Bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant.
— Blurb to On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
Work is a journey on which you welcome challenge . . .
Work does not instantly respond — work digs to discover and inquires to clarify. Work is difficult and demands discernment. Work wonders, pauses, listens, absorbs, and reflects.
Work does not rest on who’s right and who’s wrong: Work wants to know if there’s something more to see, something to learn, something that sharpens the mind. Work never stops building on the foundation of your own work and what you learn from the work of others.
Work works its way through material that is not easy.
Work recognizes complexity and the demands of in-depth explanation. Work will go on a trip to ideas that take time and effort to understand. Work knows that you can’t see your way to a solution without understanding the different dimensions of a problem.
Work does not defend before you consider
Work does not race to conclusions — work arrives at them through careful consideration. Work is willing is rethink what you think you know. Work takes integrity, courtesy, curiosity, courage, and decency.
Work comes with the willingness to be wrong.
Work is not self-satisfied. Work does not sling snippets of certitude — work crafts argument on the merits. Work is an exchange where each party takes information into account. Work does not issue childish insults — work demands that you act your age.
Work respects your intelligence by using it — and shows respect to others as we work our way to mutual respect. Work won’t be pretty and might even get ugly — but work will do what it takes to work it out.
And if you wanna start solving problems — work is what it’s gonna take.
Speaking of work
I’m looking for fiercely independent thinkers for an idea that could turn the tide. If you’re not interested in hearing me out and having meaningful conversation — we have nothing to talk about and I wish you well.
Please contact me through the site or DM on Twitter — as I no longer respond to Tweets or superficial fragments of any kind.
Thank you!
You couldn’t carry Sowell’s jockstrap!
Thomas Sowell is considered our country’s leading living intellectual, with ground-breaking contributions to economics, psychology, history, political science and sociology.
Seriously? Get a life. It doesn’t matter what you say, he’s better than you basically in everything.
Anyone wanting to know the truth
Would not behave in ways that make damn sure they never will. In one form or another, it’s all religion anymore.
Glenn Loury once called my writing “brilliant” and was “blown away” by this site and signed up. How do not take that information into account?
I don’t care if you don’t like my style or my site — but such high praise from a man of his caliber should count for something. I’m not going after Sowell for run-of-the-mill reasons.
Anyone with an atom of objectivity could see that.
And about those reasons
Many students resist having their beliefs questioned by invoking the claim that “Everyone is entitled to his own belief” or “All opinions are equal.” The corollary notion is that therefore no justifications for beliefs are necessary. The difficulty with this perspective is that it implies that all disagreements concerning beliefs are personal disagreements or slights.
If there exist reasons for one’s opinions, then a difference of opinions becomes an opportunity for understanding how someone else’s reasoning leads them to a different opinion. If, on the other hand, if there are no reasons for opinions, students are more likely to take differences of opinion as insults or as injuries to their self-esteem.
Rather than assert than all opinions are equal, students in seminar learn to judge opinions on the basis of the reasons given for those opinions.
Nobody ever had to explain that to me. I’m sure you all feel the same:
And yet here we are . . .
You can’t have “Compared to What?” without comparing what’s in question. In the aftermath of 9/11, what sold a war in the Middle East is as critical as comparison gets.
If I did cartwheels on TikTok to tell this story — you’d take issue with my form. We’ve created a culture that gripes over “flashy graphics” while worshipping liars in the images. Constant complaining has become a virtue — where everything of value is in the gain you get in the moment:
And easy is all the rage!
Anyone entering this discussion with sincerity — would come away realizing that there is no debate, and there never was.
They just made it up . . .
As a distinguished scholar once said: “The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.”
— Thomas Sowell, Desperate and Ugly in Florida
And because he wrote those words — he couldn’t possibly do the same in service of his own interests? Oh my God — somebody’s not who they claim to be — that’s never happened before.
And you sure as hell aren’t you what you claim to be either — not even remotely close:
One Tweet is all it should take:
You said follow the facts
Well there they are right at your fingertips. But the Tweet below tells the story of what I almost invariably face in telling the story above:
Lo and Behold
Funny thing about information
It can seem incoherent when you don’t take any of it into account.
In that 5-minute excerpt alone
I can crush the WMD delusion with ease. Imagine what I did with 160.
As for Sowell’s Regurgitated Garbage
In both my documentary and throughout this site, I address the talking points that Sowell’s efforts solely rely on . . .
So there’s that — and this
And a mountain of evidence more
But when facts fly in the face of your interests — you have the Mentality of a Mob:
- Rather than read and digest, people scan and dismiss — frantically seeking any fragment they can frame in their favor
- Sensible arguments are snubbed with meaningless replies that are utterly absent of thought — mercilessly torturing reason with trite talking points
- Even against overwhelming evidence served on a silver platter, they will swat it away in disdain without so much as glancing at the goods
- Any sound bite that can be manipulated to their liking will be repeated in endless cycles of certitude
- Always at the ready — they’ll gleefully “inform” you with 60 seconds of “research” — compiled by copying & pasting material disseminated by the equally uninformed
- They’ll look away from a mountain of evidence against their side — while nitpicking over pebbles to pounce on the other
- Their civility is a charade in their immovable contempt for correction — playing childish games that fit a formula designed to infuriate you (at which point they’ll pull the innocence card and haughtily condemn your tone)
- They want a presence without having to exert any effort to legitimately participate
- They peddle their opinions while shirking any responsibility to validate them
- They launch volleys of vitriol as fireworks for freedom
- They see themselves as conveyors of truth while dripping in duplicity
- They want respect without having to earn it
- Their hypocrisy knows no bounds
If these professional know-it-alls threw 99 items of shit on the wall — while you gleefully ignored the information that matters most: Concrete evidence of mathematical certainty:
The entire story of which puts those 99 in the dustbins of delusion.
You’d forever cry foul for my refusal to wallow in meaningless crap that’s engineered to make damn sure that’s exactly what you do.
Grade-A Horseshit . . .
And I explain in exacting detail why it’s horseshit. I’m old-fashioned that way — look around!
I’m not out to “DESTROY”
But to put it in those terms you love — what I could do in a debate on WMD against the likes of Larry Elder and Thomas Sowell (and anyone you want or all of them combined):
The beating would be biblical — an ass-kicking for the ages. And I’d nail Democrats to the wall as well (just like I did in my doc).
In that shit he’s shoveling above — there’s not a shred of Sowell’s standards or those that Larry loves to tout to destroy the enemy. I agree with a lot of what Larry says about the Left, but just like Sowell — Elder mainly follows the facts only when they’re going in the direction he desires (just like you).
And when challenged — he acted like a child, just like you: Another disciple of Sowell who behaved in ways Sowell would never stoop to.
Hard to Imagine . . .
That I have to explain that quote to people who seemingly live to flood the internet with his words.
He and his flock incessantly complain about the media — and they don’t make policy. But the second I scrutinize Sowell — suddenly you have new standards.
180 — how fitting
Something’s out of sync on Sowell
How do you not know that by now?
You pride yourselves on your critical thinking skills and following the facts — well why don’t you show me how swift you are? But your kind never sticks around to discuss the issues — you just drop your derision and boldly bolt with that smug smile on your face.
This 2:22 scene from Shattered Glass shows how a reporter allows her friendship to severely cloud her judgment. What’s especially educational is the turnaround time to see what would be obvious to anyone without a personal stake in it.
She repeatedly digs in to find a way to absolve her friend, but she can’t escape the envelope of arguments that cut off every avenue of evasion.
It’s indefensible! Don’t you know that?
You have no such notion
I point you to a 7-part, 2 hours and 40 minutes doc — that distills a story that demanded a massive amount of effort, thought, research, and writing: And you tap a Tweet with a talking point or two — thinking you can inform me.
I do all the work, you do nothing and consider nothing — then blame me for failing to convince you.
As disgusted as I am by it all
I feel sorry for the lives of hermetically sealed minds. You’ll never know how much more the world had to offer you — and how much more you had to offer it.
If you opened Sowell’s piece (all 752 words of a 2-minute read) — knowing that I did a 7-part series that’s 2 hours and 40 minutes.
On that alone
What goes through your mind? And Sowell makes no mention of the evidence on display with the props (the marquee evidence that Powell presented).
So one guy goes into great detail — and the other guy doesn’t go anywhere in detail.
The famous one, naturally
And while you’re at it — butcher the bedrock beliefs he’s famous for (just as he did).
“The Genius of Thomas Sowell”
Is that this fraud got followers to believe he’s not only a genius, but some kind of saint-like Sherlock Holmes to boot.
There’s a thing about Sowell that isn’t often mentioned . . . he can step completely outside of the race thing and just express himself about just stuff — which is not the usual.
Sowell has a habit of headlines oozing in partisan pettiness. On two of the biggest events in history — Sowell seems pretty tribal to me.
Desperate and Ugly in Florida
And I find it interesting that with Sowell — one reason some people today would find it hard to go with him is that he doesn’t write with that tribalist sense.
Weapons of Crass Obstruction
He’s trying to be purely objective and there’s nothing in him of — here’s what we down here think. Here’s what we’ve been through.
Weapons of Political Destruction
It’s not seasoned with any of that — he’s just trying to have a white lab coat on and look at the facts.
If his Crap is King claims on WMD isn’t “seasoned” to you, Mr. McWhorter — what is? Touting technicalities as “facts” doesn’t get it done (especially when they’re as empty as what he’s shoveling).
Hard to Imagine
And Damn Disappointing to Boot . . .
It’s bad enough I gotta deal with unyielding yahoos who yearn to praise Sowell as if it’s a daily duty to broadcast his brilliance (while butchering his principles in practice).
But to see people I respected fall into the same trap — enabling their “National Treasure” and the echo chamber around him: Good grief!
The crude, dirty “brutes” of the land of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift. The Yahoos are irrational people and represent the worst side of humanity. By contrast, the wise and gentle Houyhnhnms, their masters, are rational horses and represent humanity at its best.
The likes of Loury & McWhorter see themselves as Houyhnhnms — as if they’re immune to irrational behavior in defense of their interests.
So you found one small crack in Sowell’s character where he defended Iraq having WMD, does that hurt his credibility?
This man muddied the waters of debate to serve himself — on a little matter of war in the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11.
Factoring for his history of hypocrisy and lying on that — along with ripping the Left while shamelessly ignoring the debauchery on the Right:
That “one small crack” is a wide-open window into his character and credibility.
Sowell is a great man because of his books. I stand by that. you want to refute his books — go ahead. I’m listening.
— Glenn Loury
You confine his record to a box of beliefs that suit you — and stand by that.
How noble of you
So the rules of argument you espouse on a daily basis don’t apply to you —
A lot of that goin’ around
You said that they had no argument against your [R]ebuttal to Brown University’s letter on racism in the United States. Neither do you on your “National Treasure.” Instead of listening and learning on things you know nothing about — you let pride consume you.
Sowell sold out to sell those books you stand by — and I wrote “Water is Not Wet — And I Stand by That” with the likes of Loury in mind.
I wouldn’t care if Sowell cured cancer:
You don’t get a pass for basking in baseless beliefs that cripple the country — and have the bottomless nerve to preach responsibility & accountability to boot.
That is a cancer of its own
The poison he pumped into the atmosphere helped destroy the internal organs of America. So we have very different standards as to what qualifies as a “National Treasure.”
A “great man” would not have his egregious hypocrisy, lies, and gross negligence plastered all over my website.
Sowell is not a great man — but he could be:
The second you shun evidence that doesn’t fit the narrative you want — you have contaminated your judgment. How quickly you come to your conclusions — and what you’re willing to ignore to solidify them:
That is the underlying message of my efforts.
Debunking the WMD delusion & Trayvon tale is a conduit for showing how this nation systematically derails debate.
I’m not just taking Thomas Sowell to task because he’s got it comin’ — I need this guy. The ultimate irony is that your blind loyalty limits him — while my criticism could elevate him to heights your hero-worship ensures he’ll never go.
So you’re saying that your plan will elevate Thomas Sowell to worldwide recognition — by holding him accountable? That if he comes clean — he could be the catalyst to turn the tide?
That’s exactly what I’m saying
It won’t matter that Sowell blew it on WMD or why — all that matters is having the guts to say, “I was wrong — and I’m trying to make it right.” That’s exponentially more powerful than had he been right in the first place.
It’s time to start solving problems instead of endlessly talking about them and getting nowhere.
And to do that — first we gotta clear the clutter that’s crippled this country.
One Voice Became Two 