Excellent conversation. The discussion of NPR reminded me of the moment David Mamet described when he suddenly realised, while on a drive with his wife, that he was no longer a liberal: 'We were riding along and listening to NPR. I felt my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the fuck up.'
Great conversation.. I'm still a Dem because I know that the majority of Democrats in the country are moderate hence Biden won the nomination. (He, to my disappointment, then tracked left.) Sure, there are crazy so-called progressive areas, but the Democratic party as a whole - incompetent and stupid as it is - has rejected the far left nationally. The Republicans are far crazier and far more dangerous in my view, so - given the reality of the binary - I am staying right where I am. Locally, I live in Santa Cruz, CA - which has historically been, after San Francisco and Berkeley, the most left-voting place in California. But I am noticing something. The far left is now consistently losing elections here - both local propositions and local elections. The moderates are winning in general. And that seems to be happening in other formally extremely "progressive" areas. So, I'm hanging in and keep pushing back against the left authoritarians. The tide might be turning ever so slightly...
I do vote as if I am an independent - but in CA, given the candidates for the various state offices, I only split my ticket for the Controller.
She meant - clearly - that it doesn't work to prevent infection. She is not an anti-vaccine. She is not anti-mask, either, except in the context that she explained. That is - mask mandates had been dropped everywhere but school. And, you seem to have forgotten that during Delta the vaccines did, in fact, cut the risk of giving the infections. See here, for instance: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y Anyway, we are done - you misunderstood her, I am sure.
Great convo. I very much related to all of it, except that like Meghan, I now identify as an Independent. Regardless, it felt great to hear these reflections on a change of heart and mind that very much tracks with my own.
What I keep wondering, though is: Why aren't all the rest of my smart, socially aware, left-leaning friends feeling as alienated from the Democrats as we are? It's fascinating if dismal to watch just how much people simply don't want to internalize information that doesn't fit their long-standing allegiences and taken-for-granteds.
I also wanted to note that there are plenty of irrefutable "receipts" as to the gender madness in K-12 schools available online in the form of original source documents, including curricula and teaching guides. I went through some of these in my own Substack in an effort to convince those who'd rather not know that yes, in fact this is quite real. You simply can't argue with a primary source document on that front - it's not a take or even a report, it's the actual program.
Such a great episode! I'm so interested in these discussions because I strayed from the Left a long while ago and want to see where you all end up. I'm retracing my steps to see if I could've made different choices. Maud brings up religious terms in a colloquial way but I submit that is how these religious concepts came about in the first place. Some beliefs and actions go beyond human rationality and into the supernatural, right-brain areas. Today's gender weirdness is just that. You could properly call it a cult where otherwise well-thought-out people shut down their left brain and dive straight into beliefs that make no rational sense. Over the last hundred years or so, we as humans, tried to escape the "spiritual brain" though science but as we're seeing, there's no way out. It's part of our build (so much so that I believe there is real truth behind it... leave that for another day). That's why I recommend to commit your spiritual brain to something written down and refined for centuries. For me, a huge part of my life's meaning comes from my spiritual experience. I'm guessing that the members of this new gender cult/religion derive important meaning from their spiritual experience. At one point Maud can only come up with one word to describe how children are being locked into failing schools while their leaders send their kids to private schools... evil. Again using it colloquially but it is the only appropriate word for a reason. There is real truth behind that word. I believe originates in the supernatural and is a real, unmeasurable force in this universe. Anyway, I hope that makes some sense being that all spiritual talk is fuzzy and it always will be - part of the conundrum.
I’m an NYC dad and I’ve observed the same baffling gender+DEI stuff at my kids’ middle and high schools, and it’s a struggle for me to evaluate what’s harmful enough to push back against and what’s just well meaningly stupid. I think it’s uncontroversial (to parents, at least) at this point that the school closures were out of control and the schools have a problem with big picture issues Maron was talking about.
I’m less sympathetic to this ostensibly heterodox trend of parroting Republican talking points of about Covid vaccines “not working” and Biden simultaneously being an evil genius and riddled with dementia. In my opinion this stuff isn’t going to be solved by leaders who fumble rightward, but by being nuanced AF.
Love this discussion. I watched some of the zoom meeting she led during the lockdown where other members of the committee were either having a meltdown or accusing other members of racism and harm-causing, and Maud kept her cool. So it has been interesting to hear what she really thinks, and I like how she articulates it.
Excellent conversation. The discussion of NPR reminded me of the moment David Mamet described when he suddenly realised, while on a drive with his wife, that he was no longer a liberal: 'We were riding along and listening to NPR. I felt my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the fuck up.'
Great conversation.. I'm still a Dem because I know that the majority of Democrats in the country are moderate hence Biden won the nomination. (He, to my disappointment, then tracked left.) Sure, there are crazy so-called progressive areas, but the Democratic party as a whole - incompetent and stupid as it is - has rejected the far left nationally. The Republicans are far crazier and far more dangerous in my view, so - given the reality of the binary - I am staying right where I am. Locally, I live in Santa Cruz, CA - which has historically been, after San Francisco and Berkeley, the most left-voting place in California. But I am noticing something. The far left is now consistently losing elections here - both local propositions and local elections. The moderates are winning in general. And that seems to be happening in other formally extremely "progressive" areas. So, I'm hanging in and keep pushing back against the left authoritarians. The tide might be turning ever so slightly...
I do vote as if I am an independent - but in CA, given the candidates for the various state offices, I only split my ticket for the Controller.
She meant - clearly - that it doesn't work to prevent infection. She is not an anti-vaccine. She is not anti-mask, either, except in the context that she explained. That is - mask mandates had been dropped everywhere but school. And, you seem to have forgotten that during Delta the vaccines did, in fact, cut the risk of giving the infections. See here, for instance: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y Anyway, we are done - you misunderstood her, I am sure.
Great convo. I very much related to all of it, except that like Meghan, I now identify as an Independent. Regardless, it felt great to hear these reflections on a change of heart and mind that very much tracks with my own.
What I keep wondering, though is: Why aren't all the rest of my smart, socially aware, left-leaning friends feeling as alienated from the Democrats as we are? It's fascinating if dismal to watch just how much people simply don't want to internalize information that doesn't fit their long-standing allegiences and taken-for-granteds.
I also wanted to note that there are plenty of irrefutable "receipts" as to the gender madness in K-12 schools available online in the form of original source documents, including curricula and teaching guides. I went through some of these in my own Substack in an effort to convince those who'd rather not know that yes, in fact this is quite real. You simply can't argue with a primary source document on that front - it's not a take or even a report, it's the actual program.
Such a great episode! I'm so interested in these discussions because I strayed from the Left a long while ago and want to see where you all end up. I'm retracing my steps to see if I could've made different choices. Maud brings up religious terms in a colloquial way but I submit that is how these religious concepts came about in the first place. Some beliefs and actions go beyond human rationality and into the supernatural, right-brain areas. Today's gender weirdness is just that. You could properly call it a cult where otherwise well-thought-out people shut down their left brain and dive straight into beliefs that make no rational sense. Over the last hundred years or so, we as humans, tried to escape the "spiritual brain" though science but as we're seeing, there's no way out. It's part of our build (so much so that I believe there is real truth behind it... leave that for another day). That's why I recommend to commit your spiritual brain to something written down and refined for centuries. For me, a huge part of my life's meaning comes from my spiritual experience. I'm guessing that the members of this new gender cult/religion derive important meaning from their spiritual experience. At one point Maud can only come up with one word to describe how children are being locked into failing schools while their leaders send their kids to private schools... evil. Again using it colloquially but it is the only appropriate word for a reason. There is real truth behind that word. I believe originates in the supernatural and is a real, unmeasurable force in this universe. Anyway, I hope that makes some sense being that all spiritual talk is fuzzy and it always will be - part of the conundrum.
I’m an NYC dad and I’ve observed the same baffling gender+DEI stuff at my kids’ middle and high schools, and it’s a struggle for me to evaluate what’s harmful enough to push back against and what’s just well meaningly stupid. I think it’s uncontroversial (to parents, at least) at this point that the school closures were out of control and the schools have a problem with big picture issues Maron was talking about.
I’m less sympathetic to this ostensibly heterodox trend of parroting Republican talking points of about Covid vaccines “not working” and Biden simultaneously being an evil genius and riddled with dementia. In my opinion this stuff isn’t going to be solved by leaders who fumble rightward, but by being nuanced AF.
Yes, 12 minutes in and the question is, Why are you still a Democrat? All your sympathies are against them.
Love this discussion. I watched some of the zoom meeting she led during the lockdown where other members of the committee were either having a meltdown or accusing other members of racism and harm-causing, and Maud kept her cool. So it has been interesting to hear what she really thinks, and I like how she articulates it.