John McWhorter – Thinking Through the Gaza War
The Glenn Show
Glenn Loury
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
0:00 Why John thinks pro-Hamas sentiment on the American left is racist
6:11 Distinguishing between anti-colonialism and antisemitism
12:46 There are great crimes in America’s past. But we shouldn’t let them define us.
17:08 Glenn: We’re standing on the precipice of something catastrophic
27:57 John’s proposal for the US’s role in Israel’s domestic conflict
34:59 Is it right for people to lose their jobs over opposing Israel?
42:07 Why are pro-Hamas leftists supporting an anti-liberal regime?
47:01 Glenn and John’s responsibilities as teachers
52:26 What’s next on TGS
Recorded October 28, 2023
Links and Readings
John’s Free Press piece, “The Ultimate Condescension Toward Palestinians”
Adam Shatz’s LRB essay, “Vengeful Pathologies”
Joe Biden’s Oval Office address on Israel and Ukraine
Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Reza Aslan’s new book, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Glenn Show is brought to you by the Manhattan Institute and by the support of listeners |
| 0:11.8 | like you. Thank you for all you do. Your contribution |
| 0:15.8 | allows us to produce the Glenn Show week after week, along with all of the other great |
| 0:20.4 | content at GlenLauri.substack.com. |
| 0:24.1 | Your contribution also helps to fund grassroots initiatives that empower black development |
| 0:29.3 | across the country as we donate 10% of our profits to the Woodson Center. |
| 0:34.0 | Once again, thank you. |
| 0:37.0 | Hello there, everybody. This is Glenn Lowry and you have tuned into the Glenn Show. |
| 0:46.0 | I'm with John McWorder, my conversation partner, longtime conversation partner. |
| 0:51.9 | He teaches at Columbia University and he writes for the |
| 0:54.4 | New York Times. I'm on the faculty at Brown University and I'm a senior fellow |
| 0:59.0 | at the Manhattan Institute. The Manhattan Institute sponsors the Glenshaw. We are here exactly three weeks |
| 1:06.3 | after the assault on southern Israel, civilians, and military carried out by Hamas, the October 7th attack. |
| 1:17.0 | And the fallout continues to reverberate far and wide. |
| 1:22.9 | John, your voice has been notable in the public commentary |
| 1:27.4 | about how it is that various factions |
| 1:30.3 | within the American cultural, political matrix have been responding, particularly the anti-colonial left and so on. |
| 1:39.0 | And I wonder if you wouldn't, you know, share with us some of what you've been writing and thinking about. |
| 1:44.4 | Well, I have a piece in the free press this week where I make the basic point that people who are calling themselves anti-colonialists, and we can |
| 1:55.1 | talk about the appropriateness of that word, are cheering Hamas on, thinking that to make an omelette you have to break some eggs |
| 2:05.0 | roughly, even though we're talking about 1,400 people brutally murdered, break |
| 2:10.2 | some eggs, the idea being that this is their only recourse to battle this imperialism. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -426 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Glenn Loury, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Glenn Loury and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.