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PODCAST

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition

Clayton Becker and Megan Cox

Two UCLA Political Science PhD Students, Comparativist Megan Cox and Americanist Clayton Becker take you through the ways that previous generations have made the world worse by dismantling the legacy of things like the New Deal and the Great Society. From car dependency to political polarization to our over-reliance on dating apps to helicopter parenting, come along to learn about the many different ways that we should Reject Modernity and Embrace Tradition.

science social sciences

All Episodes

01:09:39

Episode 47: Reject Medical Misinformation, Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2026/03/16

There is a rising tide of misinformation specifically related to women's health that parallels the anti-vaccine movement with startling fidelity. Megan and Clayton talk about some of the tactics of these groups, and what we might be able to do to head them off at the pass.

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01:12:48

Episode 46: Reject "The Department of", Embrace Justice

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2026/02/23

Pam Bondi is turning the Department of Justice into an instrument of Trump's will rather than a legitimate law enforcement organization. Her actions are doing long term damage to our institutions and wreaking havoc on our judicial processes. Megan and Clayton take you through what is happening, and discuss long term prospects for repairing the damage.

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01:05:11

Episode 45: Reject X, Embrace Twitter (with Jake...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2026/02/02

Elon has ruined Twitter. Just about every element of the user experience has gotten worse since he took over, and he fundamentally seems to misunderstand the platform. We talked to Jake Christie, the curator of the Museum of Twitter, to understand a bit more about the Twitter of Yore, and what we might've lost now that it's gone.

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01:15:26

Episode 44: Reject Random State Violence, Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2026/01/19

Over the past year of the Trump administration, ICE agents have been running around the country acting with utter impunity. Without the threat of being help accountable for their actions, they have been running roughshod over anyone who they perceive as getting in their way. The only way to fix this situation, and to restore some measure of public trust in the justice system, is to make sure that those responsible are held accountable in the future.

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00:51:28

Episode 43: Reject Isolation, Embrace Celebration

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/12/29

Just about every culture in the Northern Hemisphere has a festival of lights around this time of year, from Diwali to Christmas to Hanukkah to the Lantern Festival to Yule . It speaks to a deep need for humans to connect at this time of year, yet we constantly hear and read about isolation and loneliness in the depths of winter. It's up to us to be villagers and celebrate with our friends and family.

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01:11:46

Episode 42: Reject Tax Cuts, Embrace Civic Commitment

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/12/15

That top tax rates and general tax burdens have decreased has been much reported on, but an equally important, if less well known, trend is that American states and cities maintain deeply regressive tax systems. Yet, wealthy people in the most regressive places continue to push for further tax cuts for themselves. This is, to put it frankly, precisely backwards and the exact opposite of what we should be doing.

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01:08:30

Episode 41: Reject the 50-year Mortgage, Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/12/01

Trump's recent "proposal", if we can call it that, for a 50-year mortgage, is one of the worst ideas his administration has ever had that wasn't actively intending to hurt someone or some group. Megan and Clayton take you through why it is such a terrible idea and what we ought to do instead.

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01:02:14

Episode 40: Reject the Shadow Docket, Embrace Decisions

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/11/17

Recently, the Supreme Court has been making much greater use of the emergency, or "shadow", docket to make rulings which have real substantive impacts - even though the emergency docket is supposed to be used only for procedural rulings. Listen along as Megan and Clayton talk about why this is such a problem and what we could potentially do to help fix it.

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00:54:47

Episode 39: Reject Mere Cancellation, Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/10/13

A few episodes ago, Megan and Clayton talked themselves into the position that the MeToo movement hadn't actually been very successful in achieving many of its goals. Listen along as they discuss the need to move beyond cancellation into a genuine framework of cultural change.

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01:08:54

Episode 38: Reject "Born and Raised", Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/09/22

Everybody seems to hate it when new people move to the city. Transplants are held responsible for everything from traffic to displacement. But this image of transplants as some kind of uniquely malicious force doesn't hold up to scrutiny - nor do the protestations of those who want to pull the ladder up behind them. Megan and Clayton discuss why vilifying transplants has the whole situation backwards and why passing policies that allow people to live where they want should be preferred.

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01:09:25

Episode 37: Reject Dating Apps, Embrace Meeting...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/09/01

Dating has become an "online first" activity these days, with the plurality of relationships beginning on the internet. This has some pretty substantial negative consequences for our social lives, our romantic relationships, and more generally for community and social connectedness more broadly. In order to remedy these problems, we need to get back to meeting people in person and in particular through friends.

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00:56:44

Episode 36: Reject Inclusionary Zoning, Embrace...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/08/18

Producing affordable housing is important, but our most commonly used methods for getting this housing built may be actively counterproductive. In what is perhaps the nerdiest episode of the podcast to date, Megan and Clayton take you through what isn't working, and what we should do instead.

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01:02:32

Episode 35: Reject Social Media, Embrace Real Life

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/08/04

We live a substantial portion of our public lives on social media in a way that is actually deeply unhealthy for many of us and causes us to make decisions that we would not otherwise make. Megan and Clayton talk about why we need to stop comparing ourselves to the people we see online and instead get outside and touch grass from time to time.

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01:19:12

Episode 34: Reject ICE, Embrace Civil Immigration Law

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/07/21

It's not exactly a secret that ICE are completely out of control right now. They are acting with impunity while violating people's rights all over the country. In this episode, Megan and Clayton dive into some of the most egregious examples of their behavior, and talk about some of the bare-minimum things that we can do to stop this kind of thing happening in the future.

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00:53:49

Episode 33: Reject Ableism, Embrace Universal...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/07/07

Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act 35 years ago, we've made limited progress on disability access and even regressed in certain ways when it comes to productive public attention to the issue. Making further progress requires rejecting rising ableism and embracing accessibility.

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01:06:34

Episode 32: Reject Millennial Gray, Embrace Color

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/06/23

There's been much to-do about the graying of the world. But how much of it is real, how much are millennials responsible, and is it actually a problem? Listen along as Megan and Clayton take you on a (hopefully) more lighthearted episode this week.

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01:11:49

Episode 31: Reject the Manosphere, Embrace Being Normal

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/06/09

Recent years have seen the rise of "manosphere" content as opportunistic grifters monetize men's inability to get a date and tell them that it's all women's fault. This content is bad for men, bad for women, and bad for society in general. It serves no one but those who are making money stoking people's worst beliefs and impulses. It deserves to be summarily rejected.

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01:07:15

Episode 30: Reject Digital Learning, Embrace the...

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/06/02

Much as digital learning technologies can provide better access to education for some people, they are not, and we cannot let them be a replacement for in-person instruction. They just simply are not as effective and, with the rise of generative AI technologies, only provide more incentives for students to shirk their work and not actually learn the things that they are supposed to. In order to make sure that these technologies do not further harm students' education, we need to embrace the

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01:04:41

Episode 29: Reject Nationalization, Embrace Local News

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/05/26

The last two decades have seen a dramatic decline in local newspapers and local news more generally. This has had consequences on everything ranging from social cohesion to the quality of local elections. Megan and Clayton are joined by Sean Ewing to discuss how we got here and what we might be able to do mitigate this decline.

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01:08:10

Episode 28: Reject Ignorance, Embrace General Knowledge

Reject Modernity Embrace Tradition ·

2025/05/19

Levels of general knowledge are genuinely on the decline, and the distrust of experts and even reveling in one's own lack of knowledge seem to be on the rise. We all need to be more curious again, and get back to desiring and respecting more knowledge about the world around us.

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