E45. Noah Rothman and the Myth of Social Justice

Noah Rothman is an MSNBC and NBC New contributor, Associate Editor of Commentary Magazine, and author of the book Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America. He and Bridget have a fascinating conversation about the origins of the social justice movement, the fact that “social justice” as a term defies definition, the paradox of treating individuals unequally in order to achieve equality, and whether or not it’s just tribalism with a fancy name. They cover Noah’s early career in radio, how he got started as a writer, advice to writers seeking to make a career for themselves, dealing with imposter syndrome, and the ridiculousness of the office air conditioning sexism debate. They discuss the “outrage economy” cultural politics, bad faith interpretations of common idioms like “real man,” and how a self-destructive movement can do a lot of damage before it self-destructs. Full transcript available here: WiW45-NoahRothman-Transcript