It’s all about emotion

Sam: “Cops are hunting black people!”

Harry: “Uh … Well, if you look at the data ….”

Sam: [Indignant and angry] “I’m not talking about statistics. I’m talking about people. You’re a horrible, racist person!”

We’ve been told for years that we need to have a “conversation about race,” and what I just described is about how the conversation goes these days, in far too many cases.

It seems fairly clear that a portion of the population is guided by feelings and emotion rather than argument. They react to events based on those feelings. So, for example, when some incident involving the police is reported, they don’t think, “I’d better wait for the facts to see what really happened here,” they just leap to a conclusion.

Ben Shapiro likes to say “facts don’t care about your feelings.” But for a large number of people, facts don’t matter. Only feelings do.

It seems analogous to the way an attorney might try to influence a jury by saying something inflammatory, which he knows will be struck down, but which can’t be erased from the jury’s mind. Once the idea is in there, it’s in there.

Or again, like an accusation against a public figure. It might be groundless. It might be disproven (on page 23, in small type) a few days later. But the impression is still out there. You can’t un-ring a bell.

I have some suspicions about how we got to this point, but I’d like to hear your ideas. First, is this phenomenon worse than it was 20 years ago (I think it is), and second, why?

It’s not always a conspiracy, and it’s not always about Trump, but we seem doomed to talk that way

There’s been a lot of talk about what’s causing the fires out west. Among the (not mutually exclusive) possible causes I’ve heard most often are (1) global warming, (2) poor forest management come home to roost, and (3) ideological motivations (e.g., Antifa trying to cause chaos on Trump’s watch).

Let alone the fact that wildfires have been part of the natural cycle out there since well before humans arrived.

But one thing has been confirmed. Arsonists are at least partly responsible. According to this article, some of the arsonists had weird, personal reasons unrelated to Trump or partisan politics.

These days, everything has to be partisan — including fires. In order to push the idea that the fires are from global warming, some on the left are dismissing claims about poor forest management and arson.

It’s very sad that we can’t believe the authorities on such basic matters of governance.

Systemic racism – that Kevin and Jamal video

P&C drink and review 22nd anniversary dark ale from Schmaltz brewing in New York, then discuss some recent claims about racism.

“Systemic racism” is one of the memes we hear about often. What does it mean, and how should we regard it?

Haven’t we already outlawed racial discrimination? Haven’t we made huge progress in making our law and culture less discriminatory? P&C say it’s hard to find something tangible that is racist, so the definition keeps getting more and more vague.

As part of the discussion, P&C review the points made in a recent cartoon video about Kevin and Jamaal that seeks to explain systemic racism.

You can also right click on this link to download the file.

Bret Weinstein

P&C drink and review Good Juju, an ale spiced with ginger.

The boys recently listened to a few interviews with Bret Weinstein: one regarding the Sam Harris / Jordan Peterson debate, the other regarding Bret’s conversation with Richard Dawkins. P&C review some of the key points, and add their own evaluation.

According to Weinstein, significant progress was made in the Harris / Peterson debate, and there’s room for still more progress. He identifies where each of them had a vindication, and where each must swallow a bitter pill.

Although Weinstein praises Dawkins for The Selfish Gene, he claims Dawkins made a mistake that has held back evolutionary science for decades. The boys discuss.

Crowhill offers a suggestion on Weinstein’s criticism of Dawkins.