Matt Johnson – The Lessons of Christopher Hitchens

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=0s" target="_blank">0:00</a> How Matt first encountered Christopher Hitchens</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=367s" target="_blank">6:07</a> Matt’s new book, <em>How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment</em></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=480s" target="_blank">8:00</a> Why Matt thinks Cornel West’s Vietnam-Afghanistan analogy is flawed</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=861s" target="_blank">14:21</a> What’s worth preserving in the left-liberal tradition?</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=1298s" target="_blank">21:38</a> Matt: Identity politics is a “toxin”</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=1640s" target="_blank">27:20</a> Was affirmative action ever necessary?</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=2129s" target="_blank">35:29</a> Matt: I wish the left would rediscover Hitchens’s universalism</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CnDAhYhuCQ&#38;t=2704s" target="_blank">45:04</a> Hitchens’s “fearless liberalism”</p><p>Recorded July 6, 2023</p><p>Links and Readings</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hitchens-Save-Left-Rediscovering-Counter-Enlightenment/dp/1634312341" target="_blank">Matt’s new book, </a><em>How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment</em></p><p><a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2000/09/21/lord-trouble/" target="_blank">Hitchens’s NYRB review of Douglas Murray’s </a><em>Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas</em></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-Orwell-Matters-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/0465030505" target="_blank">Hitchens’s book, </a><em>Why Orwell Matters</em></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Aspidistra-Flying-George-Orwell/dp/0156468999" target="_blank">George Orwell’s book, </a><em>Keep The Aspidistra Flying</em></p><p><a href="https://glennloury.substack.com/p/cornel-west-the-presidential-aspirations" target="_blank">Glenn’s recent conversation with Cornel West</a></p><p><a href="https://quillette.com/2023/02/15/mearsheimer-rigor-or-reaction/" target="_blank">Matt’s </a><em>Quilette </em><a href="https://quillette.com/2023/02/15/mearsheimer-rigor-or-reaction/" target="_blank">essay on John Mearsheimer</a></p><p><a href="https://quillette.com/2022/08/05/the-limits-of-radical-protest/" target="_blank">Matt’s </a><em>Quillette </em><a href="https://quillette.com/2022/08/05/the-limits-of-radical-protest/" target="_blank">essay on Bayard Rustin</a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/King-Life-Jonathan-Eig/dp/0374279292" target="_blank">Jonathan Eig’s </a><em>King: A Life</em></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Affirmative-Discrimination-Ethnic-Inequality-Public/dp/0674007301" target="_blank">Nathan Glazer’s book, </a><em>Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy</em></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/05/opinion/affirmative-action-college-admissions.html" target="_blank">Roland Fryer’s NYT oped, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EAawXDvLjI" target="_blank">Glenn’s debate with Hitchens</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/" target="_blank">Ta-Nehisi Coates’s </a><em>Atlantic </em><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/" target="_blank">essay, “The Case for Reparations”</a></p><p><a href="https://www.commentary.org/articles/bayard-rustin-2/from-protest-to-politics-the-future-of-the-civil-rights-movement/" target="_blank">Bayard Rustin’s 1965 </a><em>Commentary</em><a href="https://www.commentary.org/articles/bayard-rustin-2/from-protest-to-politics-the-future-of-the-civil-rights-movement/" target="_blank"> essay, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement”</a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heretical-Thoughts-Identity-Politics-Academic/dp/B0BSJXB7WN" target="_blank">Norman Finkelstein’s book, </a><em>I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom</em></p><p><a href="https://glennloury.substack.com/p/norman-finkelstein-the-triple-scam" target="_blank">Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein</a></p> <br /><br />This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://glennloury.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">glennloury.substack.com/subscribe</a>