Podcast

Podcast #152: Nicholas Wade Explains Why It’s No Longer Taboo to Ask Whether COVID-19 Was Caused by a Chinese Lab Leak

Quillette’s Razib Khan speaks with veteran science writer Nicholas Wade about why so many scientists and journalists are now exploring theories about the origins of COVID-19 that, not so long, ago, were being dismissed as conspiracy theories. Articles discussed in this podcast * Origin of COVID—Following the Clues: Did

Quillette 7 Jun 2021 · 17 min read

Podcast #151: Kenny Xu on Asian-Americans’ Success, And Their Complicated Placement in the Progressive ‘Intersectional’ Hierarchy

Host Jonathan Kay speaks with conservative activist, book author, and Quillette contributor Kenny Xu about the pressures that Asian-Americans now face to toe the line on progressive race orthodoxies—including acquiescing to their own unfavorable treatment in elite school admissions. Transcript: Jonathan Kay: Welcome to the Quillette podcast. I’m

Quillette 28 May 2021 · 16 min read

Podcast #150: Helen Pluckrose on the Role of Postmodernism in the Construction of Modern Social-Justice Dogmas

Quillette founder Claire Lehmann speaks with Cynical Theories co-author (and Grievance Studies Hoax collaborator) Helen Pluckrose about the influence of postmodern ideas in the formulation of the latest iterations of Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, and other “intersectional” doctrines. Transcript: Jonathan Kay: Welcome to the Quillette podcast. I’m Jonathan

Quillette 25 May 2021 · 24 min read

Podcast #149: Lingnan University scholar Peter Baehr on Academic Life Within Hong Kong’s Increasingly Repressive Political Atmosphere

Quillette’s Jonathan Kay speaks with Hong Kong-based professor Peter Baehr about the many ways in which free speech and democratic politics are being suppressed by China’s mainland communist government.

Quillette 14 May 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast #148: Bernard Lane on the Fight for a More Balanced Approach Toward Children Seeking Medicalized Gender Change

Quillette Editor-in-Chief Claire Lehmann talks to The Australian writer Bernard Lane about the severe risks associated with rushing gender dysphoric children into puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery—and the rising tide of concerned parents who are pushing back against the campaign to reflexively “affirm” children’s beliefs about their

Quillette 10 May 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast #147: Richard Hanania on the Real Reason Progressives Are Winning the Culture War: They Just Want It More

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Richard Hanania, President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, about his much-discussed essay, Why is Everything Liberal? Cardinal Preferences Explain Why All Institutions are Woke (and its sequel). Note to listeners: The following images, taken from the guest’s

Quillette 30 Apr 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 146: Michael Shellenberger on Nuclear Power, Progressive Hypocrisy on Energy Policy, and His New book, ‘Apocalypse Never’

Quillette founder Claire Lehmann talks to author and activist Michael Shellenberger about how environmental alarmism and ideological blind spots often prevent us from having a rational discussion about the best way to address climate change while growing national economies.

Quillette 23 Apr 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 145: Sean McMeekin on ‘Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II’

Quillette’s Jonathan Kay speaks with Bard University history professor Sean McMeekin about his new book, which describes how the fears and ambitions of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin shaped the course of the Second World War.

Quillette 18 Apr 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 144: James Kirchick on 'The Disintegration of the ACLU'

Quillette‘s Jonathan Kay talks to author James Kirchick about his recent Tablet article documenting how the American Civil Liberties Union abandoned its core mission in favor of doctrinaire progressive politics.

Quillette 9 Apr 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 143: Daphne Merkin on the Baseless Abuse Claims Against Woody Allen—And Why The Media Refuses to Let Them Die

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks to Daphne Merkin about HBO’s highly torqued documentary, Allen v. Farrow, and the dubious claims it contains. Merkin, who wrote a widely discussed New York Magazine article about Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn in 2018, is a prominent literary critic, essayist, and novelist.

Quillette 4 Apr 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 142: Nancy Rommelmann and Michael Totten on Portland's Descent Into Violence—And Why They Finally Decided to Flee

Quillette‘s Jonathan Kay talks to two ex-Portlanders—Nancy Rommelmann and Michael Totten—about how the COVID-19 pandemic and a year of violent protests turned their once beloved city into a fractured, downwardly mobile arena for America’s culture war. Sources discussed in this podcast include: * Leaving Portland, by Michael

Quillette 28 Mar 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 141: Psychiatrist Andrew Lustig on the Conspiracist Internet Subculture of ‘Gangstalking’

Quillette’s Jonathan Kay speaks to Canadian researcher Andrew Lustig about his research on the web-based communities of individuals who believe they are surrounded by evidence of an enormous “gangstalking” conspiracy, involving dozens or even hundreds of individuals, aimed at causing them to become insane or commit suicide.

Quillette 20 Mar 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 140: Evolutionary Psychologist (and Twitter Hit Man) Gad Saad on the ‘Cesspool’ in Academia, Hollywood’s Man-Children, and His New Book

Quillette’s Jonathan Kay speaks with Concordia University marketing professor Gad Saad about his take-no-prisoners social-media style, Lebanese politics, and the inner ideological life of Seth Rogen.

Quillette 13 Mar 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 139: Andrew Doyle—The Brain Behind Titania McGrath—on His New (And Very Serious) Book, ‘Free Speech And Why It Matters’

Jonathan Kay interviews comedian, social critic, and book author Andrew Doyle on why he thinks government censors are a bigger threat to a free society than the bigots they’re seeking to cancel.

Quillette 9 Mar 2021 · 1 min read

Podcast 138: Literary Critic Leon Wieseltier on His New Magazine, the Meaning of Forgiveness, and His Favorite Car-Chase Movies

Quillette‘s Jonathan Kay talks to long-time New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier about Liberties, the ambitious literary journal he founded after getting Me-Too’d—and many other subjects besides, including the future of journalism, the innocence of Woody Allen, the allure of jazz music, and Nicolas Cage’s underrated

Quillette 1 Mar 2021 · 1 min read