Great conversation, love Ana, also dying at the idea of someone’s mom keeping a rolling pin for protection in their car!
Would love for Meghan to have a YIMBY/pro development/pro density guest at some point. I know that people keep blaming private equity for the housing crisis, but that’s barely a scratch to the surface of our current housing problem and is ultimately a symptom, not a cause. Private equity only owns about half a percent to roughly one percent of housing in the U.S. The honest to god truth is it’s illegal to build the dense housing that Ana doesn’t like in a large swath of most major metros in the country. And the ones that have been able to grow rapidly while keeping housing costs low (Texas for example) offer a rebuttal to the more progressive mentality towards housing that just isn’t working.
It's a little ironic that Kasparian conflated neocons with hawks (which is admittedly standard since the Iraq War) while her own move to the center is very much in the tradition of neoconservatism.
I feel the same way. Kamala made zero policy concessions to Liz Cheney. In fact, Cheney explicitly said she disagreed with Kamala’s pro choice stance and on many other things, but for many on the left it’s all about vibes.
It is kind of funny that Ana has this “wait a second, I’m Armenian, not white” moment. I’m not sure it entirely hit me until I visited South Carolina and met families that had been living on the same land since it was an actual plantation that it really hit me that hey wait a second, I’m not one of those people. My Jewish ancestors came from Europe to escape actual white supremacy, because they believed (quite correctly, in retrospect) that they would not be accepted as part of the community in Greece when the Nazis rolled in. Which is true of a lot of Americans. Dichotomous, literally black and white thinking falls apart when it is exposed to reality.
I really appreciate this convo, especially the discussion about legacy media towards the end. It’s already insane trying to keep up with the substacks of my friends - let alone trying to piecemeal together the news this way! Whenever I see people cheering “We’re the media now!” on X, I really want to ask some clarifying questions about that. And believe me I hold tremendous anger in my heart about the ways legacy media has failed us - especially over the past 5 years. But it seems to me we must still have some curation of centralized news from journalists we entrust to do that job.
Thanks so much for pushing back on Ana when she espoused the "US fertility rates would be higher if we had paid maternity leave/subsidized child care/single payer health insurance" meme.
I remember hearing that Scandinavian countries have very generous benefits of this type yet fertility rates continue to crater.
The pro-natalists on both sides of the aisle work very hard to ignore a simple equation: increased educational and occupational opportunities for women equal families being started later in the fertility window. Hence, smaller families.
(Having said that, the wisdom of those policies is a separate debate; I actually agree with Ana on the maternity leave and child care; not too sure about single payer.)
This conversation is a testament to one of the greatest human attributes - the ability to change one's mind about really important things. A few cynical YouTuber commenters have asked if Ana only changed her mind when Harris lost the election, but those of us who follow her work realised that she was "on the turn" some time ago.
Don't be afraid to change your mind. If you're presented with better ideas than the ones you hold dear, then consider them carefully, and through the discomfort of cognitive dissonance if that's necessary.
I loved this probably more than any other Daum interview. Kasparian is a treasure. I love when someone from the Left, who sees the machinery from the inside, changes their perspective. Takes GUTS. Much respect.
omg, I'm so glad Meghan asked the necessary question that would have otherwise driven me crazy: "Wait... your mom kept a rolling pin in the car??"
Yeah, that got me - rolling pin? Was Ana's mom and dad Flo and Andy Capp?
Great conversation, love Ana, also dying at the idea of someone’s mom keeping a rolling pin for protection in their car!
Would love for Meghan to have a YIMBY/pro development/pro density guest at some point. I know that people keep blaming private equity for the housing crisis, but that’s barely a scratch to the surface of our current housing problem and is ultimately a symptom, not a cause. Private equity only owns about half a percent to roughly one percent of housing in the U.S. The honest to god truth is it’s illegal to build the dense housing that Ana doesn’t like in a large swath of most major metros in the country. And the ones that have been able to grow rapidly while keeping housing costs low (Texas for example) offer a rebuttal to the more progressive mentality towards housing that just isn’t working.
Would be interesting.
It's a little ironic that Kasparian conflated neocons with hawks (which is admittedly standard since the Iraq War) while her own move to the center is very much in the tradition of neoconservatism.
I feel the same way. Kamala made zero policy concessions to Liz Cheney. In fact, Cheney explicitly said she disagreed with Kamala’s pro choice stance and on many other things, but for many on the left it’s all about vibes.
Terrific conversation across the board.
It is kind of funny that Ana has this “wait a second, I’m Armenian, not white” moment. I’m not sure it entirely hit me until I visited South Carolina and met families that had been living on the same land since it was an actual plantation that it really hit me that hey wait a second, I’m not one of those people. My Jewish ancestors came from Europe to escape actual white supremacy, because they believed (quite correctly, in retrospect) that they would not be accepted as part of the community in Greece when the Nazis rolled in. Which is true of a lot of Americans. Dichotomous, literally black and white thinking falls apart when it is exposed to reality.
100%.
Daum, on the other hand, is 100% white.
I really appreciate this convo, especially the discussion about legacy media towards the end. It’s already insane trying to keep up with the substacks of my friends - let alone trying to piecemeal together the news this way! Whenever I see people cheering “We’re the media now!” on X, I really want to ask some clarifying questions about that. And believe me I hold tremendous anger in my heart about the ways legacy media has failed us - especially over the past 5 years. But it seems to me we must still have some curation of centralized news from journalists we entrust to do that job.
Yes. Agree. Too fractured. Yet mainstream media needs serious reform.
Meghan,
Great interview.
Thanks so much for pushing back on Ana when she espoused the "US fertility rates would be higher if we had paid maternity leave/subsidized child care/single payer health insurance" meme.
I remember hearing that Scandinavian countries have very generous benefits of this type yet fertility rates continue to crater.
The pro-natalists on both sides of the aisle work very hard to ignore a simple equation: increased educational and occupational opportunities for women equal families being started later in the fertility window. Hence, smaller families.
(Having said that, the wisdom of those policies is a separate debate; I actually agree with Ana on the maternity leave and child care; not too sure about single payer.)
This conversation is a testament to one of the greatest human attributes - the ability to change one's mind about really important things. A few cynical YouTuber commenters have asked if Ana only changed her mind when Harris lost the election, but those of us who follow her work realised that she was "on the turn" some time ago.
Don't be afraid to change your mind. If you're presented with better ideas than the ones you hold dear, then consider them carefully, and through the discomfort of cognitive dissonance if that's necessary.
I loved this probably more than any other Daum interview. Kasparian is a treasure. I love when someone from the Left, who sees the machinery from the inside, changes their perspective. Takes GUTS. Much respect.
So good. Love her.