Episode 84: Frederick Joseph, As Himself, In: The McKaren Park Karen, And An Interview With Paige Harden About Genetics

Frederick Joseph is the unluckiest man in New York City: After dealing with a Satanic AirBnB host, a racist woman on the street, and racist editors and producers, he is the victim of the latest Central-Park-Karen-style incident. The hosts discuss his super real and honest stories. Then: Jesse interviews Kathryn Paige Harden, the author of The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, about her research and the perils of debating fraught scientific and societal subjects online. 

(Note: Due to a minor scheduling snafu I'm late getting you your patrons-only episode, but I'll have it for you by tomorrow morning at the latest. Also, keep an eye out for a longer cut of the Harden interview that we're releasing just for patrons, which I'll post momentarily. -Jesse)

Show notes/Links:

Job listing: https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-hiring-56634428 

Original Frederick Joseph video:

Frederick Joseph @FredTJoseph

At the dog park in Brooklyn with my fiancé and this white woman was threatening to call police and told us to “stay in our hood” because she had our dog confused with another dog who had been barking loudly. So, I started recording and she tried to slap the phone out my hand.

Insider’s coverage: https://www.insider.com/woman-accused-telling-black-dog-walker-stay-in-hood-fired-2021-9

Derek Andersen has said problematic stuff himself:

Unring This Bell 🎐 @UnringThisBell

@DerekjAndersen Hey, you seem to have had some weird identitarian ideas for a long time now, eh, Derek? Wonder how many more of these there were a few hours ago before you burned out your mouse battery hitting that “delete” button. These’ll be fun for your former employee to bring up in court.

People won’t leave Joseph alone:

Frederick Joseph @FredTJoseph

I’m walking my dog in Williamsburg and couldn’t find my car key so I’m standing next to the car for a second thinking about where I put it and this white woman walks up to me and asks why I’m standing next to the car and whose car is this. I went off. Leave Black people alone.

Man Claims United Airlines Offered Woman $1,000 Voucher to Put Her Feet Down: 'The Audacity of White Privilege': https://www.newsweek.com/white-privilege-united-airlines-feet-table-845387

Anna Merlan general background (not petty): https://jezebel.com/is-the-uva-rape-story-a-gigantic-hoax-asks-idiot-1665233387 

Merlan on Joseph on AirBnB satanists: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7jnmb/we-talked-to-the-host-accused-of-doing-satanic-rituals-in-his-airbnb 

Joseph’s claim about black-author quotas:

Jesse Singal @jessesingal

This is the guy who accused the AirBnB host of satanism and the Williamsburg park lady of racism. Article in question is from December 2020, his book on racism already a bestseller. VERY strong That Happened vibes.

Paige Harden’s faculty page at the University of Texas - Austin: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/prc/directory/faculty/kh24738

Paige Harden’s book, The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality: https://www.amazon.com/Genetic-Lottery-Matters-Social-Equality/dp/0691190801

Giden Lewis-Kraus’s profile of her in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/can-progressives-be-convinced-that-genetics-matters

Freddie deBoer on his related book The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice: https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/22 

Lothian Birth Cohorts: https://www.ed.ac.uk/lothian-birth-cohorts