Anand Giridharadas

When I was growing up, you go to India as a child, I noticed certain cultural differences in the way people speak about life, opportunity, jobs, businesses. And in India, there was this thing, it's still there, it was certainly even more there back in the 80s, where everything was about connection. So if you did anything successful, the assumption is... Well, who did you know?

Did you know somebody? How did you get that? It's a very sad thing. In a highly bureaucratic, it was then kind of in a socialist phase. Now it's in a capitalist phase, but it's sort of the same. The assumption was if you've made money, Come on. You had to know somebody, right? And that's so corrosive to have a whole society where people look at success that way. That's what we're becoming, right?

Did you know somebody? How did you get that? It's a very sad thing. In a highly bureaucratic, it was then kind of in a socialist phase. Now it's in a capitalist phase, but it's sort of the same. The assumption was if you've made money, Come on. You had to know somebody, right? And that's so corrosive to have a whole society where people look at success that way. That's what we're becoming, right?

Did you know somebody? How did you get that? It's a very sad thing. In a highly bureaucratic, it was then kind of in a socialist phase. Now it's in a capitalist phase, but it's sort of the same. The assumption was if you've made money, Come on. You had to know somebody, right? And that's so corrosive to have a whole society where people look at success that way. That's what we're becoming, right?

We're becoming a society where if you're like a 25-year-old Gen Z kid with a brilliant idea in Bushwick, New York, it's going to be pretty hard for you. to get the capital, get the stability, get the runway to do it. But if you're already a rich guy who already has those connections, you're in.

We're becoming a society where if you're like a 25-year-old Gen Z kid with a brilliant idea in Bushwick, New York, it's going to be pretty hard for you. to get the capital, get the stability, get the runway to do it. But if you're already a rich guy who already has those connections, you're in.

We're becoming a society where if you're like a 25-year-old Gen Z kid with a brilliant idea in Bushwick, New York, it's going to be pretty hard for you. to get the capital, get the stability, get the runway to do it. But if you're already a rich guy who already has those connections, you're in.

What I don't think most Americans realize is that puts you into the territory of being a completely different society. A society when, as in my childhood in India, where people would kind of assume success was evidence of connections, is a fundamentally different kind of society. You don't want to become that kind of society.

What I don't think most Americans realize is that puts you into the territory of being a completely different society. A society when, as in my childhood in India, where people would kind of assume success was evidence of connections, is a fundamentally different kind of society. You don't want to become that kind of society.

What I don't think most Americans realize is that puts you into the territory of being a completely different society. A society when, as in my childhood in India, where people would kind of assume success was evidence of connections, is a fundamentally different kind of society. You don't want to become that kind of society.

I think there's two levels of it. One very sinister and one less sinister. So the sinister thing is a story you know very well. The last several decades... books like Dark Money by Jane Mayer, Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson really traced as well. There was a group of, frankly, a very small number of people, families on the right, that really got organized. Howell Memo is part of this story.

I think there's two levels of it. One very sinister and one less sinister. So the sinister thing is a story you know very well. The last several decades... books like Dark Money by Jane Mayer, Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson really traced as well. There was a group of, frankly, a very small number of people, families on the right, that really got organized. Howell Memo is part of this story.

I think there's two levels of it. One very sinister and one less sinister. So the sinister thing is a story you know very well. The last several decades... books like Dark Money by Jane Mayer, Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson really traced as well. There was a group of, frankly, a very small number of people, families on the right, that really got organized. Howell Memo is part of this story.

Got organized, felt they were losing the country in the 70s, got organized, grabbed power, and they built a media infrastructure to go with it and kind of lubricate their machinery of government, their takeover of that machinery. And You know, that has been a very successful campaign.

Got organized, felt they were losing the country in the 70s, got organized, grabbed power, and they built a media infrastructure to go with it and kind of lubricate their machinery of government, their takeover of that machinery. And You know, that has been a very successful campaign.

Got organized, felt they were losing the country in the 70s, got organized, grabbed power, and they built a media infrastructure to go with it and kind of lubricate their machinery of government, their takeover of that machinery. And You know, that has been a very successful campaign.

And unlike a lot of folks on the left, with the exception of you all, for sure, they understood the importance of media as part of that whole game. It wasn't an afterthought. It wasn't like a nice to have. It was essential to the work of building power.

And unlike a lot of folks on the left, with the exception of you all, for sure, they understood the importance of media as part of that whole game. It wasn't an afterthought. It wasn't like a nice to have. It was essential to the work of building power.

And unlike a lot of folks on the left, with the exception of you all, for sure, they understood the importance of media as part of that whole game. It wasn't an afterthought. It wasn't like a nice to have. It was essential to the work of building power.

I think there's a less sinister explanation, which is worth thinking about, which is, I think, deep in its bones, the United States is built different. Right. I think we're not friends. You know, I lived in France also with a child. I still go there every now and then. The United States is not Sweden. You know, I don't think it's a collectivist as I like China.