In this episode, Sasha and vatani discuss the concept of white privilege and give their critique of the popular theory peddled by those such as Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi. They talk about why they think the conversation is being steered away from class issues, and why identity has taken the center stage in political and social discourse.
Vincent Emanuele is a community organizer, US Marine Corps veteran, and host of the YouTube channel PARC Media. He is the co-founder of the PARC (Politics Art Roots Culture) Community-Cultural Center, located in Michigan City, Indiana.
Vincent joins me for a discussion about grassroots organizing, class based issues in today’s political climate, and his thoughts on moving the conversation past wokeism or anti-wokeism.
Is the world a better place? Opinions vary, though the enduring Western-centric belief is that humankind has never had it better. This belief is commonly espoused by technologists who praise the information age for ushering in a new era of opportunity and prosperity. The information age, coupled with industrialization, has certainly shaped the world in ways previously thought unimaginable. Advances in technology have transformed everyday life. Facial recognition software. Artificial intelligence. Microchip implants. Renewable energy. Genetic engineering. A revolutionary mRNA vaccine designed in just two days.
Given all this progress, it’s hard not to believe in the “prosperity presumption,” the belief that the world, as a whole, is getting better. Indeed, techno-utopians who adhere to the prosperity presumption also hold the belief that any form of technological stagnation is antithetical to progress. Some of the biggest technologists fall under this category.
Sophie Watson joins me to chat about her experience at Cambridge University, where she is currently working on an undergraduate dissertation about surrogacy. (Sophie’s proposed dissertation topic was detransition, but her advisors told her they would not and could not oversee this project, deterring her from writing it). In November 2020, Sophie published a piece in Unherd called “Cambridge is censoring any dissent on trans issues” about the student campaign against Kevin Price, a porter at Clare College who resigned as Labour Councillor rather than agree with a motion that included the statement “transwomen are women.”