BFG Podcast #167: Special Guests Elisa Albert and Meghan Daum
Albert discusses her recent cancellation by the Albany Book Festival, and Daum joins Neal Pollack to talk about ‘Am I Racist?
It’s a podcast ripped straight from the headlines this week, or at least the extremely-online headlines. Elisa Albert joins Neal Pollack to discuss the recent cancellation of a book panel at the Albany Book Festival. Two young writers didn’t want to appear with Albert because she’s a “Zionist.” This is the latest and most appalling act of antisemitism yet in the literary world. Even though Albert admits that she is “very much a Zionist, and proudly so,” the panel was about coming-of-age novels. Pollack and Albert call out this act of disgusting cowardice. “It’s a lot of ignorance and a lot of performativity,” Albert says. “There are a lot of opportunists. You can really fake it as an artist in many ways…this year has exposed a lot of garbage behavior from a lot of garbage people.”
Writer Meghan Daum, the founder of the Unspeakeasy community for women who have dangerous thoughts, joins Neal to talk about the dangerous-thinking movie ‘Am I Racist?’ a documentary from conservative online personality Matt Walsh that takes on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion industry. Neal has his criticisms of Am I Racist? as a movie, but neither he nor Meghan can find much fault with his taking the piss out of DEI hustlers. Meghan has actually interviewed Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, two of the people that the movie calls out, and she has some insider-baseball insight about why they’re successful. It has something to do with the “weaponization of female rage,” or maybe grievance, which Neal knows nothing about but Meghan does.
This is a great episode, the reason we do what we do, featuring two of the smartest and most contrarian thinkers in the literary world. If this doesn’t put our podcast at the top of the conversational board, then nothing will. Enjoy the show, and share it with Zionist friends.
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July 26, 2024 -
October 11, 2022
Thank you for this special episode and for covering these challenging issues in real depth. In describing the people of the literary world who have denounced or canceled her, Ms. Albert repeatedly attributes their pro-Hamas, and now pro-Hezbollah, sympathy to “ignorance.” I don’t see any evidence of that. These are some of the best-read and most thoughtful people in American society. Maybe the 19-year-old Columbia Student carrying an “Intifada Forever” sign doesn’t really understand his message. But the literary figures she’s talking about — including the two panelists who declined to appear on a stage with her, Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko — know exactly how demonic and depraved these people they support are. And it’s dangerous to pretend they don’t.
Writing about Hassan Nasrallah, The New York Times recognized his “propensity to crack jokes.” The Washington Post wrote that he was “seen as a father figure.” The AP considered Hasrallah — a murderous thug who killed hundreds of Americans and sent his goons to serve as assassins for Bashar al-Assad’s campaign of terror against his own people — “a pragmatist.” Are they also “ignorant” of the deeds of the people they’re praising?
Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko and the 75% or so of the self-appointed guardians of literary life who support Hamas are not ignorant. They know that the regimes they’re weeping for persecute homosexuals, raped Israeli women, have embezzled billions from their own people. They know all that, but it’s not enough. Opposing Israel’s right to exist means everything.