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The Gray Area

Resist certainty, embrace ambiguity. The Gray Area is a philosophical take on culture, politics, and everything in between with host Sean Illing. We don’t pretend to have the answers, but we do offer a space for real dialogue. Get some cool takes on a very hot world. New episodes drop every Monday. Transcripts of the show are available here.

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The limits of popularism

We’re all famous now

The paradox of American freedom

The anti-antiracist

A contrarian take on the disinformation panic

Why Fannie Lou Hamer’s definition of “freedom” still matters

Bryan Stevenson on tracing the legacy of American enslavement to mass incarceration

The status games we all play

The case for a more radical climate movement

Ken Burns’s latest is on the Greatest

America is still stuck in the world 9/11 built

Clint Smith III on confronting slavery’s legacy in America

Adam Serwer on the all-American politics of cruelty

Bill Maher on free speech, comedy, and his haters

Robert Reich wants you to fight the system

Marty Baron on truth, democracy, and the press in an age of distrust

“Progressive prosecutors” are working within the system to change it. How is that going?

The case for optimism about US democracy

Why we love drugs

Why America’s story requires revision