Gold

*The cult of smartness stunts independent thinking*

I have watched this video of Chris Hayes in conversation with Katrina vanden Heuvel about his book, The Twilight of the Elites three times already. I am especially moved by how nuanced Chris Hayes' critiques are and how deliberate he is in considering the paradoxes and contradictions which we all deal with. That's key for me - how to contextualize and give voice to your social criticisms in a way in which you are compelled towards a vision, however obscured, and not towards disillusionment. Given some of my recent sentiments about things, this is gold. I needed this.

Hayes really hits it on the nail with his commentary on the fetishization of smartness, elitism, entitlement, meritocracy, self interest, solidarity, structures of inequality, institutions, compassion, empathy, judgement, ...


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