Our guests today on this edition of Forthright Radio are co-authors of a new book, SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING: HOW ANYONE CAN HELP CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE, published by MIT Press.
Michael Brownstein is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at John Jay College, as well as Professor of Philosophy at The Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He is the author of THE IMPLICIT MIND: Cognitive Architecture, the Self, and Ethics.
Alex Madva is Professor of Philosophy , Director of the California Center for Ethics and Policy, as well as Co-Director of the Digital Humanities Consortium at Cal Poly Pomona. He is a co-editor of An Introduction on Implicit Bias: Knowledge, justice, and the social mind.; and THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES: Philosophical Perspectives.
Not joining us, but also co-author of SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING is Daniel Kelly, Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University and author of YUCK! THE NATURE AND MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DISGUST.
They explore the question “Climate Change, racial injustice, systemic inequality – it’s all so huge – What difference can one person make?” They write, “We’re not wonks. We’re three philosophers frustrated by the wrong lessons we were taught about these problems.”
We spoke with them via Zoom on September 22, 2025.
Keep America Beautiful: The Crying Indian (1970) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw
Keep America Beautiful – Crying Indian on Horseback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_QGBWaD-A4
Controversial 1970s “Crying Indian” ad donated to the National Congress of American Indians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfH72-SziMA
Climate activists gather in New York for ‘Sun Day’ solar energy and anti-billionaire rallies https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/22/sun-day-climate-new-york
Trump DoJ seeks to kill Vermont law that makes big oil pay for climate harm https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/17/trump-vermont-oil-climate-superfund-act
I have now been a journalist for 40 years. The forces ranged against my profession have never been so powerful https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/20/journalist-40-years-forces-profession-power
Political Violence Isn’t New. But Something About This Moment Is. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/magazine/tyler-robinson-political-violence.html
I Look at This Country and I See a Stranger by M. Gessen https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/opinion/trump-kirk-trans-people-russia.html
From Nazi Germany to Trump’s America: why strongmen rely on women at home https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/21/fascism-women-homemaker-trad-wife
Judith Butler is being targeted by the US government. We must stand up https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/22/judith-butler-is-being-targeted-by-the-us-government-we-must-stand-up
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