Who’s Afraid of Naomi Wolf?

This week, in an unparalleled act of commitment, we persisted and Naomi Wolf is our guest this week. It’s a fascinating, surprising, and yes, hopeful conversation and we’re very grateful she agreed to join us. But see what you think. Then, the delightful Deb Saunders –on hiatus from covering the White House– joins us to talk about how the current White House is covered vs. the last one and the differences between covering the two. Also fascinating if less surprising.  Also, Rob Long shares his name with someone more famous than him (for the the time being), James updates us on his SQUIRREL! issues, and Peter is wants more productivity in his life.  We’ll try and get to that soon.

Music from this week’s show: Will The Wolf Survive? by Los Lobos

Subscribe to The Ricochet Podcast in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Please Support Our Sponsor!

Ladder

Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing.

There are 86 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My other favorite statistic like that is, 1400 people a year get killed just being outside near a car accident that has already happened. They die from simply managing the situation, or trying to be a good Samaritan. I forget what year it is, but the government is going to massively upgrade emergency flashers on cars because of this.

    Citation? Because that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

     

    Don’t ask me how to look it up, but there is a new law for it. Somebody’s family member got killed and the family got Congress to pass it. It’s named after the person. After I read that article, I upgraded everything related to that.

    I hate laws that are named after individuals.

    I will note that when my brothers and I were traveling in France a few years ago I read up on the requirements for driving there.  IIRC, you have to carry reflective emergency vests for everyone in the car in case of accident.

    • #61
  2. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My other favorite statistic like that is, 1400 people a year get killed just being outside near a car accident that has already happened. They die from simply managing the situation, or trying to be a good Samaritan. I forget what year it is, but the government is going to massively upgrade emergency flashers on cars because of this.

    Citation? Because that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

     

    Don’t ask me how to look it up, but there is a new law for it. Somebody’s family member got killed and the family got Congress to pass it. It’s named after the person. After I read that article, I upgraded everything related to that.

    I didn’t characterize this properly. It’s for all secondary hits including when you are still in the car. It’s a different flashing rate, and it would come on automatically in severe crashes. 

    https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34100032/hazard-lights-quicker-improvements/

     

     

    • #62
  3. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My other favorite statistic like that is, 1400 people a year get killed just being outside near a car accident that has already happened. They die from simply managing the situation, or trying to be a good Samaritan. I forget what year it is, but the government is going to massively upgrade emergency flashers on cars because of this.

    Citation? Because that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

    Don’t ask me how to look it up, but there is a new law for it. Somebody’s family member got killed and the family got Congress to pass it. It’s named after the person. After I read that article, I upgraded everything related to that.

    I hate laws that are named after individuals.

    I will note that when my brothers and I were traveling in France a few years ago I read up on the requirements for driving there. IIRC, you have to carry reflective emergency vests for everyone in the car in case of accident.

    I just responded to your question. I know the number is right and it makes more sense because of what the law is actually for.

    I bought a vest that would fit over any winter clothes and this flashing. arrow thing that is impossible to not see, even in daylight. The arrow has a fast and peculiar flashing rate that reflects what the article was talking about as far as improvements.

    • #63
  4. davenr321 Coolidge
    davenr321
    @davenr321

    Thanks for having Naomi Wolf on! It’s quite  a lesson to hear civilized discourse amongst people who, per Peter Robinson, likely disagree 80-85% of the time.

    I don’t want to be a welsher, but the highest membership level is above my station, I will further investigate my options.

    • #64
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    I am reflecting on Naomi Wolf’s and Rob Long’s conversation about how the older people are less concerned and certainly not afraid about the COVID, but younger people are terrified.

    It makes sense when you remember that there was so much indoctrination, what was it? In 2017 or ’18, the teachers had kids skip class to march around protesting gun ownership. I remember asking a progressive friend who skipped a day of working at her hospital to march around with HS aged young people to protest guns.

    “What is it with this protest?” I asked her a week later.

    “Our kids do not feel safe. This cause is about safety. They know the harm that guns do. They are terrified of school shootings.”

    I tried to explain that the chances of any American school child being shot in a school shooting were minimal. But she immediately countered with this: “Any harm is too much harm. Any chance of harm is too much of a chance.” (Notice how that sentiment has continually been used in terms of bringing about more concessions to lockdowns and other restrictions.)

    Later on I did some research and discovered that in 2017, every single day, 365 days a year, 16 Americans died as a result of a car accident where a teenager on a cell phone or other device caused a serious accident.

    Next time I talked to this friend, I mentioned that this indicated that maybe instead of worrying about gun ownership, the young people should realize how much harm they were potentially able to cause – including death – by their own bad habits.

    Her reply? “I have no idea of how you could bring teen’s driving habits into a discussion about guns and the harm they cause?”

    “I thought you said it was about safety and avoiding causing harm.”

    She snorted in contempt.

    Maybe there is still a nugget of “freedom outweighs safety” buried in there somewhere, but can it be found and resuscitated? 

    • #65
  6. EJGorman Coolidge
    EJGorman
    @EJGorman

    Well, I’m guessing many on the Left will redefine what ‘death recorded’ means for Ms. Wolf after this interview.

    • #66
  7. Mark Alexander Inactive
    Mark Alexander
    @MarkAlexander

    I just listened to this today, and I’m surprised that Peter had to ask how these Lit Crit people, confined to English depts, took over the universities.

    I say this over and over, as does Thomas Sowell, and people seem to NOT get it.

    By the early-80s at the latest, they succeeded in taking over the Teachers Colleges. Their aim to take over administrations was already under way, but now we are in the 3rd generation of Marxist teachers teaching K-12, which means this cancer has now metastasized throughout the body politic, culture, and business.

    Yes, China and others have made it profitable to be explicitly or implicitly Marxist, and profitable for many Republicans to look the other way and think it is just politics.

    It’s not. Honestly, you guys have to get some guests who lived with the transition into a Totalitarian state, or at least grew up in one before coming to America.

    Simply ask them, Is this all just simply chance and opportunities, or, from their experience, is there a method to this madness?

    Interview those who have lived it. I have known some of them who have quite literally cried in frustration at the pervasive blindness to what is happening.

    • #67
  8. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Mark Alexander (View Comment):

    I just listened to this today, and I’m surprised that Peter had to ask how these Lit Crit people, confined to English depts, took over the universities.

    I say this over and over, as does Thomas Sowell, and people seem to NOT get it.

    By the early-80s at the latest, they succeeded in taking over the Teachers Colleges. Their aim to take over administrations was already under way, but now we are in the 3rd generation of Marxist teachers teaching K-12, which means this cancer has now metastasized throughout the body politic, culture, and business.

    Yes, China and others have made it profitable to be explicitly or implicitly Marxist, and profitable for many Republicans to look the other way and think it is just politics.

    It’s not. Honestly, you guys have to get some guests who lived with the transition into a Totalitarian state, or at least grew up in one before coming to America.

    Simply ask them, Is this all just simply chance and opportunities, or, from their experience, is there a method to this madness?

    Interview those who have lived it. I have known some of them who have quite literally cried in frustration at the pervasive blindness to what is happening.

    There are none so blind, as those who will not see?

    • #68
  9. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Mark Alexander (View Comment):
    I just listened to this today, and I’m surprised that Peter had to ask how these Lit Crit people, confined to English depts, took over the universities.

    The question was rhetorical and the intent was to get Naomi to explain her version of how it happened. Peter has been employed by an academic institution for 20 + years. He’s had a front row seat for it.

    • #69
  10. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Blue Yeti (View Comment):

    Mark Alexander (View Comment):
    I just listened to this today, and I’m surprised that Peter had to ask how these Lit Crit people, confined to English depts, took over the universities.

    The question was rhetorical and the intent was to get Naomi to explain her version of how it happened. Peter has been employed by an academic institution for 20 + years. He’s had a front row seat for it.

    Does Peter teach classes etc?  I bet VDH’s front-row seat is even better.

    • #70
  11. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Mark Alexander (View Comment):

     

    It’s not. Honestly, you guys have to get some guests who lived with the transition into a Totalitarian state, or at least grew up in one before coming to America.

    Simply ask them, Is this all just simply chance and opportunities, or, from their experience, is there a method to this madness?

    Interview those who have lived it. I have known some of them who have quite literally cried in frustration at the pervasive blindness to what is happening.

    You could also say this about Border Control agents, Trafficking specialists (Victor Marx), Longtime Detriot elections officials (Articia Bomer), University heads (Larry Arn), Targeted journalists (Sharyl Attkisson),  persecuted pastors (Andrew Brunson), young college lecturers (Candice Owens, Charlie Kirk) … all sounding the warning bells, all talking about how this is more than just politics as normal, all wondering when the coalition of the willing will unite or the establishment conservative media will engage. 

    • #71
  12. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Does Peter teach classes etc?  I bet VDH’s front-row seat is even better.

    Well, sure. And Victor writes and talks about this subject all the time. But you don’t have to be in the classroom to see what’s been going on. It’s in the DNA of the place. I don’t teach either and I’ve only been there 11 years and the changes to the culture at Stanford have been dramatic. And Stanford is far less affected by it than a lot of other schools. 

    • #72
  13. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My other favorite statistic like that is, 1400 people a year get killed just being outside near a car accident that has already happened. They die from simply managing the situation, or trying to be a good Samaritan. I forget what year it is, but the government is going to massively upgrade emergency flashers on cars because of this.

    Citation? Because that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

    Don’t ask me how to look it up, but there is a new law for it. Somebody’s family member got killed and the family got Congress to pass it. It’s named after the person. After I read that article, I upgraded everything related to that.

    I hate laws that are named after individuals.

    I will note that when my brothers and I were traveling in France a few years ago I read up on the requirements for driving there. IIRC, you have to carry reflective emergency vests for everyone in the car in case of accident.

    I just responded to your question. I know the number is right and it makes more sense because of what the law is actually for.

    I bought a vest that would fit over any winter clothes and this flashing. arrow thing that is impossible to not see, even in daylight. The arrow has a fast and peculiar flashing rate that reflects what the article was talking about as far as improvements.

    Car & Driver puts the death toll at 2-4/day, so 1400/year is within range but toward the high end of the estimate.

    • #73
  14. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Taras (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):
    My other favorite statistic like that is, 1400 people a year get killed just being outside near a car accident that has already happened. They die from simply managing the situation, or trying to be a good Samaritan. I forget what year it is, but the government is going to massively upgrade emergency flashers on cars because of this.

    Citation? Because that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

    Don’t ask me how to look it up, but there is a new law for it. Somebody’s family member got killed and the family got Congress to pass it. It’s named after the person. After I read that article, I upgraded everything related to that.

    I hate laws that are named after individuals.

    I will note that when my brothers and I were traveling in France a few years ago I read up on the requirements for driving there. IIRC, you have to carry reflective emergency vests for everyone in the car in case of accident.

    I just responded to your question. I know the number is right and it makes more sense because of what the law is actually for.

    I bought a vest that would fit over any winter clothes and this flashing. arrow thing that is impossible to not see, even in daylight. The arrow has a fast and peculiar flashing rate that reflects what the article was talking about as far as improvements.

    Car & Driver puts the death toll at 2-4/day, so 1400/year is within range but toward the high end of the estimate.

    I think I got that from a different article. The issue still stands.  People get hit one way or another–in the car or out– after the initial accident or pulling over and the situation can be improved without much expenditure of resources.

    • #74
  15. Fresch Fisch Coolidge
    Fresch Fisch
    @FreschFisch

    kedavis (View Comment):

    I would LOVE to have a Lileks Oil Co. t-shirt.

    Doesn’t Ricochet sell “swag” yet?

    A blue/grey gas station shirt with a Texaco logo with Lileks oil.

    • #75
  16. Fresch Fisch Coolidge
    Fresch Fisch
    @FreschFisch

    kedavis (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    kedavis: Doesn’t Ricochet sell “swag” yet?

    We were quite active at itva couple of years ago. But sales were, shall we say, lackluster.

    If Lileks Oil Co t-shirts were available, I’d buy a couple. Does that help?

    a shirt with a picture of the Lilek’s Oil bowling team. It’s somewhere on James’ site, but I cant find it.

     

    • #76
  17. FredGoodhue Coolidge
    FredGoodhue
    @FredGoodhue

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):
    Bezos used the money he saved on shipping to buy WaPo. Then that newspaper was turned into a propaganda arm almost always in service to his Dem friends in Congress.

    WaPo was whoring for Democrats long before Bezos sold his first book.

    The Washington Post certainly favored Democrats in the Graham days.  But when Bezos bought the Post, there was a strong lurch further to the left.

     

    • #77
  18. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    FredGoodhue (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):
    Bezos used the money he saved on shipping to buy WaPo. Then that newspaper was turned into a propaganda arm almost always in service to his Dem friends in Congress.

    WaPo was whoring for Democrats long before Bezos sold his first book.

    The Washington Post certainly favored Democrats in the Graham days. But when Bezos bought the Post, it took there was a strong lurch further to the left.

    For companies totally control the public square. The Constitution cannot function this way.

    • #78
  19. FredGoodhue Coolidge
    FredGoodhue
    @FredGoodhue

    Annefy (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Annefy (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Naomi Wolf’s memory of the “AIDS Pandemic” doesn’t match mine. “We” handled that as free adults? I remember basically all the media shouting that EVERYONE had to use condoms, ALWAYS, even married couples who wanted children, because – they claimed – EVERYONE was at EQUAL RISK. It was nonsense then, same as it’s nonsense now.

    I was in San Francisco at the time. And frankly surrounded by AIDS patients.

    There was no forced quarantining. They was no forced condom wearing. There was certainly no tracing, though I do believe people with AIDS were asked to contact their partners. I specifically remember an AIDS patient, on an IV, not being treated very well by an airline when he boarded a plane. And it made national news. No comparison to how toddlers sans masks have been treated in the last year.

    The propaganda was as you described. But there was no abuse of power of the state.

    And yes, my memory is that we handled it as free adults … free adults who were being fed a bunch of bad information.

    In that sense, you have a point. Although it seems far more likely that government mandates then, would have made more of a difference than now. The media propaganda was maybe just as big then, if not bigger, except since homosexuals were even then a protected class at least among the media, they were telling heterosexual married couples to use condoms because of The Risk, but orders to shut down the bath-houses were opposed as violations of civil rights, etc. They didn’t seem to have the same insistence that gays use condoms, because – an early version of their bias against finding islamic terrorists – that behavior was seen as some kind of “cultural thing” which could not be interfered with.

    I remember whether or not to close down bathhouses was a huge controversy. Compare that to 2020, where every bar and restaurant and gym was closed down by fiat, no discussion.

    Regardless, honest information, shared generously, is always the best policy. Which is something I’ve seen very little of in my life.

    During the heyday of AIDS, if one had the virus, but not the symptoms, people were not allowed to say that person had AIDS.  Now, if one tests positive for the current virus, but has no symptoms, the person has the disease.

    • #79
  20. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Annefy (View Comment):

    About halfway through; N Wolfe has departed.

    Mr Lileks, regarding your last comment regarding Amazon not having the power to make you do anything, and that power belonging solely to the State; I’ve made that comment dozens and dozens of times over the past 20 years.

    But, but, but … isn’t it different now when the power of the state has made shopping so unpleasant, or where stores and parts of stores were made unavailable? The power of the State has forced people to abandon shopping and forced us to use Amazon, or similar platforms. Taken away movie theatres and forced us onto streaming services. Taken away education and forced young people onto zoom.

    For months, the question I’ve been asking is: who benefits? And Naomi Wolfe gave a pretty good answer. And none of those people/entities she listed are to be trusted. Add to it poorly educated and traumatized young people and it’s good-bye, America.

    I was kinda shocked about how lighthearted all the Rico hosts sounded.

    Who owns the Washington Post?

     

    • #80
  21. Dad Dog Member
    Dad Dog
    @DadDog

    I’m a bit surprised that the crew would have Dr. Wolf on.  Though her positions are certainly supportive of “our” side, it is my understanding that she has a jacket (from both ends of the ideological spectrum) for being (1) a bit of a conspiracy nut, and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    • #81
  22. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Dad Dog (View Comment):

    I’m a bit surprised that the crew would have Dr. Wolf on. Though her positions are certainly supportive of “our” side, it is my understanding that she has a jacket (from both ends of the ideological spectrum) for being (1) a bit of a conspiracy nut, and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    she is crazy but functional

     

    • #82
  23. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    Dad Dog (View Comment):

    I’m a bit surprised that the crew would have Dr. Wolf on. Though her positions are certainly supportive of “our” side, it is my understanding that she has a jacket (from both ends of the ideological spectrum) for being (1) a bit of a conspiracy nut, and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    she is crazy but functional

     

    Which puts her WAY ahead of many other Dims, especially their “leadership.”

    • #83
  24. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Dad Dog (View Comment):
    and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    You could say this about just about everyone involved in the news media business, including many supposedly on our side. 

    • #84
  25. Architectus Coolidge
    Architectus
    @Architectus

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Dad Dog (View Comment):
    and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    You could say this about just about everyone involved in the news media business, including many supposedly on our side.

    Still waiting for the Release of the Kraken! 

    • #85
  26. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Architectus (View Comment):

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Dad Dog (View Comment):
    and (2) fast-and-loose with facts.

    You could say this about just about everyone involved in the news media business, including many supposedly on our side.

    Still waiting for the Release of the Kraken!

    I guess you missed it. That was by design. 

    • #86
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.