Bringing people together without identity politics to converse and share perspectives.
Here at FAIR, we value exploring, learning, and having live conversations about ideas, events, and cultural forces shaping our lives. We are interested in what people are reading, hearing, seeing, and thinking.
So we created a place where those perspectives can be shared openly — FAIR in Conversation.
What?
FAIR in Conversation is an online community for people who value open inquiry, thoughtful exchange, and genuine dialogue across differences.
We talk about books, podcasts, current events, history, philosophy, science, the arts, education, religion, media, and the questions people are wrestling with in their own lives. Sometimes a book, podcast or article helps frame the discussion. But for us, the conversation is the point.
The goal of FAIR in Conversation is to bring people together without identity politics or ideological pressure. We want to converse, share perspectives, and better understand the world and one another.
How?
We host monthly online In-Conversation events where participants can join a respectful, engaged community that listens deeply and speaks with integrity.
There are several ways to participate:
- Join our monthly online FAIR in Conversation event.
- Invite others to attend and help grow a local or online conversation community.
- Use ideas and themes from past conversations to continue discussions with friends, family, or colleagues.
You do not need to arrive with the “right” view, or even with a fully formed view. FAIR in Conversation is a place to think out loud, test ideas, ask questions, and engage honestly with others.
Why?
We are lifelong learners. Engaging in live conversations about culture, politics, science, philosophy, the arts, and public life is one of the best ways to deepen our understanding of the world and our connections with others.
In much of modern life, conversations are narrowed by oversimplification, self-censorship, and the assumption that only certain perspectives are welcome. FAIR in Conversation offers an alternative: a space where different viewpoints are allowed to flourish, and where people can speak freely and listen seriously.
Our goal is to spark meaningful conversation through which the act of coming together becomes an antidote to division, isolation, and intellectual conformity.
Next Meeting
August 26th at 7PM ET
"We the People": The Constitution and Competing Visions of Government
Can America's Constitution Coexist with Communism or even democratic socialism? What are all these "isms", anyway?
The United States was founded on a constitutional system that places individual liberty, limited government, and the rule of law at its center. Yet throughout history, competing political philosophies, including socialism and communism, have offered very different answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between the individual, the state, property, equality, and freedom.
How different are these competing visions? Can they coexist within America’s constitutional framework? And what do we actually mean when we use labels like communism, socialism, capitalism, fascism, and democracy?
Join FAIR Tennessee for a thoughtful, civil conversation as we explore questions including:
- What are the defining principles of America’s constitutional republic?
- How do communist and socialist political theories differ from those principles?
- Where do individual rights come from, and what role should government play in protecting or limiting them?
- How should we think about the relationship between government, corporations, and regulatory agencies?
- Are there aspects of American politics and culture today that reflect ideas traditionally associated with socialist or communist thought?
Whether you believe communism represents a growing influence in American life, think the concern is overstated, or simply want a deeper understanding of the issues, this conversation is designed to encourage thoughtful discussion rather than partisan talking points.
To help prepare for the discussion, participants may wish to review the following resources:
- A recent Epoch Times reader survey on perceptions of communism’s influence in the United States https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/epoch-readers-weigh-in-on-communisms-influence-in-the-united-states-6060364?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=copy
- Video Documentary “What Sweden Got Right” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHHbcWx2wk
- A paper providing a 14-page primer on democratic socialism that explores what today’s “democratic socialism” means in contrast with past versions. Why we are experiencing an upsurge in its popularity. And what are the political implications? https://www.brookings.edu/articles/socialism-a-short-primer/
- Inside the Democratic Socialists of America party, including the party’s history and current policies, with explanation from representatives by current DSA leadership — NewsNation Special Report (39:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPTO4Ue-9mY
- Winston Marshall interview with James Lindsay on Fascism (1 hr) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVWXhQCMZJ4
- Website of the Democratic Socialist party that outlines the party’s platform https://program.dsausa.org/
- The Dark Side of Marxism by Dr Paul Kengor at The Peterson Academy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5UfRoasgjw
- Nick Shirley on the streets of NYC asking people what they think about the rise of communism in America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fKotkC8ps
- James Lindsay’s New Discourses’ podcast has several episodes on political ideologies https://newdiscourses.com/
on Democratic Socialism (20 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMLQu22b4H4
(full 1 hr) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsOYaQSpiz4
on Fascism – Corporatism (1 hour) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjXDW_giv0&t=4s
on the Communist Manifesto (3 hrs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpX7i1diR50
on Stakeholderism (1 hr) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u2ak-DmKD4&t=7s
on The American Experiment (1 hr) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0YeE5y0jQ&t=3s
(Federalist 51 and Political Realism)
If you have videos, papers, or articles you’d like to share – please send to [email protected] or Arnold.[email protected]
The above is the topic for August. September’s topic will be Is Woke Dead, or Just on Pause?
What to Expect
Co-moderated by FAIR leaders Arnold Huntley and Karen Howes, FIC typically meets on the last Wednesday of the month at 7PM ET. Our discussions are wide-ranging and often move across books, podcasts, current events, mainstream and independent news, history, philosophy, the arts, and the larger questions that shape our common life. We often provide links for background on a topic, but conversations can pivot organically.
There is no expectation of consensus. The purpose is not instruction or performance but conversation.
Next up In-Conversation on Wednesday, August 26th at 7PM EST until whenever the conversation finishes.
Participant
This Month's Meeting
Against the Machine
by Paul Kingsnorth
Amid today’s highly technical, material, and fast-paced world, it is easy to lose sight of the thing that matters most – our common humanity and where it is headed. In pursuing FAIR’s work of promoting a pro-human culture based on common and shared values, the October FAIR in Conversation highlights the increasingly popular book, Against the Machine.
In Against the Machine, “furiously gifted” (The Washington Post) novelist, poet, and essayist Paul Kingsnorth presents a wholly original—and terrifying—account of the technological-cultural matrix enveloping all of us. With masterful insight into the spiritual and economic roots of techno-capitalism, Kingsnorth reveals how the Machine, in the name of progress, has choked Western civilization, is destroying the Earth itself, and is reshaping us in its image. From the First Industrial Revolution to the rise of artificial intelligence, he shows how the hollowing out of humanity has been a long game—and how your very soul is at stake.
Join FAIR in Conversation as we take momentary detours from our mechanized lifestyles and reflect on the ideas and values that have truly enabled us to flourish as humans.
Frederica Mathewes-Green, author of Facing East says about Against the Machine:
“Something in our common life has long seemed bewildering, even ominous, and Paul Kingsnorth makes it finally clear what we’re up against. The gears clanking around us are not working at random but with increasing inhuman intent. Now I see what I must do. Now I understand.”
