S1E89 - Frank Bruni - The End Of Nuanced and Complicated Conversations? A Zero Sum Game Fosters Competition Versus Connection

Leading New York Times writer and best-selling author Frank Bruni joined us for an in-depth discussion of his most recent book The Age of Grievance which focuses on American culture's fall into pessimism and the binary world of choosing sides, tribalism, and the pressing need for compromise and common ground. It is somewhat global (as with Brexit) but largely an American phenomenon of a scale never imagined and at the center, says Bruni, is ugly politics. Though more consequential and perilous from the right than from the left, there are grievance merchants and grievance entrepreneurs on both sides and Bruni went into an example on the left side of the political spectrum of the use of identity politics with Brittany Greiner and on the right with the power of Donald Trump. Though originally all about social connection, social media makes all of it worse and creates disconnection. Bruni, a Duke journalism professor, also emphasized the role of the media in exacerbating the pervasive sense of grievance and he spoke of geographic sorting after the Dobbs abortion decision being like social media. He spoke, too, of the power of consumers and the need for more open and non-partisan primaries, ranked-choice voting, and overall moderation and major change in both political and civil culture, including a deeper recognition of the common good and how our welfare is bound together as citizens. We concluded with talk about whether he missed being a restaurant or movie critic, his feelings about being a gay professor, Seinfeld's appearance at Duke, and the extent of emphasis in academia on trigger warnings. A fascinating discussion with one of the nation's leading and most respected thinkers.

Biography

Frank Bruni has been a prominent journalist for more than three decades, principally at The New York Times, where his various roles have included op-ed columnist, White House correspondent, Rome bureau chief and chief restaurant critic. He was the Times’s first openly gay op-ed columnist and in 2016 was honored by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association with the Randy Shilts Award for his lifetime contribution to L.G.B.T.Q. equality. He has made frequent television appearances, including on The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Real Time with Bill Maher. He also writes books. The Age of Grievance, published in late April 2024, became his fifth New York Times best seller; his previous best sellers include his memoir The Beauty of Dusk, about his medical, emotional and spiritual journey after a stroke in late 2017 diminished and imperiled his eyesight, and Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, about the college admissions mania. In July 2021, he became a full professor at Duke University, teaching media-oriented classes in the Sanford School of Public Policy. He continues to write his popular weekly newsletter for the Times and to produce occasional essays as a Contributing Opinion Writer for the newspaper. He lives in North Carolina.

Conversation recorded on July 5, 2024.