Don't Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars | Irshad Manji

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2020

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 146 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Irshad Manji, a public intellectual, best-selling author, and Emmy award nominated documentary filmmaker whose latest book "Don't Label Me," attempts to educate readers on how to have conversations about politically sensitive subjects without inflaming the culture wars. It should not surprise anyone to learn, therefore, that today's conversation with Irshad is one of the most pleasant, honest, and meaningful that we have ever had on this podcast.

Unlike this conversation, public discourse today often feels like a series of battles and skirmishes between two monolithic view points. Discussions likewise, are often seen as opportunities to try one another in the court of public opinion. If we accept that a pluralistic, democratic society is the best way to safeguard the values and freedoms that have allowed us to manifest our individual identities, then how can we be told that in order to protect those identities we should curtail the very freedoms that gave rise to them in the first place?

We are living through a very dark period in American life. Diversity has become a sort of "rallying cry" whose champions espouse exclusively in terms of race, gender, and sexual orientation. When it comes to opinions, values, and beliefs, tolerance for diversity of opinion is nowhere to be found. And yet, a pluralistic society demands that its citizens are granted the freedom to express themselves and their beliefs without fear or reprisal or condemnation. Those who seek to silence us therefore are not champions of liberty. They are tyrants masquerading as victims who seek to exercise power over the very people who they label as their oppressors.

Today's conversation should serve (hopefully) as an inspiration for the types of discussions and free exchanges of ideas that we should all strive to have and which we need to have if we want to make it through this difficult period in our history.

You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 07/15/2020

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of Hidden Forces is made possible by listeners like you.
0:04.4	For more information about this week's episode or for easy access to related programming
0:09.7	visit our website at hidden Forces. I.O. and subscribe to our free email list.
0:16.4	If you listen to the show on your Apple Podcast app, remember, you can give us a review.
0:21.5	Each review helps more people find the show and join our
0:24.9	amazing community. And with that, please enjoy this week's episode. And the What's up everybody? My guest on this episode of Hidden Forces is Is Earshad Manji.
0:55.0	Earshad is a public intellectual of the sort that we desperately need more of today.
1:02.0	She's a prolific author who's appeared on probably every single
1:05.4	news program of consequence over the last 20 years, including 60 minutes,
1:10.4	BBC News Night, The O'Reilly Factor, real time with Bill Maher,
1:15.0	Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers, and many others.
1:19.0	None other than comedian Chris Rock, who I think many of us admire for his humor and credibility on the subjects
1:25.7	of identity politics, woke culture, and political correctness, has said that Ershad's latest book,
1:32.4	which is titled,
1:33.2	Don't label me, should actually be labeled as genius.
1:37.2	I don't think I can give a better endorsement than that.
1:40.6	After all, Chris Rock is Chris Rock. But I will say that every single conversation that I've ever heard is shot have with anyone discussing the subject of her book which is essentially how to have honest conversations about sensitive
1:55.6	and consequential topics that don't devolve into moral combat leaves me feeling more inspired
2:02.4	and less angry every time.
2:05.0	And this conversation was no exception.
2:08.0	It was one of the most pleasant, honest, and meaningful conversations that I've ever had on this show. I hunger for these
2:16.0	types of conversations as I know many of you do and there's no reason why we can't
	...

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