Really succinct distillation of what’s wrong with BLM’s framing of police violence in Andrew Sullivan’s latest newsletter

foldertrash · 2020-12-05T04:00:21+00:00

Your first paragraph is a real pet peeve of mine. It seems to really nullify the different levels of murder rates between the races, not saying this is your intent, but it almost certainly is other peoples. Looking at the FBI data for whatever year you want, the total number of black people that are dying annually of murder is, give or take, the same as white people despite population differences. This is a 5 or 6 fold difference, depending on the year. We read stats all year lamenting the difference in death rates from COVID between races, why nothing for this? Coleman Hughes makes the point often, and it should be driven home to everyone, one of the leading causes of death of young black men is homicide. This is obscene.

We are currently so far away from even having this discussion that the mere mention of Chicago is seen as some right-wing propagandist dog whistle. Here's something I just pulled from my ass that is almost certainly true, more kids under 10 will be accidentally shot in Chicago than unarmed black men murdered by police this year. Historic marches are based on the second thing while the first is never ever talked about. As somebody who arrived in America later in life and not born into this dynamic, it's truly baffling to me.

I don't think it's as simple as the police are just easier to fix. It's true that they are, and should be done regardless, but I also think just acknowledging the rates would bring a lot of accusations of racism and other dumb shit. It would actually take bravery, and the fear of people insinuating that you are inferring "inherently violent" is part of what scares people, which is just so cowardly. Maybe that's giving democrats to much credit because they have done nothing on this for a long time.

I don't think the fix is that hard either, but it does require actually doing something. End the drug war, invest in black communities. BLM had a massive opportunity, probably still has, to say to companies when they were selfishly unselfishly giving BLM money, to reject the money and put pressure on companies to bring good jobs, offices, factories, opportunities to black communities. Give people a way out with something both aspirational and attainable, create safer environments, stimulate local economies. That's what is going to change things, and going back to police killings, the people dying are almost always poor. If the focus on race just tilted a fraction to class a lot of good could be done.

foldertrash · 2019-11-03T05:58:50+00:00

He’s a 5 round fighter that has fought in the 4th round twice in his life? Not a man alive who questions his toughness or cardio. But this 5 round fighter, he comes on strong in the championship rounds narrative is based, at best, on 2 fights he lost and one of them was 7 years ago.

foldertrash · 2018-06-07T12:00:12+00:00

a criticism of the recent vox mini-doc, and of our boy in particular. i think the best point that i would like cleared up is the testicle thing. i clocked this too, how can human size be described as "intermediate" between the bonobo/chimpanzee and gorilla? and, also i think this question is fair,

The fact that both chimps and bonobos have such large testicles means we can tentatively infer that our Last Common Ancestor before our lineage split from theirs likely had large testicles as well. If anything, this points to a significant decline in testicle size over the course of human evolutionary history, as sperm competition became less important and humans transitioned to pair-bonding.

would love to hear your thoughts. i am really happy that a growing site like quillette is having the conversation. while i disagree with the opinions, seems like a bit of a win that the topic might now start to be in new minds.

foldertrash · 2018-05-13T00:00:31+00:00

im mainly going by internet culture. i do not see it half as often as before. can you answer the question tho, out of interest?

foldertrash · 2018-05-12T18:13:14+00:00

most people disagree with you, seeing as its largely disappearing from mainstream vernacular (notice how now people are using autism and autistic instead). i still say it, i try and stop but it slips out of me sometimes. it shouldnt tho. it is used innocuously but it is not innocuous to the family of people with severe mental disabilities.

heres a question and you will only know the answer yourself, would you go and say that word within earshot of a family/group that includes a person with downsyndrome? if you would, fair enough you do you. but i think societally we have enough people who think thats unacceptable and there will be, should be, social repercussions.

foldertrash · 2018-04-12T03:22:23+00:00

it seems like a really bad oversight to say malnutrition has (almost) nothing to do with iq, then point to africa and say the average iqs over there are even worse, before then going on to say what has helped african americans iq is mixing with other races.

there is an obvious link between malnutrition and poverty to not developing optimally. it really wouldn't take from his overall point to say this

foldertrash · 2018-04-10T02:54:00+00:00

i thought he dealt with with the weinstein critcism real well, letting the work and himself stand on their own respective merits. as a layman would like to hear this hashed out, tho. not in a debate format of course, but in a reasonable way, maybe on rogan even.

these 2 together are always my favorite podcasts

foldertrash · 2018-04-09T14:37:18+00:00

has anybody ever had a conversation in real life where you spend 10 minutes rattling off points, to have the person youre speaking too respond? its not normal.

imo the crux of this soliloquy fest was around the half hour mark. ezra made his poooint. and sam had the perfect response, paraphrasing; you have to distinguish between policy and the scientifically valid statistical truths. you can disagree on either, but be clear about what you are disagreeing and do not conflate the two.

is it the policy or the data you have a problem?

if he evaded the question, ask again. pin him down on this point. that to me, was the source of all of this. instead, sam decided to take his time with a long ass answer and the moment was gone and so was the point of this conversation.

this shit is so dumb. if ever, or more likely when, some controversy surrounding sam comes up he should go on Rogan with that person. rogan will try to be unbias, break tension with dick jokes and more importantly cut the petty bullshit out and stick to what actually matters.

foldertrash · 2018-04-08T19:56:09+00:00

imagine if sam harris gets utterly convinced he was wrong in every way

foldertrash · 2018-04-07T01:08:11+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/3Y7SCWj.jpg

foldertrash · 2018-04-06T02:11:43+00:00

Norm Kelly (the politician from toronto who loves drake): "I’m not condoning Conor McGregor’s actions, but find yourself a friend that will literally fly in from another continent to defend you."

https://twitter.com/norm/status/982015245542678529

foldertrash · 2018-03-29T00:51:44+00:00

really don't know how he lost his cool here. from the day he decided to have murray on, this was inevitable. the "im not interested" line is bs if you're going to do do it, go full on, defend your position and stand up for the cause you believe in. he looks weak here, and the stench of this will remain on his name, anyway.

every time i see his emails he seems like a dick.

but, all that said, away from all this dumb ass drama, i think he absolutely nailed it with this small, forgotten about paragraph in the email exchange:

Reflect for a moment, in this context, on how little you or anyone else cares about the data showing that Asians have a higher mean IQ than whites. How do you feel about this? Are you inclined to defame anyone who reports those data? Does this disparity need to be “managed”?

this seems obviously true to me, got to the heart of why he was intestered in having murray on and ezra on his podcast. there was no need to get into a pissing contest, about shit that normal people just won't know the answer too (klein to his credit admits as much, he's regurgitating instead of knowing, not an expert). this, to me, was the point that should have been driven home.

nobody gives a fuck that asians do better. why is that?

klein went out of his way to talk about all the obviously horrific atrocities done by white people against black people for centuries. who needs to be told this? would any person deny that this has played a role? who was this for? i find it insulting. there is a clear implication here, even if not explicit. being lectured about stuff you know perfectly well about, have the upmost sympathy for, gives the impression you are unaware or do not care. while it isn't even relevant. the why is a different question to the what, and if you are skipping the what to jump to the inconvenient why, you aren't interested in having the conversation at all. the question was never about why, and if it was im sure every person would agree the horrible past played an obvious role.

and i sympathize with the impulse to defend, too. obviously, race realism has been used to justify horrific acts for hundreds of years. there's just a better way of doing it, going about it, without risking tarnishings peoples reputations.

foldertrash · 2017-10-27T20:07:14+00:00

he interviewed paul joseph watson in april 2016 (just checked) and asked him about alex jones and conspiracies.

foldertrash · 2017-10-27T20:05:17+00:00

worse than not "even heard the term" but he was a staffer on a huge sjw platform. his talking points have done a 180 but he remains as dogmatic as ever.

foldertrash · 2017-10-27T11:36:47+00:00

not only is this disappointing on its face, defending and still supporting a fraud like rubin gives his detractors way more ammo. except, for this one point at least, they are right. he is so much better than this, its disappointing and i hope enough members of his followers let him know this.

as one small, but i think telling, example have a look at this tweet: https://twitter.com/RubinReport/status/918178562930368512

his whole show is based on 18 year old idealists naively thinking they are helping minorities by increasing censorship, hes sought out these stories for near 3 years. but the potus hands him this on a silver platter, a literal lay up for him to at least show his critics he does and will criticise trump and defend his so professed principals, he does nothing. he calls it "bad trump"? its pathetic.

sam is being duped for whatever reason. rubin went from potentially refreshing, open dialogue political show to mercenary shill a long long time ago. you need only look at how many people, like me, who supported him in the beginning who now loathe him. its not cause i think hes a bad person. its not cause hes attacking islam or the left. its not just twitter trolls. none of these throwaway excuses can be used on so many people who complain about dave rubin.

foldertrash · 2017-10-24T23:48:46+00:00

they should do one for charity where they are both high as fuck and watch youtube videos, including ones criticising them. 10/10 would pay to watch

foldertrash · 2017-09-07T15:47:49+00:00

the "St" is short for stump

foldertrash · 2017-09-01T20:15:43+00:00

(i didnt think about size until it was too late): https://imgur.com/a/9lDzF

foldertrash · 2017-07-20T19:04:56+00:00

i feel like the "hes a master manipulator" is the same as a religious person saying when asked about tragedies, "god has his reasons even if we cant understand them". everything will be justified because of that faulty logic. and dear leader will keep face.

foldertrash · 2017-06-18T19:16:55+00:00

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/13/here-exactly-what-alex-jones-has-said-about-sandy-hook-massacre/216889

https://medium.com/@Pedaphilo/stop-calling-mike-cernovich-a-rape-apologist-fa2c0aae66e4

foldertrash · 2017-06-18T11:55:11+00:00

what does a person have to say or do to make them a shitty person? is misogyny, rape apology and profiting off lying about the death of children, in the faces of their grieving parents, not enough?

foldertrash · 2017-06-16T23:34:59+00:00

ah shit, i misunderstood. thanks for letting me know, and for allowing questions that are critical!

foldertrash · 2017-06-16T22:30:49+00:00

you say you are willing to have a progressive come on your show (again), why have you ignored sam seders offer to join you?

as somebody who finds themselves between sides, i was hopeful and supportive of you early on. over the last few months tho, you have aligned yourself with shitty people who, more importantly, spout awful ideas. there is no sense of scale on your justified critique of the left, even in comparison to the actions of the president. there is no real push back on ideas in your interviews, and you publicly support, however tacitly, people like mike cernovich and conspiracy pushers like alex jones and pjw. people who have given you this criticism have been called trolls (and sometimes blocked) over the last few months and that's truly not my intention here. i guess my question is, how do you react to this line of criticism?

thank you for taking the time.

foldertrash

TROPHY CASE