EP 111: George Packer on Activism and Bad Art

Lean Out with Tara Henley

In times of crisis, artists often feel the need to take a stand, to engage in activism. But our guest on today’s program says we should recognize that art and politics have very different agendas. “These are different realms,” he writes, “and the values of one can be inhospitable — even deadly — to the values of the other.”

George Packer is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and the author of ten books. His latest essay is “Why Activism Leads To So Much Bad Writing.”
You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com