Clearing Out the Hoarder Attic: Beanie Babies, Doll Heads, and a White Elephant Sale

• 10:58Both the alt-right and the political left in universities have engaged in an intellectual arms race toward less nuance and more violence over the past 20 years.
• 11:24When people refuse to have conversations or debates, violence becomes the inevitable next step.
• 11:46The Google memo controversy: the text itself wasn't hateful when read carefully, though the underlying science it cited may be misleading.
• 12:29Tim argues you should be able to ask nuanced questions without being destroyed, even if ultimately wrong.
• 13:22Hysteria now rules the day, with people retreating into ideological camps and refusing to engage with opposing views.
• 13:55Tim's mother's mental illness didn't happen overnight; it escalated gradually over decades from eccentric to dangerous.
• 14:33Tim's grandmother just died and they've started cleaning out her house, discovering the attic filled with 40 years of his mother's hoarding.
• 15:20The attic contains massive bins of Beanie Babies, McDonald's toys cataloged in plastic bags, Burger King toys, and Disney plushies.
• 16:53Tim's mother believed she would make a killing reselling all these collectibles, not realizing the market had collapsed and her demographic either died or ended up in institutions.
• 17:48They're also removing Christmas decorations from the 70s—expensive aluminum tinsel collected despite Tim's family always being broke.
• 18:23These Christmas decorations haven't been used in decades, raising the question of why they were kept at all.

alt-rightGoogleDavid BrooksNew York TimesUniversity of Virginia