Wear is the Love, Episode #16
In episode 16, we cover a lot of interesting current events. First — we cover the new and popular article from Elisabeth Dias and Ruth Graham on the Right’s use of worship in politics. Michael has a caution for us as consumers of this type of article.
Next, we head over to Top 5 #1, President Clinton’s new essay for The Atlantic, which seeks to explain why he expanded NATO in the 90s. We discuss decision-making and the various considerations a president must make in big moments.
Finally, we cover the French presidential election. Voting begins tomorrow in France, and President Emmanuel Macron is in trouble. Far-right leader, Marin Le Pen, is very close in the polls. I explain the origins of Le Pen’s party, the National Rally, and why this election in France is significant for us.
Often, I felt like this guy while trying to describe politics in France, but I hope you stick it out with me.
Episode notes:
Michael’s Breaking Ground article, “A Politics Worse than Death”
More on the Budapest Memorandum (The Conversation)
2022 and 2017 polls in France (Politico)
YouGov polling by age in France
The Top 5 articles for your week:
“I Tried to Put Russia on Another Path” (The Atlantic)
Because President Clinton stands by his decision to expand NATO after the end of the Cold War.
“Parents Who Stay Home Should Get Public Child Care Support Too” (NYT)
Because Matt Bruenig argues, “Forcing parents to stock shelves when they’d rather watch their toddler is a victory for no one.”
“Is virtue signalling a vice?” (Aeon Magazine)
Because this article lays out the scientific inquiry into an oft-batted around concept - virtue signalling - in online spaces. “…virtue signalling is more nuanced and more interesting than the picture painted by conventional wisdom and political rhetoric. As it turns out, there are bad and good things about virtue signalling – but probably not for the reasons you think.”
“After 77 years in timeout, Germany is crucial to the fascist resistance” (Washington Post)
Because “Germany is no longer down; in fact, it is the linchpin of the resistance to Putin, thrust into prominence by a convergence of factors: its wealth, its geography and its ingrained fear of its worst self.”
“Something Happened By Us: A Demonology” (The New Atlantis)
Because this essay, part of the latest series for The New Atlantis, seeks to explain why everyone - on airplanes, in grocery stores, at work (you name it) - is going a bit wild, a bit feral. Alan Jacobs concludes: “I merely wish you, dear reader, to consider the possibility that when a tweet provokes you to wrath, or an Instagram post makes you envious, or some online article sends you to another and yet another in an endless chain of what St. Augustine called curiositas — his favorite example is the gravitational pull on all passers-by of a dead body on the side of the road — you are dealing with powers greater than yours. Your small self and your puny will are overwhelmed by the Cosmic Rulers, the Principalities and Powers. They oppress or possess you, and they can neither be deflected nor, by the mere exercise of will, overcome.”
Episode 16: In which Melissa explains French politics