Uncertain Things

<p>Adaam is joined by James Lindsay, author of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Cynical-Theories-Scholarship-Everything-Identity_and/dp/1634312023"><em>Cynical Theories</em></a><em> </em>and founder of New Discourses, to play the epistemology drinking game: you take a shot every time either speaker uses the word! They talk about how higher education in America became a racket, whether we can revivify classical liberalism in the age of social media, whether we need to exclude bad actors from the public discourse, whether James’ Twitter persona is a force for good or for chaos, and how to tell a PsyOp when you see one. They of course also discuss the “woke right,” Tucker Carlson, and why scapegoating Jews is still the rage.</p><p><em>Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe.</em></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Uncertain Things at <a href="https://uncertain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">uncertain.substack.com/subscribe</a>

<p>Anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein was in the Amazon on October 9th, when he went online and learned what had happened two days previously. Almost immediately, he also discovered something else: his left-wing colleagues in the academy were ready to ostracize him for his “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.thefp.com/p/what-anti-zionism-really-is">filthy Zionist</a>” views. Since then, Louis-Klein has turned his analytical eye toward anti-Zionism. In this conversation, he explains the ideology’s history and how it continues to perpetuate itself through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/holiest-hatred-antisemitism">cycles of libel</a>. He also breaks down the other greatest hits of left-wing academic jargon — settler-colonialism, genocide, occupation, etc. — along the way. And we all try to break ourselves out of the language games that prevent us from having a real conversation about what’s happening, and not, in Gaza. </p><p><em>On the agenda:</em></p><p>-On Zohran Mamdani [00:00-12:40]</p><p>-Libel cycles post-October 7th [12:41-29:12]</p><p>-Defining terms: Zionism, Anti-Zionism, and more [29:13-57:00]</p><p>-The left’s alliances [57:01-1:10:42]</p><p>-On victimhood, violence, and self-reliance [1:10:43-1:27:36]</p><p>-The reader’s/viewer’s responsibility [1:27:37-1:42:41]</p><p>-Expanding the concept of genocide [1:42:42-2:01:31]</p><p>-The future of Anti-Zionism [2:01:32-2:09:37]</p><p><em>Mentioned in this episode:</em></p><p>* When is it Genocide? — <a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/when-is-it-genocide/id1548604447?i=1000721783741"><em>The Ezra Klein Show</em></a></p><p>* Editors’ Note: July 30, 2025 — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/pageoneplus/editors-note-july-30-2025.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a></p><p>* Editors’ Note: Gaza Hospital Coverage <em>— </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/pageoneplus/editors-note-gaza-hospital-coverage.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a></p><p>* How the World Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Butchery of Jews (w/ Eli Lake) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/hamas-israel-eli-lake"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>* The Apocalypse We Deserve (w/ Niall Ferguson) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/niall-ferguson-doom-apocalypse"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>* Don’t Blame Israel on the Jews (w/ Walter Russell Mead) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/walter-russell-mead-israel"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>* Hooked on Dead Jews (w/ Dara Horn) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/dara-horn-antisemitism-jews"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>* Zionism and the Refugee Machine (w/ Dr. Einat Wilf) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/zionism-and-the-refugee-machine"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a><em> </em></p><p>Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Uncertain Things at <a href="https://uncertain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">uncertain.substack.com/subscribe</a>

<p>Writer, reporter, <a target="_blank" href="https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/"><em>Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em</em></a><em> </em>co-host, and <a target="_blank" href="https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/">pie baker</a> extraordinaire Nancy Rommelmann returns to <em>Uncertain Things </em>to talk (again) about a topic she knows all too well: Portland. In 2021, she lambasted the way the media was distorting what was happening on the ground by underplaying the violence. Four years later, she’s lamenting the way the President and his cronies are distorting what’s happening on the ground by overplaying the violence. We get into ICE’s antics, Portland’s response (so far), and the “heroes” making headlines. Then we switch tacts to share our thoughts on the (much discussed) Klein-Coates interview, and Adaam is remarkably reserved in his epithets. </p><p><em>On the agenda: </em></p><p>-Rommy returns to talk Portland [00:00-04:09] </p><p>-Portland, 2004-2020 [04:10-9:15]</p><p>-Portland today: Who’s really there [9:16-18:37]</p><p>-The Trump Show [18:38-42:53]</p><p>-Ezra Klein v. Ta-Nehisi Coates [42:54-1:00:56]</p><p>-The responsibility of the commentator [1:00:57-1:22:25]</p><p><em>Mentioned in this episode: </em></p><p>* We’re addicted to destruction (w/ Nancy Rommelmann) — <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/destruction-portland-nancy-rommelmann"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/the-jacobin-seduction">Adaam on Annihilism</a></p><p>* Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em<em> — </em><a target="_blank" href="https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/"><em>Substack</em></a></p><p>* Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ta-nehisi-coates.html"><em>The Ezra Klein Show</em></a></p><p>* Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/charlie-kirk-ezra-klein-tanehisi-coates"><em>Vanity Fair</em></a></p><p>* Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-fear-politics.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a></p><p>* Make More Pie — <a target="_blank" href="https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/"><em>Substack</em></a></p><p>Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe.</p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Uncertain Things at <a href="https://uncertain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">uncertain.substack.com/subscribe</a>

<p>Matt Welch, co-host of <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/85762546-the-fifth-column">The Fifth Column</a> podcast and editor at large for <em>Reason Magazine</em>, joins Adaam to discuss the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s grim. How grim? Very. Get off social media. Turn off your phone. Touch grass. See ya’ll in the gulag.</p><p>Also:</p><p>-<a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/matt-welch-biden-unity-media-inauguration?utm_source=publication-search">Matt’s previous visit to </a><a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/matt-welch-biden-unity-media-inauguration?utm_source=publication-search"><em>Uncertain Things</em></a></p><p>-<a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/the-jacobin-seduction">Adaam on political violence</a></p><p>-<a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/words-mob-jonah-goldberg">Adaam and Jonah Goldberg on political violence</a></p><p>-<a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/yuval-levin-jacobins-freedom">Yuval Levin on violence</a></p><p><em>Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: http://uncertain.substack.com.</em></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Uncertain Things at <a href="https://uncertain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">uncertain.substack.com/subscribe</a>

<p>What’s lost when we opt for the convenience of technology over the difficult, awkward, thrilling realities of human interaction? With so much tech to reach for, when do we lose the ability to interact with each other – or even understand ourselves? And with the AI revolution already afoot, is humanity just f*cked? Vanessa’s back from mat leave and ready to dive into our tech-saturated, under-socialized world with Christine Rosen — senior fellow at AEI, co-host of the Commentary podcast, and author of <em>The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World.</em></p><p><em>On the agenda:</em></p><p>-Happy returns and the pleasure of ambiguity [0:00-5:55]</p><p>-Information isn’t knowledge [5:56-9:03]</p><p>-The pleasure of ambiguity and the value of discomfort [9:04-20:47]</p><p>-How tech mediates and impairs us [20:48-47:38]</p><p>-Humanity in the age of AI [47:39-1:24:18]</p><p><em>Mentioned in this episode:</em></p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://uncertain.substack.com/p/christine-rosen-trauma-panic">Panic Porn and Trauma Creep</a> (w/ Christine Rosen)</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205478740-the-extinction-of-experience"><em>The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World</em></a></p><p><em>Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: http://uncertain.substack.com.</em></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Uncertain Things at <a href="https://uncertain.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">uncertain.substack.com/subscribe</a>