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You've Been Lied to About Addiction | The Gray Area - March 9, 2026 - Vox

Addiction is one of those words that seems obvious until you try to explain it. We tend to fall back on two simple stories. Either addiction is a moral failure or it’s a brain disease that robs people of agency entirely. But neither of those stories feels complete.

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Today’s guest is philosopher Hanna Pickard, author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing But Cocaine? Pickard argues that it’s a harmful mistake to treat addiction as either sin or sickness. Instead, it’s a form of behavior that’s shaped by trauma, isolation, identity, social conditions, and often deep psychological pain.

Sean and Hanna talk about her theory of addiction and why our society has built the cage that so many people are trying to escape.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)

Guest: Hanna Pickard, author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing But Cocaine?

We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.

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YouTube Chapter Titles

5:08 Writing about addiction

8:44 Defining addiction

15:23 Wanting something vs. being addicted

20:15 Agency and responsibility

31:15 Untangling blame and responsibility

38:33 Support structures and accountability

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A pro-Israel case against Israel | Today, Explained - March 7, 2026 - Vox

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s at the center of the Iran conflict, has isolated Israel like never before.

During his time as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel dealt directly with Netanyahu, even once getting into an argument with him in the Oval Office. Emanuel’s also one of very few people to have operated at every level of power in American politics, and he has a specific lens when it comes to the growing conflict in Iran.

Emanuel was one of the people who helped negotiate peace agreements alongside President Clinton in the 1990s. He was also in the Obama White House as they took the first steps toward the Iran nuclear deal.

In this interview with Emanuel, Vox’s Astead Herndon asks about the US-Israel relationship as the two countries collaborate on a widening war against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East. This war, according to Emanuel, is as much the responsibility of the Trump administration as it is Israel’s.

00:00 Intro

01:16 The Trump admin’s justifications for the Iran war

05:24 Was the Iran nuclear deal a good idea?

06:45 Did Israel force the Trump administration’s hand?

09:36 Israel’s flagging global status

11:11 Is Palestine a genocide?

16:16 US aid to Israel

18:01 K-12 education and social media ban

22:46 Possibility of presidential run

Today, Explained publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics and culture. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. New episodes of Today, Explained drop every day of the week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite listening app.

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Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

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Why are we at war with Iran? | The Gray Area - March 6, 2026 - Vox

What the hell just happened in Iran?

The US launched an attack last weekend, and within hours, the explanations were already shifting. Is this regime change? Will it be a few days? A few months? Several years? By the time you’re listening to this, the situation may have moved again. So this is a quick, emergency TGAF about where things currently stand.

Sean calls up Wall Street Journal national security reporter Alex Ward to walk through what we actually know, what we don’t, and what could come next. They talk about the risk of regional escalation, the “break it and walk away” strategy, and why the range of possible outcomes right now is…uncomfortably wide.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)

Guest: Alexander Ward (@alexbward)

0:54 Why did America strike Iran?

4:53 Was there evidence of an imminent threat?

12:40 It’s “wartime jazz”

19:05 What would regional war mean?

32:42 What is Alex Ward keeping an eye on?

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Filming British romance is all about location - March 4, 2026 - Vox

Readers and audiences have been falling in love with British romance stories for centuries. Books by authors like the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen still fly off the shelves, and they’ve been adapted for the big and small screen dozens of times.

But how do great filmmakers adapt 19th-century writing into epic cinema? It’s all about the location.

From endless moors to massive estates, Britain plays a leading role in two of its biggest cultural exports: Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice.

In this video, we take a tour of Britain’s natural landscapes and historic architecture to find out what makes these settings so transportive, elevating Britain to a starring role in romantic film adaptations.

Read more about British romance on film:

Vox writer Constance Grady’s take on Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights: https://www.vox.com/culture/479314/wuthering-heights-emerald-fennell-emily-bronte-margot-robbie-jacob-elordi

Town & Country’s guide to the filming locations of Wuthering Heights (2026): https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a70331460/wuthering-heights-filming-locations/

Focus Features breaks down the locations of Pride and Prejudice: https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/pride___prejudice__the_locations

Claire O’Callaghan’s extensive research and writing on the Brontë sisters and their works: https://claireocallaghan.com/

Paul Whickman’s published works: https://derby.academia.edu/PWhickman

Learn more about the moors and Yorkshire Dales National Park: https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/

Discover the history and iconography of Chatsworth Estate: https://www.chatsworth.org/visit-chatsworth/chatsworth-estate/

This video is presented by Great Britain. Great Britain doesn’t have a say in our editorial decisions, but they make videos like this one possible.

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Why modern life is designed to keep you anxious — and what to do about it | The Gray Area - March 2, 2026 - Vox

We use the word “anxiety” to describe stress, dread, worry, panic, even vibes. Which just goes to show: We really don’t know what anxiety is, or where it comes from, or what we’re supposed to do with it.

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Today’s guest is philosopher Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide. Chopra argues that anxiety is a permanent feature of being human and the price of being a free, self-conscious creature in an uncertain world. Sean and Samir talk about the difference between fear and anxiety, why modern life seems engineered to keep us on edge, and what Buddhism, existentialism, and Freud can teach us about the anxious mind.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)

Guest: Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide

1:22 What is anxiety?

9:30 Are we an anxious generation?

13:05 Buddhism and anxiety

18:55 Acceptance vs. resignation

22:05 The existentialist view on anxiety

26:50 Freud and the psychoanalytic view of anxiety

30:23 How can philosophy help you with anxiety?

31:56 Practical advice for dealing with anxiety

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.

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Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

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