Dec 14, 2015 08:46 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 15, 2015 07:15 PM by C C.)
Sam Harris Drives His Critics Insane
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/20...cs-insane/
EXCERPT: You can accuse Sam Harris of a lot of things, but being a bad writer is not one of them. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I basically agree but think his manner of expression makes life too easy for his critics, and sometimes I disagree. But I always feel like I understand perfectly what he believes and why he believes it. I have also read enough of his writing and have seen enough of his public appearances to feel confident that he is in no way motivated by bigotry or Islamophobia. (Spare me the relentless out-of-context quotations that are meant to prove otherwise and the indignant self-righteousness with which those quotations are presented.)
In Tuesday’s post I lamented that crazies on the left try to shut down all criticism of Islam with casual charges of bigotry, while crazies on the right show that such charges are often entirely correct. I also remarked that I was generally more concerned about the crazies on the right. As obnoxious as the far left can sometimes be, the fundamental truth of American politics is that the Democratic Party cannot run away from them fast enough. The far right, on the other hand, is currently in complete control of the Republican Party.
But Harris is the target of so much vitriol I have come to think that some of his critics fully deserve the label “crazy.” A case in point is Marek Sullivan, who believes he has caught Harris contradicting himself....
Czech blogger Luboš Motl: "People mocking Trump are detached from reality"
http://motls.blogspot.com/2015/12/people...-from.html
EXCERPT: I have always argued that Trump's comparative advantage wasn't an illusion or a temporary fluke. It was a reflection of his being the main representative [...] of many important values, principles, and desires that many or most Americans actually believe but they're being constantly intimidated into hiding these beliefs.
[...] Well, it's true that millions [of Americans] are insufficiently financially independent to behave as freely as Trump (because it would be a big trouble if they got fired etc.) – but there are surely tens of millions who are wealthy enough and could be much more free than they are. They live in the country of the free! And they may endorse all kinds of possible policies that may improve their lives and make them safer etc.
[...] admitted that Trump was no longer "funny". Many leftists start to be terrified but the Republican establishment is terrified as well – the primaries will take place before the general elections, after all.
[...] But all this opposition is silly. It is a basically a neverending stream of childish, content-free personal attacks that don't reduce the weight of any Trump's observations and arguments. Such personal attacks may be "enough" in a totalitarian system where arguments don't matter and the leaders may find it nice that they can character assassinate anyone they want (and they are sort of guaranteed that most of the population will behave as if the libels were true). But what all these critics of Trump are missing is that the U.S. is ultimately controlled by the free citizens....
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/20...cs-insane/
EXCERPT: You can accuse Sam Harris of a lot of things, but being a bad writer is not one of them. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I basically agree but think his manner of expression makes life too easy for his critics, and sometimes I disagree. But I always feel like I understand perfectly what he believes and why he believes it. I have also read enough of his writing and have seen enough of his public appearances to feel confident that he is in no way motivated by bigotry or Islamophobia. (Spare me the relentless out-of-context quotations that are meant to prove otherwise and the indignant self-righteousness with which those quotations are presented.)
In Tuesday’s post I lamented that crazies on the left try to shut down all criticism of Islam with casual charges of bigotry, while crazies on the right show that such charges are often entirely correct. I also remarked that I was generally more concerned about the crazies on the right. As obnoxious as the far left can sometimes be, the fundamental truth of American politics is that the Democratic Party cannot run away from them fast enough. The far right, on the other hand, is currently in complete control of the Republican Party.
But Harris is the target of so much vitriol I have come to think that some of his critics fully deserve the label “crazy.” A case in point is Marek Sullivan, who believes he has caught Harris contradicting himself....
Czech blogger Luboš Motl: "People mocking Trump are detached from reality"
http://motls.blogspot.com/2015/12/people...-from.html
EXCERPT: I have always argued that Trump's comparative advantage wasn't an illusion or a temporary fluke. It was a reflection of his being the main representative [...] of many important values, principles, and desires that many or most Americans actually believe but they're being constantly intimidated into hiding these beliefs.
[...] Well, it's true that millions [of Americans] are insufficiently financially independent to behave as freely as Trump (because it would be a big trouble if they got fired etc.) – but there are surely tens of millions who are wealthy enough and could be much more free than they are. They live in the country of the free! And they may endorse all kinds of possible policies that may improve their lives and make them safer etc.
[...] admitted that Trump was no longer "funny". Many leftists start to be terrified but the Republican establishment is terrified as well – the primaries will take place before the general elections, after all.
[...] But all this opposition is silly. It is a basically a neverending stream of childish, content-free personal attacks that don't reduce the weight of any Trump's observations and arguments. Such personal attacks may be "enough" in a totalitarian system where arguments don't matter and the leaders may find it nice that they can character assassinate anyone they want (and they are sort of guaranteed that most of the population will behave as if the libels were true). But what all these critics of Trump are missing is that the U.S. is ultimately controlled by the free citizens....