I’m generally unimpressed with most academic and liberal anti-wokes. They usually concede so much to their opponents that their critiques end up not only intellectually shallow but probably ineffective. Political movements have a spirit and an aesthetic of “always in a defensive crouch” inspires nobody. It’s certainly inadequate to meet the challenges posed by a fanatical faith.
You know who doesn’t have that problem? Amy Wax. She really doesn’t have that problem. For that reason, I was excited to have her on the CSPI podcast this week. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation is below. You can read that, listen to the audio, or watch on YouTube.
The important thing is not whether I always agree with Amy. It’s that when she is right, she presents necessary truths that others would rather hide from, and when she goes astray, she’s still taking a brave position and contributing something to the discourse. As I tell her during our conversation, I never bothered asking whether she’s thought about trying to be a bit less provocative, because I don’t think it’s an option for her. Some people just have a compulsion to tell the truth.
Our conversation begins with the effort to fire her from Penn. This leads to a discussion about what to do about the universities.