Stephen Adubato: Reclaiming Meaning in an Age of Empty Discourse
Next week: Join us for a series of salons exploring how to break through polarization, clarify our thinking, and reimagine public discourse, featuring guests like Ross Barkan and Santiago Ramos.
As an Interintellect host, writer on culture, and professor of philosophy, I’m always looking closely at the deeper theoretical implications of public discourse. My Substack publication, Cracks in Postmodernity, is dedicated to getting to the root of contentious issues by offering what the social activist Peter Maurin called “clarification of thought” and cutting through the discord in order to identify the real human needs and questions at the bottom of it all. At “Cracks in PoMo,” it’s our belief that there are certain elements of human nature that are universal—namely the desire for truth, beauty, meaning, justice, and love—and we must cover current events in a way that appeals to our shared nature and clarifies what is most essential for our consideration.
Take this illuminating essay by Katherine Dee on polarization on social media or by Hamilton Craig on groupthink in academia. The inspiration to commission these pieces came from my frustration with the confusing discourse on these topics that was taking over social media and web publications. When commissioning work, I look for people whose writing demonstrates a unique, nuanced perspective, and cuts through ideological polemics, giving voice to questions and values that have the capacity to put people with differing worldviews into dialogue with each other.
Starting next week, I am launching a salon series on Interintellect as part of my mission to create spaces for thinking together and talking across ideological divides. These salons are designed to go beyond the headlines and hashtags—to engage deeply with viral discourse. Each session is intentionally small to ensure that everyone has time to speak. Together with thinkers such as Ross Barkan (The Metropolitan Review) and Santiago Ramos (Wisdom of Crowds), we will discuss, process, and interrogate the latest in the White House, viral trends like avoiding “decision fatigue”, and memes like the White Lotus-inspired “We’ll Always Have Lorazepam”.
These discussions will serve as an antidote to the hollowness of public discourse, where in the words of Geoff Shullenberger, “words and other forms of symbolic communication” circulate in “the absence of any necessary relation to referents in the world, achieving meaning only differentially and relationally.”
Untethered from the concrete, most online conversation has drifted into the misty realm of Baudrillardian simulations, rendering the abstract signifiers we use to define our views utterly hollow. We proclaim our #Resistance with anxious urgency or align ourselves with the promise to recover our alleged “greatness,” yet what exactly this entails remains vague, as we shout into the void. Our political positions are increasingly fueled by emotional reactions against abstract figures or ideas that inhabit the mediascape. The true function of declaring these views is to identify belonging to a particular tribe—or lack of identification with the “wrong” one.
By defining our views in opposition to one side, rather than as a commitment to building up the common good through concrete measures, we risk turning politics to a Manichaen battle where the goal is for the so-called “good side” to eliminate the “evil side.” Should we reduce politics to merely voting out the opposition, fears Dr. Paul Kahn, it will turn into a power struggle unmoored from any clear ideals that veers toward nihilistic collapse.
Now more than ever, when social division is ramping up and the political stakes are high, we can’t afford to remain indifferent to the hollowness of public discourse. My salon series offers a space to push back against that emptiness—to think together, re-anchor our conversations in concrete human values, and reclaim public discourse.
Save Your Seat
Monday, April 28, 2025 @ 05:00 PM EDT: Beyond reacting to the "other side" - With Ross Barkan
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 @ 05:30 PM EDT: The Art of Disagreeing on the Internet - With Santiago Ramos
Monday, May 12, 2025 @ 04:00 PM EDT: Crossing ideological divides - With Justin E. Giboney
Wednesday, May 14, 2025 @ 05:00 PM EDT: Gender, Politics, and the New Right - With Mana Afsari
About Hosting
If you believe in this kind of dialogue, don’t just attend a salon, host your own! Gather smart, curious people from around the world to debate, listen, and learn from one another. You don’t have to be an expert, just someone committed to thoughtful, meaningful exchange.
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