Episode description

This episode was recorded on September 27th, 2021.

Dr. Jordan Peterson and John McWhorter exchange ideas on the field of linguistics, how language affects our worldview, music, children’s capacity to learn languages, race problems in the US, virtue signaling, wokeism, Chomsky’s universal grammar, and more.

John Mcwhorter is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Professor McWhorter is an author of more than a dozen books including ‘The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language,’ ‘Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America’ and ‘Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English.’ He’s also a regular contributor to publications like The New Republic and The Atlantic.

Follow John McWhorter: https://twitter.com/JohnHMcWhorter

Check out his new book: https://amazon.com/Woke-Racism-Religion-Betrayed-America/dp/0593423062

And his article ‘The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility:’

https://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/dehumanizing-condescension-white-fragility/614146/

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Chapters

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[0:00] Intro

[1:30] Linguistics Overview

[3:30] Language Acquisition in Children

[11:00] Language & Worldview

[16:00] Division, People, & Culture

[17:00] On Music

[19:10] “Music is often regarded as a nonrepresentational art form” - John McWhorter

[26:00] The Nature of American Studies

[28:30] Outline of McWhorter's Career

[32:00] Race in America I

[35:45] John’s New Book On Woke Racism

[45:30] Musical Theater, Reality, & Religion

[52:00] Wokeism & Postmodernism

[57:00] Woke Upbringing

[1:00:45] Race in America II

[1:03:30] Virtue Signaling

[1:09:45] “Are All White People Racist?”

[1:15:00] Outro

#Linguistics #Race #Chomsky #UniversalGrammar #Wokeism