You Have Questions, We Have Answers (Mailbag episode)
Added 2022-12-01 00:52:39 +0000 UTCAs the end of the year approaches, Matt and Sam are once again answering questions from you, their beloved listeners. Like previous mailbag episodes, there was an abundance of excellent questions that were submitted. Topics include: the possibilities for the religious left, white Christian nationalism, your hosts' literary habits and favorite novels, conspiracy theories—and more. For those who especially enjoy this type of episode, check out the next KYE bonus episode which will take up even more listener questions!
Sources:
Hannah Gold, "The Loud Parts," Harper's, October 2022
Jewish Currents, "The Jews" (On the Nose podcast episode), November 23, 2022
Alastair Roberts, "On Thomas Achord," Alastair's Adversaria, November 27, 2022
Rod Dreher, "The Thomas Achord – Alastair Roberts Mess," The American Conservative, November 27, 2022
Matthew Sitman, "Whither the Religious Left?" New Republic, April 15, 2021
Ned Rorem, Lies: A Diary, 1986-1999 (2002)
Breece D'J Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake (2002)
Breece D'J Pancake, "Trilobites," The Atlantic, December 1977
Andre Dubus, Selected Stories (1995)
Janet Malcolm, "I Should Have Made Him for a Dentist," New York Review of Books, March 2018
John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
Art Shay, Album for an Age: Unconventional Words and Pictures from the Twentieth Century (2000)
Comments
I think you’re point about how many voters aren’t particularly plugged in to issues is right for the general public. This argument is so hot right now in political science- my PhD level American politics seminar this semester basically was organized around critiquing the “folk theory of democracy” and critiquing its critics. However, an interesting argument I’ve seen from Liliana Mason (and I’m sure y’all have too) is that we aren’t polarized around issues but we are polarized/polarizing around identities- especially as people are becoming more socially sorted (their identities fitting into an aligned set IE white evangelical republicans). I think this could explain both the feeling of polarization (basically being more socially sorted turns people into rapid sports fans for their in group- which includes political parties) and people leaving religious affiliations (this is somewhat anecdotal as a white former evangelical leftist who felt out of place within evangelicalism and left; but it seems to be a common phenomenon). Anyway I highly recommend Mason’s book Uncivil Agreement for anyone interested in identity theory, social sorting, and politics. Hopefully that made sense. If not, I blame finals week.
Camille Tinnin
2022-12-14 18:11:31 +0000 UTCI just listened to Jokermen podcast's analysis of Dylan's Murder Most Foul after recently re-listening to you joining them for the Trouble No More Episode, and after seeing Sam's tweet about preparing to dive into the episode about "Our new National Anthem," which made think of a few questions...1) Is there any other songs that would/should qualify for our new national anthem and 2) If instead of holding our hands over our hearts we were instructed to drink a glass of bourbon during our national anthem, what bourbon best captures the regrets and possibilities of America in 2022.
Scot Sedley
2022-12-06 00:36:56 +0000 UTCMoscow, Idaho is actually one of the state’s few places run by progressives (University of Idaho is there). But the far-right Christian community you reference is making inroads there
Luke Mayville
2022-12-05 09:10:12 +0000 UTCRegarding that interesting question about conspiracy theories and the right/left, there was some interesting stuff about that in the 1980s and 1990s. Here's a piece about that from Political Research Associates, Right Woos Left. "The views of these conspiracy peddlers are frequently promoted on alternative radio programs, and they have created a progressive constituency that confuses demagoguery with leadership, and undocumented conspiracism with serious research. " https://politicalresearch.org/1999/02/27/right-woos-left
Seth K
2022-12-05 02:13:18 +0000 UTCWhat would be worth dying for, in Strauss’s mind? A sustainable planet? Eradicating inequality? Probs not; more like the authority of the elite. And presumably someone would be doing the killing? Who? Deranged atheists and their confederates? It can’t be that Straussian thought is that shallow can it?
Matt Gately
2022-12-04 01:01:01 +0000 UTCThis article in First Things laments that Leo Strauss was right, that liberal education and the open society don’t instil ideals, higher than mere life, worth dying for. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/12/leo-strauss-and-the-closed-society
Matt Gately
2022-12-04 00:52:59 +0000 UTCI want a John Le Carre episode 🙏!!!
Jennifer Reft
2022-12-04 00:43:05 +0000 UTCMe too! I’m in the middle of ‘John Wayne’s America’ and loving it. Has complicated the John Ford fanboy in me and clarified latent sympathies i have for Wayne (in the Didion register). Wills’s mis-en-scene delve into Stagecoach is thrilling. Thank you, Matt for recommending!
Benjamin Pletcher
2022-12-03 02:05:47 +0000 UTCI started reading Garry Wills because of your recommendations. The Kennedy Imprisonment is fascinating. Would it be possible to invite him on as a guest? Does he do podcasts? I feel he's a central character in the KYE cinematic universe.
Peter Jensen
2022-12-03 01:34:24 +0000 UTCHaving been brought up atheist and spending most of my life uninterested if not semi-hostile to religion, I have found the experience of embedding myself in a religious community now to have given me a real depth of feeling for the idea and practice of solidarity. I see completely what is meant in the quote about the religious rituals of our childhood affecting us so deeply that it's hard to truly grasp spirituality outside of it. For me it's a half-challenge - I don't have to unlearn Christianity so much as shrd some of the cultural and metaphysical assumptions Western society operates on that I never fully saw until now. For my partner, who was raised Christian, it can be an even tougher challenge. We will be raising our child within our current religious practice, something that would have once shocked me about myself, but which I now seriously believe will be beneficial for their spiritual and political life.
Hannah
2022-12-02 20:16:34 +0000 UTCHey, is the walking food tour through the LES hosted by Arun Gupta? If so, I've been on it and it's very good for socialists, highly recommended. Just be prepared to eat a lot a ton of food standing around on the street, it's literally a street tour
Michaela Brangan
2022-12-01 14:24:39 +0000 UTCThe discussion about Christianity and the left leads me to mention one of the best examples of "Christian Socialism", a book by R.H. Tawney (1920), The Acquisitive Society – https://archive.org/details/acquisitivesocie00tawn He was writing back when capitalism was facing a choice – and made the wrong one.
Kit Loekle
2022-12-01 11:24:20 +0000 UTCI’ve found a lot of ideological shifts come with the company you keep—immerse yourself in a community of thought, and you’ll find your brain required/required to adopt the internal logic of that community, at least to some degree. So, how do you guys stay engaged with the conservative movement w/o getting the conservative brainworms?
William Fedullo
2022-12-01 05:38:43 +0000 UTCIsn’t it well known that The Perfect Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy are the best JleC novels?
Thomas Donnelly
2022-12-01 03:04:36 +0000 UTCAnd on that last question, on preparing the ground for the Republican harvest of racial backlash: in my first book I write about how the people who put together Conscience of a Conservative tried to position Goldwater for a draft in 1960 did so after Orval Faubus turned them down.
Rick Perlstein
2022-12-01 02:44:35 +0000 UTCHere's a great history of American conspiracy theories, guys! https://global.oup.com/academic/product/real-enemies-9780190908560?cc=us&lang=en&
Rick Perlstein
2022-12-01 02:15:26 +0000 UTC
