Hi there, I'm Jason Gatz and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.

Such and Such Doesn't Suffer Fools Gladly.

That phrase has always bugged me a bit.

It's like someone has just squeezed a pillow infused with an admiration-scented vapor that

then hangs in the air for just a second, leaving you to wonder, who is this remarkable

personage?

And who are these fools so unworthy of his regard that he doesn't even have to suffer

them?

Well, maybe he suffers them, but not gladly.

And yeah, it's usually a he.

I don't suffer that phrase gladly, but it's trying

to get at something. It's asserting that the world is divided between affable idiots and those whose

intellectual rigor leaves no time for idle chit-chat, or that the shared social and now social media

space is mediocre, coercive, and corrupting. The queer thinking is independent and often lonely.

When you put it that way, it's a little harder to argue with.

My guest today doesn't suffer fools gladly.

His pen is sharp and uncompromising, even when he turns it on himself.

Wesley Yang writes essays mostly about outsiders and outliers.

Some try to fit in, some try not to,

some succeed, some fail by succeeding. His new book of essays, which contained some of the best

writing I've ever read, is called The Souls of Yellow Folk. It was just, justly named one of the New York

Times 100 notable books of the year, and I'm so glad it's brought in to think again.

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