EP 173: Jeff Rubin on Economic Warfare

Since the sexual revolution, women’s lives have undergone dramatic changes. The dominant narrative is that liberal feminism has freed women in profound ways. So why does data show that women’s happiness has actually declined? Tara's guest on the podcast today argues that the sexual revolution has, in fact, failed women. Louise Perry is a British writer and activist. She’s a columnist at The New Statesmen and a features writer for The Daily Mail. Her brilliant debut is called The Case Against ...

27 Heinä 202239min

For many journalists, it’s a point of pride to consume as much media as possible, as much of the time as possible. We think this makes us informed, better at our jobs. So it caused a stir last week when American journalist Amanda Ripley admitted, in The Washington Post no less, that she’s been avoiding the news for years — like an increasing number of Americans, and Canadians. And, it turns out, journalists. Amanda Ripley’s piece is titled, “I stopped reading the news — is the problem m...

22 Heinä 202227min

How do we arrive at truth? Tara's guest on the podcast today argues that it is through reality-based communities — in government, media, the law, and science and academia — which collectively determine truth through trial and error, rules and norms, and discussion and debate. All together, he calls this system “the constitution of knowledge.”But this system is under threat, he says, from both the right and the left. On the right, through the flooding of the public sphere with what's called a ...

20 Heinä 202252min

Those on the political left have long seen free speech as a core tenet — so it’s been bizarre for many of us to watch the left abandon it, and, in many cases now even campaign against it. Tara's guest on the podcast today has written a new piece for Tablet Magazine arguing that, in fact, this trend is not particularly new. The essay is titled “Who Really Benefits From the First Amendment?,” and it takes a look back in history at attacks on free speech originating on the le...

15 Heinä 202219min

How do you regulate the Internet? It’s a question that the federal government in Canada is in the process of trying to answer. But its approach is generating controversy, with several bills raising concerns around freedom of expression.Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, was recently rushed through the House of Commons in a remarkable manner that led one Conservative MP to call it an “affront to democracy.” And Tara's guest on the podcast today says a subsequent ruling from the CRTC — ...

13 Heinä 202230min

If you’re a fiction reader and you’ve noticed that novels are getting more political — and more overtly aligned with the progressive political project in particular — there’s a reason for this. Big publishing houses are increasingly hiring what are called “sensitivity readers,” to vet authors’ work to ensure that it doesn’t cause offence. Tara's guest on the podcast today has written a piece about this trend for Reason Magazine. It’s titled “Sensitivity Readers Are the New Litera...

7 Heinä 202216min

For all of the mainstream media’s coverage of Donald Trump, there’s not a very deep understanding of the Republican Party under that president, or, indeed, the forces that led up to his election. In the liberal press, there just has not been that much curiosity about the nuances of the American conservative movement — and the historical and political forces driving it. But Tara's guest on the program today says the history of the American right is actually a rich and complex one, with numerou...

6 Heinä 202235min

As the pandemic winds down, another public health emergency rages — and it is not getting as much attention. We're speaking, of course, about the opioid crisis. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief medical officer of health, recently tweeted that the latest data shows that in 2021, 7,560 people died of opioid-related overdose. On average, 21 people died and 17 were hospitalized every day. Tara's guest on the program today penned an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun in 2020 warning that our pandemic ...

29 Kesä 202240min