"This is what Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman were trying to say: The medium is the message."
@JonHaidt
0
10
50
"Without the ability to challenge and question ideas, without the tension between opposing viewpoints, we are dooming ourselves to stagnation."
In an era of shout-downs, dialogue is more vital than ever, argues
@StrangelEdweird
(
@TheFIREorg
).
3
12
46
"We have to understand that Iranians are rising up on behalf of democracy for all of us."
@RoyaTheWriter
and
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss whether Iran's protesters might manage to succeed:
2
10
41
“What has been terrifying in the United States is the replacement of a politics of friends with a politics of enemies.”
This week,
@M_Ignatieff
and
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss the political challenges facing embattled liberals around the world.
1
8
41
“We can do an awful lot of good […] with certain proactive, pragmatic, political strokes.
Ending the war on drugs would do more for black America than any amount of white people understanding their privilege.”
@JohnHMcWhorter
on this week’s Good Fight.
1
11
42
“Black people certainly don’t all ‘feel’ or ‘experience’ the same things. Nor do they all ‘experience’ the same event in an identical way.”
In Persuasion, the leadership of
@FreeBlckThought
explains the need to listen to a variety of black voices.
0
10
42
Educated older adults seem to care too much what young people think, often lauding youth itself as a form of wisdom.
The result,
@robkhenderson
argues, is that young people are even more desperate for guidance.
Read it here:
2
6
42
Celebrate one year of
@JoinPersuasion
on July 11th!
- A debate with
@anneapplebaum
&
@stephenWalt
moderated by
@MoisesNaim
- A talk with
@EmilyYoffe
,
@thomaschattwill
, &
@JonHaidt
moderated by
@Yascha_Mounk
- Podcast with
@kmele
- Q&A with
@coldxman
👉
2
9
41
"What happened in Xinjiang was a testing ground for an ambitious surveillance campaign carried out by the CCP with the active complicity of companies like ByteDance.
"What the CCP discovered was that what they did worked."
@geoffrey_cain
2
22
38
"That [Zelensky]—who was supposed to be 'de-Nazified' within three days—is still in his presidential palace [...] means that the original plan of the Russian incursion has spectacularly failed."
@sikorskiradek
&
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss how the war may end:
3
9
38
Freely adopting aspects of another culture simply because one values them as crystallizations of human excellence is an unqualified good—and to oppose it is nothing less than anti-human. Read more here:
3
13
37
"At Theory of Enchantment, we believe that there's so much diversity in a single human being, let alone an entire group of people."
@cvaldary
and
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss the flaws of the dominant paradigm in DEI training:
1
11
37
The controversy over vaping can seem like a noisy sideshow, but millions of lives are at stake.
@Clive_Bates
argues that the FDA's overly cautious approach is undermining efforts to eliminate the disease, death, and suffering caused by smoking.
1/4
3
22
36
"Democrats must distinguish between policies that strengthen American democracy and those that may weaken it while serving primarily partisan goals."
Sheri Berman warns against dispensing with our political norms.
2
13
34
"There can be no right of speech where any man…is overawed by force and compelled to suppress their honest sentiments."
@LincolnDouglass
marks the launch of the
@AFA_Alliance
through an exploration of Frederick Douglass's defense of free speech.
1
10
34
“The candidates we saw found it impossible to remove themselves from the national discussion.”
At yesterday’s film talk on Swing State,
@NatFrum
spoke about the overpowering impact of national politics in the local elections he covered in North Carolina during the 2020 campaign.
3
9
33
@JonHaidt
@glukianoff
@jon_rauch
@NormOrnstein
@M_Ignatieff
@sahilhandapanda
@Yascha_Mounk
@skmoskowitz
@tedbalaker
2. In The Polarization Spiral, Jonathan Haidt
@JonHaidt
and Greg Lukianoff
@glukianoff
diagnosed why we’re being torn apart, and what we can do to stop the cycle.
Read it here:
3
11
30
“I have become convinced that the duopoly is dooming us. […] It’s designed to polarize us.”
On this week’s episode of the Good Fight,
@AndrewYang
joins
@Yascha_Mounk
to discuss whether third parties can help solve America’s political challenges.
Listen:
0
13
33
Forgiving student debt would disproportionately help the wealthy and do nothing to close the racial wealth gap.
So why, asks
@ZaidJilani
, are Democrats so entranced by the idea?
5
8
29
Last week in The Good Fight,
@Yascha_Mounk
and
@rcbregman
sat down to discuss human nature, its implications for contemporary politics, and the policies which we need to create a fairer world.
2
10
33
This week from Persuasion:
1. "How to Keep Your Corporation Out of the Culture War",
@glukianoff
@JonHaidt
2. "The War on Meritocracy",
@adwooldridge
3. "The Rise of Do-It-Yourself Religion", Mark A. Smith
2
5
30
"I want to offer a positive vision of what K-12 education could look like in a free and small-'l' liberal society, based on insights taken from U.S. jurisprudence, ancient wisdom, and modern psychology."
— 10 principles for K-12 reform, by
@glukianoff
0
7
31
"Using skin color as an approximation for need will have perverse outcomes."
It is misguided for Biden's Restaurant Revitalisation Fund to prioritize funds based on race, argues
@ZaidJilani
in
@JoinPersuasion
0
2
32
"The culture of free expression, communication, and civil disagreement is foundational to the American project.
"It’s why we’ve gotten this far at all."
If we want progress, writes
@StrangelEdweird
(
@TheFIREorg
), we must talk with our opponents.
3
9
31
Ultimately,
@JeffMaurer1980
writes, “late-night needs more nonpolitical spaces.”
“Democracy needs them, too.”
Read the full article here:
4/4
1
7
30
"He says, this is the first time I ever sat down and had a drink with a black man.
"Innocently, I said, why?
"And he says, 'I'm a member of the Ku Klux Klan.'"
@RealDarylDavis
(
@TheFIREorg
) on Befriending the Klan -- listen and read here:
0
7
30
9. In The Dangerous Movement to Stop Treating the Mentally Ill, Norman Ornstein
@NormOrnstein
drew on personal experience to argue movingly for a better approach to mental health.
Read it here:
1
5
27
"We live in a time of personal timorousness and collective mercilessness."
The great
@EmilyYoffe
for
@JoinPersuasion
0
8
29
“Secularism doesn’t necessarily always equal liberalism.”
On the Good Fight podcast,
@AkyolinEnglish
observes that while there have been secular authoritarian states like Iran and Turkey, the Muslim world has yet to experience nations guided by liberalism.
0
10
27
There is now good reason to believe boosters pose greater risks than breakthrough infection for certain groups—not to mention the added benefits conferred by natural immunity.
We should follow the data and scrap these booster policies.
Read more:
4/4
0
6
26
It’s the biggest, strangest, most unnecessary environmental disaster of the 21st century, and one perpetrated largely by environmentalists in the name of the environment.
The early closure of nuclear reactors has been calamitous, argues
@fp_toro
.
1/4
2
8
28
Not everyone is so lucky.
A Hispanic electrician whose knuckle-cracking was mistaken in 2020 for a white power sign was fired after social media outrage.
He had no lawyers, supportive fans, or PR specialists.
3/4
1
8
26
Thanks to
@EliotHiggins
and our co-host
@Kasparov63
of
@Renew_Democracy
for an engaging book club about We Are Bellingcat and the promise of open source journalism in challenging dictators around the world.
Video here:
0
9
26
New York authorized antivirals for patients meeting certain criteria. Among them was “Non-white race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity."
But it's misguided to decide which patients can access scarce COVID medicine based on race, argues
@ZaidJilani
.
1/4
2
3
26
"Anybody that doesn't take seriously the appeal of people like Jordan Peterson, especially to young men, just isn't paying attention.
There is a reservoir of unmet questions."
@RichardvReeves
and
@Yascha_Mounk
discuss why boys and men are struggling:
1
7
24
"But the icing on the multi-layered irony cake has to be Bobo’s response to The Crimson on Tuesday, in which ... he invoked his expressive right to share his views 'as a member of the faculty.'
"There’s another name for that: Academic freedom."
@1AMorey
1
9
26
"We're talking about 'DEI Inc.' on campuses, bias response teams, microaggressions, et cetera. And what does this do?
"You cannot look beyond yourself. It promotes a certain kind of navel gazing. It makes you more and more self involved."
@AmnaUncensored
2
4
24
“The deeply held convictions of my students today are chiefly those that have been authorized by someone else. The ivory tower has become an echo chamber.”
Professor David Peterson reflects on the anguish and aftermath of a false accusation on campus.
2
5
25
"Cancel culture" punishes, but not equally.
We will continue to see examples of rich and prominent people who can speak their minds about controversial issues.
Only the powerless will feel the consequences.
Read more here:
4/4
0
7
23
Does modern antiracism undervalue "the art of building relationships despite differences, which can yield stable and enduring consensus"?
@JohnRWoodJr
in
@JoinPersuasion
1
5
23
American "wokeness" has found a receptive environment where anti-colonialism and the fight against oppression have long defined leftist politics.
@simonganitsky
reports on the new activism sweeping Latin America. 👇
0
2
24
It's been two years since our founding!
To celebrate, today we look back at some highlights from our second year.
1
5
21
"The problem with a society devoted to zero risk is that kids grow up overprotected and under-socialized."
—
@FreeRangeKids
Lenore Skenazy in
@JoinPersuasion
0
6
21
"...America isn’t just red and blue. It’s red and blue and just plain tired."
This 4th of July, our advisor
@DavidAFrench
appealed to exhausted Americans to unite the fragmenting nation.
4
3
22
"There’s a danger in the West’s ignorance of authoritarian governments—a tendency to think this is only the fate of other countries."
@astroehlein
presents five overlooked dictators—and warns against complacency back home.
1
13
22
“When it comes to the highest office in the land, there should be no distinction between American citizens. Naturalized citizens are not less American than people who were born here.”
@ZaidJilani
argues against the "natural-born citizen" requirement in
@JoinPersuasion
3
1
20
"If promoting the health of fetuses with the goal of preventing disability counts as eugenics, then anyone who has ever taken a prenatal vitamin, or avoided alcohol or sushi during pregnancy is a eugenicist."
@AmySFLutz
0
7
22
Western views of the war in Ukraine have swung between wild optimism and total despair.
But if anything is clear, it's that the war will be long.
And now is not the time to let up, writes
@CathyYoung63
.
1/4
5
4
23
“Our entire family exists in the netherworld of the registry.” Carol Nesteikis discusses the problems with the sex offender registry and the urgent need for reform.
1
7
21
Young people today are less open to the values of free speech and pluralism than older generations.
Or so the story goes.
As regular Persuasion contributor
@ZaidJilani
argues, this may not be the case.
1/4
2
5
22
“Applied without regard for social, cultural and linguistic context, antiracism efforts risk becoming a caricature of themselves."
In
@JoinPersuasion
,
@DarielaSosa
writes on the controversy surrounding soccer's Edinson Cavani.
2
8
22
"I started traveling in the early 1970s and, at that time, more Europeans lived under dictatorships than lived in democracies.
"People today always forget that. We did the numbers."
@fromTGA
on the hopes and delusions of the "post-Wall" era:
0
10
21
We are stuck in a cycle of social media pile-ons and insincere apologies.
In Persuasion, Seth Moskowitz
@skmoskowitz
offers a solution: Don't apologize.
1/4
2
5
20
In October,
@NormOrnstein
laid out his suggestions for the first 100 days of a Biden presidency.
As President Biden nears the end of his first month in office, a look back at those recommendations:
0
5
20
Garry Kasparov and Yascha Mounk in conversation with
@EliotHiggins
, founder of
@bellingcat
.
Not to be missed - join us on March 16th.
0
8
20
"We have a tendency to over-attribute to these systems the notion that they're intelligent, but they're really just doing one kind of thing.
"They're not generally intelligent."
@GaryMarcus
on the strengths and the shortcomings of today's AI:
3
8
20
"Simply put, censorship doesn’t change people’s opinions," write
@RIKKISCHLOTT
and
@glukianoff
.
"It encourages them to speak with people they already agree with, which makes political polarization even worse."
Read more here:
2
7
19
Self-education can change hearts and open minds.
But many of those who most insistently tell people to "educate themselves" are sacrificing its true promise in favor of false certainty and a smug sense of superiority.
1
2
20
"[Liberal and secular elites] see a democratic result they don't like—in this case, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt—and they say, 'If democracy is good, it should lead to good outcomes. But this is not a good outcome.'"
@shadihamid
on The Good Fight:
3
8
20
This week's Persuasion reads:
1. 'How Women From Different Generations Can Understand Each Other',
@CarolineFourest
2. 'We Can't Keep Taking Liberal Democracy for Granted',
@RolandMerullo
0
6
19
"When students are new to a topic, direct instruction works best...the more knowledge you have relating to a topic, the better equipped you are to think about it critically.”
@natwexler
warns: don't abandon teaching basic facts...
0
3
19
"People want to choose between biology and culture.
But everything we do is influenced by two factors, the environment and our genes, and by the interaction between the two."
Primatologist Frans de Waal on The Good Fight:
1
4
19
This week's Persuasion reads:
1. 'Monomania Is Illiberal And Stupefying',
@JonHaidt
2. 'Our Institutions Keep Undermining Themselves',
@ZaidJilani
3. 'Rethinking Identity' [transcript],
@KAnthonyAppiah
0
7
18
Thousands of Cubans are taking to the streets in a week of reckoning for the island's authoritarian regime.
James Bloodworth
@J_Bloodworth
recounts his experience of Cuba's communist system.
1/4
1
6
19
“[This] is a very, very negative political environment for national Democrats.
If this continues for another 12 months, you would see a red wave […] that is the course that we’re on right now.”
This week,
@AndrewYang
speaks with
@Yascha_Mounk
about recent election outcomes.
0
5
18
“Universities keep crumbling under pressure. But free inquiry isn’t up for negotiation.”
Back in December, Greg Lukianoff and Nico Perrino made the pressing case for universities to stand firm in defense of open debate.
0
7
17
"What began as a collective yen for racial equality—long overdue in our nation—has devolved into something dangerous that is actually undermining its own noble goals"
@bungarsargon
explores the logic behind today's antiracist discourse.
2
7
18
"Deneen is wrong about Mill, and thus wrong about liberalism, and therefore wrong about everything."
When it comes to actually understanding the thing they hate, post-liberals are hopeless, writes
@RichardvReeves
.
0
6
19
“Ordinary Americans must be the artists in our renaissance of civic understanding.”
In an essay for Persuasion,
@JohnRWoodJr
advocates for a path to unity.
0
5
19
Protests flared up nationwide last summer. In many places, violence and looting quickly died down.
Not in Portland.
@NancyRomm
investigates how failings from the top down led to months of needless conflict.
1/4
1
9
19
“I was an unhappy girl who needed help. Instead, I was treated like an experiment.”
In
@JoinPersuasion
, Keira Bell tells her story.
0
16
18
China is carrying out a devastating campaign against the Uyghurs, including the internment of more than 1 million people.
@robertsreport
sets out an urgent case for what Biden must do.
1
8
18
Is it time to revise the Constitution’s ‘natural-born citizen’ requirement for presidents?
In
@JoinPersuasion
@ZaidJilani
argues that all US citizens should have the chance to hold the nation’s highest office.
1
2
15
In Persuasion,
@JonHaidt
and
@glukianoff
warn that many of the dynamics which have transformed college campuses in recent years are now spreading through the corporate world in the U.S.
"How To Keep Your Corporation Out of the Culture War."
2
5
18
Last month, a German Twitter user was awoken by police officers demanding access to his home.
His crime? Calling a local politician “a dick”.
@JMchangama
explores Europe's attitude to free speech—and why the U.S. shouldn't follow suit.
1/4
3
10
18
"There are many reasons why sanctioning faculty who speak out against the university is dangerous.
"Most obviously, it would gut their expressive rights to publicly criticize Harvard’s shortcomings or abuses."
@1AMorey
(
@TheFIREorg
)
0
4
17