Henry signed off after the Cosmopolitan Globalists finished recording the China Cosmopolicast. (If you haven’t yet listened to that, we highly recommend it; it’s the best so far, except maybe for the Russia Cosmopolicast.)
But Adam, Monique, Vivek, and Claire hung around a while longer to chat. We assumed we were done recording, so we were very relaxed. We’d planned just to throw the last part out, but when we listened to it, we liked it. So we decided to release it as a bonus. If you’ve ever wondered what Cosmopolitan Globalists say when they think no one’s listening, here’s your chance.
Claire: Is it really fair, Adam, to say Americans were jackal imperialists in China?
Adam: You bet.
Claire: Oh.
Adam: When you get the Chinese in their cups, they’ll tell you about the days before the nuclear tests at Lop Nur. They were utterly humiliated knowing the US could annihilate them and they could do nothing about it. It still gnaws at them. Vivek, I’d worry if I were you. If China can’t get its hands on Taiwan, it’s apt to take out its frustration on India.
Vivek: I totally agree. India has neglected its military. The problem with India is that it’s like the US. It’s a fractious, querulous democracy where it’s impossible to get a consensus—even about questions like, “Ought we to defend ourselves?”
Adam tells us a terrifying story about things people in the extremities of the American military have said, in private, about China and India. We find it so horrifying we can’t quite believe it, but as Adam remarks, Americans have gone crazy.
Oy, vey.
Claire: Wow.
Adam: It’s the Zeitgeist.
Claire: Yeah. The crazy is wafting across the Atlantic. You can smell it. But I still can’t quite believe 75 million Americans voted for more of the crazy.
Adam: I know. And the woke left is absolutely nuts too.
Claire: Out of their everloving gourds! Crazy all around.
Adam: But most Americans are actually still sane. It’s the activist wings of the parties that are stark-staring nuts. It’s our clickbait media that causes everyone believe that everyone else has gone insane.
Claire seizes upon this opportunity to promote the Cosmopolitan Globalist.
(Claire—didn’t mention it during the podcast, but I should have. I recently heard a presentation by Katherine Gehl, of whom I knew nothing. She spoke for fifteen minutes, then fielded questions, and by the end, I was sold. I think she’s right. The change she’s suggesting—a variant on ranked-choice voting—would make a big difference to American politics. The TED talk below seems to be a variation of that presentation, but aimed at kindergarteners. I liked the adult version better. Here’s the book on which the talk is based.)
Adam and Claire explain the phrase garnisht mit garnisht (and the synoptic, syncretic Bagel) to Vivek and Monique.
Claire: Is Trump the first Westerner in history to be quite so hallucinogenic in his indignity?
Monique: Berlusconi.
All: Yes, Berlusconi.
Monique: Italian politics are horrifying. But then there’s the pilgrimage route. The Via Francigena runs behind my house. Through the verdant green hills of Sienna. Sometimes I think of going back to Canada, but how could I leave this?
(We briefly discuss the relevance of Book VIII of Plato’s Republic to Silvio Berlusconi.)
Adam: Let’s have Cosmopolicast in which we discuss spectacle, literacy, and American dysfunction.
All: We’re completely enthusiastic about the idea.
We discuss the spread of le cheesecake to Paris. Is there such a thing as boxed French wine? Adam says yes. Claire says no.
Claire: Will the world ever recover from the pandemic?
Adam: Yes, unless there’s another zoonotic epidemic, which is likely, because we keep encroaching on all the places where viruses marinate.
(He has an idea about what to do about this, however.)
Adam: Both parties are a trainwreck …
—Academia’s devolved into a clown show!
—The humanities are in the trash!
—Our think tanks are venal and corrupt!
—No one thinks!
—Oy, vey.
People don’t read anymore, Claire and Adam worry. This is very serious. It’s the root of the rise of the childish, black-and-white thinking, and the inability to grasp nuance. What will happen when people can no longer read at all?
Claire: How do you even have a legal system if people can’t read?
We agree we must devote a whole podcast to this topic.
Adam is worried we’re losing the most important ideas of the Enlightenment, including the notion that positive-sum relationships are possible and desirable. “If we lose the gossamer thread of the positive sum,” he says, “not one of our institutions is sustainable. Not one.”
—Yep.
—It’ll be Lord of the Flies …
Oy, vey.
Here’s the article, “The Darkening Mind,” in which Adam expands upon the points he makes in the podcast. It’s outstanding, actually. I hadn’t read it before. If you found the aftercast interesting, do read it.
And here’s Adam’s article about the loss of deep literacy.
(Together, I think they offer much more than any podcast could—they’re written, you see. But you tell us. The aftercast versus the articles. Which one did you find more valuable?)
Episode 5: Oy Vey