Mayhem @ Twitter, Asian-American College Apps, 2022 Faves
Ep. 102 w/ show notes
Ravi and Rikki start with a week’s worth of peak mayhem at Twitter, from the @ElonJet ban, to suspended reporters, to a poll (maybe) deciding Musk’s future at the platform. Then the hosts turn to a recent topic of a Regressives episode: discrimination against Asian-American college applicants. Finally, we share some of our favorite content to end the year.
Ravi and Rikki begin with a theatrically absurd week of chaos @ Twitter, discussing a number of high-profile sagas all centering on 2022’s most exhausting person, Elon Musk. [2:43]
Rikki reacts to a recent piece in the New York Times adding yet more color to the experience of Asian-American college applicants discriminated against by colleges and universities, following up on Ravi’s recent Regressives episode. [16:00]
The hosts give their personal favorites of all the content they consumed this year, providing your holiday break with books, articles, TV shows, movies, and podcasts. [25:40]
Finally, Ravi and Rikki react to a series of voicemails on last week’s segment on assisted suicide. [33:25]
Sources Used/Mentioned
Mayhem @ Twitter
Why We Went To Twitter (The Free Press, 12/15)
Angry, irrational, erratic: This is Elon Musk’s Twitter (Recode, 12/16)
All Elon Musk All the Time (National Review, 12/19)
Musk blamed a Twitter account for an alleged stalker. Police see no link. (Washington Post, 12/18)
The Twitter Files Part 7 (Twitter/Michael Shellenberger, 12/19)
FBI pressured Twitter, sent trove of docs hours before Post broke Hunter laptop story (New York Post, 12/19)
Asian-American College Apps
How Liberals Lost Their Way on Affirmative Action (Persuasion, 11/28)
The Regressives | A Funeral for AA (Lost Debate, 10/30)
Applying to College, and Trying to Appear ‘Less Asian’ (NYT, 12/2)
Democrats Must Deliver for Asian-American Voters or Risk Losing More of Them (Gotham Gazette, 12/9)
As a more diverse Harvard braces for a Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, what comes next? (WBUR, 12/9)
Study on Harvard finds 43 percent of white students are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff (NBC News, 9/30/2019)
Rikki’s List
“Kindly Inquisitors” by Jonathan Rauch (1993)
“This Is Your Brain on Birth Control” by Sarah Hill (2019)
Everything Is Broken (Alana Newhouse, Tablet Magazine, 1/14/2021)
Why The Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid (Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic, 4/11)
And Just Like That… (2021)
The Holiday (2006)
Honestly with Bari Weiss (The Free Press)
Ravi’s List
“On The Move: A Life” by Oliver Sacks (2015)
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin (2022)
How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student (Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 3/28)
Narcos: Mexico (2018-21)
The Menu (2022)
60 Songs That Explain the ‘90s (The Ringer)