DEVIN STEWART: Cliff Clavin.TOM NICHOLS: Everybody knows that guy. My hometown was a military town, and almost all of the men I knew were veterans who owned weapons and knew how to handle them. Americas at the mall.. People always freak out about plane crashes, and understandably so. Over time, my critics moved on to various other charges, including that I was personally unfit to associate with officers of the U.S. military, that I was an agent of the deep state, and even that I was a Russian asset and therefore a security risk. Sarah Longwell: Why people who hate Trump stick with him. TOM NICHOLS: Yes. Much of what happened in Korea and Vietnamultimately constituting a tie and a loss, if we are to be accuratewas beyond the control of the American public. Or as a writer; when you write something and you step back and you look at that paragraph and you say, "Hey, woo. I am a successful author, but none of my books are about Trump, and to this day, I dont even have an agent. Today, there is a neediness in the gun culture that speaks to deep insecurities among a certain kind of American citizen. https://t.co/SBR3v3ivV2. And that had really just been a kind ofI don't have a blog anymore because I think blogs are part of the problem in the modern world. (Ill plead one personal exemption: When I was a little boy, relatives in Greece once posed me in a Greek Evzone-soldier costume with my uncles hunting shotgun. | About | Contact | Investors | Crowdfunding | RSS, Why this site is the very opposite of hateful - a Christian letter to my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Obama Would Just Look Like a Fool: Why a Putin-Obama Summit Is a Bad Idea, Young Popular Russian Priest, Murdered by Islamic Fanatic: Reminiscences and Footage, The Most Breathtaking 'Lord Have Mercy' You Have Ever Heard, Beautiful, Unearthly Hymn Chanted by Russian Orthodox Choir in Empty Church, Russian Women Always Wear Headscarves to Church. [7], Stuart Vyse in Skeptical Inquirer "strongly recommends" the book and says that "[o]ne of the best things about the book is its apolitical stance" and finds "very little to quibble with" despite having different political leanings than the author.[8]. This question from a Republican consultant is completely valid, thats why I lied about who I got it from., Bob Sampson (@bobsalpha1) August 2, 2021, All you need to understand that freak-out from the defenders of that Fox segment a few days ago is to replace "GOP consultant" with "Democratic consultant" and change "Fox" to "MSNBC," and then ask what those same people would have said about it.They went nuts because they know. How hard can this be?" Just because Tom Nichols doesn't care doesn't mean no one else does. Is there any hope?TOM NICHOLS: Yes. Here we are again, trying to make our way around nuclear terms and concepts as war rages in the middle of Europe. The War in Ukraine Is the End of a World. The two flaws are that the book does have a heavy American focus; the chapter about universities really talks about American universities. "[6], Joshua Huminski of the Diplomatic Courier described the book as "timely", citing Donald Trump's statements on climate change and Pew Research surveys regarding genetically modified organisms. But there was no version of Stop the forever war that didnt end with the fall of Kabul. ), What I remember about guns is that I remember almost nothing about guns. I could barely lift it.). Can you explain that phenomenon? French Voice Jury Marvel at Orthodox Seminarians' Breathtaking Performance, What is the Single Most Important, Most Beautiful Thing in Orthodox Christianity? [3], "These are dangerous times. I think that's natural, and as I've said many times, I actually think that's a positive part of our culture. TOM NICHOLS: The risk is significant, and it's massive. As Smiley said over his brandy, if my past were still around today, you could say Id failed. But as the election approaches, I prefer to think about my time as a Never Trumper by recalling the old spys final words to those young students: Never mind. U.S. I promise Ill stop talking about the EU travel ban when they reverse it. He blames trends in higher education (such as focus on self-esteem and tolerance of narcissism leading to grade inflation and over-confidence in one's own abilities), the Internet, and the explosion of media options for the anti-expertise and anti-intellectual sentiment which he sees as being on the rise. This was a war that was immensely popular at the outset and mostly conducted in full view of the American public. What is wrong with you???? Other people had to fight for their rights, not me. The election of Petr Pavel is important to Czechsand to Americans. Thats an awfully elitist attitude, Tom. The Foreign Affairs piece from last March, if folks want to take a look at that, is a digested version of the book; that is kind of the book in microcosm.DEVIN STEWART: What's the title of The Federalist one?TOM NICHOLS: It was called "The Death of Expertise. We are the safest mode of transportation in human history. By Tom Nichols. TOM NICHOLS: Let me give a shout-out to my publisher and say they were wonderful through the writing of this book. I did nothing wrong. It turns out it's a true science thing; it actually happens.TOM NICHOLS: Exactly. we're going to run right back into that same problem we ran into in the 1960s.DEVIN STEWART: That's a very subtle and important nuance there.TOM NICHOLS: Absolutely.DEVIN STEWART: The clich is "a little bit of knowledge is very dangerous. Joseph Gleason Immediately After Ecumenism Came Homosexuality by Archpriest Theodore Zisis In The Death of Expertise, Nichols condemns what he describes as the many forces trying to undermine the authority of experts in the United States. Looking at what we have in office and the whole spectrum, what could possibly go wrong?TOM NICHOLS: Let's just stipulate that World War III is the worst thing that can go wrong. In the author's words, his goal . He is speaking to them and for them, and declaring that he and his kind are better and have a right to rule over us. There are some people, Smiley said at a dinner among young recruits to the Secret Service, who, when their past is threatened, get frightened of losing everything they thought they had, and perhaps everything they thought they were as well. Tom: This has nothing to do with you, Ellen! DEVIN STEWART: Wonderful. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything. TOM NICHOLS: Thanks for having me, Devin. https://t.co/lu8BmsoYGH. I always think of the worst math teacherI never much cared for math, which was strange because I was a science major for a whileI ever had was terrible because she could not remember a time when mathematics was not obvious to her. Many Americans will bristle at the idea that this defeat overseas can be laid at their feet. Show your support by disabling ad-block (How), Buy AD-FREE ACCESS here, for only $19 / yr. Disabling adblock for a specific site just takes a couple of clicks. I identified a Zito-like case of a "News" broadcast laundering a professional GOP consultant as "an ordinary viewer" in order to say "this is a question that many ordinary people have. As they did with all of us in the Never Trump camp, the presidents most fanatical supporters accused me of outright treason. If that happens, America will become a different country, and we will all enter the first iteration of an American dictatorship. America still needs accountability at every level. They don't have to tell you what to do. Tom Nichols justifying a military junta because the founders just didn't know as much as he does is brand perfection. Dixie & Russia: What Do They Have in Common? I also know Ellen, and you're making an ass of yourself. (For the record, I have received zero compensation for my association with the Lincoln Project, but I hope the owners of the organization get plenty rich. Its my pinned tweet. "DEVIN STEWART: Okay, same title. I just didnt have the metacognition to be able to step back from what I was doing with my ability to swing the golf club. https://t.co/YlB0iugVPz, Correct. I have not yet thought about a follow up or another edition. Its a great song. But first, here are three great new stories from The Atlantic. I think it predates the Internet, and I think it has to do with the growth of a strong streak of narcissism in American society. America Is 'Committing Suicide' By Allowing Trannies in the Military (Russian TV News). Dont take my word for it that things have changed. @BretBaier described you as "a viewer. He found Nichols' explanations of the reasons for the current situation as "successful on some accounts and less so on others", but his review was generally positive ("Nichols clearly identifies multiple sources of the erosion of the belief in experts and their prominence in today's society"). People owned them; they didnt talk about them. https://t.co/BKflCNL3L1, (Toms referring to Salena Zito, whom hes accused of fabricating sources and stories. Notice that nowhere does. But win or lose, our goal will become something else. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and he is author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. Republican political consultant Ellen Carmichael is one of many Americans struggling to understand the scientific reasoning behind that decision. The Russians continue to murder both Ukrainians and their own young men for Putins mad scheme. A shroud is settling over the dreams many of us had at the end of the 20th century. https://t.co/IOi3eb1bW3, Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 31, 2021. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten. For example, in Vietnam, the "best and the brightest" were the people who were generically smart but not experts. Posted at 11:36 am on August 2, 2021 by Sarah D. Last week, Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration will maintain all existing travel restrictions at this point (while doing absolutely nothing to curb the influx of migrants at our southern border). Baier did nothing wrong. PissedOffLawyer (@PissedOffLawyer) July 31, 2021. Its been invisible. But Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden all ran on getting out of the war, and now were out. Along with almost every member of the elite class. By Tom Nichols Hulton Archive / Getty; The Atlantic. What I think we're getting with a lot of the folks in this administrationand I hope I'm wrongare people who have kind of a generally smart record in some very narrow areas like finance or manipulation of money in New York City and saying, "Well, that makes me smart." So, regular people cant have the same concerns as a political consultant? Little did Carmichael realize when she asked that question that she was about to kick the mother of all hornets nests. In the beginning, there was the Bomb. https://t.co/e3E8svjYRu. But yes, you're the victim here, not the viewers who had no idea they were getting played by @FoxNews. What a 1904 war can teach Vladimir Putin. So I think it's a lack of empathy, and that many of them are not particularly good teachers. What the public does care about, however, is using Afghanistan as raw material for cheap patriotism and partisan attacks (some right and some wrong, but few of them in good faith) on every president since 2001. I believe that if all of us had caved, Trump would now be much closer to victory, not just at the polls, but over the Constitution itself. Just the other day the president's national security advisor, who is a very intelligent guyhe's a three-star general; he's written a book; he's a thoughtful personbut when he says things like, "Well, you know, communicating our goals and issues to Russia is just like talking to any other country," as a Russia expert I can tell you that's just wrong. What matters is the hope.. Therefore, you must listen to us about everything." Nor did Americans ever consider whether or when Afghanistan, as a source of terrorist threats to the U.S., had been effectively neutralized. Ukraine needs any weapon its troops can learn to use, including tanks, to hold the line on the international order and the worlds safety. Jeopardy isn't only about knowing stuff. Tom Nichols Sep 23 2015 5785 Atheists and Leftists Infiltrated Russia's Schools in the 19th c., Mortally Wounding the Country - a Lesson for America by Michael Spreng Practical Ways to Avoid Lust - Answers from a Priest in Russia by Fr. First, recognize the problem. Toms tinfoil hat must be cutting off the circulation to his brain. "Well done, media watchdog! Other conservatives who spoke privately and sometimes publicly of Trump with utter contempt in 2016 buckled that November.