J.K. Rowling & the Fight for Free Speech | with Solomon Schmidt
Solomon Schmidt, the 22-year-old author of A Pen to Change the World, the only complete biography of J.K. Rowling, sits down with Alex Buxeda for a wide-ranging conversation about the woman behind Harry Potter and the courage it took her to speak out during the trans controversy.
They get into the Christian story hidden inside Harry Potter, the moral panic that branded it witchcraft, cancel culture and the cost of saying what you believe, and where a Christian and a secular classical liberal find common ground. The purpose of dialogue is to let ideas die instead of us.
📖 J.K. Rowling's biography: https://www.solomonschmidt.com/jkrowlingbiography
More about Solomon: https://www.solomonschmidt.com/about
00:00 – Teaser: The Christian story hidden in Harry Potter
00:46 – Free speech, Harvey's speech & rushing to judgment
04:33 – Why Rowling spoke out — and what it cost her
05:31 – Why the wisest people are the calmest 11:32 – "What does it even mean to be a Christian?"
20:02 – Writing the only complete Rowling biography
25:08 – The single mother who wrote the best-seller of all time
30:10 – Doing what you love vs. chasing success
31:42 – Could Rowling or Jane Goodall even succeed today?
42:38 – Censorship, paternalism & who gets to decide
48:54 – The state, incentives & market failure
51:37 – King Solomon's judgment & the ownership instinct
59:00 – Faith, reason & America's founding
1:07:05 – The art of disagreeing well
1:08:16 – Heading to Ukraine: Trump biography & war reporting
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