American Thought Leaders

At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

  1. 2d ago

    The Forgotten US Territory Where Chinese Birth Tourism Thrives | Cleo Paskal

    💰Protect your wealth with precious metals! Call American Hartford Gold today & get up to $20,000 in free silver on your 1st order! Call 855-862-3377 or text AMERICAN to 65532 or click here: https://ept.ms/ATL-AHG There’s one place in America where Chinese nationals can enter without a visa. It’s called the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. territory in the Pacific, right by Guam. And it has become a major security loophole for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence operations as well as Chinese organized crime and birth tourism ventures, said Cleo Paskal, a senior fellow at the Compass Institute. Yet there has been little political will in Washington to close this loophole, Paskal argues. In this episode, Paskal breaks down the CCP’s aggressive influence and gray-zone warfare operations in this region—areas critical to U.S. defense in any Taiwan conflict—and why this matters for U.S. security. Every U.S. president who served in the Pacific theater in World War II understood that the security of the American mainland depends on a secure Pacific perimeter, Paskal said. As such, in addition to two U.S. territories in the region, the United States has maintained Compacts of Free Association with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands since the end of World War II. These treaties give the U.S. military exclusive defense and strategic access to these countries in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and economic support. But the Chinese Communist Party has sought to aggressively expand its influence in these islands through pressure, gray zone warfare, and disinformation campaigns. Amid all this, U.S. funding for these compacts nearly lapsed in recent years, because many in Washington apparently have forgotten their importance. In this episode, Paskal walks me through a key question: if the security of America’s mainland has always depended on control of the central Pacific, what consequences will we pay now that so few Americans know these islands—or their citizens—even exist? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    The Forgotten US Territory Where Chinese Birth Tourism Thrives | Cleo Paskal
  2. Jul 11

    How Generations of Girls Are Pressured to Market Themselves Online | Freya India

    🔥IMMERSED: Round closes July 30. Invest before the round closes. Learn more about Immersed here: https://ept.ms/4yurCls Freya India is the author of “Girls: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything.” In this episode, India unpacks how the rise of social media has radically transformed how young women view themselves and the world. She argues that an increasing number of young women no longer view themselves as human beings, but as products competing in a marketplace of likes and followers. India describes the pressure she felt growing up in the age of social media. “I really felt like I had to sell my life to strangers constantly,” she said. From Snapchat’s public friend rankings to TikTok’s algorithms that flood vulnerable users with more of what destabilizes them, many various social platforms are engineered to exploit the very insecurities almost all young people have, she argues. In this episode, we dive into many important questions: Why are so many young women today anxious or unhappy? How has the messaging of modern feminism affected young women—and what are the true consequences? How has ubiquitous pornography altered relationships, and how is it especially impacting young men? And what may help shrink the growing rift between young men and women today? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How Generations of Girls Are Pressured to Market Themselves Online | Freya India
  3. Jul 10

    How Beijing’s New Law Seeks to Crush Dissent Worldwide | Guermantes Lailari

    China’s new ethnic unity law has taken effect, and it’s going to be used to justify and expand transnational repression overseas in combination with existing laws on promoting “separatism,” said Guermantes Lailari, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and longtime China researcher. “In this new ethnic law, they encourage people to report on other Chinese who are not promoting ‘unity.’” Lailari said. “So if you’re a Chinese person in the United States promoting Taiwan, they can prosecute you in absentia, and the court will have a ruling. And they can put out a red notice or Interpol notice on that person who’s overseas, and if that person ever travels to a country that China has bilateral extradition laws with, that person can be detained and transferred to China,” Lailari added. Lailari moved to Taiwan a few years ago to study the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) up close. “This place,” he said, “is being attacked every day, whether it’s cyber, cognitive warfare, media warfare, economic warfare, diplomatic warfare.” In our interview, he argues that the CCP poses the most serious long-term threat to Western civilization—not just militarily, but through a combination of legal, economic, psychological, and intelligence operations. In this episode, we dive into why the CCP is fixated on taking Taiwan, and what the global fallout of such a takeover would look like. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How Beijing’s New Law Seeks to Crush Dissent Worldwide | Guermantes Lailari
  4. Jul 7

    Why Today’s Young Men Feel They Have No Place in the West | Nick Freitas

    Young men have been under attack by popular culture for the last 20 years, argues Nick Freitas, a former Green Beret and Virginia state legislator. They have been told that masculinity is toxic, the future is female, that they are responsible for the world’s problems, and that they no longer have a place, he says. Despite this onslaught, Freitas shares a hopeful message for the young men of today: “God has created men for a particular purpose. We are supposed to be strong. We are supposed to be capable. Why? So we can honor God, protect our families, and protect our civilization.” Freitas recently wrote a book entitled “The Manbook: A Point-by-Point Guide to Sucking It Up and Getting the Job Done,” where he shares hard-won lessons on how to be a good man despite resistance, or outright attacks, from the prevailing culture. In this episode, Freitas reveals why a whole generation of men are flocking to radical ideologies—and how to prevent it. Perhaps surprisingly, Freitas puts the onus on the men of older generations, arguing that young men desire good role models and guidance. Older men, therefore, must live the kind of lives that young men would want to model. “The best argument you make is not just the one that you articulate through your words,” Freitas says, “it’s the one that you articulate through what you do in your own life.” Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    Why Today’s Young Men Feel They Have No Place in the West | Nick Freitas
  5. Jul 4

    How Stories Will Quietly Rebuild the American Character | Matthew Mehan

    💰Protect your wealth with precious metals! Call American Hartford Gold today & get up to $20,000 in free silver on your 1st order! Call 855-862-3377 or text AMERICAN to 65532 or click here: https://ept.ms/ATL-AHG There are few people who understand America’s history—both political and artistic—better than Matthew Mehan. Mehan is an associate dean and associate professor of government for Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, as well as a best-selling author of children’s literature. His recent book, “The American Book of Fables,” is a beautiful collection of fables celebrating the landscapes, virtues, and enduring principles that have shaped the American story. In honor of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, we discuss some of these timeless lessons on freedom, friendship, and the development of moral character. On the importance of stories, he said, “American educators from the colonial period forward spent a great deal of effort to try to help people to have these virtues of civility, politeness, civic life, independence, rule of law, justice, truth telling, candor. In one sense, you can have a kind of ‘dark age’ version of these morals, but you have to have a much more adept, technologically advanced moral vocabulary and moral praxis, and that’s what fables and stories can do.” Through adept storytelling, Mehan tackles important questions such as: What is true patriotism, and why is it a virtue? How ought we practice the art of civic friendship when there is so much to divide us? What was the Founders’ vision of American republicanism, and what practices ought we implement in our daily lives to foster love of country? As Mehan argues, there is no better time than America’s semiquincentennial to reflect on the laws, the beauty, the places, the people, and the principles that gave rise to this great nation. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How Stories Will Quietly Rebuild the American Character | Matthew Mehan
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About

At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

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