0:00 The protestant ethic and the spirit of wokeness
10:47 Is comparing wokeness to religion a slander on religion?
21:08 Ian: Wokeness is a distraction from real political problems
28:02 How Ian experienced his own cancelation
41:31 America’s exportation of wokeness
45:45 Has wokeness aided and abetted Trump and Brexit?
52:54 John: Enslaved people did find ways to improve their own lives
Recorded August 7, 2023
Links and Readings
Ian’s Harper’s piece, “Doing the Work”
John’s book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
Jian Ghomeshi’s 2018 NYRB piece, “Reflections from a Hashtag”
Tomiwa Owolade’s book, This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter
David Brooks’s NYT oped, “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?”
John’s NYT oped, “One Sentence Does Not Define a Curriculum”
The Florida Board of Education’s 2023 standards for social studies
Robert Cherry’s essay on slavery at this newsletter
