Ted and Courtney Balaker are the team behind the new documentary The Coddling of the American Mind. Based on the 2018 best-selling book by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, the film follows a series of students as they navigate life on today's highly charged college campuses. I spoke with Courtney and Ted, who started his video career as one of the first hires at Reason TV, about the Gen Z mental health crisis, free speech, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, the oppressor-victim worldview, and why they chose to host the film on the innovative platform Substack rather than a more traditional venue.
0:00— Introduction
0:54—The Coddling of the American Mind in documentary form
2:05— Finding student participants
3:22— Lucy
7:15— Kimi
11:17— Aryaan
13:32— International students vs. American students
17:16— Are we past peak woke on campuses?
20:44— Distributing films on Substack
24:30— Korchula Productions' previous projects
26:20— Are filmmakers sick of censorship yet?
28:30— The Balakers' non-traditional media backgrounds
32:10— Working with Drew Carey on Reason TV
33:20— Visual storytelling as powerful conduits for ideas
35:07— Where to see this documentary
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