Episode description

Hello!

This week we have on Musa Al-Gharbi, a professor of sociology at Stony Brook University. We talk a lot about “kids these days” and the tendency for all sorts of reactionaries to blame them for everything that’s wrong with this country. Don’t like illiberal attitudes on campuses? Blame the kids. Do you think free expression is at risk? Blame the kids. Feel like democracy is on the brink of collapse? Blame the kids.

(As always, if you’re reading this and not subscribed to our substack or Patreon, please consider supporting the show at goodbye.substack.com. It’s just $5 a month and helps us keep it going.)

Musa’s work is a critical intervention into all this kid blaming and we talk about the actual problem: Adults these days. We also touch on teachers, peer review as gatekeeping, and much more!

Here’s some info on Musa’s upcoming book from Princeton University PRess, which I encourage everyone to pre-order.

A piece he wrote outlining the problem with people saying “the kids these days” are responsible for everything that’s wrong with the discourse.

Referenced in our conversation: Science is a strong-link problem by Adam Mastroianni

A look at the Polarizing Effect of the March for Science on Attitudes toward Scientists by Matthew Motta

A study on the difference between trust in science and trust in scientists by Marcus Mann and Cyrus Schleifer

And Musa’s recent look at antisemitism in America and a lot of the ways in which it is misunderstood.

Enjoy!