Weekly Roundup
· 6 min read
Dear Readers,
I hope this email finds you well. This week we feature a stimulating roundtable discussion between four of Quillette's contributors from the field of psychology: Chris Ferguson, Bo Winegard, Allen Buchanan and Cory Clark. Together they weigh The Costs and Benefits of Tribalism.
We've also got two in-depth book reviews, an important podcast episode on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and two essays that highlight inconvenient truths about race and gender.
In the coming days we will have some excellent essays for you on Ukraine, and "post-liberalism," so make sure you check in on a daily basis.
Until next week,
Claire
War and Conflict
The Costs and Benefits of Tribalism—A Roundtable
Editor’s note: Quillette asked four scholars to reflect and comment on the costs and benefits of tribalism. They each have a background in academic psychology and include Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology at Stetson University, Cory Clark, behavioural scientist, Bo Winegard, essayist and PhD…
Chris Ferguson, Cory Clark, Bo Winegard, and Allen Buchanan
Quillette Podcast #185: Shmuel Bar on the War in Ukraine, and the Failure of Western Deterrence
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to intelligence expert Shmuel Bar about why Putin bungled the war in Ukraine, why NATO didn’t do enough to deter the Russians, and what happens next. Read our guest’s recent Quillette article, Deterrence After Ukraine—A Critical Analysis, here.
Quillette
Can the Revolution in German Foreign Policy Last?
During the fierce debate over the Iraq war, the German political scientist Karl Kaiser said, “Europeans have done something that no one has ever done before: create a zone of peace where war is ruled out, absolutely out.” And, he added, “Europeans are convinced that this model is valid for
Brian Stewart
Remembering the Jewish Yugoslavia that the Nazis Destroyed
I grew up in a non-observant Jewish family. On both sides, my grandparents had emigrated from eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century. The possibility that relatives we’d lost contact with might have been caught up in the Holocaust was very real, but it wasn’t something
Geoffrey C. Kabat
Book reviews
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment—A Review
A review of Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein. Little, Brown and Company, 464 pages (May 2021) Are crowds smart or dumb? You may have heard the terms “wisdom of the crowds” and the “madness of crowds.” The former idea is
Rob Henderson
Jennifer Raff’s ‘Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas’—A Review
Jennifer Raff’s Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas was published with much fanfare in February, garnering a rave New York Times review. And as of this writing, it is listed as one of the top 10 books about genetics on Amazon. The success reflects the fact that the
Elizabeth Weiss
Race and Gender
Studying the Link Between Race and Police Killings
Since the Ferguson, Missouri protests of 2014, the issue of how race and police violence interact has consistently been a front-page news item in the United States. Recent weeks have seen the criminal conviction of three Minneapolis police officers who failed to stop the murder of George Floyd in Ma…
Robert VerBruggen
I’m Being Investigated by the British Columbia College of Nurses Because I Believe Biological Sex Is Real
In November 2020, the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) informed me that I was under investigation for my “off-duty conduct.” My disciplinary hearing is scheduled to take place from May 30th through June 3rd, and my career as a nurse hangs in the balance. I have been
Amy Eileen Hamm
Female Empowerment Shouldn’t Mean We Have to Imitate Men
I recently started work in a male-dominated field, and I’ve been getting a lot of sympathetic remarks about my being “a woman in X.” But something has started to feel a bit off about this line. I’ve realized that being a woman in my field doesn’t actually
N. Russell
Culture
27 Rouge: A Quillette Podcast: III: Virtual Friends, Digital Lovers, and Algorithmic Matchmakers with Rob Brooks on Apple Podcasts
Show 27 Rouge: A Quillette Podcast, Ep III: Virtual Friends, Digital Lovers, and Algorithmic Matchmakers with Rob Brooks - 7 Apr 2022
The ‘MoonSwatch’ Made Me Rethink My Relationship with Wristwatches
I spent a lot of time discussing the Oscars online last week. But my friends and I didn’t waste time on Will Smith and Chris Rock, or even on the awards themselves. Instead, we focused on what the celebrities were wearing on their wrists. DJ Khaled sported a magnificently
Jonathan Kay
From Around the Web
Who Is Looking Out For Gay Kids?
The risks of imposing critical gender theory on young children
Andrew Sullivan
Robert Malone’s role in the invention of mRNA vaccines — an analysis
“Zero to one” or 0.5 to 0.51?
Yuri Deigin
Opinion | It’s time for major institutions to make their employees get off of Twitter
Another example of the damage Twitter is doing to American discourse.
Megan McArdle
Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now
“The Origins of Totalitarianism” has much to say about a world of rising authoritarianism.
Anne Applebaum
