Keeping It Civil

Informações:

Sinopsis

Conversations with prominent scholars, writers, and thinkers about the American political tradition and its future.

Episodios

  • S5E8: Jennifer Frey | Reviving Liberal Learning in a Pursuit of Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning of Life

    03/05/2024 Duración: 34min

    In this episode, Henry Thompson and Dr. Jennifer Frey, Dean of the Honors College at the University of Tulsa, discuss the challenges and opportunities facing liberal education. She addresses the prevailing utilitarian mindset in universities, where education is often reduced to job training rather than a pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. Dr. Frey argues that this trend undermines the traditional notion of higher education as a pathway to intellectual freedom and flourishing. Drawing on her experiences at the University of Tulsa, Dr. Frey shares insights into the university's journey toward revitalizing liberal learning. Under her leadership, the Honors College at Tulsa has embarked on a curriculum reform focused on interdisciplinary learning, virtue formation, and deep engagement with foundational texts.

  • S5E7: Lucas Morel | Reimagining Patriotism: MLK, Frederick Douglass, and the Beloved Community

    05/04/2024 Duración: 36min

    Featuring Lucas Morel, professor of politics at Washington and Lee University. Morel delves into the complex relationship between patriotism and the experiences of Black Americans, as exemplified by the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass. Despite facing profound injustices and obstacles, both leaders ultimately embraced America and its potential for progress. MLK's vision of the Beloved Community, rooted in the American Dream, challenged the nation to confront systemic inequalities and enact radical changes. We explore MLK's proposed solutions, including a "Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged," and his critiques of capitalism's role in perpetuating poverty. Additionally, we examine Frederick Douglass's journey from an enslaved person to an outspoken advocate for American principles, highlighting his belief in the transformative power of living up to the nation's founding ideals. Through their insights, we ponder the ongoing quest for a more inclusive and just society, grappling with qu

  • S5E6: Hans Zeiger | Higher Education and Donor Impact

    07/03/2024 Duración: 21min

    In this episode, we speak with Hans Zeiger, the President of the Jack Miller Center, the nationwide network of scholars and teachers. We delve into the intricate interplay of ideas, economics, and donor influence within the realm of higher education; Zeiger provides a unique perspective on challenges facing universities, from the economic pressures exacerbated by the recession to the ideological shifts on campuses and the donor revolt.

  • S5E5: Robert P. George | Navigating Free Speech Challenges in the Age of Ideological Conformism

    02/02/2024 Duración: 47min

    Robert P. George serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Henry and George discuss respecting free speech rights on campus (and beyond) for all perspectives, distinguishing genuine free speech from incitement to violence. George advocates for institutional neutrality in universities, discouraging them from taking positions on moral and political issues. The two also speak about free speech challenges, including ideological conformism, social media pressures, and the fear of backlash. George suggests that examples of bold individuals who question orthodoxies can inspire courage and diversity of viewpoints.

  • S5E4: Zachary Shore | America’s Ethical Crossroads: Deciphering Vengeance and Virtue in History and Policy

    04/01/2024 Duración: 31min

    Professor of History at the Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley Zach Shore examines the United States' critical ethical decisions during and after the World War II. Key issues include the internment of Japanese Americans, nuclear attacks on civilians, and punitive policies towards Germans under U.S. occupation. Despite the majority of Americans often favoring mercy, a minority pushed harsh policies, revealing discrepancies between public opinion and government influence. 

  • S5E3: James R. Stoner | Unraveling the Tapestry of American Democracy

    07/12/2023 Duración: 34min

    In this episode Henry speaks with Dr. James R. Stoner, Professor and Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute in the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University. Henry and Stoner dive into the intricate threads of constitutional history with a focus on the symbiotic relationship between British and American constitutional traditions. This episode unravels the historical, institutional, and philosophical aspects that shape the governance, representation, and legislative processes in these distinct democratic systems.

  • S5E2: John Rose | Free Speech and Viewpoint Diversity in Higher Ed

    02/11/2023 Duración: 37min

    Henry Thompson interviews John Rose, the associate director of the Civil Discourse Project at The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Henry and Rose discuss a course Rose teaches called How to Think in an Age of Political Polarization. Rose talks about intellectual virtues to model, why the most politically intolerant people are humorless and whether campus culture of the elite institutions is too homogenous for certain contentious topics. 

  • S5E1: Matthew Continetti | Restoring Constitutional Conservatism in America

    05/10/2023 Duración: 44min

    Welcome to Season 5 of Keeping it Civil. We’re thrilled to have you back and promise memorable, informative, thought-provoking conversations. In this episode our host Henry Thompson sits down with a Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute Matthew Continetti. Besides discussing his most recent book, The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism, Continetti speaks about the Republican Party beyond Donald Trump and modern conservatism in the United States, its roots and its future.

  • S4E12: R. Shep Melnick | Higher Education in Crisis

    13/04/2023 Duración: 27min

    Shep Melnick is the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics at Boston College and co-chair of the Harvard Program on Constitutional Government. Henry and Shep Melnick speak about the current crisis in America's higher education, Melnick's research on Title IX, the regulation of gender equality in higher education and Melnick's latest book. 

  • S4E11: Jenna Storey | Modern Restlessness and Quest for Virtue

    23/03/2023 Duración: 27min

    Jenna Storey is a senior fellow in the Social, Cultural and Constitutional Studies Department at the American Enterprise Institute. Henry and Jenna Storey speak about the crisis of modern liberal arts education, the restlessness of young college students and her plans for improving and reforming higher ed. 

  • S4E10: Franciska Coleman | Social Regulation Of Free Speech In America

    09/03/2023 Duración: 40min

    Franciska Coleman is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. In this episode we speak about assumptions encoded in words people choose to use and why many nations around the world signed a "covenant" that addresses hate speech yet the United States never did. Coleman also discusses, among other things, the social regulation of speech as an example of cancel culture or accountability culture and what these terms imply when used in reference to speech regulation. 

  • S4E9: Heather Mac Donald | Why Did Universities Abandon Their True Mission?

    23/02/2023 Duración: 40min

    Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a New York Times bestselling author. In this episode Henry and Mac Donald discuss identity politics and why universities are not teaching students, among other things, how to think about ideas "in the abstract" in pursuit of evaluating neutral principles of free speech and government. They also talk about what Mac Donald thinks the role of university in society should be.

  • S4E8: Winston Marshall | Former Mumford and Sons Banjo Player’s Career & Political Stance

    10/02/2023 Duración: 39min

    Winston Marshall has had a long and successful career as a musician, most notably as a founding member of the popular folk rock band Mumford and Sons. He later made headlines by leaving the band due to his controversial political views. As Marshall embarked on a solo career, we take a look at the events that led to his departure and explore the motivations behind his positions. 

  • S4E7: Bion Bartning | Pro-Human Approach to Addressing Racism

    26/01/2023 Duración: 35min

    Bion Bartning is an entrepreneur and investor. He is also the founder of FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. Bartning talks to Henry about what prompted him to start the Foundation and FAIR’s alternative diversity training and other mechanisms put in place as a response to racism and other ideologies.  

  • S4E6: Batya Ungar-Sargon | Elitism in Journalism Poses Growing Danger to American Democracy

    12/01/2023 Duración: 45min

    Join us as Henry speaks with Batya Ungar-Sargon about her new book Bad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy. Ungar-Sargon talks about how the media is silencing the middle class of America and why the interests of the lower income population are not represented in D.C. We discuss hopefulness that comes from the "goodness of the American people" and how democracy is in good shape because of the people

  • S4E5: Jason Nichols | Hip-Hop & Political Activism

    08/12/2022 Duración: 30min

    In this episode Dr. Nichols, a hip-hop artist, public intellectual and academic, speaks with Henry about hip-hop as a form of public discussion and political activism, about the corrosive effect of social media on civil discourse and the legacy and influence of Bea Gaddy on Nichols' political views. 

  • S4E4: Jane Kamensky | Place of the American Revolution and American History in Public Discourse

    10/11/2022 Duración: 39min

    Jane Kamensky talks about American identity in colonial time and at the time of the Revolution and whether we're equipping ourselves and our students with an understanding of the revolutionary era. Henry also discusses with Kamensky the binary of competing narratives of U.S. history and why we need to challenge it

  • S4E3 Eric Kaufmann | Demographic Transitions, White Majority & Political Contention in Coming Decades

    27/10/2022 Duración: 48min

    Henry speaks to Eric Kaufmann about political demography, nationalism and a mixed-race population as a future majority in America. Kaufmann discusses the dangers of suppressing opposition to immigration and why repressive tolerance is a bad idea.

  • S4E2: Megan McArdle | Civil Discourse Online and Offline, Changing Nature of Threats to Free Speech and Self-Censorship

    13/10/2022 Duración: 37min

    This episode covers an attack on Salman Rushdie as a “visceral and physical expression” of attempts to suppress free speech. Threats to free speech come not only from the right but the left also, McArdle argues; she calls it a distressing pullback from the values that are necessary to a liberal society. 

  • S4E1: Kmele Foster | Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Freedom of Speech in Higher Education

    22/09/2022 Duración: 40min

    Kmele Foster is a media entrepreneur and a co-founder of Freethink. Henry spoke to him about the trajectory of human innovation and what the mainstream media gets wrong about progress. They also discussed freedom of speech in higher education and Kmele Foster's critique of Black Lives Matter movement. 

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