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Hello!

Last week’s newsletter—Why I Left Social Justice—asked you, dear readers, whether you’d be interested in resources for finding your way after leaving the SJW subculture. Today’s resource list is the first of several newsletters that will be based on the excellent suggestions you sent me. My inbox is always open for more: kier@substack.com.

This probably goes without saying but just to be clear: I have complex opinions on a number of the titles listed below. For me, part of recovering from social justice culture is reading outside of my own bubble, and being able to see a writer as a complicated human who I can learn from, even if I find myself disagreeing with components of their work.

Thinking Critically About Social Justice

Books

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, by Paul Bloom

Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality, by Jennifer C. Nash

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah Schulman

Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else), by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left, by Ben Burgis

Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right, by Angela Nagle

The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity, by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Mistaken Identity: Mass Movements and Racial Ideology, by Asad Haider

The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now: Debating Left Politics and Black Lives Matter, by Cedric Johnson

The People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism, by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski

Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills, by Jesse Singal

Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life, by Barbara J. Fields and Karen E. Fields

Race Experts: How Racial Etiquette, Sensitivity Training and New Age Therapy Highjacked the Civil Rights Revolution, by Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn

The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, by Bhaskar Sunkara

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, by Jon Ronson

Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, by Tara Isabella Burton

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism, by Touré F. Reed

What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition, by Emma Dabiri

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, by Anand Giridharadas

Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, by John McWhorter

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Essays & Articles

Advice Column Response, by Kai Cheng Thom

Anatomy of a Cancellation, by David Rovics

Cancel Culture sucks, but Big Tech sucks more, by Molly Frances

The Cost of Call-Out Culture, by Andrea Gibson

Exiting the Vampire Castle, by Mark Fisher

Feminism Without Identitarianism, by Clementine Morrigan

illegal thoughts volume 1, by gem

Misinformation is Here To Stay (And That’s OK), by Isaac Saul

Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes, by Jay LeSoleil

An open letter: why I’m leaving the cult of wokeness, by Africa Brooke

Planet of Cops, by Freddie deBoer

Power Under Abuse, by Poplar Rose

The Sobering Lessons Behind the Death of Porn Star August Ames, by Graham Isador

This Is a Bully’s Language, by Marcel Slimjim

Trashing: The Dark Side of Sisterhood (1976), by Jo Freeman

Understanding ‘accountability abuse’, by Tada Hozumi

Using force to create any social change will never work, by Natasha Coulis

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Videos

Canceling, by Contrapoints

How to Think Like a Vietnamese Communist: An Intro to Dialectical Materialism, by Luna Oi

Log the Fuck Off, with Amber Frost, Matt Christman, and Ben Fong

The Problem with Wokeness, with Ayishat Akanbi

This is How I ESCAPED The Cult Of WOKENESS, by Kimi Katiti

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Podcasts

Conspirituality: a weekly study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism.

Fucking Cancelled: a podcast for leftists who dream of a left grounded in solidarity, freedom, and responsibility, rather than coercion, authoritarianism, and punishment.

The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk: the podcast that searches for the ideas, policies and strategies that can beat authoritarian populism.

Out of the Woods: a podcast for stories about not-quite-cults but not-quite-not-cults.

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Studies

Accountability, Exile and Social Media, by Diana Heather Pearson

Ledger of Harms, by the Center for Humane Technology

The Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood: The Personality Construct and its Consequences by Rahav Gabay, Boaz Hameiri, Tammy Rubel Lifschitz, and Arie Nadler

The Traumatic Impact of Media Humiliation, Misrepresentation and Victim-Shaming on Narrative Identity and Well-Being, by Dr. Christine Marie Katas

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If you’re craving that sweet ‘n’ spicy snark

Blocked and Reported: A Podcast About Internet Nonsense

StupidPol: A Subreddit for Marxist Critique of Essentialism

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Special mention: if there’s one project in particular that has renewed my hope for a humane, pragmatic and resurgent left, it’s Jacobin.

Between their magazine, their YouTube channel and their podcast, they’ve created such a wealth of material that, rather than recommending specific articles or videos, I suggest you browse through and dive into whatever jumps out at you. Their network of thinkers and organizers will lead you to all sorts of interesting and unexpected places.

Thanks for reading! This resource list is a living document—feel free to share what you make of my recommendations, as well as what you think is missing:

Leave a comment

As a courtesy to everyone involved, please take in an essay, video or episode in full before commenting so our discussions can be fruitful and informed. I will do the same.

Kier Here finally cracked and joined social media! You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and in various gardens, libraries and living rooms sprinkled around the Salish Sea.

Kier Here

Thinking Critically About Social Justice: A…