Friend of the pod and Gonzaga professor Joan Braune — noted critical theorist and Nazi disliker — joins to talk about how language shapes the way we view reality and how the blanket usage of words like “terrorism” and “extremism” — even when explicitly describing right wing violence like last week’s attack on the Capitol building — might actually do more harm than good by incorrectly and unfairly lumping the emancipatory struggle of the left with the oppressive projects of the far right.
Read Dr. Braune’s essay on the topic here
It’s an especially timely conversation given that we’ve just lived through a half-decade of both unrelenting horror on the right and a surprisingly hopeful resurgence of emancipatory horizons on the left, and any attempt to push the incoming Biden administration in that latter direction is going to require a concerted effort to reframe a debate that has marginalized mainstream left ideas like universal healthcare since Captain America punched his first Nazi.
It’s a crisp, cogent, fun, infuriating conversation. Just like we like ‘em.
Really appreciate Dr. Braune taking the time.
MATERIALS
- Terror and Abolition | Boston Review
- Explaining the Problematic “Countering Violent Extremism” programs | CAIR
- Legacy of Discredited Centrist/Extremist Theory | Political Research Associates
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