A new video from me: How “lived experience” goes wrong
Hello everyone, I thought I’d give Substack a try, and so I have transferred addressees from the old list on Mailchimp. In case a recap is useful: this is the email list of my YouTube series, The Ideas That Explain The News, in which I share concepts that explain the news at a deeper level.
Today’s video is about how the idea of “lived experience” has gone wrong. What started as common sense — let’s hear from people with first-hand experience — has developed into something else: a demand for unthinking deference to the political demands of every marginalised group.
But as the video explores, many people — including many on the Left — see big problems with this approach to politics, and fear it could end up hurting the very people it’s designed to help.
Other recent videos:
+ How misrepresenting your opponents helps the extremists
+ What people got wrong about Russia (and history)
+ Israel is walking into a trap
+ How Bernie Sanders wins an argument
+ The problem with the media is not what we think
Notes and links
+ I’ve been enjoying the Past Present Future podcast from David Runciman, especially the episodes where he discusses famous political essays like A Room of One’s Own and Civil Disobedience. I have ambitions to read all the political Great Books, but man, they're often quite chunky. But an essay? Feels much more achievable.
+ Reading through his list, Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin was a favourite. Brilliant writing, and I got as much from its 30-odd pages as I did from Another Country. (Bonus: his Cambridge Union debate with William F Buckley from 1965.)
+ Have you ever actually tasted mead? Smells odd but tastes delicious.
+ Can’t get this essay by
out of my head. The writing is fierce and deeply personal and his arguments about mental health have left me unsettled.+ Does “need for chaos” explain Trump support?
+ I find Tyler Cowen’s nerdiness inspirational. Here he is sharing his favourite pieces of music (from avante garde to Lana Del Ray) with Rick Rubin. (Top new addition to the Spotify favourites list is this mix of Mustt Mustt by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
+ Did you know there’s a very easy-to-read-and-actually-fun-translation of the Canterbury Tales? (My favourite is the Prologue - what a portrait of a country). After that read Hyperion.
+ Who reads the papers? Yes, Prime Minister - just interviewed
for a video on British newspapers and he sent me this.+ Recent film/TV picks: Rustin, Barbarians (where everyone speaks Latin or German) and The Burial (Tommy Lee Jones & Jamie Foxx (!), inspired by Runciman’s discussion of the essay, The Case for Reparations).