America's Real Crisis Is Deeper Than Politics || David Brooks

Why does America feel so divided—and what if politics isn’t the deepest problem? David Brooks joins Stan Christensen to explore something more fundamental: whether we’ve stopped teaching the human skills that allow us to understand one another. They discuss listening, judgment, empathy, curiosity, persuasion, and why understanding someone should come before trying to change their mind. Brooks—longtime New York Times columnist, staff writer at The Atlantic, bestselling author of How to Know a Person and The Second Mountain, and host of The Permanent Questions—argues that many of our institutions have become better at preparing people for careers than preparing them for life. The conversation ranges from America’s cultural divide and what universities should be teaching to AI, loneliness, faith, marriage, parenting, friendship, and what Brooks learned about suffering and character. They also discuss: 0:00 Why America's crisis goes deeper than politics 16:39 What colleges and universities are failing to teach 19:14 The difference between intelligence and good judgment 34:38 How better questions create deeper conversations 38:35 Why understanding should come before persuasion 40:41 How to talk with people you strongly disagree with 44:56 Marriage, gratitude, friendship, and everyday relationships 47:52 Why parents should give children a secure base and more freedom 52:02 AI, education, and the growing importance of human skills 57:24 Faith, morality, meaning, and the search for a good life 1:05:17 Lessons from How to Know a Person and The Second Mountain BOOKS AND RESOURCES David Brooks How to Know a Person https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... The Second Mountain https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/au... DAVID BROOKS’S NEW PODCAST The Permanent Questions with David Brooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... BOOKS DISCUSSED AND RECOMMENDED The Sense of Reality by Isaiah Berlin https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Sense+... Community by Peter Block https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Morality by Jonathan Sacks https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/tit... The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel https://us.macmillan.com/books/978125... Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Juvenescence by Robert Pogue Harrison https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/...