How Theory Got Cynical and Why That Sucks for Everyone

James Lindsay joins Jack Murphy on the Jack Murphy Live podcast to discuss his forthcoming book with Helen Pluckrose, Cynical Theories. Murphy is the founder of The Liminal Order and the author of Democrat to Deplorable, an engaging narrative-driven read documenting how a former working-class progressive who always voted Democrat and was especially proud to vote for President Barack Obama was branded a “Nazi” by the Critical Social Justice movement, canceled from his job as a director of charter schools in Washington, D.C., and went on to become a “deplorable” Trump voter and supporter. His book explains why nine million Obama voters went on to vote for Donald Trump. In their long conversation, these reasons, many of which have to do with Critical Social Justice, are discussed and put into the context laid out in Cynical Theories, which Murphy describes as “the most important book of 2020” and “the start of the new canon.”

As a matter of interesting coincidence, Cynical Theories was originally slated to be released today, May 5, 2020, though it has been pushed back until August 25 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is available for preorder now.