JONATHAN GREENBLATT Fighting Hate Now WITH A SIGNIFICANT
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO, Anti-Defamation League; Author, It Could Happen Here: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable—And How We Can Stop It ROGER MCNAMEE, Silicon Valley Investor, Author, Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe—Moderator
ROGER MCNAMEE: One of the reasons I have become so passionate to reform technology is that social media has become quite honestly a cesspool of hate, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and more. These companies have allowed hateful content to permeate the mainstream in a way that those of us who are involved could
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THE COMMO N WE AL TH | August/September 2022
PHOTO COURTESY JONATHAN GREENBLATT
increase in hate crimes, America finds itself on a terrifying path. AntiDefamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt’s current mission is making sure that what has happened in our lifetimes in Europe, the Middle East and Asia does not happen here.
never have imagined in the early years. It’s our guest Jonathan Greenblatt’s job to fight this hatred from his position as the head of the ADL. This is what he does every day. Jonathan, welcome to The Commonwealth Club for today’s conversation. Your book [It Could Happen Here] has the most provocative title. Tell me what you’re talking about and how we got here. JONATHAN GREENBLATT: Over the past six years we’ve seen kind of not just a decay, but a rapid deterioration in civic society. [The Anti-Defamation League] is the oldest anti-hate group in America. We’ve been fighting these battles against bigotry
