Racism, speech, and tenure + "we Americans" on China

Greetings from the Philly planetarium!

This week, we discuss academic tenure, “disgusting” ideas, and left foreign policy.

0:00 – A troll-y tenured law prof at UPenn is back on her race-science kick—this time, arguing on Glenn Loury’s interview show that, “the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.” What to do about Amy Wax and the Amy Waxes of the world? Should her tenure be repealed, as local politicians are demanding? Who and what is tenure for? Is it about free speech? Workers’ rights?

58:30 – Does this issue intersect with tech companies’ censorship via terms of service?

1:08:00 – If you’re on China/international relations/war/basketball/tech Twitter, you’ll have seen that Chamath went full-on tankie… which relates to the debate over a recent article in The Nation: “What Should the Left Do About China?” by David Klion. The piece explores the lefty political spectrum, and features input from Andy and several friends of the pod. We dig in on the question of how complicit we are as “Americans.” In a time of (cold-)warring hegemons, what kind of dissenters should we be?

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