Explore " ross douthat" with insightful episodes like "Is "opinion" doing more harm than good?", "Know Your Frenemies (w/ Samuel Moyn)", "The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of Our Own Success - Eric Metaxas with Ross Douthat", "How Decadence Could Give Way to Revival" and "Morbid Symptoms (w/ Ross Douthat)" from podcasts like ""The Minefield", "Know Your Enemy", "The Christian Outlook | Full Interviews", "Gospelbound" and "Know Your Enemy"" and more!
Opinion writing plays a disproportionate role in our media eco-system: it drives online traffic, fuels emotion, feeds the forces of polarisation, and promotes an incapacity to understand one another. But is there a different way to think about opinion?
Matt and Sam welcome Yale historian Samuel Moyn to the show for a deep-dive into the Never Trump movement. Who are the Never Trumpers? How seriously should we take the heroic story they tell about themselves? Did they sink Bernie's campaign for the Democratic nomination? Have they reckoned with their role in paving the way for Trump? In trying to answer these questions the conversation moves from the baleful influence of Never Trumpers to a discussion of historical debates about over the rise of fascism, the perils of "tyrannophobia," and the possibilities for breaking through the hegemony of neoliberals and neoconservatives in our political life.
Further Reading:
Samuel Moyn, "The Never Trumpers Have Already Won" (New Republic)
Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles, "Don't Blame Never Trumpers for the Left's Defeat" (New Republic)
Samuel Moyn and David Priestland, "Trump Isn't a Threat to Our Democracy. Hysteria Is" (New York Times)
Samuel Moyn, "Interview: We Can't Settle for Human Rights" (Jacobin)
Sam Adler-Bell, "The Remnant and the Restless Crowd" (Commonweal)
Matthew Sitman, "Riding the Trump Tiger" (Commonweal)
Pankaj Mishra, "The Mask It Wears" (London Review of Books)
John Ganz, "Finding Neverland: The American Right's Doomed Quest to Rid Itself of Trumpism" (New Republic)
Marshall Steinbaum, "Guardians of Property" (Jacobin)
Books Cited:
Robert P. Saldin and Steven M. Teles, Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elite (Oxford University Press)
Samuel Moyn, Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (Harvard University Press)
James Chappel, Catholic Modern : The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church (Harvard University Press)
...and don't forget to support Know Your Enemy on Patreon for bonus episodes!
Eric Metaxas talks with Ross Douthat, New York Times op-ed columnist, about his interesting take on the decline of the American culture. Douthat brings evidence from his new book, The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of Our Own Success.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I don’t know what vision the term “decadence” conjures up for you. Some advertising campaign years ago implanted an association for me with chocolate cake. But Ross Douthat sees a rich and powerful society no longer going anywhere in particular. We’re stuck with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline.
He writes: “For the first time since 1491, we have found the distances too vast and the technology too limited to take us to somewhere genuinely undiscovered, somewhere truly new.”
That line comes from his new book, The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of Our Own Success, published by Avid Reader Press. Douthat is a columnist for The New York Times and author of the book Bad Religion, for which I previously interviewed him. The last time we talked was spring of 2016. A few things have changed since then. But not Douthat’s abilities as a must-read writer. I could do an entire podcast just reading my favorite lines from this book. As a former Methodist, I especially liked how he described “thin cosmopolitanism that’s really just the extremely Western ideology of liberal Protestantism plus ethnic food.”
This is a serious book, though, and it deserves serious attention. What’s next when there are no more unexplored frontiers or fresh discoveries? What’s the point of life if there are no more worlds to conquer? Douthat says we see a world in turmoil, but it’s more like we’ve lulled ourselves to sleep.
Douthat writes:
If you want to feel like Western society is convulsing, there’s an app for that, a convincing simulation waiting. But in the real world, it’s possible that Western society is really learning back in an easy chair, hooked up to a drip of something soothing, playing and replaying an ideological greatest-hits tape from its wild and crazy youth, all riled up in its own imagination and yet, in reality, comfortably numb.
Yet Douthat does envision a possible renaissance for the West, an escape from our cultural malaise. That’s part of what we discuss in this episode of Gospelbound.
This episode of Gospelbound is brought to you by Southeastern Seminary. In a disenchanted world looking to themselves for answers, Southeastern’s three-year Doctor of Ministry in Faith and Culture plants graduates at the intersection of theology, culture, and church to bring the world a better story—the gospel. Learn more at sebts.edu.
Ross Douthat is that strangest of all creatures, a religious conservative with a New York Times column—a perch from which he pronounces on U.S. politics, the Catholic Church, and modern culture with style and intelligence, plus a dash of mordant pessimism. In other words, the perfect choice to be the first "enemy" to come on the show. He joins Matt and Sam to discuss his own conservatism, the American right in the Trump era, and his new book The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success.
Further Reading:
Townhall Review - December 30, 2017
Hugh Hewitt invites Deputy National Security Director Nadia Schadlow, one of the principle architects of the recently released National Security Strategy document, to share some of the details surrounding this very important document. Dennis Prager identifies the opponents of the tax reform that was signed into law by President Trump. Hugh Hewitt turns to Senator Pat Toomey, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, to share how this tax legislation will affect Americans. Guy Benson shares with Mike Gallagher President Trump's list of first-year accomplishments, including the "unheralded decimation of ISIS." Dennis Prager shares from Ross Douthat's New York Times article that exposes the media's shameful lack of coverage of this victory over ISIS. Michael Medved unfurrels more of the Russian conspiracy and collusion, this time involving Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Hillsdale President Larry Arnn shares with Hugh Hewitt the history behind "Darkest Hour," a film about Sir Winston Churchill's leadership and victory against Nazi Germany. Wrapping up the show, Michael Farris, CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, sits in with Hugh Hewitt to talk about the Masterpiece Cake Shop case, one of the key religious liberty cases in our generation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Townhall Review - December 30, 2017
Hugh Hewitt invites Deputy National Security Director Nadia Schadlow, one of the principle architects of the recently released National Security Strategy document, to share some of the details surrounding this very important document. Dennis Prager identifies the opponents of the tax reform that was signed into law by President Trump. Hugh Hewitt turns to Senator Pat Toomey, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, to share how this tax legislation will affect Americans. Guy Benson shares with Mike Gallagher President Trump's list of first-year accomplishments, including the "unheralded decimation of ISIS." Dennis Prager shares from Ross Douthat's New York Times article that exposes the media's shameful lack of coverage of this victory over ISIS. Michael Medved unfurrels more of the Russian conspiracy and collusion, this time involving Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein. Hillsdale President Larry Arnn shares with Hugh Hewitt the history behind "Darkest Hour," a film about Sir Winston Churchill's leadership and victory against Nazi Germany. Wrapping up the show, Michael Farris, CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, sits in with Hugh Hewitt to talk about the Masterpiece Cake Shop case, one of the key religious liberty cases in our generation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stay up to date
For any inquiries, please email us at hello@podcastworld.io