Episode 152: Jonathan Zimmerman - The Assassination of Charlie Kirk

Jonathan Zimmeramn is a Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the books "Free Speech: And Why You Should Give a Damn" and "Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools."

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(00:00) intro

(00:27) Polarized, pessimistic America

(02:10) From Birchers to viral clicks

(05:05) Decline of religion as fuel

(08:12) “Love thy enemy” vs “I hate my opponents”

(10:45) Cross-tribe media: why I watch Fox

(13:18) Dopamine diets and tribal brains

(16:02) Roots beyond social: 90s, higher ed divides

(18:40) Education sorts and isolates by degree

(21:15) Overlaps and humbling lessons from Fox (Ukraine, MIC)

(24:05) Charlie Kirk: free-speech ideals and contradictions

(27:22) Assassination & the internet underworld

(30:10) Boys, meaning, and failing institutions

(33:05) Digital cults, religion, and liberal education

(36:10) Learned Hand’s “spirit of liberty”

(38:22) Printing-press analogy, AI, and Postman’s question

(41:05) Phones out K-16 and secondhand distraction

(43:38) Anxiety on campus and adult responsibility

(45:30) Free-speech hypocrisy & the “American Hour” proposal