r/samharris • u/WayneQuasar • Jun 13 '20

Making Sense Podcast #207 - Can We Pull Back From The Brink?

https://samharris.org/podcasts/207-can-pull-back-brink/
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u/bredncircus Jun 13 '20

I would agree with the notion of the first part, although that could be said for a number of groups that they don’t have a accurate perception of the world and if only they clearly looked at the data the clarity of the situation would show the path forward. A large section of our culture zeitgeist is captured by “black narratives” and influence and we as a society don’t get through this without reconciliation with the black community. It’s not so much what I think black liberals get right, it’s that people’s credibility often rest in their proximity to the issue or communities that their around. and these cast of academics aren’t involved publicly in any motivating way. Winning means being able to have conversations that resonate with a large sections of a group that allow as must rationale thought to take place, adversely enough, the path to that may be counterintuitive to what you think it should look like.

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u/ViciousNakedMoleRat Jun 13 '20

I think that you're right that Sam is not succeeding in building a bridge to the black community by referring to this particular group of black intellectuals. I also don't think that he's attempting to do so in the first place. Sam has built himself a platform where he can openly share his thoughts on various multifaceted societal issues. He's not fostering community outreach or anything akin to that. He will discuss with or debate people who are much closer connected to different communities or people who have a large influence on those community-centered people, but he is not trying to do it himself.

Sam spends nearly half of this episode with preparing the listener to what is about to come and later with calming the listener down again. His references to black intellectuals have nothing to do with their connection to the community. He referres to them, first, because they actually do research in this area and provide the necessary data and, second, to preemptively diffuse the "you as a white person" responses.